On the other side of my life

‘On the other side of my life ‘, is a suspense story with a big climax. The story starts with a girl’s life named Sakina. Sakina lives in Mumbai and comes from a very orthodox muslim family. There are restrictions on everything in Sakina’s life then be it choosing career of her choice, higher education, partying with friends etc. in a nutshell, her life is butched up. Sakina is very bright in her studies and always got scholarship from class 10^th till her engineering. Sakina isn’t allowed to have male friends so let alone chatting with them. Her facebook ID is always searched for any male friends and her mobile too.

The second part of the story describes a boy named Aryan. Aryan lives in Mumbai and is from a free hindu family. The story describes his life in the college. Aryan has a younger brother named vihan. Like all younger siblings, vihan is very cranky and irritating to Aryan. The story describes the fun that they both have.

Aryan goes to Pune to attend a job interview, Sakina goes there too.  They see eachother on many occasions and finally when Aryan see’s Sakina at the bus station, he goes to speak with her. They both get that job and Sakina, after having a lot of resistance and arguments with her parents, goes to Pune to do the job. As time passes, Sakina’s and Aryan’s friendship grows and they fall in love with each other. They regularly go to Mumbai on weekends together. On one weekend, Aryan stays back in Pune and Sakina has to go alone to Mumbai. She gets into a bus going to Mumbai. At the next stop a boy gets in the bus and sits next to Sakina. They start to speak with each other. The boy introduces himself as Vivek and Sakina introduces herself as SABINA. As they talk with each other, we find out that Sakina even has facebook account by that name. however she refrains to give Vivek her contact number. Sakina even adds Vivek on facebook with the other ID. As time passes, they fall in love with each other.

RRashmi, Sakina’s roommate in Pune is a very jovial and has a loving personality. Rashmi earlier finds that they recive letters from various Spa’s, clubs, wrongly addressed to a girl named Sabina to their house. Initially. Rashmi feels that the letters are wrongly addressed but as the frequency of the letters addressed for Sabina increase, she finds it very irritating. Vivek and Rashmi are colleagues in the office. One day, Rashmi finds Sakina’s photo with Vivek in his phone and asks him about her. He tells her about her. As he tells her name ‘Sabina’ a glass falls down making noise and Rashmi feels that Vivek told her name as Sakina. As time passes Rashmi and Vivek become good friends and one day, in their casual tals he says that he and Sabina are dating each other and shows their photo together. Rashmi is shocked as she knows that Sakina and Aryan are dating each other. Smartly, she gets all information about Sakina from Vivek. She goes to their house, Sakina has a habit to write a dairy and Rashmi reads it. To her shock, she finds that Sakina has described about a girl named Sabina, who is pretty carefree and is tied with no bonds or restrictions.

Rashmi’s boyfriend, named Ravi is a psychologist.  Rashmi tells Ravi about Sakina and explains her case and here comes a big twist. Ravi tells Rashmi that Sabina is Sakina’s alter ego that Sakina always wished to be. Rashmi tells Vivek and Aryan about Sakina’s problem and one casually tells Sakina her problem. Sakina gets shock of her life and she calls both Aryan and Vivek to meet her at the same time. The story potrays some emotional words being exchanged between the three of them. Sakina gives solution to the mesh up between the three of them and tells that why not they remain just as friends and not be in any relation and the story ends here.

While I was dreaming about the big city

 

‘While I was dreaming about the big city’ is a fiction cum thriller novel. The protagonist is a simple boy from a small hill-town near Mumbai. The story begins in a thick jungle. Since it’s a night time so the place is very quite. We can hear the flattering sound of flying of the bats, the hooting sound of the owl and chirping of insects are the sounds that are prominent in the silence of the jungle.  In amidst of this you here a sound of a gunshot. The birds in the nests fly making a chorus of sound of their fluttering wings. There’s a waterfall in the jungle and sound of the water falling is prominent. The water is falling in a small pond created by the waterfall. A tired figure is walking up to the pond.

