Part 146 – Born Crazy

As narrated by Zoheb:

Aara made my day. Well initially, she stared at me weirdly and then burst out laughing. I was right…it was the shirt! And I also didn’t like it because it was so darn yellow but not wanting to be rude…I put it on quietly.

I looked down..feeling a little embarrassed and then she hugged me. Okay rephrase…she literally jumped onto me and hugged me tightly taking me totally by surprise.

Aara: (still holding me) you’re so cute you know that! I cannot stand the colour yellow on a male but you…Zoheb I think you’re sooo gorgeous that anything looks good on you!

Did she just say that? I’m pretty sure that by now my face had turned red because I could feel my dimples doing their thing.

Me: (burying my face into her half wet hair and whispering into her ears) I couldn’t say no but I feel so odd…nobody else’s shirt is so bright

Aara: (rubbing her nose against my nose) I’ll be right back!

And she hopped along the cobble pathway leading to the curio shop…

Riza: (now joining me) wooooah dude…I need to put my sunglasses on to look at you!

I rolled my eyes at Riza and then looked down at my tshirt before both of us started laughing.

Riza: (still laughing) seriously though…maybe the light is on or something…we should probably check for a switch in their somewhere

Me: yeah yeah very funny Reez

Now everyone else except Aara gathered together around the 4×4’s ready to leave. Although I could feel all eyes on me. Dammit Ziyaad why couldn’t you give someone else the yellow shirt man!

Nemo: where’s A?

Me: (pointing at the Curio shop) in there

Nemo: what is she doing there?

Arshad: baking a cake…DUH Nemo what does anyone do in a curio shop?

Nemo: (putting his arm around Arshad) aha! So the zorbing worked for you I see…shook your brains nicely and now you can say all these clever things eh bro!

Laeeka: imagine coming down the aisle in a groovyball!

Riza: (raising his eyebrow) babe you’re taking this whole zorbing thing a little too seriously now

Laeeka: I’d love to see the look on your mothers face though!!

Riza frowned while everyone else, including myself, laughed. I honestly didn’t like Riza’s mother…she may be my mothers friend but uh uh she was a nasty woman!

Zainab: my oh my…(And she grinned to herself) she’s reeeeeeally into you

I turned around to find my Aara all smiles..walking back up the cobble pathway in a bright yellow shirt like mine. My heart melted and those good old flip flops were back..

——————————————-
As narrated by Arshad:

Nemo treated us to a delicious variety of spicy pineapples, roasted corn,…and wait for it…sinfully delicious dhaiwaras! Apparently the corn and the pineapples were some ” Blue Lagoon” special and the dhaiwaras well…you know;)

So here we were, sitting on the lush green lawns of the Golden Mile and watching the beautiful Indian ocean infront of us, eating pineapple off a stick, dressed in these different coloured shirts. People occasionally chuckled as they walked passed us and Nemo even offered an old lady a dhaiwara…lol…well she was STARING at us and then scoffed at him when he held out a dhaiwara to her!

Life in Durban was so chilled compared to life in Johannesburg. It’s no wonder that us “Joburg people”, as the Durbanites love to call us, flock to Durbs during the holidays. Just listening to the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore was relaxing enough to make you forget all of your worries. And my worry at this point in time was my upcoming engagement next weekend! Zainab was so calm and easy going now that we were here, but once we hit engagement week she’s going to turn into a dragon!

I wondered…are all women like this?

I didn’t even know what Immy had planned for later on, all I knew was- that I was helping. It would be such a shame if Mari said no though, he’s such a good guy. And then there was our newest couple and ofcourse, Nemo. What does life have in store for them? Because it was so obvious that Nemo was jealous seeing them together. It didn’t come across too strong but it was there alright.

I was still lost in my thoughts when someone tied a black cloth across my eyes…

Me: (trying to fight this person off and yanking off the cloth) hey hey what’s happening!!

I didn’t realise that it was actually Aara behind me, well now with her hands on her hips and frowning at me!

Aara: Arshoo are you so lost in your daydream that you didn’t hear what we were saying?

Me: errrr yeah

Aara: well I don’t think you even remember putting your hand up hence…(Coming towards me with that cloth or whatever it is that it was) volunteering to be first so…you’re first!

Me: (backing up) first to do what???

