now or never

Mrs. Gupta was sitting in her trademark bench waiting for Mrs. Ghosh and Mrs Sinha to join her when she saw Sophia walk by. Sophia smiled at her and just moved on. Her smile had a strange effect on any one who was on the receiving end. It filled up their mind with a strange warmth and light. Just like the golden sunrays after a thunderstorm.

Soon her chums joined her and they were about to start their gossip mongering when Mrs Sinha nudged Mrs Ghosh and they turned their faces to look at Ramesh. He was coming towards them, but they knew his destination, he will find out Sophia in the crowd of hundreds of people and silently sit somewhere nearby absorbing her presence with all his existence, and will leave after she has left. Without saying a single word, never trying to strike up a friendship. Not only that, they have seen Sophia trying to talk with him and his response was always the same silent stare.

Ramesh was not one of those so called good looking guys, he was dark, almost coal black with tribal features. He was a very gentle and well mannered guy liked by each and every person of the housing society and every one was waiting for the day when he will dare to propose Sophia and they will get married. Sophia’s friends have already told her about him, she said she was waiting for him to make the approach. Because if he loves her really deeply he will make the approach, or else she will wait and see if he moves on after his fascination withers away.

Just when Ramesh was about to cross them Mrs. Ghosh called out, Ramesh paused and they asked him to sit down for a while with them. He sat down with a disappointed look.

Mrs. Gupta directly faced him and asked him for how long will he shadow Sophia without letting her know his feelings.

Ramesh opened his mouth to say some thing but could not, he just stared at her for a few seconds and bowed down his head. He was too shy to discuss such things with elders.

Now it was Mrs. Ghosh’s turn, she said with a innocent expression that Sophia’s parents were desperate to get her married soon. She pretended as if she has not seen the way Ramesh flinched and continued to inform him that they are already being over-flooded with proposals.

Mrs. Sinha picked up the thread and told him that entire housing society knew about his true love for Sophia. Why does not he just proposes her so they can have the joy of attending their marriage.

Ramesh looked at them with deep pain in his eyes and said, “She will refuse me the moment I will propose to her, have you seen her looks and mine?”

He bowed down his head again and continued, “I will become a laughing stock of the entire society.”

Mrs. Gupta softly placed her palm on his hand and said, “Not every one goes by look, there are people who go by far more beautiful things than that, things like nature, character….”

Mrs. Ghosh added, “Being a man in Indian society Sophia will expect you to break the ice, to show interest, the eagerness of having her in your life, or else she may feel cheap, being a gentle girl herself she may feel she is chasing you.”

Mrs. Sinha joined, “Why don’t you buy a chocolate, a Greeting Card and write in it your feelings for her. Directly ask her consent for marriage, because I think you have known each other enough to marry each other. For last three years you have been following her like a shadow.”

They were still talking when Sophia passed by, Mrs. Gupta called her, Sophia came towards them with eyes lowered, so very unlike her nature. She was one of those who always looked directly at people. This was the first time they were seeing her blushing and shifting uneasily. She walked away after mumbling some silly words and the infamous trio attacked Ramesh, “How much more proof do you want?”, Mrs. Ghosh asked. “Do you want her to put up a billboard outside your window?”, Mrs. Gupta joined in. “You better should propose her tomorrow..”. Mrs. Sinha glared at him without saying any thing.

Ramesh stood up and asked for their permission to leave. He followed the path by which Sophia has walked away.

Next morning when the infamous trio met Mrs. Gupta asked the other two to follow her, they gently walked a few yards and saw Sophia and Ramesh sitting on the same bench silently. But there was a look of deep happiness and peace on both faces.

They softly came back to their trademark bench with moist eyes.

Imitation

Mrs. Gupta stifled her laughter applying her full strength when Lucy passed by them, she took enough care to stop for a while and chat with them in halting English, in the meanwhile showing them her new pair of jeans and costly top, which looked horrible on her. She told her goodbye but not without forgetting to let them know that it has been imported from Singapore.

The moment she disappeared from the vision of their view the w3 that is wicked3 smirked at each other.