As he sees his reflected face in water, his face covered with blood drops. What he was before and now what he has become is a big question. His thoughts take him years back when he was a simple boy on the streets of Songarh. It’s a small hilly station on Nilgiri mountain range on Mumbai-Nashik highway. Vijay’s father worked in a farm while he worked in a shop as a helper. The heavy work in the shop and he used to go to a small mountain daily to see sunrise had made him very muscular. Vijay’s father died due to tuberculosis, so as he no attachment to his small town so he came to Mumbai and lived with his friend named Saurabh. They lived in a rented flat.

Vijay worked with a tea vendor. He would wash his cups, clean the premises etc. Vijay and Saurabh hadn’t paid house rent for months so the house owner drove them out of the house. As it was night time and they had no place to sleep that’s why they went to a beach. It was a secluded beach that was hardly frequented by people. Vijay saw a boat and men in it flashing light at the men on the beach and they were responding by flashes of their torches. As the boat came near the shore, men offloaded boxes from the boat. At that moment other men came and started beating the men who were offloading from the boat. Vijay jumped in that fight and beat the men until they ran away. In this process one man attacked Vijay with a knife and it made a bruise.

He was taken to a man who was the boss of the men who were unloading the stuff. Kumar told Vijay that he had fought and saved his gold. Kumar offered Vijay to work with him in the business of smuggling gold. Vijay thought hard over the offer. By taking the offer he would come out of his poverty but simultaneously he would enter into crime. Thus the simple Vijay that we knew became a criminal. Vijay often used to go to a bar and there he met Natasha. She was a struggling model and had been staying in Mumbai. As time passed, closeness between Vijay and Natasha grew. Vijay reluctantly told Natasha about his work and Natasha was okay with it.

As Vijay’s criminal graph grew so his enemies also grew. One such enemy named Rana was after his life. Police as usual were behind him. To run away from them he went with Natasha to Mauritius. Closeness in them grew on that trip. On returning to Mumbai, Kumar had a meeting with Vijay in a hotel. After finishing the meeting when they came out, Rana’s men fired at both of them. The bullet missed Vijay but it hit Kumar. Kumar got a severe injury and succumbed to it. Hiding all the way Vijay reached his house to see some men were standing near his house and pasting something. As he read it, it was a demolition notice of that house on behalf of B.M.C. Vijay realizes that all the things around him are false. They are only his imagination or say hallucination.

So he murders Natasha. While he was sitting at the pond he felt that someone had pushed him from behind. He turned his back and was surprised to find Saurabh with food packet in his hands. The sea was roaring big. Vijay realizes that it was indeed his dream. The thought to become rich at any cost had dominated his mind so he imagined things. The story ends with Vijay’s usual life.

