The Wallet

“Focus is the key, I just want to remain focussed and I can see myself running fastest

of them all.” Rohaan said to Mohit pointing at the main road with some dizziness in

his voice and a strange gleam in his eyes at the same time. Both Rohaan and Mohit

were sitting on the wall of the terrace of their 7 floored PG under the shining sky of

cool, calm Friday night. The night was slowly reaching towards the calmer Saturday

as it was 11.30 PM. For that night, they had all the time on the earth to talk about all

the fuck in their mind and to consume all the stock of alcohol they had, as their

precious weekend was going to follow the beautiful night to provide them some

moments away from their hectic job as software developers in an MNC

“No, I can see all 8 of us, with four bikes, planning a trip for the next two days and

Doing all that bakchodi once again, just like our college times.” Mohit replied.

“Yapp , all 8 of us, motherfleckers, good old times, I also miss all that madness, but

you know something Mohit, in this world we are meant to walk alone, aur vo to suna

hoga tune, “One who walks alone ,walks faster. This is the truth.”Rohaan replied

with a sigh. A deep silence with some unsaid dullness took over the ambiance. “Chal

ab sote hai, I have a movie show to watch tomorrow at 8.30 AM.” Rohaan reminded

and jumped on terrace from the top of the wall and started moving to his room.

“hmmm… funde bhe****d… abe walking alone thik hai, but movie akele dekhne se

movie thode jaldi chalne lagegi, saaala movie bhi akele jata hai, You have changed

my friend, bbye , good night , fuck off.” , Mohit reacted with some grudge in his

voice. Mohit also wanted to see the same film but he did not want to wake up at 6.00

am on a Saturday morning while Rohaan wanted to see that movie early morning

because there would be less traffic on those timings so he could save some time and

utilise the remaining day. They disputed on the timing a day before and Rohaan

decided to watch it alone.

Mohit did let it go, but he was the most aware person about the changing

traits of Rohaan, and how could he not be, he was Rohaan’s friend since college, a

room-mate for 3 years and now a colleague also. Yes, Rohaan had changed, he was

so much into his project, his manager, his career. He just wanted his life to be a bit

faster, so he had started living less socially then earlier. There was always something

clicking in his subconscious about his project, his software or some new technology,

all the time, unlike old times, when there were only some sucking PJs and other

creepy things.

“End of the day, it saves time”, Rohaan declared and went to sleep.

Next day Rohaan went for jogging, the to-do list for whole day was being scrolled

down in this mind and he was doing some necessary corrections in it. He came to

his room in the PG and got ready for the movie. Just before leaving, he opened his

cupboard to take his Wallet and for a shock to him it was nowhere in that cupboard. Rohaan knew the process of his mind quite well, he got an idea if his wallet is not there, where it was meant to be, and he was in a big trouble. He lost his debit card just 2 weeks ago and got a new one by applying again, he didn’t want to lose it once again and that too in such a short period. So the process of finding his lost Wallet started in his mind.

He took a whole view of the room from one point to the other diagonal point moving

his eyes in clockwise direction, everything was at its place just like the last night,

nothing was being moved. Everything was perfectly arranged according to the

famous chaos theory of boy’s hostel room. Clothes were on the bed as the cloth

hangers on the walls were already full, toothbrush was under the bed touching those

undies, the earphones was somewhere in bed sheet where it was meant to be, just like

everything other, so where could he misplace his Wallet in that perfectly arranged

randomness. There were three cupboards in the room, one for each room-mate. One

was half in the height and double in the width in comparison of other two, so the

things  needed for the daily household were kept upon the shorter cupboard. The suitcases and luggage bags were on the other two. Rohaan winded back the whole event from last evening

up-till now a thousand times in his mind and searched every possible place where he might have

kept his wallet. But he found nothing. He checked all the places again. This time, all

the impossible places also... he didn’t spare the bathroom, back seat of commode, even

the soap tray. He checked everywhere, but for no good. Both his roommates were

sleeping till then. He was afraid, like a small kid and was praying God to help him get the

wallet back and he would never let it go again. Something in him... may be the fear,

made him wake up Mohit- his roommate, and he told him that he had lost his Wallet

again. His third room-mate Pravin was also up by then. Hearing Rohaan’s

voice, Mohit woke up immediately and collected all his senses, And the quest of

finding that lost Wallet started again.

Mohit asked Rohaan to sit on the bed for a while with all his calm and think about

when he saw his Wallet the last time. “We came from the evening tea, I paid and put

my wallet back in pocket, and we entered our room, I was trying to find a place to put

it on the shorter cupboard, but it was so messy with things, are yara koi moze(socks)

bhi almari k upar rakhta hai kya yaar, ye Pravin bi c****a hai,” Rohaan yelled at

Pravin with frustration.