Mrs. Ghosh calmly commented, “She was quite alright when she was herself, not trying to become Trina.”

Mrs. Dutta added, “Why does not this poor girl understands, or some one does not tells her that she cant become Trina, they belong to two different spheres.”

Lucy aka Lekha, as she was known before her marriage to Prabir was the center of their joke. Prabir was in love with Trina but they could not marry because his family did not approved Trina, and Prabir knew his family will make her life nightmare if he marries her against their will so he watched her walk away forever.

When his family chose Lekha as his bride he just simply married her and after that started to live as a bachelor again. He pretended as if he was not married at all.

His mother started to blame Lekha that she does not have the power to win over her husband’s love. Due to her constant goading Lekha’s life became miserable and she started to hate Trina with all her heart.

She belonged to a family which was more interested in teaching girls how to become good home maker, hence she never even touched a news paper or read a book outside her curriculum.

Whereas Trina belonged to a family with deep root in cultural activity, hence her world was surrounded by book, music and art. As a result she had a bending toward the spiritual self. She lived in this world but some how was not touched by the evil of this world, every one who came near her could feel that strange aura.

Getting tired of her husband’s coldness and mother in law’s hostility Lekha started to spy on Trina, who unfortunately lived just near her, she befriended her using her naïve nature and started to copy every thing she did. Her way of talking, her appearance, her hobbies blindly. She became so obsessed with copying her that she crossed every limit, she used to befriend her friends behind her back and talk ill of her, blaming her falsely that she is still not over with her husband and that is the reason her husband ignores her.

But as it happens in small communities her games were caught within a short span of time and she ended up feeling like a fool. Prabir distanced himself even more when he came to know the things she has been doing

Our deed

It was early summer morning, the air was laden with fragrance of flowers and birds were chirping in trees. The infamous trio was sitting side by side, in the park bench when the silence of the park was shattered by sharp voices. The three pairs of eyes met and then a universal expression of boredom crept on their faces. Their eyes said, “Here it goes again!”

Mrs. Singha broke the silence, “I should say its poetic justice!”

Mrs Mehta agreed with her aptly and added, “This is what happens to people who think money is every thing in this world.”

Mrs Jain softly added, “Bina was such a sweet girl, but they made her life miserable, they ruined it just because Jayant married her out of his own choice and without dowry. They did not had the capacity of controlling their own son, so they ruined an innocent girl’s life.”

“Her family may be poor, but its one of the most reputed families in the city, the girl was highly educated, sweet looking, and Jayant and Bina loved each other so much, before they started to poison his mind.”

Mrs. Mehta quipped, “You cant call Jayant that innocent, he never had half the personality which Bina had, he was my son’s close friend, and all he could do was whine and complain against all the miseries he had to face in life. He never made a single attempt to stand up and change things, or else his family would have been intact.”

Today’s menu of their spicy discussion was a family which resided in the same housing estate, the elder-most son of the family has married a girl from different community without a single penny of dowry. They met in college and fell in love instantly, and after both of them settled in their respective careers they decided to get married.

There was a big furor in Jayant’s home when he asked for his parent’s permission. After an open war of almost an year Bina and Jayant married without his parent’s consent. They initially took up a rented home but Jayant’s mother insisted her husband to bring them home. Bina was a little apprehensive because his parents did not allowed him to enter their home when the newly wed has gone for their blessings. Jayant begged her to give his parents a chance to rectify themselves.

Bina was received at her in-law’s home with open disrespect, his parents clearly told them that they don’t mingle with people of lower standard, as Bina was their daughter in law she was the part of their family but her family and friends were barred from visit. But it was clear to even outsiders that Bina was treated with the same respect which was dished out to household helps.

Bina worked in a good post so dowry torture or any other type of torture could not take place, but the psychological torture was enough to devastate her. All Jayant did was to beg her to adjust with them, she tried out of love and because of her family upbringing. Then slowly her self respect started to surface. She was born in a family where everyone including the household helps were treated with respect, whereas her in laws treated her like a dirt, they used to flinch away from her presence or insult her at the minimum pretext.