Sa re ga ma

Sa Re Ga Ma


Normally, a child by the age of 15 finds his dream but in my case I realized it at the age of mere 10. Music was it. God had already given me a good voice, so I wanted to harness this more. Hi, I am Hridhay Malhar. Since I live in Pune, which is the cultural capital of Maharashtra, so understanding and appreciating my talent wasn’t difficult and I was well accepted in this city. There are many options available here and my parents were equally supportive about my passion so they enrolled me in a class that thought about playing harmonium. There’s a story behind my name, my father is a big fan of Pandit Hridhaynath Mangeshkar hence he kept my name as Hridhay. Hridhay in Marathi stands for heart. As heart has a rhythmic beating of ‘dhak dhak’ hence my name is meaningful taking my passion in consideration.
Since I stayed in Kothrud area of Pune and the class was in Kothrud itself near my house so going there alone wasn’t any problem. I used to go there at 4pm and used to come back by 6pm. Like every kid, I too liked to play cricket. I used to play it after coming back from the class. There were two groups that played in our society. One of big boys and other of small boys like me. We were often played with old boys as ‘kaccha limbu’ or as a weak player. Though I hated it but still I liked to play with them.
I was now 12 years old and I graduated from image of small boy to a big boy. I stopped my harmonium tuitions as I now knew to play harmonium well. ‘Hey Hridhay, have you heard of Salil Kulkarni? He’s taking classes of classical music’, Ishant asked. Ishant is of my age, stays in my building and is my best friend. ‘Oh! Are you sure that he takes classes as he’s a big personality in the field of music’, I replied. ‘Yes man, a friend of mine goes to his classes’, Ishant replied. Next day, I went to Salil Kulkarni’s music school in Karve Nagar. Another area that is close to Kothrud.
Salil sir met me and asked, ‘do you know anything about music?’ ‘Yes’, I replied. ‘I sing well and know to play harmonium’, I added. I sang a song accompanied by music from the harmonium which I played. ‘You sing really well, some technical flaws but don’t worry as I will correct it’, Salil sir said. ‘You can join from tomorrow and you need to pay very nominal fees every month, by the way where do you stay?’ He added. ‘Kothrud’, I answered. ‘So that’s very near, come every day at 5pm sharp’, he said.
I went there every day. He taught me from the basic singing, that is ‘suur and taal’. Within few days, I understood music much better and it reflected in my singing. Since, I am alone at that time so Salil sir had his complete attention on me. At times, he corrected me. One day, as I was practicing a young girl came in our class. ‘Hriday, she’s Swarangi, she will come every day at the same time as you do’, Salil sir said. I gave her a brief smile and said, ‘hi’ and shook hands. As I shook hand, I felt that I had seen her somewhere but couldn’t tell as to where. Wheels of my brain started churning as I continued my practice. ‘Eureka!’ I loudly said and looked at Swarangi. ‘Have you joined Joshi sir’s harmonium class too?’ I asked. ‘Yes’, she replied. ‘Hi, I am Hridhay’, I said as I shook my hand. ‘Hi’, she replied with a smile and hand shook my hand with her. ‘I stay in Kothrud, where do you stay?’ I asked. ‘Paud road’, she replied. ‘Oh! That’s very close to my house’, I said. ‘In which standard are you in and in which school do you study?’ I asked. ‘I am in 7th grade and in G. K. Gurukul school’, she replied. ‘What about you?’ She asked. ‘I am also in 7th standard and I am in City International School’, I said.
We again started to practice music. Months passed by and we became good friends. Since we studied in same standard so we began to share our study material too. One evening, she came to my house to return back a study material. I was surprised to see her at my house when I opened the door. Fortunately, I was at home that day because it was raining outside. Soft romantic songs were playing on my music player. I invited her in and I introduced her to my mom. ‘Mom, she’s Swarangi, she learns music with me at Salil sir’s music school’, I said. ‘Hridhay, call me ‘Saru’, people close to me call me the same’, she said. ‘Good that your name has some short form as mine don’t’, I said. ‘Mom used to call me ‘chintu’ when I was a kid but I didn’t like that name, so she gave up calling me that’, I said with a rise smile. ‘Buddy, you have given me a point on which I can tease you’, she said with a mischievous smile on her face.
