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Half Girl By Chetan Bhagat Pdf

Synopsis:
Once upon a time, there was a Bihari boy called Madhav. He fell in love with a rich girl from Delhi
called Riya. Madhav didnt speak nglish well. Riya did. Madhav wanted a relationship. Riya didnt.
Riya !ust wanted friendship. Madhav didnt. Riya suggested a compromise. "he agreed to be his
half#girlfriend.
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$rologue
%%%%
&'hey are your !ournals, you read them,( ) said to him.
He shook his head.
&*isten, ) don(t have the time or patience for this,( ) said, getting irritated. Being a writer on a book
tour doesn(t allow for much sleep%) had not slept more than four hours a night for a week. )
checked my watch. &)t(s midnight. ) gave you my view. )t(s time for me to sleep now.(
&) want you to read them,( he said.
+e were in my room at the ,hanakya Hotel, $atna. 'his morning, he had tried to stop me on my
way out. 'hen he had waited for me all day- ) had returned late at night to find him sitting in the
hotel lobby.
&.ust give me five minutes, sir,( he had said, following me into the lift. /nd now here we were in my
room as he pulled out three tattered notebooks from his backpack.
'he spine of the books came apart as he plonked them on the table. 'he yellowing pages fanned out
between us. 'he pages had handwritten te0t, mostly illegible, as the ink had smudged. Many pages
had holes in them, rats having snacked on them.
/n aspiring writer, ) thought.
&)f this is a manuscript, please submit it to a publisher. However, do not send it in this state,( ) said.
&) am not a writer. 'his is not a book.(
&)t(s not1( ) said, lightly touching a crumbling page. ) looked up at him. ven seated, he was tall.
Over si0 feet, he had a sunburnt, outdoor ruggedness about him. Black hair, black eyes and a
particularly intense ga2e. He wore a shirt two si2es too big for his lean frame. He had large hands.
He reassembled the notebooks, gentle with his fingers, almost caressing the pages.
&+hat are these books1( ) said.
&) had a friend. 'hese are her !ournals,( he said.
&Her !ournals. /h3 / girlfriend1(
&Half#girlfriend.(
&+hat1(
He shrugged.
&*isten, have you eaten anything all day1( ) said.
He shook his head. ) looked around. / bowl of fruit and some chocolates sat ne0t to my bed. He
took a piece of dark chocolate when ) offered it.
&"o what do you want from me1( ) said.
&) want you to read these !ournals, whatever is readable4because ) can(t.(
) looked at him, surprised.
&5ou can(t read1 /s in, you can(t read in general1 Or you can(t read these1(
&'hese.(
&+hy not1( ) said, reaching for a chocolate.
&Because Riya(s dead.(
My hand fro2e in mid#air. 5ou cannot pick up a chocolate when someone has !ust mentioned a
death.
&Did you !ust say the girl who wrote these !ournals is dead1(
He nodded. ) took a few deep breaths and wondered what to say ne0t.
&+hy are they in such a terrible shape1( ) said after a pause.
&'hey are old. Her e0#landlord found them after years.(
&"orry, Mr +hats#your#name. ,an ) order some food first1( ) picked up the phone in the room and
ordered two club sandwiches from the limited midnight menu.
&)(m Madhav. Madhav .ha. ) live in Dumraon, eighty kilometres from here.(
&+hat do you do1(
&) run a school there.(
&Oh, that(s4( ) paused, searching for the right word.
&4noble1 6ot really. )t(s my mother(s school.(
&) was going to say that(s unusual. 5ou speak nglish. 6ot typical of someone who runs a school in
the back of beyond.(
&My nglish is still bad. ) have a Bihari accent,( he said without a trace of self#consciousness.
&7rench people have a 7rench accent when they speak nglish.(
&My nglish wasn(t even nglish until4( he trailed off and fell silent. ) saw him swallow to keep
his composure.
&8ntil1(
He absently caressed the notebooks on the desk.
&6othing. /ctually, ) went to "t. "tephen(s.(
&)n Delhi1(
&5es. nglish types call it "teven(s.(
) smiled. &/nd you are not one of the nglish types1(
&6ot at all.(
'he doorbell startled us. 'he waiter shifted the !ournals to keep the sandwich tray on the table. /
few sheets of the !ournal fell to the floor.
&,areful3( Madhav shouted as if the waiter had broken an anti9ue crystal.
'he waiter apologi2ed and scooted out of the room.
) offered him a tomato and cheese sandwich. He ignored me and rearranged the loose sheets of
paper.
