Mulaqaat - A meeting - Part 2

Continued from previous post......

He was curious as to how her life might have shaped up. He wanted to know how she was doing. He paced quickly towards her and when he was a couple of yards away from her, he called

"Hey Sweets, is that you ?"

(She stops in her tracks, turns around with an expression which seems like a collage of shock and surprise)

"Hey Av, what are you doing here ?"

"Oh my God, I cant believe this, its been ages" he says.

( His eyes are fixed on to her as if he is seeing her for the first time and trying to imprison her in his eyes, she can feel his gaze upon her and its making her feel uncomfortable)
"No dodo, its been 4 years and (looks at her mobile) almost 3 months (and flashes her i-rritated-you smile) "

"Yeah yeah, when have I ever been good with numbers. So how come here ?"

"I live here (Shrugging her shoulders), I have never seen you here before."

"Oh you live here!! So what does your husband do ? I came here on work."
(He secretly wishes, please tell me am not married, please get angry with me for asking such a stupid question, please shout at me for thinking that she would get married to somebody else)

"Oh him, He has setup practice here, he is a dentist."

(Fighting hard to keep his disappointment away from his voice)
"Oh thats so kewl, so you still with the same old job eh ?"

"Nah, I have to take care of Sid, he is still a toddler, So i took a sabattical from work. So whats happening with ya? Did ya find that one ideal women which you were always looking for (she couldnt help sounding sarcastic)

(Averting her eyes) " Yeah, I met her fine but you know what the best part is, I managed to tie the knot and we are blessed with a beautifu daughter. We named here Nirali "

" Oh, so finally u managed to name your daughter Nirali, eh ? "

" Yeah the same way you managed to name your son Siddharth" ( He couldnt keep a straight face while lying to her, He is a pretty good liar but he somehow feels she would always find out if he lies. One's eyes always gives one away when lying and at one point in time she could read him with eyes closed, he wonders whether she can still do that.)

"I am so happy for you. I always told you that you will meet the one woman wou always wanted to be with. " (She has this genuinely happy smile on her face which irritates him and makes him feel guilty about lying. He wanted to see disappointment in her face on hearing that he belonged to another woman now but all he could see was mirth.)

(Yeah rite !!!) " Now do you have to bring in those I told you SOs?" (Visibly irritated)

"Hey, why you getting so touchy about it ? I am just happy for you thats all. So tell me more about your gal"

" Ok, forget it. What abt my wife? She is the prettiest woman I have ever met ( He has always told her that she was the prettiest woman ever born, He hoped to see her dejected when he told her that he finds another woman prettier than her, but no change on her face.) She understands me quite well and shes a very nice person to talk to. She is a very good mother and what else (Shrugs his shoulders). Do you know a place where we can have a good cup of coffee here, it would be great if you can accompany me."

(She looks at her watch) " Yeah sure just around the corner theres a nice Cafe, we get pretty good Cappuccino out there."

(She starts walking in that direction and he takes a couple of quick steps to catch her up)

To be continued (at the coffee shop ;))

Mulaqaat - A meeting - Part 1

He recognized her at once by her gait. She always had a distinct gait for a woman and he always used that to make her out in a crowd. Its been 6 years since he last saw her. She has changed quite a bit in that time. If not for her walk he would have missed her. She had put on a bit of weight, he always used to tell her that she was too skinny and she would look prettier with few more pounds. Her coiffure looks a bit different, more trendy than what she used to have. She was sporting this capri and a black T . He has always remembered her wearing a salwar. Its amazing how you always have a picture of people in your mind, how you capure their existence in your memories and expect them to remain that way for eternity.

The memory of their first meeting is still fresh in his mind. How he had accosted her and though she was hesitant initially it dint take long for her to open up. He has always wondered at his ability to accost any stranger especially women and within minutes make them feel at home. They discussed everything under sun. She devised a point system to see how many of their interests match and they kept count of it for a couple of days but after that it was too much of an effort to maintain it. He still chuckles when he thinks of what her first impression of his was. She thought he was just one of those women chasers. They both laughed when she told him this.

He had liked many women before he met her but with those women it was always the physical attraction. She was the first woman with whom the physical aspect never entered his mind not that she wasnt pretty but somehow he was never able to find a satisfactory answer as to why so. One fine day he told her that he loved her. He hadnt planned for a proper proposal with a red rose and a mushy card which was the norm then but he simply told that he loves her when she asked why he was so lost for past few days. She dint agree to the proposal, he was adamant, she was depressed he was not giving it up, he couldnt see her depressed, he gave up, she came back but he couldnt. After that they grew apart and gradually lost touch.