‘Let’s go to my room’, I said. ‘Mom, can you please make some hot bhajiya and thecha (chutney of grounded chilly with some spices)’, I added. I am neat and clean type of boy, so there wasn’t any question of my room being untidy. There was a sign of ‘No entry’ as seen of road on the door of my room. ‘Chintu, nice sign’, Swarangi blinked her left eye and said. ‘Shut up you chinti’, I said with disgust. ‘Yucks! You wierdo, you gave me such a tacky name’, she said with a vomiting action. ‘Like you sow, so shall you reap’, I said with a smile. ‘By the way, it’s a nice sign’, she said. ‘Yes, it’s a sign for anyone else not to enter in my room’, I said. ‘So, does it mean to me too’, she said. ‘Hey, I have invited you in my room’, I said. She went near the window as the view around my building is very beautiful and on top of that we stay on 7th floor.
‘Hridhay, that’s awesome view, I can sit here for many hours listening to soft music’, she said. ‘Yah, let’s go to the terrace of our building, you will love it more’, I said. We went to the terrace; it was a typical rainy weather with dark clouds, rains, and greenery everywhere. We stood under the building’s water tank to protect ourselves from the rain. Swarangi then collected the rain water in her palms and splashed water on my face. I then held her hand and we went in the rain. We both got wet in the rain and danced as well. As we danced our eyes met and we looked in each other’s eyes for few seconds. When we realized it, we immediately looked at different directions. We stayed on the terrace for some time and while coming back I asked her, ‘do you feel cold?’ She said ‘no’ by shaking her head. As she shook her head, water from her wet hairs splashed on my face. I wiped it, she purposefully started shaking her head. ‘Saru, this so irritating’, I said but she continued shaking her head to irritate me. So I held her face, suddenly Ishant came to the terrace and as I was very close to her as well so he thought that I was about to kiss her. ‘Sorry guys, you carry on’, he said and turned back. ‘Inho, we aren’t doing what you think’, I said and Ishant came up. ‘She’s my friend from my singing classes, her name is Swarangi and Swarangi, he’s Ishant, my best friend’, I added. ‘Hi’, they said as they shook hands.
On reaching home, I rung the bell. ‘Saru, I bet ‘angry bird’ inside will shout at us’, I said. ‘Stop it’, she said as she widened her eyes and she gave a light tap on my head. As mom opened the door she saw it and said, ‘did he call me ‘angry bird’ again? Chintu, you are hopeless’, mom shouted. ‘Mom, don’t call me chintu’, I yelled. ‘Then stop calling me ‘angry bird’, mom said. ‘Both of you are completely wet’, mom shouted at us. She gave both of us towels to wipe ourselves. Swarangi was looking beautiful as dried her hairs, she looked at the collage of pictures of all prominent names in the field of music pasted on my wall. She looked carefully at each photo and turned back to talk with me. She didn’t realize that I was near and her wet hairs struck my eyes. ‘Yaar’, I screeched. Swarangi then quickly blew air in my eyes with song ‘jo barse sapney boond boond’ from the movie ‘Wake up Sid’ playing in the background. We ate bhajiyas and had hot ginger tea that mom gave us.
Years passed by and we became good friends. I used to talk on any stuff with her like I used to talk with Ishant. We went in a small joint to eat snacks and have some fresh fruit juice as we were very hungry after the music class. The couple at table next to us had a baby, my lord! The baby was very cranky and his crying irritated me. ‘Saru, can we leave as soon as we finish our dosa as that kid’s crying is irritating me’, I said and begun finishing my dosa very fast. ‘Hridhay, do you like kids because I love them? She asked. No, I simply hate them, they are so irritating’, I said with disgust. ‘Chill yaar!’ Swaragi said and laughed.