&/re you okay1 $lease eat this.(
He nodded, his eyes still on the pages of the !ournal. ) decided to eat since my imposed guest didn(t
seem to care about my hospitality.
&'hese !ournals obviously mean a lot to you. But why have you brought them here1(
&7or you to read. Maybe they will be useful to you.(
&How will they be useful to me1( ) said, my voice firmer with the food inside me. / part of me
wanted him out of my room as soon as possible.
&"he used to like your books. +e used to read them together,( he said in a soft voice. &7or me to
learn nglish.(
&Madhav,( ) said, as calmly as possible. &'his seems like a sensitive matter. ) don(t want to get
involved. Okay1(
His ga2e remained directed at the floor. &) don(t want the !ournals either,( he said after a while.
&'hat is for you to decide.(
&)t(s too painful for me,( he said.
&) can imagine.(
He stood up, presumably to leave. He had not touched his sandwich%which was okay, because )
could eat it after he left.
&'hank you for your time. "orry to disturb you.(
&)t(s okay,( ) said.
He scribbled his phone number on a piece of paper and kept it on the table. &)f you are ever in
Dumraon and need anything, let me know. )t(s unlikely you will ever come, but still.( He stood up,
instantly dwarfing me, and walked to the door.
&Madhav,( ) called out after him. &5ou forgot the !ournals. $lease take them with you.(
&) told you ) don(t need them.(
&"o why are you leaving them here1(
&Because ) can(t throw them. 5ou can.( Before ) could answer, he stepped out, shut the door and left.
)t took me a few seconds to reali2e what had happened.
) picked up the !ournals and ran out of the room, but the sole working lift had !ust gone down. )
couldn(t have taken the stairs and caught him in time- after a long day, ) didn(t have the energy to
do that either.
) came back to my room, irritated by his audacity. Dumping the notebooks and the slip with his
phone number in the dustbin, ) sat on the bed, a little unsettled.
) can(t let someone ) !ust met get the better of me, ) thought, shaking my head. ) switched off the
lights and lay down in bed. ) had to catch an early morning flight to Mumbai the ne0t day and had a
four#hour window of sleep. ) couldn(t wait to reach home.
However, ) couldn(t stop thinking about my encounter with the mysterious Madhav. +ho was this
guy1 Dumraon, "tephen(s and Delhi in my head. :uestions popped up; +hat the hell is a half#
girlfriend1 +ho was this guy1 /nd why do ) have a dead girl(s !ournals in my room1
yes wide open, ) lay in bed, staring at the little flashing red light from the smoke detector on the
ceiling.
'he !ournals bothered me. "ure, they lay in the dustbin. However, something about those torn
pages, the dead person and her half#boyfriend, or whoever he was, intrigued me. Don(t go there,(
my mind screamed down its own suggestion. 'he suggestion; read !ust one page.
&Don(t even think about it,( ) said. But thirty minutes later, ) switched on the lights in my room,
fished out the !ournals from the dustbin and opened the first volume. Most pages were too damaged
to read. ) tried to make sense of what ) could. 'he first page dated back nine years, to <st 6ovember
=>>=.
Riya had written about her fifteenth birthday in Delhi. &One more page,( ) told myself. ) flipped
through the sheets as ) tried to find another readable page. ) read one more section, and then
another. 'hree hours later, ) had read whatever could be read in the entire set.
'he room phone rang at ? a.m., startling me.
&5our wake#up call, sir,( the hotel operator said.
&) am awake, thank you,( ) said, as )(d never slept at all. ) called .et /irways.
&)(d like to cancel a ticket on the $atna#Mumbai flight this morning.(
$ulling out the slip of paper with Madhav(s number from the dustbin, ) te0ted him; &+e need to
talk. )mportant.(
/t @.A> a.m., the tall, lanky man was in my room once more.
&Make tea for both of us. 'he kettle is above the minibar.(
He followed my instructions. 'he early morning sun highlighted his sharp features. He handed me a
cup of tea and took a seat diagonally opposite me on the double#bed.
&"hould ) speak first, or will you1( ) said.
&/bout1(
&Riya.(
He sighed.
&Do you think you knew her well1(
&5es,( he said.
&5ou feel comfortable talking about her to me1(
He thought for a few seconds and nodded.
&"o tell me everything. 'ell me the story of Madhav and Riya.(
&/ story that fate left incomplete,( he said.
&7ate can be strange indeed.(
&+here do ) start1 +hen we first met1(
&/lways a good place,( ) said.
This PDF will be updated in future. If you an spent so!e !oney we reo!!end you to buy
Half Girlfriend. It only ost "s #$%.

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