Disclaimer: All characters and events
depicted in this story are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to actual events
or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Also this story is meant for entertainment purposes and I do not intend to hurt the sentiments of any individual, community, sect or religion.
I was a little
surprised to get her call. We were good friends at college but ever since, we
had almost lost contact. We did chat a few times on Facebook and talked once in
a blue moon, but we were completely out of touch since the past few months, perhaps years now. She was coming to Thane and asked meet me to
pick her up from the railway station.
I checked the
arrival time of her train on the internet and found it was on time. So I left at
the destined meeting time of 6 o’clock at Thane station and waited patiently
for her. Her train had already arrived and I was looking for her when she
called out my name. I turned back to find her standing right behind me. She
still looked pretty much the same was she did during her college days.
She asked, “Hey,
how are you?”
“I am fine. How are
you?”
“I am fine too. How
was your journey?”
“It was okay. Very
tiring though and my head is aching.”
“Have you booked a
place? If not you can stay at my place as well if unless you mind staying with
a bachelor.”
“Actually, it’s a
company trip. So they have booked a hotel for me. But the next time I come, I
promise I will stay with you unless you get married by then and your wife has
objections to me staying at your house”, she said winking.
“No she won’t” I
replied.
“Okay how do you
know? You have got a girlfriend?”
“No. Still no luck
but then when I find one, I am sure she will love my friends” I smiled.
“To blame it on
luck is not right. You never tried.”
“I was never
interested. I have a lot of things to accomplish in life before I think of love
and marriage.”
“Yeah I know. Dreams-so
huge, that I feel you would be a bachelor for your life” she teasingly smiled.
“No they will get
accomplished and I feel I would soon fulfill my dreams and find the women of my
dreams as well” I frowned. “You did find someone?”
“No! Still single.”
“Okay where are you
staying? I will drop you there?”
“No. Please let’s
have some coffee somewhere before we head there. I am having a bad headache and
badly need some coffee.”
“Sure lets head to
Viviana Mall. There are a lot of coffee shops there”
We drove for a few
minutes till we reached Viviana Mall and went to a coffee shop in there. On the
way she talked about her job and life in Bengaluru.
She sat at a corner
table while I got the coffee and brownies that she asked for.
“So your weakness
for brownies is still there?” I asked.
“Yeah, can’t help
it. I just love them. So how’s your job?”
“Hmm…Actually I
quit my job a few months back hoping to do what I love the most- writing. But
now, I feel a little lost and am stuck with my stories and don’t know how I
proceed with them.”
“So you are writing
a novel? Wow, that’s great.”
“Actually I started
two but am not able to complete either.”
“Why don’t you
write short stories just like you did earlier? You can publish a compilation of
that too before your novel gets published and that may help you gain
popularity.”
“I have written a
few but then, that’s not what I left my job for. I felt I was not able to write
novels because of my official commitments at my job; and now that I have left
it, I am still stuck the same way as I was before. I don’t know what I did was
right or wrong. I am so lost.”
“You just need to
keep faith in yourself. You have to keep trying. If you want I can share a
story with you. I will tell you the story in brief. You can add to it and make
a novel out of it.”
“I would love to
hear it. What’s the story about?”
“Promise you will
write about it and not stop till you finish it.”
“Promise. “
She sipped some
coffee and continued “The story is of a girl called Aadarshini. She was born to
Tamil Brahmin parents in a small village near Bengaluru. She was fair, around
5ft 7 inches tall, not too slim but decent looking. A bright student at school,
after completing her twelfth, she took admission to a college in Mumbai. Once
in college, she became the object of attention of most guys in college. Guys
fought over her as if she were their property. She didn’t like it but never cared
much about who fought whom. After all, she was in college to study not to
bother about who did what.”
“Like those typical
serious and studious girls.” I said.
“Yes. She was a
kind of introvert. She had very few friends but the friends she had were very
close to her heart. In her second year, she met a guy called Rohit from another
department of her college during a quiz competition at college, and soon became
friends. Their friendship blossomed with time and it soon turned into love. The
two would always be seen together in the college.”
“The guy must have
been the envy of the college.”
“Not sure. Perhaps
you can say that. You guys know more about who you envy.” She said smilingly
and continued, “But then their relationship met their first hurdle. She got a
job in Bengaluru and the guy got posted in Mumbai. Their parting was a tough
moment for them as they loved each other deeply. At that moment, she provided
him great support and encouraged him to stay back in Mumbai and excel in his
life. They can always be together once they get to leadership roles in their
respective companies, she said.”
She took another
sip of her coffee and continued, “The boy reluctantly agreed. The two used to
talk for hours together at night after they came back home from office. At
times, they stayed awake till morning, talking about their dreams. But then
came the second hurdle. When she had gone home for vacation, her parents
informed her that they had fixed her marriage with a Madhav Raghunath. She was
shocked and protested. She told them that she loved someone else and wanted to marry
him but they did not listen to her. She tried to inform him about that but he
was busy in a meeting when she called and so could not talk. She cried to sleep
that noon. In the evening, her to be in-laws were supposed to come. Her father
threatened her that he will kill himself if she opposed in front of them or said
anything about her past relationships to them. After all, she was a daughter
who loved her parents however wrong they might be. She decided to remain quiet
during the entire ‘show’. She behaved like completely normal, smiling shyly at
them just like the ‘to –be wives’ are supposed to be in their culture. They
liked her and confirmed the marriage. They were supposed to marry in a year’s
time.”
“What her marriage
got fixed and the guy had no idea of it! She should have told him, come what
may? Had she told that it’s very important and it was regarding their
relationship, I am sure he would have given the meeting a miss and talked to
her.”