Slowly she started to distance herself from them, finally one day the showdown came and she asked Jayant to take his side, he whimpered that he cant walk away from his parents, so she did and never looked back.

The divorce was quick, Bina refused any alimony. Within one year Jayant remarried, this time his parents made the choice a girl from extremely rich family. And then God started to show that She maintains the records meticulously. Their new daughter in law was from a very influential family and had a fiery temper.

true love

Chitra joined her new office with fear and tension. Her last experience was shattering. She joined a big company with a high hope and appointment letter for a lucrative post.

The next three months she spent there was perfect nightmare, at the end of that she realized two things, first, she does not have the aggressive mindset to make it big, and second she has been taken on a ride, her employers promised her garden of eden but forgot to tell her that they will assess her worthiness but she will have to pay the cost. They forced her to resign and as per the rulebook usurped her salary.

Chitra was almost shattered, the continuous misbehavior of her employees and cold and professional attitude laced with hostility from her colleagues made her apprehensive toward work culture, or office politics.
She tried to get over the pain of losing her dream job and move ahead, the next job she joined was in a very small organization.

Her boss was dream come true. His very behaviour was dreamlike, he never showed her minimum disrespect during her stay with him. But it earned the jealousy of some of his staffs and they started to bother her so much that she changed the job.

She called him up on new year to wish him but some one else picked up the phone and told her that he is hospitalized. She felt as if a thunder has stricken her out of the blue. For the first time she realized that the feeling she thought respect was actually love.

She visited him the very next day and after visiting him she went to his office, and observed every thing in mess. She offered her help and went there every day after her office to help.

A month passed by and both of the crisis were over, then one day one of his very close friends called her up and asked her how much will she charge for the works she has done. She told her that she cant even imagine charging some thing. But the lady on the other side kept insisting, finally chitra told her that she will talk with him personally. She never called him up after that and he never contacted her after returning from nursing home.

That day she realized a harsh truth, one should always keep in mind financial status if one is of marrying mindset. Otherwise that will cause only pain and humiliation.

spurned

It was one of those mornings after a good rain when every thing looks pure and cool. The sun was shining bright, small clouds were sailing like white boats in the clear blue sky. A gentle breeze was blowing. Birds were busy chattering after being disturbed through the night.

Mrs Ghosh was sitting in the bench waiting for her friends to join her when Dipti walked by, she smiled at her, and Mrs. Ghosh smiled back. Soon she noted Prabhat coming her way, she smiled within this time, taking enough care that it does not breaks on her lips. Every one in the housing estate knew Prabhat and Dipti were deeply in love with each other and were to be married soon.

Mrs Ghosh was surprised when Prabhat asked her if he can sit down beside her for a while. He sat down and by the very look of his face she could tell some thing was really wrong.

Prabhat himself spilled out the reason after a brief hesitation. He told her that his brother is dead against his marriage to Dipti. He is taking every measure to cancel the marriage. He is falsely alleging Dipti for the things which she has never done or never will. He insults her, her friends, her relations and later complains they have misbehaved with him in the first hand.

He is hell bent to ruin her image in front of every one. As a result Dipti has started to avoid him too, because he has failed to take her side. How can he insult or challenge his own elder brother, a brother who has loved him so much, and taken care of him for so long after their father died.

There was an awkward silence after which Mrs. Ghosh explained him the reasons of his problem. Prabhat’s elder brother Rajesh has taken care of his brother and sister since their father passed away at a young age. He did not married because of this.

When Dipti and her family shifted to the housing estate he instantly fell for her, he tried to win her heart for years but could not. The more she tried to distance herself from him, the more his obsession for her grew. Slowly love transformed into hatred, and he started to hate her with all his heart.

When Prabhat fell for her and she reciprocated his love Rajesh was infuriated. He made up his mind that he wont allow her in his household and started to act like that.

After explaining the reasons Mrs. Ghosh told Prabhat it will be next to impossible to change Rajesh. Dipti’s entry in his home will never be welcome. So Prabhat will have to chose the side, either he can procure a job in a distant place and live there with Dipti or let her walk away. If they stay in the same city as husband and wife, most of the people will call them, especially him selfish for walking away from a brother who has done the duties of a father.