We didn’t have interest in studies as we had it in music so after our S.S.C we took admission in Ferguson College as that college had lots of cultural events. We were ragged by our seniors and since we were together, so we were dead ducks. They all encircled us in the college campus. ‘Do you know each other?’ Asked one of them. ‘Yes’, I replied. ‘Yes??? Who will say ‘sir’, said one of them. The gang had girls too, should I call them ‘sir’ too, I thought and smiled. ‘Where do you come from?’ One girl among them asked us. ‘Kothrud’, we replied. ‘Bend on one knee and propose her in pure Marathi and you girl, you have to slap him as the answer’, another girl instructed us. ‘Maam, please, I can’t slap him’, Swarangi pleaded. ‘No way babe’, that girl rejected Saru’s plea. I looked at her, closed my eyes and gave her small nod so that no one else could see it. I bent on one knee and proposed Saru in filmy style, obviously in pure Marathi and Saru slapped me and started crying. I hugged her and said, ‘it’s okay’.
In the evening I met Ishant, ‘how was your first day in the college?’ Ishant asked. I raised middle finger and said, ‘fuck all’. ‘Why, what happened?’ Ishant asked. I told him the entire ragging incident and he was in all splits, rolling with laughter. ‘Man, this is unreal, you proposed Swarangi and in reply she slapped you, I can’t control my laughter’, Ishant said. ‘Shut up yaar, poor Saru was shivering later’, I said. ‘Yeah, slapping the man she loves is indeed hard’, Ishant said laughing. ‘Fuck off man’, I said and showed Ishant a middle finger.
I and Swarangi enjoyed each other’s company in many places apart from the college, it may be shopping together, roaming in malls, evening time pass at F.C road, watching movies together. We fell in love with each other but neither one of us realized that. Swarangi looked a bit sad from past few. She didn’t have interest in doing anything, I was surprised to see this as the girl who is always bubbly and eager to do things looked flat. ‘Saru, what’s wrong?’ I asked. ‘Nothing’, she replied and changed the topic. I sensed it that something is really wrong in her life. Our college had a cultural festival named ‘Rhythms’, it had singing event too. We both took part in the singing competition.
Swarangi was looking very beautiful on the eve of our competition. ‘You are looking very hot today, you’ll get many friend requests after today on facebook’, I blinked my left and said with a smile. ‘Who cares’, she replied quite blandly. I sung ‘ek kudi jida naam muhobaat, gum hai’ from the film ‘Udta Punjab’ while Swarangi sang ‘tere bina jiya jaye na’ from the film ‘Ghar’. Swarangi won the prize and I didn’t. I was very sad while coming back. Swarangi sensed it and said, ‘Hridhay, your song was good, in fact technically perfect. You sang as sir taught us, that is in perfect ‘sur and taal’ but do you know, what was missing’, she said. ‘What?’ I asked. ‘Emotions’, she replied. ‘You didn’t express that, a girl you love madly is lost and until you express it fully you won’t do well’, she replied. ‘See, I expressed it completely that I can’t survive without my guy, you know any sort of pain inside brings the best emotions out of a singer’, she added. ‘It means that you have a pain, tell me yaar?’ I said. ‘Let it be, you won’t understand’, she replied
Few months passed and Swarangi was gasping for breath after she finished our daily song practice. I found her panting after a small walk in the college. Something is terribly wrong with her. She left coming to our music class and she left coming to the college. So one day, I went to meet her at her house. ‘Saru, tell me what’s the problem, why aren’t you coming to the class or in college?’ I asked with authority and simultaneously with concern. ‘You won’t understand’, she said and got up. I grabbed her hand said, ‘damn it! Tell me you moron’. ‘Hridhay, I have a heart problem and I can’t survive for long’, she said with tears in her eyes. I hugged her and sang ‘ek kudi jida naam muhobbat, gum hai’.  Swarangi looked at me and said, ‘perfect expression of the emotion in your song’. ‘Saru, didn’t you realize what me to express it’, I said. ‘It’s you, my girl’, I added and hugged her tightly. ‘I also can’t be yours in this life is my biggest pain’, she said.
Weeks passed and her health got worse she was admitted in Dinanath Mangeshkar hospital and that too in I.C.U. I met her there and couldn’t see her die, I cried keeping my head on her stomach. ‘Don’t get sad chintu, ‘ye marne ka time nahi hai, jeene ka time hai’, she said.  ‘Shut up you chinti’, I said and hugged her tightly. Few days later Swarangi died. Salil sir launched me as a singer in one of his film and as time passed I became the new singing sensation of the country. Everyone around me were very happy to see me grow but I know the main reason behind that was the pain that I am going through as I have lost the girl whom I loved the most.