Aara: to be blindfolded and follow instructions man…and as soon as you’ve completed your instruction you take off your blindfold.. come on it’ll be fun

I stood up and shook my head. This had Ziyaad and Nemo written all over it. Aara covered my eyes and clipped an earpiece onto my ear and Riza’s voice came clearly through it… instructing me what to do next…oh boy

Riza: take five steps forward

I hesitated but complied…

Riza: and say ” hello sister you are so beautiful”

Me: what???

Riza: (laughing) come on Arshoo!

Me: (taking a deep breath) errrr…hello sister you are …sooo beautiful??

And I took off my blindfold…holy moley!!

Infront of me stood this big burly guy with his arms folded and a very annoyed look on his face…

Before he could say anything I said..”Sorry wrong person” and I ran back to where everyone else was and needless to say all of them were torn with laughter!

Me: (raising my eyebrow at them) wow so funny

I tied the blindfold on Zoheb’s eyes next…my turn!

Me: Zoheb…take 8 steps backwards…and hold your arms out

Lol…he complied

Zoheb: okay…

Me: now go up and down

Zoheb: huh? Are you mad?

Me: go up and down Zoo!

We were finished…my stomach actually hurt. People were laughing at Zoheb as he did his squats..and what he didn’t know was…he had his back facing a group of old ladies!

Zoheb: am I done now?

Me: (busting) yeah you can take it off

And Zoheb turned around and his eyes widened…as these old ladies grinned at him..blushing and smiling their toothless smiles! This was too good!

Zoheb tied the blindfold onto Laeeka

Zoheb: Laeeka…3 steps forward…put your right hand out…and on the count of 3 – GRAB!

Laeeka: grab what???

Zoheb: 1…2…3

There was nothing there! And Laeeka complained and continuously “grabbed” at the air in frustration as people walking past her looked at her in amusement! She looked like a mime! Zainab quickly went and put one of the empty corn containers near Laeeka’s feet and ….within 2 minutes we heard the tinkle of coins being thrown in!! We were falling over each other, laughing SO hard!!The sound that they made alerted her and she quickly took off her blindfold and stared at the small crowd that had gathered around her!

She pretended to be annoyed but then took a bow, much to everyones surprise and came bouncing back to where we were.

This time she went for Riza and tied the blindfold on his eyes.

Nemo and Zainab whispered something in her ear and they all giggled amongst themselves.

Laeeka: uhmm…babe..take ummm 10 steps forward…and clean your ears!

Riza: are you crazy???

Laeeka: do it!

Riza: everytime there’s a dare I have to do something silly…last time I had to dig my nose now I have to dig my ears!

Laeeka: oh man stop whining and do it already!

And he unwillingly complied…he stood right there in the middle of the pavement and stuck both his fingers in his ears!! I was bust! Ripped! Torn! Oh God I couldn’t take it anymore!

Riza: done now?

Laeeka: no..wait…carry on digging…(Laughing madly) and when I say so..put your right hand forward, remove the blindfold with your left hand and shake the hand of the person infront of you!

Riza: babe you’re acting very silly

And this guy was walking in Riza’s direction and he squinted at Riza…why did he look so familiar?

Nemo: oh shit! Shit shit shit!

Me: do we know him? He looks so familar!

Nemo: (trying to talk through his sudden eruption of laughter) remember that white guy in the park on our first truth or dare since all of this started?

Aara: (looking hard at “that man”) can’t be Nemo…

Nemo: it is! Laeeka make him do it make him do it now!

And this guy….now stood right infront of Riza and looked at him in total shock!

Laeeka: hand out baby…

And Riza put his right hand forward, offering a handshake to this guy…making this guy jump backwards as he shook his head!

Guy: what is wrong with you man!

Riza took of his blindfold and also got the shock of his life!

By now, we were almost in tears and choking on our laughter!!

Riza: sorry bro..it was a dare

The man shook his head and walked away and Riza came back.

Riza: (washing his hands) I can’t believe it was the same guy I mean what are the chances!

And he looked at us…and he too started laughing.

We decided to have a little break to get our breath back and sort of compose ourselves…when everyone was startled by the sound of someone behind us…and it was a LOUD voice with a thick Durban accent!

” Naheeem!!”…” Haara!!”

Nemo and Aara choked on what they were eating and I’m sure I saw a few kernels flying straight onto Ziyaad..as they cringed and looked at each other in horror…

Nemo and Aara: SELVAN!!!