The proposal

“How could you think that she will be impressed by your proposal?” he asked, barely hiding his annoyance.

 

“She never even tries to hide her love for principles.” He shot a glance at him then turned his eye to look at others sitting in the bar.

 

“I agree you were very good friends, your views matched on almost every thing. You are very rich and she is poor. Your favours might have been quite helpful for her.”

 

“Still people like you tend to forget that people who can have the luxury of sticking to a principle for forty years will rather stick to it for the rest of their life. If they have passed their youth in a controlled way why will they lose their dignity at this age?”

 

He took a sip at the glass, and looked at his friend. A girl was singing some popular numbers on the stage. Quite a pretty girl, she was eying them quite frequently. After a while she came down from the stage and headed for the tables.

 

“There are girls who don’t mind a fling with married men, and there are girls who do. Both of these girls are intelligent. One flirts with married men because she knows he will shower her with money. The other does not because she knows that he will ruin her life, reputation and throw her away after a while.”

 

“Why don’t you get one of these girls?” he looked at the bar dancer. “After all you will never divorce your wife. She is quite an alright girl. Apart from that Tina is there. “

 

“I don’t think you will be able to revive your friendship with Jharna, but you can keep my suggestion in mind when you look for part time lovers in future.”

 

“A decent man never bothers an uninterested woman, especially if she has clearly and firmly said that she is not interested.”

 

“I don’t like this type of girls.” Roshan said. “They are too cheap. They will first built a relationship with you and then try to blackmail you.”

 

“If you don’t give in to their blackmailing they will target your reputation and family.” He added, “You know all these stories of kiss and tell.”

 

“well my friend, in that case you should practice self restraint. One mate for a life time is enough. If you feel disgusted with your wife divorce her and marry your woman of dreams. Or else just control yourself.”

 

“Its easy for a bachelor like you to preach.” Roshan sniggered.

 

“Well, I knew I will never be content with a non committal mate, that is why I stayed single.” He laughed, “extra martial affair is common with women too.”

 

“Shall we leave now? He asked and beckoned the waiter for bill.

 

They went out to the night city leaving behind the bar and their discussions. Both had their homes in mind.

The lie

“I lied to you.” He said, “And most probably God punished me for that.” His eyes welled up.

 

They were sitting side by side on a park bench, facing the river Ganges. Sun was setting, casting a red glow on the silver water of the river.

 

She softly laid her hand on his. “Don’t be so cruel on yourself. That’s a common game married men play, since time immemorial.”

 

“You could have done worse, you might have taken advantage of my blind love for you, which you did not.”

 

“Your wife’s death was an accident. It did not had any thing to do with the trick you played with me. God is not that cruel.”

 

Aritra and Ratri were net friends, who stumbled into each other on internet and had too much in common. They became very good friends. Aritra doted on Ratri, Ratri was quite practical, she knew cyber romances don’t last so she kept her mind in place.

 

Then they met, and she fell in love, he was a unique being. Extremely handsome and virtuous. The thing which bowled her over was through out their date he did not touched her even once.

 

He returned to his town and instantly terminated the romantic side of the friendship, though she tried to win his heart back but it appeared it has become ice cold.

 

“I fell in love the moment I saw you, but I knew I will never be able to cheat you or cause you pain. So I instantly changed myself but I could not forget you.”

 

“Amita was too busy in her career, we have loved each other for first ten years, but then she got completely stuck up in her career, she did not had any time for us. I and our two children, Amit and Aratrika.”

 

“Then I met you on net and I started to flirt with you, but the day I saw you it changed to love.”

 

“Amita was out in one of her business trips last year and a reckless driver rammed into her car. She was dead before arriving to the hospital.”

 

“That’s when I completely vanished from your life. Because I thought I got my punishment and I will spend my days with my children. I never thought you will find me out.”

 

“I still love you.” She softly held his hand and then held it with both her hands firmly.

Letting go

“She will never understand you! A person who is completely immersed in worldly pleasures and desires will never truly realize why Siddhartha left his palace to look for truth.”

 

“She may not say so out loudly due to the fear of scorn, but deep inside she will think that it was worthwhile just because he could become Gautam Buddha,  or else he would have been one of the best losers of human history. She will never even realize the satisfaction behind letting go every thing, including minimum necessities..”

 

“I can assure you, she is dead certain that you are heartbroken and miserable, that is why she keeps on flittering around you and she/her friends keep asking you the same question in fifty forms.”

 

They were sitting side by side, watching the sun set on distant horizon. Its crimson rays were lingering in the sky, clouds and every thing it could touch. Creating a world of magical beauty.

 

Ahana was Kankana’s closest friend. They have been each other’s best friends for years. Recently Ahana has come to visit Kankana from her present home in Delhi.

 

Kankana loved Atanu, they have loved each other for quite a few years, quite deeply. Then Atanu asked his family for the permission to marry her. Permission was granted, but a little time was asked from them, the time to get Atanu’s older brother Santanu get married.

 

His marriage already arranged,, with one of Atanu’s father’s friend’s daughter, Banalata. Santanu wanted to take voluntary retirement from his service in Army before marrying. So did Banalata, because she was scared of the risks.

 

They were waiting for Santanu’s retirement when he was killed in an encounter. To add up to the shock they came to know that Banalata was pregnant with his child. She refused to have him or/her aborted. There was only one choice left and that happened, Atanu married Banalata.

 

Another shock was in store for the family. Santanu came back, he was held captive but not killed. He bluntly refused ever touching Banalata. He went back to his office telling he wont take the VRS as it was no longer required.

 

Atanu’s heart was shattered to pieces. He came to meet Kankana and asked her what he should do.  He was thinking about divorcing Banalata. Though she was quite a docile wife to him and the kid was three years old, called him dad and doted on him. Their marriage blessed them with a daughter, who is yet to complete her first year on earth.

 

Kankana told him to forgive her, if she is loyal to him, may be she faltered only once and lied to save herself from ruin. If she is adulterous then Atanu can always walk away from her he has enough proof to get a divorce.

 

“Don’t think for a second that you will be able to get rid of Banalata’s shadow from your life, as her soul is guilty she will always keep a watch on you.”

 

“It should not have happened this way but sometimes life takes most unpleasant turns but I am glad that it brought out the best in you and molded you into gold.”Ahana held her hand firmly.

Vendetta

“Has any one ever told you that lie does not have feet to walk on? It cant even stand on its own for long.”

“I believed all your stories and helped you to get your vendetta till.. till I saw that girl and mixed with her for a year.”

“You were so blinded by your hatred for her family that you thought I am blind, I will act as your puppet and ruin her.”

“I don’t know what her family has done, or how they have made your sister commit suicide, but I can tell you one thing that THIS GIRL DID NOT HAD ANY THING TO DO WITH THAT. To be truthful, I am lately having a little doubt on your authenticity. May be you had some personal problem with the girl….”

“Tell me buddy, do you want me to believe that you have mixed with this girl as a friend, stalked, cyberstalked her as her BEST FRIEND for three years and yet you could not realize that she is as pure as a morning rose?”

“In all these years of stalking in disguise of a dear friend you never realized that she hates her family as much as you do…”

He laid down both his elbows on the table and placed his face on his palms, looking at her very thoughtfully.

“Your hatred for her scares me, how vicious you women can become when you are determined to ruin someone, don’t you? You don’t mind pretending as her best friend and slowly sending her to hell, your eyes cry to fool her while your heart jumps with glee… really scary I should say. I am glad that I am bachelor!” he winked at her grimly.

“But I will certainly applaud you on your acting and lying skills.”

“You had her destruction in your mind from the very beginning. So you rented a house near her home and started to keep a stock on her.”

“Then your brother started to pretend that he is in love with her, madly. Of course, you had to interfere, you could not let her in your family, her family made your baby sister kill herself.”

“So you forced your brother to marry someone of your choice.” He continued, “Well he did, to a police officer! Even had a daughter.”

“But he continued his affair with her, and she was also madly in love with him, even though she knew he was married, now that’s your version, the thing which you convinced me into.”

“Again both you and your sister in law became outraged. And vowed that you will destroy her.”

