When I asked for it!

It wasn't hard for me to single Rachit out from the others at the CAT class. The motley included pseudo-intelligent engineers (at least that's what their degrees said) and smartass BCom graduates who believed that they already had a foothold in IIM.

Rachit came across as shy, though he tried hard to mix with the rest. By the end of the first class we attended together, I'd discovered that he was from Vadodara, Gujarat and was looking for some 'cool pals to hang out with' in Mumbai while he attended the CAT class. "That's me," I told myself. The next day, he asked me for my number. I was taken aback. Too much too soon, I thought. But then, maybe he just trying to make friends. I didn't oblige. At least, I didn't want to seem desperate.

Later, after the class, I watched him standing with a couple of classmates. I edged closer to him, waiting for him to look at me so that I could ask him out for a burger. He saw me coming, nodded and continued chatting with his pals. I thought the friends would take a hint and move over. But they didn't budge. I waited 10 minutes, then one friend left, thankfully. I turned to ask Rachit what he would be doing for dinner. "Well, I'll go with Gaurav to MacDonalds at Mumbai Central and then go home," Rachit said. He then climbed onto Gaurav's bike and said a polite goodbye. I was mortified. How the hell could he prefer a dinner with Gaurav instead of me?

In the next class, I chose to sit at the desk next to him, so that I could look at him from the corner of my eye, as he solved integration sums. Class dispersed, and the two of us started chatting. He told me he was going to Vadodara that night. He had to take a train from Mumbai Central at 11.30 pm. It was only 8 pm. He asked me if he could kill time somewhere. I pounced on the opportunity. "Well, there's a MacDonald's at Crossroads, just across the road. So you can go there. And if you don't mind, I'll come along with you. I'd like to kill some time too. And I might as well do it with you."