Ideal match

The threesome were sitting side by side chatting with each other in an idle manner when a newly wed couple walked by the wife smiled at them sweetly and they smiled back coldly.

When they were out of their earshot Mrs. Ghosh said in a hushed tone, “This is what I should call the perfect match.” and smirked.

Mrs. Sinha giggled and asked her to keep her voice low and added, “If she hears your comment, your day is ruined!”

Mrs. Dutt added, “This is why they say that you can bring a horse to water, but you cant make him drink it.”

“Suresh’s parents tried their level best to get him married to Prema, but he picked up his ideal match. Now lets see how long it takes him to understand that every thing that glitters is not gold.”

Suresh’s parents were not in favour of his marrying his wife Jayita, she was a very sharp tongued and untrustworthy woman. She was easy with her body and tongue. She used to mix with men as if she was one of them and cracked nastiest jokes, relished vulgarest discussions to her heart’s fill. She used to pry out the animal side of every man who came in touch with her. But she had lots of style, oomph factor and a sweet (occasionally fiery) tongue.

When Suresh’s parents observed that he is obsessed with Jayita they tried their level best to make him marry Prema. They tried their level best without crossing their limits. They knew that they don’t have any right to force their decision on Suresh so they introduced him to Prema, and requested her to befriend him. She did. But Suresh rejected her like a drunkard rejects a glass of water.

When Prema observed that he was obsessed with Jayita, and the type of woman Jayita was she gently explained the harsh truth to Suresh’s parents that a person who likes a woman like Jayita, can never like a girl like Prema. So they should better brace themselves, and be prepared that she is the one who will be their daughter in law, if she doesnot rejects Suresh. Because even though she moves around with Suresh she calls him filthiest names and makes fun of him when she is among her friends.

Suresh’s parents could not say a single word to her, because they knew she was speaking the truth, but made preparations of shifting to their second house after son’s marriage.

unspoken words

Prarthana was a very ordinary but sweet natured girl, she deeply loved Namit. Namit was on the other hand good looking, smart, extremely charming and sophisticated. All his friends competed for his attention and Prathana was the mute spectator

Prarthana was of an extremely shy nature, one of those girls who could not speak properly to men, forget about proposing. Whenever Namit used to come near her she used to become dumb, so, as was supposed to happen Namit fell in love with the sweetest girl of the group, Chaitali.

Prarthana left the town to pursue higher studies and settled there, from there she came to know that Namit and Chaitali has married, after that she lost interest to keep in touch with them, but it took her years to forget Namit and move over, in her work place she found a friend, a philosopher ,a guide, Ronit.

Ronit was good looking in his own ways, he may be unattractive to majority of the person but his intelligent and kind nature reflected on his face, which made him even more beautiful. He helped Prarthana forget her first hurt and made her smile again. But deep within Prarthana was still in love with Ronit. Just like an sickly child her heart would not let him go. No matter how much she convinced her.

One day she was returning home from office all of a sudden some one called her out, she looked back and saw Namit standing, her heart missed a beat, she stopped and smiled, Namit came towards her with his easy grace and she was bowled over again.

When Namit came near then only she noticed that he was holding the hand of a small child, Namit introduced her as her daughter Sonali, she was shocked to know that Chaitali has passed away when Sonali was only a few months old, Namit and his parents are bringing up the child.

She went back home, her heart sad and happy at the same time, her heart was sad for untimely death of Chaitali and beaming with the hope of winning her long lost love.

When she met Ronit she could not hide her excitement and told him all about it, she thought she saw a deep pain in his eyes but kept on bubbling with joy. After that Ronit slowly distanced himself from her and she started to mix with Namit and Sonali.

Ronit used to come to meet her often but their friendship was slowly dying due to Prarthana’s lack of interest, she was fully obsessed with Sonali and Namit.