“In place of controlling your brother or confirming with her whether she knows he is married or not, you appointed a goon to harass her.”

“That man broadcasted everywhere that she is his mistress, and not only that, he forced his way into their home terrorizing her poor family, to convince the neighbours that he is true.”

“Not only that,, my information tell me that the person she loved is your cousin, your brother’s friend, just like it happens in families, his voice is almost like him, he left for UK after knowing that she wont be accepted in his family and your brother started to use his phone number and created a fake id in his name. As they have never met it was not possible for her to realize that her actual lover has been replaced by a fraud with deadly intentions.”

“Then you started to reap what you sowed, but even then you did not learned your lesson and you tried to trick me into killing her. “

“I sincerely hope that you will get your dues sooner or later. Now you can disappear from my life like I never saw you. But if my men say that they have seen any one harassing that girl I will see you…” his voice sounded eerily ominous.

Ragini

She  arrived in kolkata from a remote village of Bihar with one dream in her eyes, become Tollygunge’s Madhuri Dixit. She ended up as the mistress of a lower rung director, fat, old and ugly…. But with enough money to fulfill her whims, as long as they were logical.

 

She was sick of the whole affair, she could not break free because she did not had anywhere to go, and she knew that she wont go anywhere with him either. He was married with a son.  A son who was couple of years older than her. She  felt absolute repulsion whenever he touched her but he has not forced himself upon her, it was she who has trapped and netted him.

 

She was shopping in a plaza when she saw him shopping at a distance with his family. She took the cover of a shelf so he could not see her. His wife was an average looking, decent woman and his son was autistic. Quite amply autistic, with enough control on limbs but not much control over worldly wisdom or ways.

 

A couple of months went away, Mr. Sisodia returned home after a trip abroad. His wife Chanchal was waiting for him in the airport.  

 

She gave him a huge smile, “Rakesh has searched a bride for himself. Can you believe it? I like her too. She is from some small town in Bihar.”

 

“She said she knows you, and respects you a lot.” She added, “She has struggled for a while in Tollygunge before realizing its too dirty. She was working in the same office with Rakesh and they fell in love.”

 

“She knows me? Well, invite her for dinner tomorrow, I want to see who is she!” he said casually.

 

“Mom, Dad meet Ragini, the girl I talked about.” Rakesh happily announced. Mr. Sisodia stared at the demure girl standing behind him.

 

She talked very little, and left after dinner. Both Mrs. Sisodia and Rakesh were charmed by her.

 

“You did not asked her to send her parents to us to finalize the date?” his wife asked him when they were sitting in the balcony together. Rakesh has gone to drop Ragini home.

 

Mr. Sisodia only stared at her.

Unwanted

“So you are confirmed that you will not marry Tanuja, you will marry Rekha?” Chandra asked her brother softly.

“Yes, I don’t like Tanuja, she is too drab, she does not even knows how to move around in society.” Pratim said.

“She knows it very well how to move around in society, but she is too soft and sophisticated for your taste.” Chandra said, “Its your life do what you want. But in future if you realize that Rekha does not wants Sushma sent her to me. I will bring her up.”

“She may not be second mother to Sush but she will bring her up all right.” Pratim said arrogantly. “Now if you will excuse me I will go to bed.”

He went upstairs, taking two steps at a time, leaving Chandra in the drawing room. Sushma was sleeping with Chandra, she loved her pishimoni a lot.

Pratim’s wife passed away during delivery. Chandra was living with them at that time, her husband worked on a ship and was out on his final voyage. He is to return next month and stay. He will be working in Kidderpore after that, in Kolkata office.

Sushma was now three years old. Chandra wanted her brother to marry her college friend Tanuja, she knew Tanuja has loved Pratim but never dared to express it, reason? She knew what Pratim thinks of her. Call it a sixth sense with which only lovers are blessed.

Rekha was Pratim’s sister in law, his in-laws too wanted him to marry her because they had greater faith on their own daughter than Chandra’s friend when it came to loving their grand-daughter.

Chandra’s only reason behind objection was she has noted how cold Rekha was to Sushma and all other children. She did not liked children much, she was one of those women who are more lover than a mother.

As for Tanuja she knew how much she doted after Pratim and she has seen deep affection in her eyes when they were around Sushma. To her she was a piece of him.




The marriage occurred after a month of the discussion between the siblings and Chandra shifted to her new flat a month after that. She took Sushma with her because Pratim was out on honeymoon trip.

She thought it would be best if Sushma stayed with her while Pratim and Rekha settle in their love nest after their return. She decided that she will send her to them when they ask for her.

She was surprised when a couple of months passed away after their return and none showing any interest to take Sushma home. Pratim visited her every day without break for at-least half an hour, that’s all.

Chandra and her husband Dhwanit were quite amused but they thought it better to not ask. It might not be the best for the child if she lands there as an eyesore. And they were quite happy that their own son, who was two years older than Sushma had a playmate.

“Ask Pratim if we can enroll Sushma in Arghya’s school.” Dhwanit asked Chandra. “She will get late if we delay it any further.”

“Do it for now, I will later transfer her to its Bhowanipore branch, once Rekha is settled in home. She is rearranging the whole flat. We may change the flat too, you know, somewhere near to our offices, so we can give more time to Sushma.” Pratim said.

Another six months passed away. That day Pratim came with a box of sweets. “Sushma is going to have a brother or sister.” He laughed merrily.

“In that case let her stay with us Pratim, Rekha will need rest. She will get exhausted with Sushma, she is a bundle of mischief.” Dhwanit said.

“Thanks dada.” Pratim clasped his hand.




The new member arrived seven months later. He was a boy. The nurses and doctors said he was carbon copy of Rekha. Chandra and Dhwanit entered the nursing home with a bouquet of flower and Sushma.

Pratim was waiting for them in the lobby. He was brimming with happiness. They entered the cabin, Rekha was sitting their, glowing like a morning rose. Holding and kissing the new born passionately.

She looked up at them and smiled. “We can bring Sushma back home now. Her little brother will have a playmate.”

“No, she will stay with Chandra.” Pratim said. “I think that will be the best for her.”

Devil’s own

“So you say that you loved her thinking that she was an innocent girl but your views changed after all these years?” he was looking at him with a strange intensity in his eyes, Sitendra shifted uneasily under the stern gaze of those eyes. It appeared as if a dark fire was burning behind those dark eyes.

“All these years which you and your hired men spent stalking her, finding out her wherever she went ? Keep talking, it’s a good story.” His gaze was fixed on his face.

“You are trying to say that you wasted those thousands of dollars I sent you without even knowing that her siblings are usurping that money without giving her a single penny? Not only that, they presented another girl who introduced herself to you as her, then she got married to your son, and then the game was caught but you could not throw her out because your son was in love with her…. Interesting! To compensate you started to monitor Bibhabari’s whereabouts so you could help her, and you pretended as ME to keep an eye on her, as a guardian of course, then you fell in love with her because your wife was a fiend…. You should have opted for a career in movies as a story writer”

“I sometimes really wonder how you men first start lying and then how you keep adding more and more to that thinking everyone else is a fool.”

The speaker was Sarvesh, Sitendra’s friend. His son fell in love with a girl of poor family during his trip to India. Sarvesh asked Sitendra to check in stealth if the girl is alright. There was another reason he wanted to enquire about her a little, although his son Rik was a very handsome man, the girl has repeatedly refused his proposals saying she will never marry. That was the point which bothered him and that was the reason he wanted the investigation in secret. He did not wanted any problem with his daughter in law.. if she was meant to become so.

“As was supposed to happen, when that impostor married your son, my heartbroken son was healed by your daughter and they eventually got married three years back.” Sarvesh chuckled.

“But my mean men are telling me that you made up this story to keep MY money in YOUR family.”

“You know, there are so many flaws in your story… first my men say your son’s wife is Bibhabari’s neighbour, your son used to meet her quite often before marriage. While original Bibhabari was residing in the same i.e. her home, it’s strange that you two, who knew every thing about her slipped on this, I believe all her neighbours call her bibhabari and that impostor Renuka, right??”

