She was sitting in front of me. I could not keep my eyes off her. She still had that elegance. I remember when she was a bubbly college girl with hairs tied in bun, running around the college ground, sometimes bare footed. She never cared about anything or anyone, but as others knew her. Whenever she uses to saw me, she was so conscious and quiet. Whatever I ask her, she could not reply and kept staring. I remember when my hands touched her hand accidently, she started trembling.
But those were the times when the
mobile phones were rare. Jio Mobile had just been launched and only few use to
have it. I remember getting missed calls from the same local PCO on any day I
didn’t come to college. In my mind, I knew who it was but never took it seriously.
She had a special Bollywood kind of romanticism in whatever she does. Whether
it’s bringing Prasad for me, giving visits when I met with an accident, calling
up ask about my health, shying away when I praise her, buying small cute gifts
or collecting my pics from different sources. Literally, the whole college knew
it but she never expressed her feelings to me.
Even after knowing everything, I also tried to ignore. I had career plans and I could not divert from my aim. And then 3 years of college ended and we separated. I always had a miss call from her on Karwa Chauth and a big bouquet of red and yellow flowers, right at 7 am on my birthday. And interestingly I also waited for these 2 things every year.
But
I always had a respect for her. And when I saw her in this condition today, I
was hurt. She was totally drunk and was with a foreigner in the bar. I saw him
taking the advantage of her condition and taking her into his room. I could not
hold. I had to hit him and took her to my room. She vomited in the room and
spoiled her clothes. So, I had to take them off and wash them. The next day
when she got up at around 1pm, she was shocked when she saw me having coffee,
sitting on the couch.
“What are you doing here?” she
asked me surprisingly.
I got up. “How are you feeling Anu?”
I asked rubbing my eyes.
“I don’t know. My head is paining.
How come you are here? And how I came here? Where are my clothes?” She asked feeling
embarrassed.
“You were too drunk last night so I
had to bring you here. And as you had vomited so I have washed your clothes.
And I think you had to check out today as there was a call from the reception.
So I have checked out from your room and got all your things here. You can have
bath and change, then we will talk about other things.”
“Checked out?? What is the time?”
“It’s already 1:30.”
“Oh my god. That’s bad. I had a
flight at 2 and I had to go back to Delhi with our client.”
“There is no use of thinking about
it now because you cannot catch that flight in any way now. So it’s better, get
ready then we will go for lunch. We will book you the next flight.”
She agreed. She got up from the
bed, wrapped in the bed sheet. I looked away as she was feeling embarrassed.
We went to have lunch together at
2:30pm. She was wearing a long body-hugging white dress. All her well
maintained curves were very much visible. I could never imagine that she will
become so graceful one day.
We ordered lunch.
“So, you are here on an official
trip?” I asked
“Yes and No.”
“Means”
“I help my husband in his business.
So, I was here just to show Goa to our foreign client and then go back with him
and get the contract signed.”
“You mean the guy who was there
with you at night, that scoundrel, was your client?” I was shocked.
“Yes, you saw him.”
“I saw him? I hit him in the eye as
he was trying to take you into his room. I thought he was just trying to take
advantage of you.”
“What you hit him? We are going to
miss this contract. Why you had to do it?”
“Excuse me. Instead of thanking me,
you are blaming me? What have happened to you Anu? You were not like that. How
could you do all this for just a contract? And what kind of husband you have?
How could he get these things done from his wife?” I was fuming with anger.
“That’s my luck. My husband keeps
on losing his one job after the other and now he is not able to get any clients
for his business. Now he wanted me to do all this to get him this important contract.
Anyways, he doesn’t have any interest in me. He doesn’t care for anyone than
his parents.” She looked down at her fingers, playing with her ring. A tear
rolled down her cheek. “This marriage is just for the society, I could never
get anything that I had dreamt of. Leave it. How is your life going Lucky?”
I was shocked that such a lively
person could change so much within 5 years of marriage. As if her idea of Bollywood
romance has been broken and she is just alive.
“You never told anything to your
parents?”
“They would be disheartened so I
could not tell anything to them. And I have also understood that life is not a
fairy tale. My sleeping pills always help me.”
“You take pills? Does anyone at
your home know about it? Does your husband know?”
“No”
“Oh Anu. Why are you doing this to
your life?”
“Why don’t you leave all this and
live a life for yourself?”
“What is the use? I never get
anything I love. And I don’t have Lucky. I have to live with this.” She looked
at me. “Or maybe I am not good enough to be loved by anyone.”
“Don’t say that. You are such a
darling.”
“Don’t just try to make me happy.”
She took out her mobile. “I need to check the next flight. My husband must be
pissed off.”
“I will get it done. Don’t worry.
First have your lunch then we will go to my room, book your tickets and would
see how I can actually make you happy.” I smiled at her.
She smiled back. “Okay”
After finishing food, we went to my
room. And as promised, I got her tickets booked for the next morning by my
secretary.
“Your tickets are booked for
tomorrow morning.”
“And where would I go tonight.”
“Tonight you will be my guest and
it’s my duty to make sure you leave tomorrow morning as happy as you want to
be. Can I have the honour to do that?”
She smiled and kept looking at me.