They also used to look forward for her visit, especially Sonali became her shadow, Namit was extremely relieved to see them together, he could easily leave Sonali with Prarthana on the days when his parents were not around, because he knew Prarthana would love that.

One day Prarthana came back with a burning fever, the doctor diagnosed her and told her that it’s a case of acute measles. She was lying alone in bed when the doorbell rang, she opened the door and Namit and Sonali were standing there, Namit asked her if he could leave Sonali for a few days with her because his grand mother is ill and all three of them will have to leave for a couple of days to bring her here, and if Prarthana will keep Sonali her school wont be missed.

Prarthana sadly told him the doctor’s diagnosis, Namit left with Sonali, advicing her to take care of herself and promised he will be back after his return. Prarthana went back to her bed tired and sleepy.

She was about to sleep when the door bell rang again, she went to the door hoping that Namit must have cancelled his visit, but when she opened the door she saw Ronit standing there with his mother. His mother told her that they met Namit in the station and he told them about her condition. After listening to it Ronit goaded his mother to nurse her. Her mother went to the kitchen to prepare some soup for her and Ronit sat down beside her bed talking to her gently.

Komal

Shubham was married at a very young age, according to traditions his parent’s made the choice, he only saw her once formally before marriage and got married. His wife Rani had nothing in common with him, actually they were as different as two sides of a coin. Shubham was a very soft speaking, gentle person, whereas Rani was fiery tempered. Shubham was very serious and Rani was of a fleety nature. Rani was coquettish, she wanted to enjoy the life to the core, even at the cost of causing other’s pain and shubham was of a reserved nature, he believed in values and principles.

They had a baby daughter, Komal. Shubham was dragging his marital life with Rani just because of Komal. He knew she only wanted his money, he knew that she was infidel, but he knew that if they separate he might have to lose Komal.

One day Shubham came back from office and saw that Rani has left him and Komal, she only left a note that she is feeling suffocated with life, has found some one who matches her wavelength, hence she is leaving him on her free will, as her fiancé is not ready to accept Komal she has no choice but to leave her with Shubham, finally the letter said her lawyer will contact him.

Shubham was shell shocked but some how relieved, all the pain he felt was of embarrassment, even though Rani has decamped with all her belongings, he some how did not regretted that, he tried to handle his embarrassment by becoming more and more silent. Wherever he went he used to either hear murmurs or imagined that he was hearing. He was silent by nature, and this embarrassment made him even more silent and withdrawn. All his attention revolved around his work and Komal. There was only one relief, due to Rani’s outgoing nature Komal was more attached to her father and ayah than Rani, hence Shubham and her ayah easily tackled her.

A couple of months later, one day when he was coming down by lift somebody tapped him on the shoulder and he turned back to see Sikta, his college friend, who he knew was madly in love with him but he was not, and they remained friend for a long time, then he married Rani and Sikta slowly moved away.

Next few months passed like dream, with every passing day Shubham could see that Sikta had all the qualities which Rani could never have, and started to regret deep within that he had this intelligence in college, to distinguish between genuineness and coquettishness. They became inseparable friends again.

Rani has in the meantime started the divorce procedure and Shubham asked for right on Komal, Rani granted her permission. It was during these days Sikta first saw Komal, and to Shubham’s utter joy they clicked right on the first day and soon they became inseparable.

They used to meet everyday, Sikta was unmarried, she used to drop in Shubham’s home every day to be with Komal and him. Her love for him was growing again, and Shubham has deeply fallen in love with her, but could not dare to propose her thinking that she will think that he wants a mother for her daughter.

One day when Sikta came she saw that Komal was having high temperature, that night that baby clinged to her as if she was her biological mother. She spent the night there, and in the morning when Shubham asked her if he will drop her to her office and she said she has taken a week’s leave and will leave after Komal is alright.

In the night when Shubham returned Sikta asked him to sit beside Komal and went to the next room to call her family, all of a sudden Komal woke up and started to call her mother, Shubham tried his best to console her, all of a sudden Sikta entered the room and seeing her Komal instantly stopped and started to pout at her, Sikta came there and took Komal from Shubham’s arm with a sheepish smile, Shubham realized that Komal was looking for Sikta not Rani.
He went to the next room to hide his tears.