“Then comes the question, when you knew that your daughter in law is a fraud, why did not you instantly inform me? If you had spent the money you might have apologized.”

“But in place of that you stalked Bibhabari for last three years faking as me, a widower. And last three years have been nightmarish to her, she has been provoked so much that a normal girl would have committed suicide, its her nerve of steel or may be God has kept her going so I could know the truth.”

“You have been sending her saucy mails year after year using my name, pretending as her well-wisher on net and your hired men have been harassing her out on the street, then your fiend of a wife came to know that….”

“She was as furious as hell and tried to get her murdered and failed..” an expression of boredom crept on Sarvesh’s face. “Phew!!!”

“You brought her to one of your friend’s houses with the help of her brother so you could save her from the fury of your wife.”

“But my nasty men say you did it all to keep her under vigilance, a group of your men always stalked her, and followed her whenever she tried to join a job or have a social life, they followed her as a pack of flees following a deer, as a result she ended up without a job or social life.”

“You know, I trust my men, they are professional and have reputation.” Sarvesh said, “They have even told me about some of the matches you fixed for her, one of the was a severe psychiatric patient, the other a jailbird, third an electrician of another religion..”

“Neither I nor my son have any faith left on you any more. I have already shared your story with my son, he is sitting in the next room listening to your story, and we have unanimously decided that your daughter will go back to you and Bibhabari will become my daughter in law, if any of you object……. You can get your daughter remarried to any one of your selected grooms, I will pay the dowry”

daughter

“Upasana, I cant deny that you are an adorable person but the real reason behind my marriage is Sakshi. My daughter. I want a wife who will love her as her own. You have been born and brought up in a joint family, and every one says you dote after children, I sincerely hope that you will love my motherless daughter like you loved them.” Prasun looked at her with eyes full of expectation.

“She is not ‘your motherless child’ “ Upasana quipped, “She is our daughter.”

“Do you think you can blindly trust me?” she asked, “Otherwise I will have to regret the decision of marrying you.”

Prasun hugged her tightly. “Thanks sweetheart.”

Prasun loved his first wife very much, she passed away when Sakshi was three years old, he took another ten years to marry Upasana. After realizing that he cant bring up a daughter on his own especially when he has to travel around the country.

He has initially left her with his own brother and sister in law, then one day he came back from a tour all of a sudden and saw him belting her while the rest of his family watched. He came to know later that all the money he spent was used by his family while she was doled out the leftovers.

Then he decided to take the risk of a step mother. To his relief he noted that Upasana and Sakshi became quite fond of each other, pretty quickly.

A couple of years passed by like dream then Upasana became pregnant. They were blessed by a son. Sakshi doted after her baby brother. She loved playing with him for hours, enjoying every thing about him.

It was a beautiful evening, they were playing in the garden, Upasana was working in the kitchen. All of a sudden Sakshi came running, Soham was missing. Sakshi has come inside for a glass of water and he has vanished.

They both searched the whole house, garden and the entire street. There was no sign of him. Prasun was out of station. Upasana called his brother up who instantly reached them.

“This is why we hated that girl so much.” His wife said. “She must have done it on intention, she must have been jealous of the little one.”

“She was like this with our children too. Always watching them like vulture, even at that age.” She added.

“Please don’t say a single word about my daughter. I am already too tired; I don’t have the energy of giving you explanations for my daughter’s behaviour.” Upasana said firmly. There was something in her expression which silenced the other woman.

He

“I have told you once, twice and thrice that I don’t give any thing to beggars, now go away before I call the guard.” The woman snarled at him before slamming the door on his face.

“I have not nibbled a single thing in last three days.” He sobbed weakly.

He was one of those who are called “idiots” by their unkind fellow human beings and “autistic” by kinder ones. He did not had much coordination between his limbs and brain. He lived as a burden on his widow mother for the first forty five years of his life, then she was libereated from her miseries by death. Till her last day she worked in fields to feed them, if not every day then atleast once in two days.

His neighbours cremated her and then simply forgot him. They closed doors on him, he spent one month banging on those doors, hoping one will open, none did.

He left the village he has known since childhood and started to walk listlessly in the dusty roads. Begging. Sometimes he got alms or food and sometimes pebbles and stones, pelted at him by cruel children while adults looked nonchalantly.

He has reached this small town late last night and fell asleep on the first doorstep. The woman who was talking with him has opened the door to fetch newspaper and bottle of milk. He has asked for something to eat, and her rebuke was the answer he got.

He got up and started to walk, soon he reached another small home. He saw a bottle of milk and newspaper was lying on the doorstep. He did what he has never done, he picked up the bottle and pried it open and started to drink it. The ice cold milk burned its way through his parched stomach. Causing terrible pain at the end.

“Ma, ma look what that man is doing!!!!!” he heard the shrill shout of a child and looked around him, his gaze was met by the stunned gaze of a small child, hardly five or six years old. She was staring at her from the lawn.

“What happened? ….. Who are you?” a female voice asked, the door behind him has opened and a woman was standing there, staring at him.

“What happened?” this time a male voice joined in.

“He drank all the milk!!!” the child has approached him by that time. “don’t you know its stealing to take things without asking?”

“Stop preaching young miss, go inside and bring some toasts.” Her mother smirked.

“Who are you?” the woman asked, this time softly, she has realized his condition after observing him closely.

He did not answered, She did not expected him to answer either. The child has reappeared with some toasts in a plate. The woman handed him over the plate. He attacked them hungrily.

“Now what Mrs. T?” her husband asked with a soft smile.

“Will you send ramukaka, he can clean him up and give him some clean clothes. I will call up Mrs. Dastidar to ask if there is some place for a hapless creature in her home.” She softly laughed.

Blogging

“You want me to believe you.”

“Actually, if I look back I think it was all my mistake. To lay my blind faith on you, trusting you, thinking that you are my friend.” He said solemnly, in an eerily calm voice.

He, Anil, was a gangster, who has been languishing in an US jail on a life term, was released early because of his good conduct.

The person he was talking with was his white-collared friend in India. Mr. S/K. Khemka.

Anil befriended a girl on internet. They became very good friends instantly. The girl was his only contact with a pure hearted creature. He cared a lot for her. She was the youngest child of a huge family. Both her parents were aged and poor.

Anil formed a deep affection for her and wanted her to get settled in life. He requested his friend Mr. Khemka and he said he will see to it.

He appointed the girl in one of his offices, and introduced him to Anil after a year or so. Anil fulfilled all her whims, finally she married Mr. Khemka’s son and Anil showered her with gifts.

One day, while casually surfing through net he stumbled upon a blog, he saw his own name mentioned there., as the author’s greatest friend. He was surprised and befriended the authoress using a fake name.

He realized very soon that this girl was his actual friend. Who of course has worked for Mr. Khemka for two months and have left him after that because of his extreme misbehaviour. She used to surf from office and have lost the password of the account which she used then.

But, as per her Anil was her friend even now, though he has almost vanished but still he sends her a mail or two once a year.

It did not take Anil much to confirm that she was the genuine girl. He did not said a single word to Mr. Khemka and contacted one of his cousins in India. He found out the whole story within a month.

Mr. Khemka had it all planned before appointing the girl, his computer was bugged, they hacked her account, usurped it and made her leave the job. Then he appointed his son’s fiancé, who was not very averse to freebies in the office, asked her to squeeze the money out of Anil.

He befriended Anil's actual friend using the mails of one of her friends to keep a track on her. First he tried to provoke her to become a nun, then he tried to get her killed but luck saved her. But she got so scared that she started to live a semi-anonymous life, serving Mr. Khemka’s purpose partially.

He never thought that she will start blogging…..

Shelter

Pabak was returning home from Kashmir, he usually preferred traveling in plain clothes, with civilians. He was sitting on the window seat, no one has entered his first class compartment as yet, and the remaining berth was reserved from a station after Kanpur, his home. The train has barely started to move when someone entered his compartment and bolted the door from inside.

He jumped up from his seat; it was a woman in burqa. One of his hands gripped the automatic in his pocket firmly, “Who are you?” his voice became harsh unwillingly. “It’s a reserved compartment.”

