When you stood behind the row of rickshaws outside his office and saw him walk out with his laptop in one hand and a mysterious bag in the other you immediately conjured up terrible visions in your head. What could be in the bag? Condoms. And baby oil. Maybe even a whip or some rope. Thinking of Gouri tied to her bed and covered in baby oil normally makes you feel very nice. But there in front of Sachin’s office you felt … a little bit nice but also very jealous.

You followed his auto till it reached Khar where he waited outside Gouri’s building. Why doesn’t he go up, you wondered. Do they actually have a love den somewhere else? Maybe at Bandstand? She liked making out in public?

For an instant you loved her even more.

Two minutes later Gouri came out in a pair of tracks, a tight T-shirt and sneakers. And got into the auto with him. Your autowala asked if you were doing a sting operation on some ‘lady business’. You wanted to slap him for talking about Gouri like that. But ‘violence only begets violence and silence begets respect’ is one of your mottoes. So you said nothing.

You followed them for another ten minutes wondering how they did it if she had to change into sports clothing. The autowala kept remarking on how hot this lady you were following was. He speculated that she was ‘high class’ and therefore would be very expensive. He was being a total bastard but you let it go.

They stopped outside another building near a Café Coffee Day and went up a narrow but brightly lit set of stairs. You paid off your perverted autowala and followed them up ten minutes later.

When you reached the second floor the clouds in the sky parted and the sunshine of pure joy shone through into your life. You heard the music, felt the beat and looked through the glass panel in the door. And you saw Gouri, Sachin and a dozen other couples trying some form of dance, perhaps the salsa, as an instructor stood in front guiding them along.

And they were dancing to that same Gypsy Kings number you heard from Sachin’s room that night!

You could see from the look of concentration in her eyes that she saw him only as a dancing partner and nothing more. They smiled and laughed but they touched each other lightly and when they took breaks she walked over and chatted with other people.

After a few minutes, when the couples all exchanged partners and Gouri had to dance with a big, fat fellow in a pink T-shirt and a headband and huge sweat stains on his back your heart leapt for joy. That fat smelly man could be you!

You went home, and in the taxi you thought of Gouri and you and all the other things you usually thought of. And you were happy.

But you had forgotten to take your keys with you that morning. And you had to wait outside, in the stairwell, till Sachin came back two hours later.