On a Post-it that Amma had stuck onto his wardrobe, Sameer ticked off all that he’d packed. The heavy stuff was on priority — his computer, books, boxes of board games and most of his clothes and shoes. The movers were coming the following day, so this along with all the furniture from his beloved home — No 309, Champaca Terraces — would be packed into a lorry, to be delivered to their new address in Bengaluru.
Looking out of the balcony window, Sameer had to fight back tears as he watched his closest friends clumsily remove the Christmas decorations they’d put up for the 25th, in front of the badminton court. Now, they were in charge of getting the stage ready for New Year’s. In the run-up to 2023, Sameer had been down there, having the best time ever. But this time, New Year’s would be in Bengaluru — at a new flat in a building called Greater Heights that Appa kept telling him was ‘super cool’. Sure… cool…but with NO friends. Not one.
Two days later, Sameer was grateful that they’d left for the railway station early in the morning, so his buddies couldn’t see his tear-stained face. His goodbyes the previous night had been bittersweet. His friends treated him at the vada pav joint down the road. All of them cracking crazy jokes, but all equally miserable.
How Sameer had begged Appa, “I know we have to move, but can’t it be after New Year’s?” But of course it couldn’t — Appa would be travelling throughout January so if they didn’t move now, Sameer and Amma would have to unpack and settle in by themselves.
The new place was close to Appa’s office so he could come home early. “We’ll play tennis, Sameer… every day. I promise,” Appa assured him, as he and Amma reassembled the dining table. Sameer had checked out the sports facilities at Greater Heights and they were super cool, but in his head, that didn’t compensate for his friends.
On two trips to the supermarket in the basement, Sameer had spotted children his age playing on the stairs; chasing a football through vacant car parking spots; or chatting in groups. Walking past them, he didn’t make eye contact, quite certain NOBODY would be interested in some new guy in the building. After all, that’s how HE behaved back in Mumbai — no one knew what to do with new kids.
On New Year’s Eve, Sameer kept checking his phone, hoping to chat with his Champaca Terraces friends, but none of them were online. Naturally, they had a party to organise. Amma and Appa planned to go down and introduce themselves to neighbors at the building party. But Sameer didn’t want to be stuck with aunties and uncles. He told Amma he’d stay back and watch a movie and without looking up, sensed that she and Appa were exchanging worried looks.
On his third trip to the supermarket he dashed into the lift just as the doors were closing. He found himself with a squabbling brother and sister, both about his age.
Immediately, the lift shot up. “Hey,” the girl stopped tugging at her brother’s backpack and turned to Sameer, “Did you want to go to the rooftop?”
“No… I pressed the button for the basement,” Sameer replied. The lift went to the top floor but the door didn’t open. The girl’s brother reached out and pressed ‘G’ and Sameer pressed ‘B’ again. But the lift didn’t move.
The three of them fiddled with the buttons a bit. Nothing happened. The girl burst out laughing, “Welcome to the Greater Heights’ famous lift! I’m Tara.” And before Sameer could say anything, the boy added, “And I’m Vidhur…you’re new here, right?”
Sameer somehow found it very easy to chat while being stuck in a lift. As he introduced himself, Vidhur’s phone rang and he said, “Haa…. It’s the lift operator.” With a mischievous grin, Tara said, “This happens all the time… okay, it usually takes half an hour to repair… let’s play our ‘names of places’ game. Vidhur… you after me…Azerbaijan…N.”
“Niger…R… your turn Sameer.” And just like that, half an hour flew by…Rwanda….Algeria…Arctic…China…sometimes they’d stop at a place like Antarctica to talk about the penguins there and what the ice-caps melting could do to them. Argentina…Algiers…Singapore…England…Denmark… and then the lift door suddenly opened at the basement, right opposite the supermarket.
The three were quite startled.
Disappointed that a game they were enjoying so much had come to an abrupt halt, Sameer stepped out to pick up the bulbs.
Vidhur called out, “Bro… see you later at the New Year party.” And Sameer nodded, forgetting all about that movie he’d planned to watch. Yes, Vidhur and Tara seemed good fun… and they too lived on the 12th floor.
God bless the Greater Heights’ crazy lift! New Year’s suddenly looked like the exciting time it had always been for Sameer... just like every single year at Champaca Terraces.
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