Twist in the Tale

(continued from previous post dated 24th June)
Suddenly dark clouds seemed to hover in from nowhere.
From the convivial atmosphere and the glorious sunshine,
the mood turned distinctly sombre. She had not been
writing for sometime.......


kband - I think I heard a thunderclap! A storm may be
brewing, or the eerie silence on your part may just be the
lull before the storm !! Did I violate any code of conduct,
only uparwallah knows, but before any further damage is
inflicted, let me meekly comply to one of your earlier
wishes, i.e. commands - so here's my version of yesterday's
tale (whatever made you think that you were in the feature
role? I only said that to draw some comparison...in fact, had
it been you, dinner should've been ordered by you, it was my
'birthday' remember??):
......togetherness. The crackling flames lit up the darkness
with a golden aura while they both searched for that
unknown strain of happiness within each other. The still
night reverberated with the sound of their song -
Aaj mon cheyechche aami hariye jabo
Hariye jabo aami tomar sathey
Shei ongikarer rakhi poriye ditey
Kichchu shomoy rekho tomar haathey......
Tai jaa dekhi aaj shobi bhalo laage
Notun gaaner surey chchondo jaage
Jeno diner alor moto shohoj hoye
Eley aamar gohono raatey......
The first rays of the sun brought along with it hope. The
silhouette of a sailing ship could be seen in the distance as
it made its way towards the island. She felt someone
clutching at her heart and looked at me only to find a silent
drop of sorrow about to roll off my eyes. She felt the pain
herself and came forward to wipe my tears but just as she
touched me, I turned into a rock!
As the ship sailed away with her, try as she might, she just
couldn't help turning and looking back at the island where
she had been - there were no trees, no jungle there, only
milllions and millions of bright yellow roses that were
glowing in the sun............................



lea - Hmmmm, I see you have grown pretty restless
without my mails........dheeraj rakhiye vats ! the pain in my
back increased and i got a bahana to leave office..so couldnt
reply in time. I can see that u have really become very
besharam, wouldve pulled ur ears had u not been in delhi
and not so elder to me. And now i need to know what that
R dash dash means, hope u will follow my orders ;-))
Huggies ?????? Dont even think abt it !Oh , but i loved
your version of the tale.......well written, but why that
sorrow ? What is it thats bothering you or bothers you ?
OK, I am not going topush you. And abt keeping my mouth
shut.......well, what can isay ? Lastly, what is it that you dont
have, and for which i am being held as responsible :-)



kband - Plz leave that pc n go take some rest M, u need it.
and also try not to think of me or my mails for sometime.
I told u i was a pain...



lea - See this is where i say u r like a 24 yr old ! Arre baba,
it was a bahana for me to leave office anyway. moreover R,
there is someone who is dying for my mails, my dear fiancee,
he is waiting for me ... so iwill be onlione for some time. btw,
wheres ur long mail ? And dare u ever say u r a pain ! And
thanks for the yellow roses, they r my favourite.........ok i am
stealing those roses from ur date, now dont be cross with me!



kband - i've told u 2 stay away doesn't mean u can't tell
me how u r doin. i went to mandir y'day and prayed for u.
kindly let me know whether u r better, i'm worried.



lea - OOOre BABA, Eje ek dum bokaboki shuru kore dilen!
I am doing much much better.......i took the day off, slept all
day, just woke up to take my lunch :-)) So i am feeling much
better. Thank you so so much for praying........that was so
very nice of you R. And sorry for not telling you abt my
condition yesterday...plz aar raag korben na.U didnt even
mail me today.........me being at home and not mailing , must
have given u a golden opportunity to mail and chat with ur
other friends :-( Go, i'll not mail again !!!



kband - I'm not an open book, you are. I'm not able to
share my feelings, you can. I'm not level-headed, you
definitely are. You have wings to fly, I'm rooted in this
morass. You are jovial and happy, I'm perhaps paranoid
about sorrow. You are like "a whiff of fresh air", I'm caught
in the whirlwind. You are an angel of light, I am a messiah
of darkeness.......................................
So why do you like my mails ?



lea - Oh come on Rana. Well I will not force you to share
things but if it would help you in any way please do let me
know whats wrong with you. amaar torof theke ki kono
bhool hoyeche ? Jodi shottikarer bondhu mone kore
thaken tahole bolte paren.



kband - I took up my first job at Nasik for an R&D lab
working on Robotics (my specialisation in college). The
unit was nestled between two small hills and had a
picturesque setting about it. The job was enjoyable with
friends as colleagues and we had great fun together in
these initial years. We visited Mahabaleshwar, Lonavala,
Matheran and many other places from there and I look
back at these days with fond memories.
However the fondest memories I have of Nasik are of a
Marathi girl with whom I was madly in love. She was a
neighbour who for some strange reason felt I looked like
Shashi Kapoor (nothing could be farthest from truth!)
and fell for me hook, line and sinker. She was barely out
of her teens and we met clandestinely for a while, I even
tried to pick up some Marathi to chat with her.
But then we were caught ! By her brother-in-law, who
barged into my flat and saw me with her. Then the scenes
were straight out of a hindi film, with he threatening me
with dire consequences if I dared to come anywhere near
her. I felt it was best for me to shift to some other place
and did so promptly. But I was not able to tell her where
I lived and was desperate to meet her again. Lady luck
smiled on me and I spotted her in the same train in which
I was going to Mumbai. Some discreet glances later, I
managed to pass on my new address. Sure enough she
was there soon, and we renewed our association with
new fervour.
Few years passed but somehow we had not made any
future plans together - we just liked to be with each other
for as long as possible. Then I got a job in Calcutta and
decided to leave Nasik. She was completely distraught
and would not let me go. But then she became practical
and came to my place for the last time with a bouquet
of flowers. I took some snaps of her and we bid goodbye.
The snaps, by a quirk of fate, got damaged and all that
remains with me are her pile of letters. I will never forget
her and I don't think she'll too. Her birthday falls on 15th
of May (the same as that of Madhuri Dikshit)...............
So there you are, with another inconsequential chapter from
my life.


(to be continued)