Now here she was, the only woman he ever loved. He was never able to love any other woman, he never even tried to. He dint wanna get married for the sake of it and fool himself and the woman he would marry. He did enjoy being a bachelor but there are nights when he wished she was there with him. He was curious as to how her life might have shaped up. He wanted to know how she was doing. He paced quickly towards her and when he was a couple of yards away from her, he called "Hey Sweets, is that you ?"

P.S - I promise to post the part 2 in the next couple of days.

Someday

Its been almost 2 weeks since he has heard from her, he doesn’t even know where she is or what she is up to. She suddenly disappeared from his life. Her phone doesn’t respond. He doesn’t even know whether she is alive or dead.

This was the last mail he wrote to her

If you want to leave , you are free to do as you wish...have never tried neither will I ever try to stop you cos that’s not me...I jus cannot ask you do something for me....cos we are two different individuals and we are free to take our decisions as we wish..... One thing about me which you might already know when I take a decision I consider jus myself and only myself....I do not think that a particular person would be hurt if I do this. if my action seems to be justified to me I go ahead with it if some body else gets affected by it then its not my problem. If I have to stay/leave I would jus consider about me how this decision will affect me whether I will be happy/sad staying/leaving, what are the consequences of this decision to me. But I guess we both differ here you take your decisions not keeping what consequences it would cause to you but what effect it will have on others, you tend to value others over your self but I am diametrically opposite to it. I tend to value self over anything else. So if you think your leaving or staying will have any effect on me then it’s my problem not yours. If I get hurt cos you leave/stay then its my fault not yours. You need to understand that I am not saying mine is the rite way of living or yours is, I am no judge of that , you are free to live the life the way you want to and I am free to live the way i want to. I have always told ya I am not cut out for relationships...I guess you would understand why now.

To the above her reply was

All I understand right now is that you are clear on this not having a future

Am not hurt one bit …. Yes, I sincerely hope that no one is ever hurt by my actions … Glad to know I have never hurt you

As for you being cut out for relationships – well, am no one to comment on that, maybe am just not your ‘type’ … whatever it does not matter any more

I have been hurt before and I refuse to tread the same path. I can take care of myself and hence I have the insight to see that nothing good is going to come out of this …..

Adios!

And after that there was no correspondence at all. He had read these two mails so many times that he can recite them verbatim. He decides to leave early from work cos he sees no point in sticking at office and staring at these mails and he is sure that no work would be done either, probably he would go for a long drive on his bike. The thought itself is refreshing. He quickly leaves his cubicle before his superior can stop him and takes the stairs instead of the elevator for the fear of some raised eyebrows. He takes out his bike, puts on his earphones and helmet and quietly gets out of the campus.

In my search for freedom

and peace of mind

I've left the memories behind

Wanna start a new life

but it seems to be rather absurd

when I know the truth

is that I always think of you

He smirks at the timing of the lyrics. He has heard this song umpteen number of times before, considering that he started listening to western music with MLTR but never before the lyrics have been so eloquent.

Someday someway

together we will be baby

I will take and you will take your time

We'll wait for our fate

cos' nobody owns us baby

We can shake we can shake the rock

Hope, that’s what keeps us alive, has said many of his friends. And he has always asked in return, hope of what? He has got replies like hope of a better tomorrow, hope of knowing your life’s calling, hope of finding that one person who will matter to you the most. Nothing has ever convinced his cynical self.

Try to throw the picture out of my mind

try to leave the memories behind

Here by the ocean

wave's carry voices from you

Do you know the truth

I am thinking of you too

That’s what he has been trying to do, to throw her out of his mind for over a year and half now. He just can’t get himself to do that. The only thing he has managed to achieve is indifference to his own life but not to her. He has become almost emotionless but whatever little emotions he felt were still invoked by her. She still was a part of every dream, every fantasy of his.

The love we had together

just fades away in time

And now you've got your own world

and I guess I've got mine

But the passion that you planted

in the middle of my heart

is a passion that will never stop

Then what is it that’s been stopping him? He has asked this question himself a lot of times but he never was able to pin point the problem. Probably when she gets back he would tell her that he still longs for her.

He never speeds on highways, but today he was going full throttle. He can see from the corner of the eye the speedometer touching 100 Kmph. He takes a sharp turn to avoid hitting a pedestrian, the bikes skids and he loses control. He tries to jump off the bike in the hope that he can escape with a few scratches. He falls on the road and is rolling, the truck behind couldnt stop in time.

Someday someway

together we will be baby… May be not.