Same re ga ma

harmonium which I played. ‘You sing really well, some technical flaws but don’t worry as I will correct it’, Salil sir said. ‘You can join from tomorrow and you need to pay very nominal fees every month, by the way where do you stay?’ He added. ‘Kothrud’, I answered. ‘So that’s very near, come every day at 5pm sharp’, he said.
I went there every day. He taught me from the basic singing, that is ‘suur and taal’. Within few days, I understood music much better and it reflected in my singing. Since, I am alone at that time so Salil sir had his complete attention on me. At times, he corrected me. One day, as I was practicing a young girl came in our class. ‘Hriday, she’s Swarangi, she will come every day at the same time as you do’, Salil sir said. I gave her a brief smile and said, ‘hi’ and shook hands. As I shook hand, I felt that I had seen her somewhere but couldn’t tell as to where. Wheels of my brain started churning as I continued my practice. ‘Eureka!’ I loudly said and looked at Swarangi. ‘Have you joined Joshi sir’s harmonium class too?’ I asked. ‘Yes’, she replied. ‘Hi, I am Hridhay’, I said as I shook my hand. ‘Hi’, she replied with a smile and hand shook my hand with her. ‘I stay in Kothrud, where do you stay?’ I asked. ‘Paud road’, she replied. ‘Oh! That’s very close to my house’, I said. ‘In which standard are you in and in which school do you study?’ I asked. ‘I am in 7th grade and in G. K. Gurukul school’, she replied. ‘What about you?’ She asked. ‘I am also in 7th standard and I am in City International School’, I said.
We again started to practice music. Months passed by and we became good friends. Since we studied in same standard so we began to share our study material too. One evening, she came to my house to return back a study material. I was surprised to see her at my house when I opened the door. Fortunately, I was at home that day because it was raining outside. Soft romantic songs were playing on my music player. I invited her in and I introduced her to my mom. ‘Mom, she’s Swarangi, she learns music with me at Salil sir’s music school’, I said. ‘Hridhay, call me ‘Saru’, people close to me call me the same’, she said. ‘Good that your name has some short form as mine don’t’, I said. ‘Mom used to call me ‘chintu’ when I was a kid but I didn’t like that name, so she gave up calling me that’, I said with a rise smile. ‘Buddy, you have given me a point on which I can tease you’, she said with a mischievous smile on her face.
‘Let’s go to my room’, I said. ‘Mom, can you please make some hot bhajiya and thecha (chutney of grounded chilly with some spices)’, I added. I am neat and clean type of boy, so there wasn’t any question of my room being untidy. There was a sign of ‘No entry’ as seen of road on the door of my room. ‘Chintu, nice sign’, Swarangi blinked her left eye and said. ‘Shut up you chinti’, I said with disgust. ‘Yucks! You wierdo, you gave me such a tacky name’, she said with a vomiting action. ‘Like you sow, so shall you reap’, I said with a smile. ‘By the way, it’s a nice sign’, she said. ‘Yes, it’s a sign for anyone else not to enter in my room’, I said. ‘So, does it mean to me too’, she said. ‘Hey, I have invited you in my room’, I said. She went near the window as the view around my building is very beautiful and on top of that we stay on 7th floor.
‘Hridhay, that’s awesome view, I can sit here for many hours listening to soft music’, she said. ‘Yah, let’s go to the terrace of our building, you will love it more’, I said. We went to the terrace; it was a typical rainy weather with dark clouds, rains, and greenery everywhere. We stood under the building’s water tank to protect ourselves from the rain. Swarangi then collected the rain water in her palms and splashed water on my face. I then held her hand and we went in the rain. We both got wet in the rain and danced as well. As we danced our eyes met and we looked in each other’s eyes for few seconds. When we realized it, we immediately looked at different directions. We stayed on the terrace for some time and while coming back I asked her, ‘do you feel cold?’ She said ‘no’ by shaking her head. As she shook her head, water from her wet hairs splashed on my face. I wiped it, she purposefully started shaking her head. ‘Saru, this so irritating’, I said but she continued shaking her head to irritate me. So I held her face, suddenly Ishant came to the terrace and as I was very close to her as well so he thought that I was about to kiss her. ‘Sorry guys, you carry on’, he said and turned back. ‘Inho, we aren’t doing what you think’, I said and Ishant came up. ‘She’s my friend from my singing classes, her name is Swarangi and Swarangi, he’s Ishant, my best friend’, I added. ‘Hi’, they said as they shook hands.
On reaching home, I rung the bell. ‘Saru, I bet ‘angry bird’ inside will shout at us’, I said. ‘Stop it’, she said as she widened her eyes and she gave a light tap on my head. As mom opened the door she saw it and said, ‘did he call me ‘angry bird’ again? Chintu, you are hopeless’, mom shouted. ‘Mom, don’t call me chintu’, I yelled. ‘Then stop calling me ‘angry bird’, mom said. ‘Both of you are completely wet’, mom shouted at us. She gave both of us towels to wipe ourselves. Swarangi was looking beautiful as dried her hairs, she looked at the collage of pictures of all prominent names in the field of music pasted on my wall. She looked carefully at each photo and turned back to talk with me. She didn’t realize that I was near and her wet hairs struck my eyes. ‘Yaar’, I screeched. Swarangi then quickly blew air in my eyes with song ‘jo barse sapney boond boond’ from the movie ‘Wake up Sid’ playing in the background. We ate bhajiyas and had hot ginger tea that mom gave us.
