Kids These Days

I was walking to the Ice Cream shop with the cousin in tow. Smart chap. Nags now and then. He was incessantly talking.
"I have this girl, bro. Real smart. I am quite smitten by her,"
I stopped.
"You have a girl."
"Yes."
"And you are in the fifth grade now."
"Yup"
"And, your girl, she is in-"
"Sixth."
"Oh."
We resumed walking.
Times they are a' changing.
"Err..." - Me.
"Hmmm?" - He.
"Nothing... err... don't you think the age gap is- "
"No."
"Oh."
We resumed walking.
We reached the Ice Cream store.
"2 candies, please. And, bro, for you?"
"I... err... well, one would do for me."
This guy is one weird chap. Its actually been a year since I've seen him. My uncle's family moved to Delhi a year ago, and I live in Chennai. They come here every winter. That is, winter there in Delhi, not in Chennai. In Chennai, there are no winters.
Roshan finished half of one candy, and slurped the dripping liquid from the other candy. The melting liquid was running down his hand.
"Roshan, you could have got the other candy later. See, its dripping now, and half of it'll go waste before you finish the first."
"That's the idea," he said.
He continued slurping.
"It’s about time," he suddenly muttered, to no one in particular.
I heard a bus pull up behind us. Roshan straightened. He hurriedly finished off his candy, eyeing the melting one.
I looked on. The bus belched as it came to a halt.
The pollution these days. I remember when I was in school, I went in the good old cycle rickshaw. The only smoke came from the driver's Beedi.
And here, the bus coughed out a final puff of black, stinking mess. God!
I turned to Roshan, wanting to ask him about-
Roshan?
He wasn't there.
I turned around searching for him.
Where the hell-
He was standing near the door of the bus.
This was puzzling.
He stepped aside as the door opened. A stream of school uniforms unloaded. Pink stripes - must be the primary kids; Grey for the seniors. One thing that will never change however modern the schooling becomes. Pink for toddlers, grey for learners!
And this girl especially, she looked cute in her pink.
Her hair was done up in a nice, bouncy cut. She was smiling at-
Roshan was handing over something to her. I can't quite make out, he has his back to me. What is he-
She seemed to go at it immediately.
Two hours later, Roshan and I were walking back home.
"How do you know she liked the Mango flavor?"
"All girls do, brother, all girls like mangoes."
We were just a foot away from our house.
"Err, Roshan."
"Yeah."
"Two things, buddy."
"Shoot."
"What about Sheeba?"
"Oh, she's back in Delhi, na."
"But won't she feel kind of-"
"No, she won't. I'll get back to her as soon as the vacation is over. And hey, not as if I've gone on a date with the girl. Rita, pretty name, na? Just got her Mother's mobile number. Rita's mob was stolen in class last week, apparently. Anyway, don't worry about Sheeba, bro. I am going steady with her."
"Good. because, I just-"
"No, probs."
"That’s settled then."
"Yeah."
He opened the gate. He could barely reach the latch at the top. He stood on tiptoe.
"Roshan."
He looked at me.
"You've been here only a week, how did you know-"
"The gaming center's just down that road. Spotted her getting down there everyday. Smiled at her the first day. She smiled back the second. We both smiled the third, and then-"
"I get the drift."
We walked in and stood near the door.
"This you have to do. I can't reach the bell, bro."
"Sure, I'll do it."
Thank god, there's something this kid could not do. I rang the bell.
It would take a minute for the maid to open the door.
I had a minute left, that's all.
"Err, Roshan."
"Yeah?"
"On the way to my gym, there's this Infosys bus that comes."