It was half past three in the afternoon when me and Dhruv decided to go and have a look at dida's house. At such an odd hour, we didn't expect anyone to be awake. And fortunately it was so. We entered an almost deserted house, with all its occupants probably fast asleep.
Dida's house wasn't as we had expected it to be. It wasn't the same as we were used to seeing it either. The verandah which used to be empty except for an old easy chair, was then filled with piles of cloth covered objects. A closer look clarified them to be packed household articles, mainly utensils.
As we moved further, we discovered more objects. The courtyard in the front was filled with furniture. An almirah with a looking glass, tables, chairs, sofa, book cases, dressing table and many more were just stacked in front of one of the rooms.
"They probably moved the bed in already", said Dhruv.
"What do we care, unless we're going to help them to put these inside", I said, pointing towards all the objects.
"You're right", said Dhruv, giving a satirical laugh.
We stood there, looking at the house, lost in thought. Both of us were silent, still we knew what was on each other's minds. Where on earth were we going to find ourselves a new playground.
"Who are you ?" called a voice from behind us.
Both of us almost jumped in fright at this unexpected intrusion. We turned back, feeling embarrassed and humiliated at having entered someone's house and looking at their belongings without any consent.
In front of us stood a girl, of about our age. She had very long hair, till her waist, the longest I have ever seen. She was wearing a light pink top and similar colored shorts. She looked at us surprised and as shocked as we were. Her eyes, looking questioningly at us.
"Who are you ?" she repeated again. Not even giving us a chance to speak, she went on. "You're not thieves, are you ?"
"Do we look like thieves to you ?" asked Dhruv curtly. It was clearly evident that he was offended.
She stared at us for a bit more, and then said, "Who are you then ?"
"We're your neighbors. I am Siddhart. He is Dhruv ", I said introducing ourselves.
"Hi. My name's Kavya. Kavya Roy Choudhry", she replied, very formally, yet with a faint smile displayed on her lips as she extended her hands forward. We shook it.
"But what are you two doing in my house, at such a time ?" she continued.
"This is Basu Dida's house," Dhruv replied.
"We had just come to see who our new neighbor was ?" I added.
"Oh-", said Kavya. She was about to say something more when we were interrupted.
"What are you'll upto over there ?" said another voice. This was undoubtedly Basu Dida.
"Dida, we just came to meet our new neighbor", I repeated.
But dida was not looking at us, she was looking intently at Kavya, then she said,"So, you have met already, I see. Kavya dear, these boys here, they are my 'Jonty-Monty'.
"Dida !", Dhruv cried out clearly embarrassed. "Please, will you stop calling us by those names".
"Yes, Dida please, even my mom has started calling me Jonty nowadays", I said.
Jonty & Monty were the names given to me and Dhruv respectively. By whom? Basu Dida, undoubtedly. I don't know what pleasure she derives from calling us by those names. They were so annoying. But no matter how hard we tried to ignore them, they used to get back to us. They were so popular that they had almost become our sole identities, and a whole lot of people knew us by those names alone.