“Ok , ok.. so you are sure about it, means the wallet is in the room for sure, accha uske bad

kya hua?”, Mohit asked.

“After that, I don’t remember yaar, before leaving for the tea, l left my code

on code chef to get some reviews, I was very excited to see them that and now I don’t

remember where I put my wallet just before that.” Rohaan replied. Despite

being hard on Rohaan,  Mohit listened to him carefully and said, “So it means, The wallet is in this room only and that also in the region from the shorter cupboard to

your bed. So let’s start searching from your bed.” Pravin, the third room-mate, was

getting a bit irritated of Mohit being Sherlock but he also began helping  in that important

investigation. They searched on his bed and they found a watch, two socks of

different colours and a pen somewhere in his bed, but no wallet, then they moved downwards, under his bed. There was dustbin, some pairs of socks and some underwear.

and also his toothbrush, but no sign of his Wallet. “Hey, what’s that?” Pravin

shouted. Pravin saw something black near the dustbin partially covered by an

underwear of Rohaan. “Dekh Rohaan, teri chaddi k niche rakh dia tune wallet,

g***u.” They all looked under the bed, a ray of hope ran through the spine of

Rohaan, he stretched his hand forward to remove that underwear which was lying on

the floor and stopping him to meet his beloved cashier again. The other two was also

watching the sacred meeting of those two inseparables with excitement. “Shit, Fuck”

and some more curse words replaced the excitement and silence of the room. It was

a bottle of boot polish, lying down, covered by that underwear, the black cap of the

bottle was exposed a bit for Pravin to be misunderstood as Rohaan’s wallet. All the

hopes of Rohaan were shattered now, he was praying that entire event to be a bad dream

this would last till his sleep.

‘Are you sure you put it back in your pocket last evening, may be you

dropped it there by mistake”, Pravin asked Rohaan. Rohaan’s face was emitting an

strange expression which was a mixture of horror, frustration and anger.

Rohaan again narrated the whole story of the last evening from the tea shop

to their room, to convince them and himself that the wallet is still in the room. The

hope and possibilities of being that wallet in that room were riding on a negative

slope downwards. At that time Mohit stood up and said ,“Let’s start once again, You

enter the room, try to put your wallet on this shorter cupboard, but you couldn’t find,

what comes next, your own cupboard, let’s check it again.”, Mohit said. “I have

checked it 3 times”, Rohaan said. Mohit was still checking it, but the alimirah was a

more mess than their room, this thing was frustrating Mohit, which he was

controlling because of Rohaan. Mohit found nothing in that cupboard and closed it. When he was locking it, the frustration in him took over his calmness

and he locked the handle with larger force, which shook the whole cupboard a bit.

At that moment, Mohit saw something moved on the top of that cupboard. Rohaan’s

cupboard was the taller one, his black luggage bag was on the top that cupboard.

Mohit kicked his cupboard again to verify his hunch. A glimpse of something black

looked back at Mohit. Mohit kicked again, and took his hand on the top of the

cupboard, he was trying to feel something there, something leather, standing on his

toes, he was not able to see there with his eyes because of the height. He kicked again

and that’s it. His hands touched something, there was some space between the bags

and the top surface of the cupboard he

touched something solid. He grabbed it.

“Why are you kicking the cupboard? Kick me, I am the asshole here.”

Rohaan shouted. Mohit threw that solid thing towards Rohaan's chest and told him to

 shut-up. “You dickhead, in what dreams you put your wallet on the top of your

cupboard, under your luggage bag.” Mohit shouted back. “Take it back, aur hosh me

raha kar.” Rohaan looked at his wallet. He was looking at it as it was his first love,

who met him after an eternity. He grabbed it with his both hands, tightly with

affection. Now he was able to remember that when he was not able to find a place on the shorter cupboard, he moved forward and in a hurry of watching those reviews, he put his wallet on the top of his own cupboard in a subconscious mode and forgot.

Now all the three friends were looking at each other. Nobody was saying

anything, it was Pravin who broke the silence by laughing out loud, Mohit and

Rohaan followed him and the whole room filled with their laughter. They sat on the

floor laughing. After 15 minutes, controlling his laugh Mohit asked Rohaan, “Teri

picture nahi hai??” “Bhai we will go the next show” Rohaan replied, and they

laughed again. Rohaan and Mohit were looking at each other, Rohaan moved his lips

and said, ‘Thank you’ to Mohit without making it audible. Mohit smiled back and with

all care in his eyes, he murmured “ab kya mu me lega.”, and the laughter continued.

One thing Rohaan had understood that day, “may be a person who walks

alone walks faster, but the path is also longer for him.”