Do u know me??? Part-I

"thak... thak... thak..." someone was banging my door hard, forcing me to open my heavy sleepy eyes. (Yeah, we do not have door bell. The house owner probably chose to save a fortune for himself!).

I did not want to get out of my lazy bed. But damn, who cares about me...!!! 6.30 it was, I had to get up and open the door. The man with the magical hands (read cook) was standing there as a part of routine to cook lunch for me and my flatmates. "Bhaiya who are you??", was how the conversation started, unlike other days where in I would start the conversation by giving him the instructions on the food to be cooked for the day.

"Are you drunk!!????", was all I could say to him, which he chose not to reply to. And here went my instructions, "12 parathas and gobi masala"!! And I was off to my bed again in semi-sleepy mode.

While lying down, with a cushion on the back of my head, I picked up my cellphone to surf through. My cellphone was dead blank. I remember I left it for charging over night, cannot be a dead battery. I tried a few tricks to get it on, but it did not buzz at all. I left it in frustration and got up finally to get ready to go to office.


I could not find my footwear. Damn!!! Picked up someone else's slippers. Later when it was time to get away with bad breath I found my toothbrush missing!! "What the hell", whats going on!!

Is that a sign of a crazy day ahead, I wondered. The first thought that came to my mind was to give a miss to brush my teeth for the day, the way I (or we) used to do in our childhood days. But then the (highly optimistic) thought of getting lucky that day, forced me to go down to the near by shop to buy a new one. I swear, I would not have worked so hard to just clean those 32, ever before.

I went straight to the shop where I have been buying things from for close to 3 years now. So much so that, even the boxes kept there would have started recognizing this funny face. And that's exactly why I was surprised again, when I wished a warm good morning to the shopkeeper. Only to find him asking me if I was new in this area, as he never saw me before. I just smiled. "May be he did not sleep well the last night", I told myself and came back to home.

The cook had left by then, and I was the only awake creature at home with my other 3 flatmates still sleeping.

While I was getting ready, one of them got up. I did not know what struck him, but all I know is that he ran back to his room after seeing me. Quickly I checked my face in the mirror, if I had turned into a monster overnight. By this time though, I had started having a strange feeling around me. Some sort of negative energy around me, to probably push me to my limits of frustration. And here it was in front of me, in the form of my three flatmates.


(To give a bit of a history about the 3 of them. They all were my school time friends and that makes it around 10 years since we have been knowing each other. We had boasted of knowing each other in and out by then.)

So, it obviously came as a shock to me when they suddenly asked me in sync, "Excuse me, who are you and more importantly what are you doing at our house at this hour of the day"? Now I was a little scared. Just a little. And I gathered all my courage to put that smile back on my face and replied with a grin, "I am an alien, you dumb idiot and I have just landed from Mars to say good morning to you guys". And I started laughing as if I had just cracked a joke of my lifetime only to see their faces grow even more serious.

"Don't try to be funny with us, straightaway tell us, who are you", one of them said, little stern in voice this time.

"Whats up with you guys? Is it me or is it you guys who is trying to be funny!? And come on, its not even 1st April today. Stop fooling around with me."
Their expression got weirder when I said that. And next few minutes went on just me looking at them with a blank expression and they doing the same.

"Alright, it is enough, we are not saying anything to you, we are not going to hit you, but if you don't tell us now, who the hell are you, we shall call the police in no time and don't blame us for the consequences if anyyyy."

Though a little scared, I still thought it was a prank. I went ahead entering my room pushing away one of them on the way, "See I know you guys are playing pranks with me and forget it, I am not falling for it. And guys, come on, its already 8.30 now, go and get ready. Its already late for me to go to office".


"Thuddddddddddddd......" one of them hit me on my back and said angrily "how dare you touch us. Now face the consequences. We are calling our house owner and then will call the police".

Alright, it is definitely not a joke. None of them would have hit me so hard just for a silly joke. "O.k. wait guys. I do not know what is going on. But if you really want me to tell you who I am even after being friends for close to 10 years then let it be. I am Niket. Your flatmate for close to 3 years. And this house is as much mine as it is yours. Tell me what more do you want to know."

"And yeah, if it is some kind of a joke, trust me, you will end up searching for a new roommate. I already see my stuff missing and I am sure its you guys who have done it. It's getting late, so better finish up this drama asap because there is a limit to everything and I cannot take this joke any more."

I don't remember when was the last time I spoke with so much seriousness in such a harsh tone. They fell silent for few minutes and then started discussing something amongst themselves, to which i dint pay attention.

"Hey listen, this is no joke. Even we have our offices and we do not believe even a word you have just said. But, just because you look like a decent guy, we have decided to give ya a chance. If you are staying in this house, you of course will have all your stuff kept in here. Show us. Give us some proof."

"Oh yeah, here it is. This is my cellphone, which is not working since morning and as I said before, it definitely has to do something with you guys."
"And that is my cupboard there, and it has all my clothes, my laptop, books and other stuff. Go and check it for yourself", i said pointing at a cupboard in the corner of the room.

"These are my clothes my dear friend and there is no laptop in here. No book in here has your name on it. Now come and SEE IT FOR YOURSELF", said one of them.


To add to my shock, he was actually right. None of the things kept in there were mine. I politely asked them to check their mobile phones for the number 9986795109 saved in the name of Niket, that's me.
Silly, isn't it! As the events were turning out one by one, obviously none of them had any such number in their phones.

I was confused to say the least. I requested them to let me use their phone to call at my parents. I called up, "hello", it was my mom who picked the call. I was so relieved to hear her voice.

"Hello mom. It's me Niket".

"Nikett!!?? Who Niket?".

"Niket, your son, mom. I am calling from Bangalore from one of my friend's mobile as mine is not working fine since morning".

And by this time my father took over the phone and said something so familiar to me by now, "Hello, see who so ever you are. We do not know any Niket-viket. Wrong number".

I could not take it and just disconnected the call. I was completely heart broken. And I did not have any more courage to call anyone else by then. My eyes had got a little wet by then and my head went down in utter disappointment. Something bad, very bad had hit my smoothly moving life. It was definitely not a joke that was going around.


I realized how serious my friends were when they said they did not know me. Come on, my parents refused to recognize me. And with my head down and with my closed eyes, I had already started having flashes of events since morning.

"The cook... Missing things... Cellphone... the shopkeeper... And finally my friends questioning me...!!!".

I was badly stuck. And that too for nothing. My mind had stopped working completely by then. Never ever, even in worst of my dreams had I thought that I would be battling to prove my identity to the closest of my friends.

Continued...
(Find 'Niket' getting back his identity in Part-II...)