The intruder uncovered her face, Pabak stared at her face. He has never seen such a beautiful girl in his whole life. She dropped down on her knees and folded her hands, “Bhaiya please save me. Only God knows how I fooled them and slipped out of their clutches.”

“Sit down.” He said. He handed her over a glass of water. The train has started to move in a nice speed.

“Bhaisaab, please, will you draw the curtains of the window?” she begged.

There was something in her voice which made Pabak listen to her. She had her reasons. She herself voluntarily blabbered out her horrible story to him. She was studying in class tenth, in a small town of Madhya Pradesh when her own mother took her to a trip, a one way trip to Kashmir. She ended up in a brothel and her mother vanished.

It’s been more than four years since that nightmarish journey; she was being taken to Bihar for a dance program. Her escorts being confident that she does not have any where to go have gone slack and she has escaped. She just hopped in the train on the opposite platform when it started to move and barged into the first compartment.

The TT knocked the door; Pabak opened the door and reserved her ticket till Kanpur. They descended in Kanpur and left for the army barracks. Her name was Chandni, Pabak rechristened her as Sugandh.

When he reached his home his wife, small daughter and brother were waiting for him in the verandah. He hugged his wife and understanding her surprise told her they will talk later. “Give her something to wear honey, will you?”

Shraddha was quite comfortable with his husband’s huge heart that was the reason she married him in the first case. So she took Sugandh to the guest room and gave her a set of her clothes, showed her the toilet and asked her to change.

A shiver ran down her spines when she heard her story. She softly clasped Pabak’s hand and said that he did the right thing.



Pabak was one of those human beings who knew true meaning of humanity. She still remembered their first meeting, her friend and he were in love with each other, she asked Shraddha to tell him that the relationship was off because he did not wanted to walk away from his autistic brother and she was not interested to carry his burden for whole life.

She was quite interested to see the man who could let go a dazzling creature like Leena to look after his brother. She saw him and it was love at first sight. He took more than four years to propose.

She was born and brought up in a family which knew to share, so taking Shamik under her wings was nothing special to her, to her he was her first born, her second born was her daughter Pausha, who was brought to life by her.

She had a deep hope that Pausha will love Shamik enough to take care of him when they are no longer around because Shamik was ten years junior to Pabak. He was not severely autistic but he needed someone to save him from cunning people and guide him.

Sugandh slipped into their family gratefully. Pabak and Shraddha told her to become mum about her past. She was introduced as Shraddha’s distant cousin whose parents have passed away.

Months passed into almost a year when Shraddha noted a strange thing, she has noted that Sugandh liked Pabak and Shraddha was suspicious that she has started to love Shamik. She had very serious reasons to stay away from men, she did, Pabak and Shamik were the only exceptions of that rigid rule. She bluntly refused every marriage proposal which was offered to her because of her divine beauty. She told Shraddha that she did not wanted to be touched by any man ever again. But now, Shraddha has seen her more than half a dozen time playing with Shamik’s hair, or hands while he slept or sat with her.

She told Pabak about it and he said, “Lets see! Nothing better can happen for those two, but give Sugandh time.”

“After the hell she has been through, a person as pure and innocent as Shamik must be irresistible to her. But she is a woman of normal intelligence and needs; she may soon wear out of his innocent, childish nature.”

“I have become quite fond of Sugandh, she is a lovely girl but I dote after Shamik.” He said thoughtfully, “And he is my responsibility too.”

“Let’s start some small business for them so they can take care of themselves in case they marry.” Shraddha smiled.

So they just kept observing them, a few years later when Shraddha popped up the question to Sugandh she shyly agreed.

Spark of love

“Love does have its time span Tapesh.” She said with a pang of sadness.  “I cant bare my soul to show you how much I loved you then but I know it is true and I don’t have to prove myself.”

 

“If you had held my hand once and asked me to wait for you, I would have never moved on. I would have waited for you.”

 

“But you could not decide whether you love me or not. So you walked away without telling me any thing. You just vanished one fine day. Knowing I truly loved you.”

 

“I waited for you first few months, tried to contact you but you were silent.”

 

“Then I shattered to pieces, thinking I have lost every thing in life. Then the next stage came. I slowly gave in to God’s will.”

 

“Just like any person who has faith in God I started to believe that whatever happens happens for the very best.”

 

“I started to search for the incompatibilities in our relationships and soon they started to heap up.”

 

“Things which we would have brushed away if we were together. But as we were not together, my love was a one sided show those incompatibilities soon took over the love and it was gone.”

 

“Love is like fire, it needs tending, a regular dose of fuel to keep it burning. No matter how strong the flame is if it not tended properly it will die with time.”

 

“Next time when you love someone, give her some reason to keep the fire burning in her heart.”

 

After finishing her words she took her leave and left him alone in the park bench. He sat there watching her walk away. A tall, graceful figure slowly disappearing in the settling dusk.

 

The park was filled with chirping birds, setting down on branches for the night. He too got up after a while, took a cab to station and left the town forever.

The puppet

He was sitting alone in the park bench. The dusk was slowly settling down, spring wind was blowing, bringing a feeling of nostalgia with it… pain originated of unknown reasons.

He sat there watching the park gate, it was already half past five, she was supposed to be here at five. He was a little worried because she always maintained time, actually it was usually she who reached their meeting places first.

All nearby benches were occupied by lovers, some of them were looking at him, he was quite habituated of these repeated glances at himself, he was as handsome as Apollo himself, that’s what his friends have chanted to him for years.

He was about to pull out the cell phone to call her when he saw her coming toward him. He stood up and waved his hand and she started to come toward him. A sweet smile was lingering on her lips.

They became friends through internet, both were lonely and looking for decent friends in an alien city, where livelihood had sent them and became friends instantly. He was almost crazily in love with her but she did not reciprocated to his love. She kept on saying, “wait till we meet! If we ever do!”

Then they met, and he realized she was right. She was an extremely cultured, sweet natured but ordinary looking girl. Without any charisma at all. All his dreams ended then and there but she fell in love with him.

She was “shattered dreams” to him and he was “dream come true” to her. Even though she was a very practical girl but no matter how hard she tried she could not detach herself from him. The more she tried the more she got tangled in his love.

He left the town after their only meeting because he was promoted to their Delhi office.

He tried to brush her off but a part of his heart felt sympathy for her, because he knew he was irresistible to any woman, so he decided to give her time to recover.

He maintained a friendship and tried his level best to disillusion her. Whereas she became obsessed with him. Whenever he tried to call off the relationship her immense pain pulled him back to her. It appeared as if her very happiness depended on him.
She was just like a puppet in his hands, laughing and crying at the snap of his fingers.

Slowly his attempts started to materialize and he started to feel that the puppet is waking up, she is tugging at her strings to be free.

Then he realized that he is crazily in love with her. He tried to revive the relationship but she inched away.

He started to spend sleepless nights having nightmares of losing her and rushed back to meet her.

“Hi!!!” she smiled at him. “How are you?”

“Perfectly fine.” He smiled back at her. “Lets go and eat something.”

He took her to a small, cozy restaurant. A cubicle was already booked for them.

She sat down and instead of sitting opposite to her he sat down beside her. She looked at him with a little surprise and bowed her head. Her fingers were playing with the napkins.

The waiter left after taking the orders. He softly held her hand and slipped a small ring in her ring finger.

“Will you marry me? I cant live without you.” He softly whispered.

“Are you sure? I don’t think I am your type. You are too good looking for me.” She said. Hiding her eyes from his.

“I love you too much, and if I marry you this love will only increase day by day.” She added, “If you change your mind I will be shattered to pieces.”

“You refused me on our first meeting, may be its pity not love.” She said, “I don’t want your pity.”

He forced her to lift her face and look at him, straight in his eyes. His eyes answered all her questions.
“I may have been fool in the past but a man grows up with time.” He softly smiled, “I am not insane to let a love like yours slip away from my fingers.”

Walking away

“Don’t be afraid.” She said with ample amount of justified sarcasm. “I wont marry him even if he begs me.”

“I know he is one in a million.” She added. “I also know that I will never meet anyone like him still….”