A few minutes later he felt some one touching his shoulder and turned to face Sikta.

kiss the frog

Mrs. Gupta was eagerly waiting for her friends to show up, when the finally did, she blurted out with great happiness, “She did it!!!”


Mrs. Sinha heaved a sigh of relief, “Really? Extremely lucky for her. I really wonder what would have happened if she had fallen in his paws.”

Mrs. Ghosh solemnly said, “That was out of question, Karuna would never have kissed that frog, she knew very well that he was a frog and herself a human being with ample amount of taste.”

“Its strange how shameless some people can get. Why doesnot he looks at himself and then at her, and see the difference and just look for someone of his own class.”, Mrs. Gupta commented.

“He is not shameless, he has other intentions, he has been hounding Karuna to settle his score with Amrut. Amrut refused his sister for Karuna, so he made up his mind about not letting them live in peace.” Mrs. Sinha commented.

“You think its Quasimado’s love for Miranda? It’s a dirty scheming mind of a brother and sister to frame and trap a rich guy.”, she added with sarcasm.

Amrut, Karuna and the frog aka Sohan were brought together by fate. Amrut and Karuna were friend, Amrut loved Karuna but she did not dared to love a rich man. So she did not expressed it to him.

In the emptiness created by that Amrut momentarily got interested in a scheming woman, Sohan’s sister, Ragini. Both brother and sister had other plans. They had plans of trapping rich, orphan Amrut and squeeze him dry, but they underestimated him, he realized their games very soon. And moved away from her.

Sohan taking the advantage of living near Karuna’s home started to bother her, his initial plan was to trap her so Amrut’s heart breaks and he veers toward his sister again, but he failed miserably. Because his nick name was very appropriate, he looked quite handsome, was enough rich but his manners and appearance was as repulsive as a frog.

His repulsive nature was too much reflected on his face. Everyone who came close to him squirmed from him like a person squirming away from a toad.

His way of talking, eating, acting was enough to make anyone’s stomach churn inside. Still he oozed of confidence because he thought he could have his way with his wallet and tricks under the table. He made the mistake of thinking Karuna just another girl.

Which she was not, she was from a very sophisticated family, brought up in a delicate manner, who was deeply in love with Amrut. And even if she was not in love with him she would never had accepted The Frog. Because to her love meant a union of souls and hearts, not wallet and faces.

So The Frog tried all tricks to convince others that Karuna was interested in him but failed. He initially succeeded in ruining her reputation and semi convincing Amrut, but his plans backfired and Amrut proposed to Karuna. This time she accepted him and they were immediately married.

Give and take

When Pallavi finally found out Jyotika she was standing alone on the roof humming some thing softly. Pallavi tiptoed to her and playfully startled her, they both giggled merrily and sat down on the swing side by side.

They were close friends, very fond of each other, Pallavi was light hearted, bubbly and Jyotika silent, deep. This contrast made their friendship tie even more strong, Jyotika looked up at Pallavi for cheering her up and Pallavi at Jyotika for counsel.

Pallavi asked Jyotika after babbling for a little time that if she can ask her some thing serious.

When her request was accepted she asked Jyotika if she regrets her decision of marrying Nayan.

Jyotika laughed and answered, “Not an inch!”

Pallavi sat silent for a few minutes and then asked her “Did you loved Pavan?”

Jyotika softly said, “With all my heart , but Pavan has told me directly that he did not loved me and will never be interested in me”.

Pallavi asked “Why did you gave up so easily, you might have tried a little to make him love you.”

In response to her question Jyotika broke down into peal of laughter.

She softly placed her palm on her friend’s palm and said “I have tried in all the way that a dignified woman can, who is madly in love with some one, but all my attempts were ignored with extreme kindness and politeness. Love is a game of give and take, it is worthy only when it gets its return. I used to dote on Pavan but he loved me as a friend, my heart was bleeding from his constant rejection and then Nayan came, and he fell in love with me, he started to shower me with his affection and even though I was in love with Pavan I started to realize that I will be able to love Nayan very easily because his love for me was too overwhelming and deep”.

