One stormy night, when the rain poured like rivers and the skies

thundered like the angry oceans, I sat snug in my chair in my hostel room trying to comprehend why hypertension and smoking are linked. The dim table top lamp was the only light I needed at that time in an otherwise dark room.

I caught the whine of Anil’s bike over the sound of thunder, and I heard him skid and halt right in front of my ground floor room. When I darted out to get him in I could not believe what I saw. Anil was drenched in water, his hair plastered to his scalp; he wore nothing but tennis short. He seemed to be heaving with gasps of effort.

Then I saw his face.....It had the look of a man who seemed to have done something incredible. His eyes blazed red, and his nostrils flared with each breath he took. “Come with me, this very moment, I have something to show you,” he said. I looked at the rain, I looked at the darkness of the night, I looked at the dry nightgown I wore. “Anil”, I said “It’s raining and......” I could not say any more.

Some passions were worth being stupid. I didn’t know what Anil was up to or what was to happen, but I took a step forward into the rain. I did not lock my room, I did not change my clothes, I just stepped out into the rain and sat behind him on his bike then we roared away into the night. A few minutes later we were in front of Anil’s house. He led me in through the back door and we tiptoed through the hall lest we disturb his sleeping parents in the room close by.