“She had other
plans. She knew marriages don’t take place overnight. There is always time
enough to cancel it till they marry. She planned to meet the guy alone some
time later and tell her about her being in a relationship with someone else.
Madhav looked like decent guy and she was convinced he would understand. That
night she tried to tell her boyfriend about what happened in the day but he was
so happy regarding his new promotion, that she could not master the courage to
give him the news regarding the happenings of the day. The next day she came
back to Bengaluru.”
“What happened
then? Did she tell her boyfriend about what happened?”
“No. She could not
master the courage to say that she has got engaged. She knew, he would be
furious if he came to know about that. The last time she mentioned about a guy
proposing to her, he was furious. He drank all night and did not talk to her
for a week. She was scared.”
“When did she tell
him then?”
“She could never
tell him. A day after she came to Bengaluru, her father had a heart stroke and
was admitted to a hospital. She had to go back. Her father never recovered from
the stroke completely and was paralyzed on the right side. After he came back
home, he called her to be in-laws home and requested that the marriage be
preponed to the coming week as he felt that as he may not leave too long, and wanted
to marry his daughter married before he dies. Everyone agreed.
She thought of
informing her boyfriend regarding that but could never do so for the fear that
he may come to her home if he got to know of her marriage and her father’s
health may get worse.”
“So she married
without a protest?”
“Yes. She did not
have a choice. She married Madhav in a private ceremony attended by few
neighbours and relatives.Her in-laws were
good to her and were open-minded. They allowed her to keep working after
marriage in Bengaluru even as Madhav ran the family business at her home-town.”
“What happened to
her boyfriend then?”
“After she came
back to Bengaluru, she deliberately fought with him repeatedly and then they
broke up. Madhav had won her heart by his open-minded and caring nature. Everything
was going on well. She went for a honeymoon to Mauritius and soon got pregnant.
A few months later,
she gave birth to a baby girl, Madhu. But that brought a sudden halt to her
happiness. Her in-laws though educated and open-minded wanted a boy and not a
girl. They did not even once take the child in their arms. Madhav also didn’t
support her through this.
She was missing
Rohit now. She wanted to contact him but he had changed his number by then.
Her in-laws
announced that now that she has committed a mistake by giving birth to a girl,
she must rectify it soon by giving birth to a baby boy soon. She was still
lactating when Madhav started putting all efforts to fulfill their demands.
There was no pleasure and love making with Madhav anymore. He just fucked her
again and again, in attempts to have a baby boy.
Soon, she got
pregnant again. Upon confirmation of the news they took her to a doctor who was
related to her mother-in-law’s side and got the gender determination test done
of the unborn. They were satisfied only when they got to know that it is a boy.
Her in-laws and
Raghav started to be loving to her once more though their contempt for her baby
girl, Madhu did not change much.
A few weeks later,
she gave birth to a baby boy and he earned the affection of the entire family.
They were so enthused to welcome the baby boy that they often treated her baby
girl as non-existent. One day she heard her in-laws talk that they cannot
afford the upbringing of Madhu and that she must be given away to an orphanage.
She cried back in
her room holding Madhu close to her. She did not love her baby boy as much as
she loved her daughter. After all, she was born out of love and he was born out
of pressure from her husband and in-laws.
That night, she
decided to flee the village with her baby girl and live separately. While she
was leaving, she thought of a sweet revenge. She took the kitchen knife and
thumped it into her baby boy.
She reached the
station and boarded the first available train. The train reached Thane station
the following night. She checked into a hotel at Thane West with her child. The
news of the baby’s murder must had spread by now and she was scared of getting
caught with Madhu. She was not bothered about her own well-being but was
concerned about Madhu’s future.
She
logged into her Facebook account after ages and found Rohit still stayed in
Mumbai. Better still, his number was there too.
In the morning, she
called him and asked if they could meet. Rohit agreed and they decided on
meeting at a cafe.”
She reached there
much before time. She was nervous and was getting impatient. She called him and
he said that he had just left home and it would take him an hour to reach. She
could not definitely stand for an hour, waiting for him and was in no mood for
window shopping. So, she sat in the cafe, sipping her coffee and staring out of
the window. The blood stained knife lay in her handbag covered with a blue silk
scarf.” she paused
“What happened
next?”
“Can I just come
back in a minute? I badly need to use the washroom.”
“No you can’t go
now. You have to tell me what happened after that? You can’t stop at the climax
like they do in the TV soaps. Please tell me now.”
“Please I need to
go. I will come back in a minute. My purse is still here. Please look after it.”,
she smiled. As she got up, she dropped her cell phone. She bent down, picked up
her phone and left saying she will be back in a minute.
It’s been a long
time and she still has not returned from the washroom. The waiter comes to our
table with the bill, “Sorry Sir. We are closing for the day. A corpse has been
found in the mall.”
“What? Who is it?”
“No idea Sir.
Someone reported about it just a few minutes back and the police will be coming
for investigation soon. The mall will be cordoned off and shops closed”.
“Even malls are not
safe nowadays it seems. Someone gets killed even with so many people around”.
After the waiter leaves,
I pick up her purse. The zip is half open and I see a blue blood stained silk scarf.
Nervously, I open the zipper and find a piece of paper lying over the cloth.
“Sorry about all I
have done. By the time you read this, I would be no more. I always loved you
but could never master enough courage to tell you. This story I told you is of
my life with a few changes to it so that you don’t suspect. Because of the
current circumstances and for Madhu’s safety, it’s best I don’t live any
longer. I know you are a good human and felt you would be the best person to
bring her up. Please pick her up from Hotel Rajhans and take her home with you.
I have told the baby sitter that her dad will pick her up from there.” The baby
sitter’s number was mentioned below.
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