Years passed by and we became good friends. I used to talk on any stuff with her like I used to talk with Ishant. We went in a small joint to eat snacks and have some fresh fruit juice as we were very hungry after the music class. The couple at table next to us had a baby, my lord! The baby was very cranky and his crying irritated me. ‘Saru, can we leave as soon as we finish our dosa as that kid’s crying is irritating me’, I said and begun finishing my dosa very fast. ‘Hridhay, do you like kids because I love them? She asked. No, I simply hate them, they are so irritating’, I said with disgust. ‘Chill yaar!’ Swaragi said and laughed.
We didn’t have interest in studies as we had it in music so after our S.S.C we took admission in Ferguson College as that college had lots of cultural events. We were ragged by our seniors and since we were together, so we were dead ducks. They all encircled us in the college campus. ‘Do you know each other?’ Asked one of them. ‘Yes’, I replied. ‘Yes??? Who will say ‘sir’, said one of them. The gang had girls too, should I call them ‘sir’ too, I thought and smiled. ‘Where do you come from?’ One girl among them asked us. ‘Kothrud’, we replied. ‘Bend on one knee and propose her in pure Marathi and you girl, you have to slap him as the answer’, another girl instructed us. ‘Maam, please, I can’t slap him’, Swarangi pleaded. ‘No way babe’, that girl rejected Saru’s plea. I looked at her, closed my eyes and gave her small nod so that no one else could see it. I bent on one knee and proposed Saru in filmy style, obviously in pure Marathi and Saru slapped me and started crying. I hugged her and said, ‘it’s okay’.
In the evening I met Ishant, ‘how was your first day in the college?’ Ishant asked. I raised middle finger and said, ‘fuck all’. ‘Why, what happened?’ Ishant asked. I told him the entire ragging incident and he was in all splits, rolling with laughter. ‘Man, this is unreal, you proposed Swarangi and in reply she slapped you, I can’t control my laughter’, Ishant said. ‘Shut up yaar, poor Saru was shivering later’, I said. ‘Yeah, slapping the man she loves is indeed hard’, Ishant said laughing. ‘Fuck off man’, I said and showed Ishant a middle finger.
I and Swarangi enjoyed each other’s company in many places apart from the college, it may be shopping together, roaming in malls, evening time pass at F.C road, watching movies together. We fell in love with each other but neither one of us realized that. Swarangi looked a bit sad from past few. She didn’t have interest in doing anything, I was surprised to see this as the girl who is always bubbly and eager to do things looked flat. ‘Saru, what’s wrong?’ I asked. ‘Nothing’, she replied and changed the topic. I sensed it that something is really wrong in her life. Our college had a cultural festival named ‘Rhythms’, it had singing event too. We both took part in the singing competition.
Swarangi was looking very beautiful on the eve of our competition. ‘You are looking very hot today, you’ll get many friend requests after today on facebook’, I blinked my left and said with a smile. ‘Who cares’, she replied quite blandly. I sung ‘ek kudi jida naam muhobaat, gum hai’ from the film ‘Udta Punjab’ while Swarangi sang ‘tere bina jiya jaye na’ from the film ‘Ghar’. Swarangi won the prize and I didn’t. I was very sad while coming back. Swarangi sensed it and said, ‘Hridhay, your song was good, in fact technically perfect. You sang as sir taught us, that is in perfect ‘sur and taal’ but do you know, what was missing’, she said. ‘What?’ I asked. ‘Emotions’, she replied. ‘You didn’t express that, a girl you love madly is lost and until you express it fully you won’t do well’, she replied. ‘See, I expressed it completely that I can’t survive without my guy, you know any sort of pain inside brings the best emotions out of a singer’, she added. ‘It means that you have a pain, tell me yaar?’ I said. ‘Let it be, you won’t understand’, she replied
Few months passed and Swarangi was gasping for breath after she finished our daily song practice. I found her panting after a small walk in the college. Something is terribly wrong with her. She left coming to our music class and she left coming to the college. So one day, I went to meet her at her house. ‘Saru, tell me what’s the problem, why aren’t you coming to the class or in college?’ I asked with authority and simultaneously with concern. ‘You won’t understand’, she said and got up. I grabbed her hand said, ‘damn it! Tell me you moron’. ‘Hridhay, I have a heart problem and I can’t survive for long’, she said with tears in her eyes. I hugged her and sang ‘ek kudi jida naam muhobbat, gum hai’.  Swarangi looked at me and said, ‘perfect expression of the emotion in your song’. ‘Saru, didn’t you realize what me to express it’, I said. ‘It’s you, my girl’, I added and hugged her tightly. ‘I also can’t be yours in this life is my biggest pain’, she said.
Weeks passed and her health got worse she was admitted in Dinanath Mangeshkar hospital and that too in I.C.U. I met her there and couldn’t see her die, I cried keeping my head on her stomach. ‘Don’t get sad chintu, ‘ye marne ka time nahi hai, jeene ka time hai’, she said.  ‘Shut up you chinti’, I said and hugged her tightly. Few days later Swarangi died. Salil sir launched me as a singer in one of his film and as time passed I became the new singing sensation of the country. Everyone around me were very happy to see me grow but I know the main reason behind that was the pain that I am going through as I have lost the girl whom I loved the most.