“Hence when Nayan proposed me i married him”.

Pallavi asked her, “What will you do if Pavan comes back into your life, madly in love with you? It often happens in real life, does not it?”

Jyotika shrugged her shoulder and said “There is only one form in which Pavan can now return to my life, that is of a platonic friend”.

Then she gently said, “You know Pallavi, you cant make any one love you, but you can make yourself love any one until and unless that person is not utterly disagreeable in your eyes, when I loved Pavan and failed I was in a deep darkness, then Nayan came, he doted after me, and his affection made me forget my gloom, I slowly started to judge him whether or not he has the qualities which are essential for me in my spouse and realized he had all the things which I feel should be present in my spouse and to my greatest fortune he is madly in love with me. So I decided to change myself and give him his due affection and I succeeded. So Pavan is just a friend to me, my love for him has become platonic affection after I married Nayan. Because I believe that amorous love is only for husband, not even for lover”.

Pallavi hugged her tightly and they both sat side by side on the jhoola watching moon shine over trees and buildings.

holding hands

Mehul was in her early forties, she was gentle, well mannered, pretty, single by choice, because she did not believed in compromising with her dignity, hence, the sincere attempts by her lower middle class family did not worked. Either she rejected the suitors because they were not of her brainwave or they rejected her because she did not had enough dowry packet to offer to them.

She was working as an administrative executive in a small private firm, it paid her enough to take care of herself and her parents modestly.

It has been raining cats and dogs since the morning, so, when Mehul left for home in the evening the road was a river and the water reached her knee. There was no bus in sight so she started to walk towards the direction of her home. After a walking for a considerable stretch she reached dry area but no bus was in sight, she was standing in the bus stand, feeling bewildered, all of a sudden a taxi stopped there and a few guys came out of it, they looked drunk, she looked around but could not see any one in sight, she did not thought it wise to stand there, hence she started to walk in the direction of her home, a chill ran down her spine when the taxi blocked her way within five minutes, she was thinking about sprinting to a run when another car stopped, a guy rolled down his window and asked if she was having any problem.

One of the guys roughly told him to mind his own business and move away if he wants to move at all. The guy gently brought out a revolver out of the window and dared them to touch Mehul, the guys scurried away like a bunch of rats.

The guy opened the door of the car and asked Mehul to get in, she looked inside the car, the guy was the only person in the car, seeing her hesitation, he said that those people may resurface again if he leaves. So he came out of the car and stood beside her, she saw that he was visibly limping. He waited with her till a bus arrived, he told her his name, Arman, he was an airforce officer, had to leave the force after being wounded, at present he is running his own business.

As she already had more than one reason to like him Mehul did not minded exchanging phone numbers, next morning her phone rang, it was Arman, he asked her if she reached home safely, and she invited him for tea.

They met next Sunday, they became fast friends very soon, because every thing matched, starting from the nature to choice. They were of the same age also, Arman was one month older than Mehul.

A few months later Mehul asked Arman why he was not married, Arman replied after a little hesitation that he was engaged when the accident occurred. But, the accident made him incapable of being a father, so, he persuaded his fiancé to marry some one else. He did not wanted to ruin some one’s life.

Mehul asked him after a brief pause, that why did he thought that a woman’s life can be wasted after having a life partner like him? Arman replied that most of the people marry to have family, Mehul replied may be, but not every one.

A little more time passed, with every passing day they both realized that they may not have any problem in life without each other, but, some how they were feeling each other’s absence too much, Mehul was shy to propose and Arman cared for her happiness more than his own.

Mehul’s mother understood her daughter’s pain and consulted with her father, they both slowly brought Arman out of his complex, that marrying does not means having a father for one’s children or a protector for oneself to every woman. To some women it means having a companion, a person who they can respect, and look up to for the entire life, a partner in every sense.

Ramesh

The moment Juhi heard the phone she knew that it has to be Ramesh, she ran to the phone and with great disappointment noticed an unknown number, she picked up the phone just to confirm that it was a wrong number.