“I am refusing him just because he is your son, I am refusing him because I don’t want to steal your only son from you. Under no circumstances will I live under the same roof with an evil person like you. So it should be better if I part my ways with him.”

She got up and left the room without even looking back at him.

Mr. Mitra was observing the girl sitting opposite him. She was his son’s choice. He could not say no to his son so he used his skills on her. Though he had to admit that it was really nasty but sometimes people do nasty things.. that’s how the real world is. He is not an alien, he is also a part of the earth.

His only son left his palace to marry this girl. He boasted that he will stand on his own feet and marry her. He has fixed his marriage with this girl thinking that she was the daughter of a millionaire, which she was not, to add up she was dead against dowry system.

He backed off from the proposal but his son did not, because he was crazily in love with her.

He joined a small office at a meager salary and they both started to wait for a little raise in his salary so they could get married.

At home, Mr. Mitra’s wife got at his neck, she was not at all happy with her husband’s decisions, her views were primitive.. “We have enough money to feed our daughter in law.”

Mr. Mitra finally faked submission and said he will finalize the marriage but he too holds two conditions, first, his son Rohan will have to complete the MBA in USA which he discontinued and during that period he wants to test the girl personally in secret.

Rohan left for USA and Rumki joined one of Mr. Mitra’s offices at Rohan’s reference. Rumki was not even the least interested in Rohan’s background, because she has loved him just the way he was. So it was easy for Mr. Mitra to sit on her boss’s chair without her knowing who he actually was.

He became abusive in a sly way from the day one. He clearly showed her that she was far two sub standard for them. She was treated more like a servant than an employee.

To further her harassment he used his strong influences and placed a few convicted scoundrells in his office to work with her. who made the life of that girl miserable with their perversion. Saying no to him would have meant landing in jail, so they kept on doing what they were ordered to do.

His next step was getting hold of her cellphones and installing spyware on them, in a way that every call, sms is diverted through his phone. The same software kept him updated about her movements. So he could set loose another group of scoundrels on the street to prove she was a cheap woman.

But his game was caught, one of his pawns told every thing to her and his son after absconding to Middle East.

Mr. Mitra returned home, a letter was waiting for him on his table which said his wife has left to live with his son in USA, it also promised him that Rumki is her future daughter in law.

Nymph

Long long ago an evil demon ruled the demon kingdom. One fine evening he was enjoying the peaceful environment of earth. He came to a small tapovan.

His horses were tired so he released them to wander around and himself took a form of a bird and sat down on a tree to enjoy the solitude.

Suddenly he felt a piercing pain and found himself on the ground with an arrow stuck in his chest. Before he could react he felt two tender palms picking him up.

“Ma, Ma someone was trying to kill this beautiful bird.” He heard a voice sweeter than nightingale and looked at the face of the person who has picked him up.

She was as beautiful as a jasmine flower bathed in early morning dew drops, holy and fragrant. Just trying to reach her youth but childish innocence was still lingering around her.

Her mother took care of his wounds and the girl softly placed him on her window sill and gave him some water. He flew away after a little time. But could not forget her.

He came back in his golden chariot the very next day, he stopped at the gate of the tapovan and seeked the permission to see the girl’s father. He asked her for her hand in marriage which was refused politely.

Meeting the straight forward rejection of the parents he tried to woo the girl. Her name was Tamalika. But his golden chariot failed there too, so did his passion. He wanted that girl but love was yet to form in his heart and that innocent but wise girl could feel lack of love in his amorous advancements. She knew well that soon his passion will ebb away for he had too many temptations in life to tempt him.

The king went back rejected and upset. He kept on returning to the tapovan as the bird to see her. he used to hide behind leaves and follow her around, soaking in her beauty.

With time he became obsessed with her and tried for the last time to impress her or her parents but failed. This time he went back with a vengeful heart.


He called his most charming nymph Ritudaman when he returned to his palace and assigned him the task of conquering the heart of the girl, then breaking it and returning to the kingdom.

The nymph did what he was asked to do. The demon king enjoyed the whole show from his seat behind the leaves. He went back again to the sage after Ritudaman’s return.

This time he took his most beautiful queen with him. He thought in vain that they will be miserable.

He thought about meeting Tamalika to show her what she has missed. He observed with great joy that she was shattered to pieces. A deep sadness has taken over the earlier innocent happiness.

A few months later he went to see her, hoping the longing for her lover must have let down her moral walls and he can renew his offer. To his deep dismay he realized that Tamalika’s whole being was enveloped by an aura of deep peace. As if the arrow dipped with poison has become nectar after touching her blood.

He asked for Ritudaman when he returned to his kingdom for he wanted to see her miserable, shattered down, begging for his love. But Ritudaman was not in his kingdom any more, he has left and have left no trace behind.

In his sheer vanity and confidence he sent another nymph to play with her, then another and another but all failed. The king failed to realize the golden truth that though virtuous people fall for nymphs because they have special powers but they fall only once. They never repeat their mistakes.

Then one day one of his nymphs returned and said that Tamalika is gone from the tapovan. She doesnot lives there any more.

The frustrated king called for his most powerful witch to locate the girl. The witch showed him her image in her silver mirror. She was married to Ritudaman and living with him.

She applied all her magic …. or may be not but could not locate the place they were living in.



Glossary:
Tapovan: in ancient india sages used to build a group of small huts in forests where they lived with their students and sometimes famillies, these were called tapovans.

The victim

Strange is our forgetfulness, how easily we tend to forget our lessons from past, especially if they have been delivered on someone else.

Guilt in others sometimes brings out the beast inside us. When we see someone cowering under the shadows of his own guilt we all of a sudden start to think that we are far superior than him, so superior that we can taunt, insult or hurt him. In our blindness we forget that there are others too, who are watching the entire drama. Our victim may be helpless but the watchers may not be helpless.


When Suraj joined that small school in that small town no one noticed him for the first few days.

He was just one of the most average boys, skinny, short heighted and too ordinary. He kept special care to stay unnoticed too. He sat in the last bench and avoided company.

Then the cat was out of the bag. Someone told why was he so silent, submissive and withdrawn.

His father has killed his infidel mother and was languishing in jail. His grandparents brought him here to spare him from social stigma.

In one month his life became nightmare, being small and powerless he became the target of every bully in the school.

Just like all social animals since time immemorial they thought it was their divine right to torment him.

Mr. Pakrashi was returning from school when he noted a small, tight crowd of school boys in a corner of the playground. He could hear their screams and jestings from the other side of the ground.

He reached them in a few long steps to disperse them. They dispersed disappointedly on seeing him. All went their way but one, he was not much in condition of going it seemed. His uniform was torn, it appeared that they were roughing him up.

Mr. Pakrashi stooped down and touched his shoulder, the boy lifted his face, Mr. Pakrashi recognized him, he was one of the freshers in class seven. Mr. Pakrashi taught students of higher classes but he has heard about the plight of this child.

“Why were they beating you like this?” he gently asked the child.
A couple of hours have passed, he has brought the child to his home and had taken care of his wounds.

Initially Suraj was silent but Mr. Pakrashi coaxed the truth out of him.

Since the day the cat was out he was regularly roughed up by bullies of the school. They used to call his parents names and simple protest meant being roughed up.

Mr. Pakrashi took him to his home. He met his grandparents, two persons bent with age and grief. He promised them he will try his best to solve the problem.

Next evening Suraj was returning home from school, he was walking in quick steps when he heard a shout from sidewalk “Hey murderer’s son!!!!”

He pretended to ignore and quickened his steps, soon a hand fell on his shoulder. “I was talking to you, you vermin! How dare you ignore me?” someone shoved him roughly and he landed on the hard floor.

He closed his eyes and waited for the kick but heard some shuffling instead.

He stared up and saw a bunch of senior students standing there, surrounding the group of bullies.

“He is our little brother, remember that from today onward, we will always keep an eye on him, in or out of school, anyone who touches him will be answerable to us.” Soham, the captain of school cricket team said solemnly. “Now for you all, lets go, Principal sir wants to talk with you in private.”

The boys excluding one left together leaving Suraj behind. The boy who stayed with Suraj gently helped him up and started to walk with him toward his home.

