Chapter 2

When Neil turned eighteen and had finished off his school, he like many UK students decided to take a gap year instead of going straight to the Uni.

His plans for the gap year were to move to Calcutta and just chill but the excuse that he came up with for the sake of his parent's approval was that he wanted to learn more about his culture and Bengali traditions. But the truth was that he was coming to Calcutta for a long holiday where no one will stop him from doing whatever he wants as his parents will be in the UK.

'Ma.. Ma.. Ma… Where are you?' Alia was calling out her mother.

'I am up here Aloo, upstairs in Neil's room', her mother replied.

Alia went up to Neil's room and started helping her mother and she asked, 'Maaa … why are you tidying up Neil's room?'

'Aloo, don't you know Neil is coming today and your baba has gone to pick him up from the airport. He should be here soon', her mother replied.

'Soon? I am already here Kaaki Ma', Neil interrupted and kept his bags and ran to meet Alia's mother.

'Neil .. Kemon Acchan?(How are you?) Ma-Baba everyone doing alright at home? She hugged Neil and bombarded him with all the questions.

'All bhaalo (fine) Kaaki Ma. Ma-Baba have sent you their regards and also their best wishes as you will have to cope up with me for the whole year', Neil joked.

This joke brought a smile on Alia's face, who giggled and she was heard by Neil.

Neil pulled Alia's ponytail and asked her, 'What are you laughing at Aloo? Go down and check what all Kaaki Ma is cooking for me.'

Alia went down while her parents were busy settling Neil in.

A Bengali feast was prepared for his welcome, from maache - jhol to luchchis to aloo-posto to rasgullas, you name it and it would be there on the table.

It became a daily routine for Neil to eat all his meals at the Mukherjee household. They all loved him and especially Tapur, she just dotted on him. Neil too enjoyed their company. He has practically grown up with them so he was very comfortable with the whole family.

One evening, Neil was leaving the house to meet his friends. He came into the Mukherjee house to inform Alia's parents that he will be having dinner with his friends so that they should not wait for him. When Neil was leaving their house, he saw Alia with his books in the courtyard. She looked like she was struggling with something as she kept on writing and then erasing in her notebook. Neil was curious so he went to check on her.

'Busy Alia ?', Neil questioned.

'I am struggling with this problem of trigonometry. Can't seem to solve it.'

'Show me', Neil had a look at the sum and solved it in a wiz.

'You solved it? How?', Alia was shocked and she was analyzing the problem and was making sense of how Neil solved it.

'Shall I explain it to you?' Neil asked.

'Yes, please. But weren't you leaving to go out? I hope I am not disturbing any of your plans.'

'Don't be silly Aloo. This won't take long and so what if I am a few minutes late. Give I'll teach you the sum', Neil was very helpful.

He taught the problem set to Alia and she was really thankful to him.

'Thank you so much, Neil. By the way, where you are off to?'

'I am going over to Jay's house. We are thinking of forming a band, now that I am here for a year.'

'Nice', Alia said.

Neil bids goodbye to Alia and heads out to his friend's house.

Earlier whenever Neil would come to India for holidays, he would occasionally jam with his friends as he was a guitarist. But since now he has come to live in Calcutta for a year, they were thinking of taking the casual jamming sessions to a next level, and hence they decided to form a band.

In a short span of time, the band has gained a lot of popularity, with Neil and his friends having gigs pretty much every weekend. It became a routine for Alia to attend all of Neil's weekend gigs. After which they would generally walk home together, followed by a coffee session in their courtyard.

Life was going well. The Mukherjees got pretty used to Neil being around them and sometimes it is hard to believe but the arrival of just one person can bring so much liveliness into the house.