She was just about to put down the phone when it started to vibrate in her hand and it was Ramesh this time, they talked for a long time and then Juhi retired to her bed, happy.

Ramesh has brought warmth and happiness into Juhi’s bleak life. Juhi made the mistake which young people often do, she became pregnant before her marriage, and her fiancé bluntly refused to marry her, her parents lodged a case, Court ordered him to marry Juhi or go to jail, but Juhi flatly denied. The baby did not survived but Juhi’s family told her to move out, because they had to marry off their other daughters, and according to them, as Juhi has dug her own grave, and denied to come out of it when given a chance, she will have to bear the brunt, not them.

Juhi moved out to Calcutta, and terminated all contact with her family, because she was too proud to accept to be looked down at. She was a very shy, homely girl, who was completely engrossed in her own family, did not had much idea about the world outside, so the first thing she faced was extreme loneliness. That is when the idea struck her and she started to look for a friend on net.

Initially she found a lot, but only one stayed back Ramesh, he used to call her up every day, whenever Juhi was sad, Ramesh used to call up as if by some magic and fill her day with happiness. Whenever she was lonely she used to cling to Ramesh. Their friendship became the life breath for both of them.

Juhi was very eager to see Ramesh but Ramesh always used to turn it down, saying that if she sees him their friendship will end, because he is too ugly. No matter how much Juhi tried to convince him that look has nothing to do with love or friendship Ramesh ignored her plea.

One day Juhi got hit by a car on her way to home, as Ramesh’s no. was one of the numbers, and the number which has been last dialed the hospital authorities called him, when Juhi came to sense she saw that a person was sitting beside her bed, with blood shot eyes, in physical sense he was very ugly, but there was a glow of good nature and affection on his face, which made his face more beautiful than angels.

Their friendship grew even deeper after that instant, and they finally married, and till date Ramesh is teased to no end by Juhi about his lack of confidence on the victory of heart over face, and brain over brawn.

Real love

Rahul was sitting in his favourite place, the chair beside window. Even though he could not see the moon shining out on the sky, yet he could hear the wind rustling the leaves and smell the fragrance of flowers it was bringing his way after gently touching his face with its tender touch.

He has lost his sight in an accident which almost took his life, he was returning home from an office party and made the blunder of taking lift from a friend who has taken too many pegs. For the first two years he thought his life has ended, but slowly he started to pick up his pieces with extra ordinary courage, and started to work as a customer care executive of a call centre.

He was sitting their silently, all of a sudden the silence of the night broke with a peal of child like laughter, he instantly recognized the person, and his dark night was full of the moon shine he could not see. It was his new neighbour, daughter of the family which has recently moved from Agra to Calcutta, Mamata, she has been adding light to his little gloomy life by her childish ways, even though they were almost of the same age, she being one month junior to her.

She was learning spoken English from him, used to visit him each and every day without failing and he was slowly and desperately falling in love with her, but never dared to admit or propose, because he has heard that a part of his face has been severely damaged in that accident and he has overheard some of his well-wisher that it was god’s mercy that he did not had to see that. On the other hand he has heard that she was pretty, confident and extremely charming. Her sheer presence used to light up his days and fill up his dreams.

He was talking to one of his intimate friends Rajesh about his heartache, he poured out his heart to him, that how like all other people he too would like some one to be with him through up and down of life, his love for Mamata, her charming nature, all of a sudden his friend said that he would have to leave for a few minute and left. He was shocked and dumb-struck. When he felt a soft hand on his hand. And instantly recognized the touch.

Mamata told him that Rajesh has called her before coming here to listen everything with her own ear. Then she told she too has deeply loved him for a long time, for his courage, his gentle nature and loving way. When he tried to ask about his distorted looks, she just brushed that away and told him that she is too matured to fall in love without thinking about all the disadvantages. But finally she has found that his plus side is way too much for his negative side. And they both sat down silently, side by side to enjoy the serenity of the moonless night and the companionship of the person who has accepted him/her just as the way he/she is.