“Pakrashi sir talked with all the classes he teaches today, with all of us and we promised him that we will keep an eye on you.” The boy, Mohan gently said with deep affection.

“You will have to do another thing too. Sir has procured the permission of your grandparents.”

“Come inside.” They were standing outside the gates of a small building.

Suraj saw that a group of twenty or so boys were practicing Karate inside.

“Sir, this is the boy Pakrashi sir talked about.” Mohan touched the feets of the instructor.

the trickster

The little woman threw herself at his feet, just like a slave throws herself at the feet of her master. Knowing that her fate depends on him.

“This is the one.” She sobbed piteously. “She is the one.”

He looked down at her doe eyes, they were looking even more beautiful with those pearls glistening in them. Her long, dark and voluptuos hair was covering her face partly and almost all of her body.

He bowed down to softly pick her up, “You don’t belong there my empress.”

“You know you are my world.” He hugged her tightly and stooped down to hide his face in her fragrant hair.

She was crying violently. It seemed her heart was shattering to pieces.

“I will teach her the lesson of her lifetime.” He hissed in her ears.

The trap:

He still remembered their first meeting. He was coming back from his office. He was about to enter his car when a girl threw herself in his arms, she was almost faint, “Please save me.”

He turned around and saw half a dozen tough looking guys heading towards them.

“Get lost, leave her.” one of them hissed.

“Its you kaluda!” one of them said, “Hand that girl over to us, she ran away from our den.”

He instantly recognized the guy, he worked for a notorious pimp. So this girl was a runaway from some shady house.

“Don’t hand me over to them, please.” The girl clutched him tightly.

Something inside him stirred. “Leave her with me, I am taking her responsibility.” He said to the rogue.

Kalu himself was not an angel, he has created a massive wealth from smuggling now he was laundering his black money to white through construction business.

He knew the man who owned this girl and the man knew him, they were quite close. So the toughies left the girl with him.

He brought her home and bought her from her master next day. She costed him a huge lump of money but he did not minded. All he could see in those beautiful eyes was gratitude and love.

He sometimes winced when they were standing side by side in front of a mirror. He looked like a baboon or gorrila standing beside a fairy. And that fairy loved him with all her heart. His life has transformed ever since she has walked into his life.

They were planning to get married, she was busy shopping, he was busy dreaming.

Today she went out and returned white and shaking as a torn page in storm.

He had to coax her to tell him the story. It was the same old story. They studied together in college. She loved her and trusted her with all her heart.

She suggested a trip to a nearby town, only two of them. She offered her a soft drink in the taxi and she woke up in a dark room. One year of perfect nightmare has passed since that day, she has initially resisted, that resistance was crushed down. Then she faked submission and escaped that night. She was lucky to meet him otherwise her corpse might have been rotting in some morgue.




Promise fulfilled:

Kalu kept his promise word to word. He made the life of that girl a perfect nightmare. He had enough power and money and knew just the right persons.

When he returned home with the news of her suicide he discovered an empty nest and a note left by his fiance.

The note said:
I am leaving you forever. As long as that evil woman is alive she will not let me live in peace. Today I was out for some shopping and I saw her men following me.

I don’t want to ruin your life. Goodbye my love, don’t look for me.

Jayita


He employed his entire strength to find her out but could not locate her.



The story:

A couple of years went by. He was sitting in his office when one of his old friends from Mumbai showed up.

“From where did you get Julie’s photo? He asked when he saw the photograph on his table.

“Her name is not Julie Ashu, she is Jayita and she is bengali.” He said.

“Well, she has more than a dozen names and knows atleast seven indian languages fluently.” Ashu laughed. “So she fooled you too. How?”



There was something in his face which made Kalu narrate his story to him when they were sitting in his drawing room a couple of hours later.

“It must have been the other way round.” Ashu said grimly, “She always uses this trick, whenever one of her preys escapes she plays this drama with some local tough guy and makes him do her dirty jobs and disappears.”

“She flitters from place to place, attaches herself to one of the toughest rogues of the town and works under his protective nose, she is always pretending as a victim, so that her lover never suspects her, and her angel face does the remaining trick.”

“she bolts the town if something goes wrong. In any case, she never stays for too long in one place.” He added. “You will be heartbroken to know that she has left atleast twenty fiances and four husbands scattered all over the country till date.”

“A strong network helps her to erase her tracks. She takes care of another thing too, she never leaves behind an angry lover. She never steals a single penny from her lovers, leaves behind their gifts too. All her lovers, even husbands remember her as a shattered rose, fallen angel who was thrown into their arms by a storm and the same storm snatched her away again…” Ashu smirked.

“Do you know where she is now?” Kalu asked.

“Right now she is working in Dubai.” Ashu said, “She has left so many loose strings in India that she might not return here, and may spend the rest of her life there or abroad on the wealth she has collected.”

“You know, she is dazzling and hardly forty five, but she can easily claim that she is in her early thirties or late twenties.” Ashu concluded.

Kalu looked out of the window, a dark cloud was slowly covering the sun. It appeared as if dusk has settled down in the middle of the day.

Mother

31.10.2009
The twosome:

It was an early winter morning, the sunlight was yet to show up. But there were people out on the street already. Though too little in number but there were..

Mahesh opened the main door of his small flat and came out. He was a tall, fair a little plump guy. His wife Uma was as pretty as a painting. Tall, slim, brown eyed, her hair hung below her knees, it covered her whole back and a lot of her arms and chest when it was open, so she had to keep it in a tight bun most of the times. Mahesh loved playing with it when they were together.

Their union was the most blessed union in the world.. that’s what their friends, neighbours and relatives said. Two persons deeply loving each other for twenty years. Mahesh was twenty and Uma was barely fifteen years old when they married.

Every one present in that marriage said that God Shiva has come down to marry his Parvati. May be God wanted to deprive them of something, to save that blessed union from evil eyes..

Twenty years after their marriage they both know that they will never be blessed by a child of their own. Mahesh had some serious physical problems.

It did not changed Uma’s love for him an inch. She knew all the while that she was blessed to have him in her life. Whenever her friends used to share their agonies of being beaten up by their drunk husbands or their other amorous affairs she used to count her blessings and her love for her husband used to swell even more.

“You will be coming back for lunch?” she softly asked him. “Please do, I will prepare poori and gajar ka halwa for you.” She said, as if she was trying to lure a child. Her love for her husband was a purest blending of all types of love.

“I will certainly try to come, you know I cant eat unless you serve me with those lotus hands of yours…” Mahesh answered equally softly, none of them wanted the neighbours to hear their parting words, every one teased them for their undying love.

He started to climb down the stairs after soaking her with his gaze full of deep love. She closed the front door and started her chores one by one.

----------------------------------------------------------

The surprise:

Mahesh reached his parked taxi within five minutes. The sky has started to fade into grey. Birds were waking up one by one.

He dusted the taxi and opened the front door. He was about to turn on the ignition key after performing the puja when he heard something in the backseat. It was mewling of a kitten. He switched on the light and saw that he has left the window open last night.

“Oh God!!!!” he muttered as he descended and opened the back door to shoo the cat away.

He saw a small baby lying on the backseat, a beautiful girl dressed in neat and costly clothes. There was a gold chain in her neck and a letter requesting to keep the chain and leave the child to some decent orphanage.

He scooped up the child, locked the taxi carefully and rushed back home.

They contacted the local police station showed them every thing and requested them to let them have the girl. The girl was handed over to them officially. They adopted her and named her Esha.


Twenty five years have passed by. Esha was a young girl now. Studying in university, pursuing doctorate in Economics.

The weather was lovely that evening, Durgapuja was round the corner. The weather was pleasant, the sky was full of white, dazzling clouds. She came out of university and started to walk towards her home. It was hardly fifteen minute from her campus.

She was lost in her own world of young dreams when she heard the screeching of the car’s brake. She lifted her startled eyes and saw a car standing still a few metres away from her and the driver of the car following it cursing his heads off.

She saw a lady looking out at her from the window of the peassenger seat, staring would have been the correct word. She ignored her and went her way.


She reached her home and turned to check the traffic before crossing the road, just then she noted a car stopping near her. The same lady came out of the car and approached her with a slight hesitation.

“Do you live here?” she asked.

Esha did not feel any alarm because the lady was too sophisticated and motherly looking to be menacing in any sense. So she simply nodded.

“Are you looking for some one?” she asked politely.

“No, you look like someone I know. You have a very strong resemblance with him.” The lady said. “Would you mind telling me your father’s name?”

The lady handed her over her visiting card, which said she was the wife of one of the biggest industrialist of a nearby town.

Esha told her father’s name and bade goodbye to the lady. She turned to see before entering her flat, and as she has assumed the lady was standing and watching her.

She said everything to her parents and handed them over the card.


The parents:

Next evening when she returned from her college she saw that her father’s taxi was standing outside.

She was happy and worried. She took two stairs at a time and rang the bell a little breathless.

She was very childish even at this age, she hugged Mahesh and sat down beside him. “Are you okay baba? Ma I am famished, give me something to eat.”

Then she noticed an eery, uncomfortable silence. Her parents were sitting there silently and were visibly upset, almost morose.

“Whats wrong?” she asked.

“The lady you met last evening is your true mother.” Uma said softly.

“You are my true mother, you mean to say she is my biological mother.” Esha said. “From where has she appeared now after these years?”

Uma repeated the story told to her by Kaushalya, Esha’s biological mother. Esha was abandoned because she was a girl child.

Kaushalya was initially told that she was still born but later, years later her husband told her the truth.

They have shifted to USA just after abandoning Esha, they had another son, who is living in USA right now. They have returned because they were missing India.

Kaushalya saw Esha accidentally last evening, she is a replica of her brother Kaushik. The locality is also the same so she took her chance. They want her back to them.

“Okay, story finished, but I am still hungry ma.” Esha said. “When Kaushalya aunty comes next time tell her that if she wants to meet me she will have to come here.” Esha got up to change her dress.

innocent love

31.10.2009

Rita was sitting on a chair, just beside the window. It was late at night, Animesh,her husband was again out of station. The soft moonlight illuminated her pained face. She did not even noticed the magic it was spreading outside.

She was a shortheighted, slim woman in her mid thirties. Her short hair looked cute on her childish face, which was wearing a deep frown right now.

She went to bed after a while, not to sleep, which she knew wont come to her easily….

She looked at the face of her tiny daughter Mahak, she was sleeping like an angel, with a soft smile on her lip. She laid down beside her and pulled her close to her.

Its been ten years since their marriage. She still remembers the first day they went out together. She fell in love with Animesh at the first sight. He was tall, dark and handsome. There was some magic in his huge eyes, which were full of patience, wisdom and kindness.

They were sitting in a park. Spring all around them and in Rita’s heart. She was watching the flowers, birds and her fiance’s face again and again.

“I want to tell you something Rita, before you make up your mind about me, our marriage.” He said in a very soft voice. “You know I am an orphan, I was born and brought up in Ramkrishna Mission.”

“I am not marrying you because I need someone in my life, I am marrying you to keep an oath. I promised someone that I will marry you.” He continued.

“I have a past which I cant share with you. Because someone else’s extremely personal life is involved in it.” he continued, “But that past will never effect our life together, all I will ask from you that I will have to go away from you atleast for ten days per month.”


“Whatever I will do during that period is completely honourable, and though I cant share it with you but I know if I could you would have loved me even more.” He said looking at her face sincerely.

“You can call off the engagement, it wont matter to me.” He concluded.

Well, she chose him and promised him that she will never ask a single thing about his past or any thing which he doesnot wants to tell her. Her heart told her to trust him.



The pain:


Mahak came to their life a couple of years later. She was the apple of their eyes.

During the first few years of their marriage Animesh used to go out for a week per month, then it started to get longer. Not only that the frequency too increased. By the time Mahak was seven years old it started to take its toll on their married life.

He has gone away on first of this month for ten days, now it was twenty first and he has again left. This time for five days.

Rita spent the night without a single minute of sleep, next day was Sunday, no school for Mahak. So she was sleeping but Rita got up with the chirping of the birds.

She decided that it was high time that she will speak with Animesh.

Animesh returned on fifth of next month. There was a dark line of tiredness under his eyes.

Rita made arrangements of his rest and took care that Mahak doesnot disturbs him.

Mahak was out playing with children when Animesh woke up. He got up and saw that Rita was sitting outside in the balcony. She looked up at him when he approached her.

Animesh was shocked by the look of her eyes. A deep pain has taken place of the happiness which used to reside there earlier.

He sat down beside her and took her hand in both of his hands, “I am sorry, I owe you an explanation.”

“Its ok, I have promised you when we married that I will never ask any thing which you don’t want to tell me.” Rita said, “Its just I miss you so much…” her voice trailed away as she turned her face away to avoid an eye contact with him.

“I want to share it with you.” He softly said. “Mahak’s Dussehera holidays are starting from tomorrow right? It’s a ten days holiday, lets take a short trip. Just a few hours journey from here.”


Revelation:

They left early next morning by train. Mahak was chirping like a little bird, chattering away endlessly with Rita. Animesh was sitting silently, speaking only when he was forced to speak.

They descended on a small station at the dusk. The evening sun was glowing in the western sky, spreading a pink hue over every thing, birds were returning to their nests chirping like Mahak.

The horizon was dotted with hills, some were near and some far. Some appeared quite high.

Animesh took a taxi and they started their journey. Another couple of hours later they reached a small hotel situated on a hill. They rented a room for ten days.

“Get fresh. We don’t have any thing to do tonight, we will be there tomorrow morning, at ten.” Animesh said.

When Rita woke up next morning Animesh was not in bed. She got up to look for him and saw him sitting on the balcony. Staring at the eastern horizon which was on a riot of colours.

The clear blue sky was scattered with clouds of various colour and the rising sun was pouring down colour on them with both hands. To enhance the beauty a luscious green carpet of grass was surrounding the hotel. Filled with various types of trees.

Animesh took her hand and pulled her beside him. She sat down beside him with her head resting on his shoulder.

Birds were singing all around them, some were invisible and some not.

“Wake Mahak up, get her ready and feed her something.” Animesh said after an hour or so. The sun was already up and the employees and other guests of the hotel were stirring now.

Some were taking walk in the garden below, some were making arrangements for leaving … and the employees were busy attending them.


The meeting:

Animesh called up the reception for a taxi at nine. They climbed the taxi, it winded its way down the hill to climb another.

It finally stopped near the top of the hill, there was a high boundary wall and a group of guards sitting in the guard room at the gate. They knew Animesh because they exchanged nodds.

Animesh asked the taxi driver to either wait for them or come back after four hours. The taxi driver promised he will be back there sharp at four and left.

They entered the hospital after taking the gate pass. Rita has already read the Signboard which she missed at the first glance.

It was as beautiful as picture, small white buildings were scattered among groves of trees and green lawns. Every where there were flower beds filled up with seasonal flowers, butterflies and bees busily flying around them.

“Let Mahak play here, its absolutely safe.” Animesh said. “she will be clearly visible to us.”

“sweetheart, don’t go out of this garden ok?” he told Mahak. “We are going to that room, if you feel scared you can come to that room and ask that aunty to call us. Whatever you do darling don’t shout.” He showed her a room and the nurse sitting outside it.

“Come.” He held Rita’s hand in his hands as they walked across the lawn towards the room.

“Hi Mr. Ghosh.” The nurse looked surprised. “You were here the day before yesterday, were not you?”
“Tandra is just as before, no improvement or deterioration.” She suppressed her surprise.

“Hi sister, meet my wife Rita, I brought her and my daughter Mahak to meet Tandra.” He introduced them and pointed out Mahak, who was playing in the garden. “Will you keep an eye on her?”

The nurse nodded as she smiled at Rita. They entered the room, it was a neat, clean, beautifully decorated room. With vases full of flower on tables and there was a picture of Animesh, Rita and Mahak on one of them. There was another picture too, Animesh, A gorgeous woman and another girl, who looked just like the woman.

Rita turned toward the patient on the bed, it was the same lady in the picture but she has transformed to almost a skeleton. She was either sleeping deeply or was unconscious.

“Come, lets go and sit outside.” Animesh said, “She is sleeping, wont wake up soon.”


The story:

“Sister, we are sitting there on the lawn, will you let me know if Tandra wakes up?” Animesh asked the nurse when they were outside. She softly smiled and nodded.

They sat down on the grass watching Mahak play.

“She is Tandra. My first love. She was my colleague in my first job.”

“I fell in love with her head over heels and she too reciprocated it.”

“We lived together in Bangalore. She was not very keen to marry and I was hoping she will change her mind with time.”

“Two years went by like dream. That morning she called me up and told me she was expecting.”

“I was ecstatic and proposed her again, this time she agreed and we went to the gynae.”

“It was hardly one month and she changed her mind. When I uttered the word marriage next time she bluntly and heartlessly refused me.”

“I begged her for hours but she did not gave in. That night I emptied a bottle of sleeping pill in a glass of juice and swallowed it.”

“when I woke up she was sitting there, holding my hand, her eyes were red and swollen.”

“That was the beginning of my nightmare, she told me that she is a patient of leukemia, and in the final stages, the gynae told her when she went to her.”

“I begged her for days to marry me and give her last years to me but she refused. She told me that if I don’t listen to her she will kill herself.”

“Then Mehul came, and her condition started to deteriorate further, she started to pester me to get married and she herself selected you and forced me to marry you.”

“She has been working in this hospital since last seven or eight years as a doctor, suddenly her condition deteriorated and she collapsed.”

“That’s when my frequency of visiting her increased. Earlier I used to come here see her and Mehul and return after a couple of days.”

“I have never broken the trust which you have laid on me, I don’t think Tandra would have allowed me either.” He said.

Rita firmly held his hand in both of her hands.


The child:

“Where is Mehul?” she asked.

“I have admitted her to a boarding school nearby. Run by a reputed missionary organisation.” Animesh said.

“She comes to visit Tandra once a week either with me or some nun.” He added.

Rita’s heart filled up with deep pain for the small child who will have to face this horrible loss so early.

“How old is she?” she asked.

“Eleven, her eleventh birthday was last month.” Animesh said.

“What were you planning to do with her if something happened to Tandra?” Rita asked him.

“The boarding school is up to twelfth. After that I would have got her enrolled in some good college.” Animesh said.

“I have some other plans for my elder daughter, I am planning to take her with us when we shift to our own home next month.” Rita said, “we will enroll her there and she will live with us like she is supposed to..”

Tandra did not woke up that day, so they left when the taxi came.


The family:

They headed straight for Mehul’s school. It was a small but prestigious looking school.

One of the nuns guided them to the visitor’s room. Animesh went out to the office with Mahak, Rita was sitting there alone when a beautiful girl entered the room. She was an exact replica of her mother.

Rita stood up and hugged her. “ Mehul?” She asked.

The girl nodded, “Who are you?”


Rita softly replied, “I am your mother, your sister is waiting outside with your father.”Mehul denied vehemently, “You cant be my mother, my mother is in hospital, I go to see her often with father or sister Rose.”Rita held her close and softly said, “When your mom fell sick she prayed to God to send her sister to take her place so she could take care of you, and God has sent me to take care of you.”Mehul innocently looked up at her and hugged her tightly.

They returned that day after clearing the formalities and Mehul was admitted in Mahak’s school.Mahak took her new friend and sister, who was only one year older than her with love and gratitude. She already knew the deep misfortune of her big sister. She regularly visited Sumi with everyone else and have seen the cold hostel in which her sister lived before she found a family in them.Under the caring, guiding eyes of Animesh and Rita two flowers started to bloom and spread their fragrance.

Light of love

31.10.2009

“Baba indra, wake up.” He could hear his mother’s voice outside his bedroom door.

He opened his eyes and looked at the clock on his bedside table it was six in the morning and it was Sunday.

“Indra, get up and brush your teeth and take a stroll in the park before it gets crowded.” He heard her again.

He got out of the bed and went to toilet. He dressed up and left for the park as ordered by his mother. Who was waiting outside his bedroom door with a glass of milk and biscuit.

He was thinking while strolling in the park about his mother Mitali. She got widowed at a very young age, Debendra was only five years old when his father passed away. She was still beautiful. She doted after debendra and she was very, very possessive about him.


Debendra was born with a small defect in one of his legs, which due to ignorance of the small town doctor resulted in a lifelong pain. Debendra’s leg was twisted from the calf, as a result he knew that he will never live normal life like other mens. And his physical helplessness shot up Mitali’s possessiveness on him. She was dead certain that every person is either aiming at her little boy’s neck or at his wallet.

She used to hover over his personal life like a watchful sentry, shooing away any one she had least doubt about. As a result Debendra grew up as a very shy man.

Then youth arrived. To add up to his past miseries whenever he made the mistake of befriending a lady, his mother used to play the girlfriend slayer. Openly telling her all his drawbacks, if the poor girl did not minded his physical problems she used to become over suspicious, and did not had enough tact to hide it. She had a firm belief that only money seekers will be chasing her little boy, and as a mother she has full right of protecting her son.

So he ended up as a very lonely man when it came to friends, forget about lovers.. Debendra started to teach in a school to forget his pain, he used to shower all his affection on the children and they used to dote on him.

Life was moving on in its usual monotonous pace. One day after another without any variation. Only spice in Debendra’s life was those hours spent with children, watching them living their life with unbridled joy.

He was just about to enter the gate when he heard a sweet voice, “Can you please show me the Principal’s room?”

He turned his face, it was a beautiful young lady. She smiled at him and Debendra could feel the perspiration forming on his forehead.

“Yes, sure, why not?” he mumbled. “Please come.”

He took her to the chamber.

“I am Mira, the new librarian.” She stretched out her hand to him before entering the chamber.

“I am Debendra.” He smiled.

Library was Debendra’s obsession, the school had a gem of a library. The earlier librarian Mr. Ghosh has retired just a month ago. He and Debendra was really close friends.

Mira soon became very close friend, she had a graceful way of presenting herself. She could coax any one to friendship.

Soon they both realized that they have too much in common and their friendship grew deeper with every passing day.



Soon it was summer vacation, this time Debendra was really sad, on one hand he was going to miss the kids on the other hand he was going to miss Mira. The only intimate friend he was blessed with.

He was sitting on the balcony watching the garden below. There was a spacious garden and lawn surrounding the housing. Straight roads connecting every block with four exits.

A sultry summer day has turned into a breezy, cloudy eveing. He noted a lady walking toward their block. She looked familiar and when she approached nearer he saw that it was Mira.

He was surprised, he never knew that she knew someone from their housing.

A few minutes later he heard their doorbell ring, Mitali answered the door.

“Indra someone has come to see you!” he counted five before he got up. It was Mira ofcourse and she was there to see him.

“Hi Deb! I was getting bored, so I thought it will be better if I bug you.” She smiled when she saw him.

“You remember that promise you gave me? You will teach me French?” she showed him some books and notebooks. “I have made the arrangements.”

“Oh yes!!” Debendra mumbled, he could see his mother standing and watching Mira like a hawk.

“Here goes another friend..” he thought inside.

“Ma, she is Mira, our librarian. She has joined a few months ago.” He introduced her to Mitali.

To his pleasant surprise he observed that Mitali soon got over her suspicions on Mira. To doubly relieve him Mira used to include Mitali with them and used to mix with her as freely as a family member.



The summer vacation just flew by. One week was left before the school was reopening.

Debendra was sitting on his favourite chair when Mitali came and sat down beside him.

“I like Mira”, she started unceremoniously, “She is a very nice girl.”

“I was asking her yesterday if she likes you.. I think she really loves you a lot.” Mitali continued. “She is an orphan. So there is no one to look after her.”

Debendra was staring at her with a bewildered look. A deep disappointment slowly sinking in his heart. His mind projecting the cold rejection which he will have to face when he next time talks with Mira.

“I asked her if she will marry you and she said that she will be honoured if a person like you becomes her life partner.” Mitali added triumphantly. “You should propose her.”