Sensex

Sensex

Prologue

If you think that this story is all about stocks and shares, then you are wrong. Like there up’s and down’s in a stock market, there are similar fluctuations in Vaibhav’s life.‘ Sensex’, is a story of a normal boy, the ups and downs of his life. Vaibhav Shah is an engineer and works in a software firm. You would be surprised with the amounts of twists in his life when it came to love, his career and his life in general.

H.S.C

It was the last examination of my 12^th standard. Since I was a PCM (Physics. Chemistry and Mathematics) student so Biology paper was of less importance. The paper went quite well and my friends had decided to have a treat after the exam so we went to McDonalds to have burger. Mohit my friend was pure vegetarian so we ordered veg maharaja. My burger was quite spicy and I couldn’t eat it anymore so I ordered French fries for me. ‘Vaibhav, you chicken you couldn’t handle the burger’, Mohit teased me. We then we to eat paani puri, ‘bhaiyaji, sweet paani puri and one spicy’, Mohit said to the vendor teasing me.

Next day, I went to the swimming pool as usual in the afternoon. I had chosen afternoon batch for swimming as afternoon classes had less rush. I was good at swimming so I went in deep section for swimming. As I was swimming my legs froze and I couldn’t paddle my legs anymore and I began to drown. My head in the pool dipped in water and water went in my nose. I was struggling for breath; the lifeguard at pool saw me drowning and safely took me out. After few minutes, ‘Vaibhav, what’s the matter?’ Suresh sir asked. ‘Suresh sir, my legs froze and I couldn’t paddle legs anymore’, I said. ‘It happens’, a boy said from behind. I looked at him. And he introduced himself to me,. ‘Hi, I am Nikhil’, he said. I shook my hand with him. ‘Vaibhav here’, I said.

‘Where do you stay Nikhil?’ I asked. ‘Paanch rasta in Mulund west’, he said. ‘Wow! Even I stay in Mulund but in east’, I said. ‘Vaibhav, I go Thane every evening, would you like to like to join me?’ He asked. ‘Sure Nikhil’, I said. We used to daily go on his bike to neighboring Thane as Mulund didn’t had many places to roam. Once while roaming, I heard a girl calling out my name quite loudly. I looked back and found my old school friend Chaitrali calling out my name. ‘Hi Vaibhav, how are you?’ Chaitrali asked. ‘Fine, how are you?’ I replied. ‘Fine’, she replied. ‘I didn’t see you after our 10^th?’ she added, ‘Chaitrali, after 10^th we had shifted to Mulund’. ‘Lots of hariyali (good looking girls) in his area’, Nikhil said. ‘Chaitrali, he’s my friend Nikhil’, I said. ‘No fayda Nikhil, he doesn’t have any interest in girls, many girls used to like him in school but he used to ignore them’, she added. ‘Lucky bastard’, Nikhil said to me and I just gave him a smile. ‘Hey Chaitrali, you are in which college?’ I asked. ‘Somaiya’, she replied. ‘I am not a genius like you so I took commerce’, she added.

My results were out and I scored whopping 95% in PCM, so getting admission in an engineering college was a certainty. I got admission in a good engineering college in Andheri. My first day in college was full of fun and I was ragged by my seniors. I was good at the game of cricket and was a member of our school cricket team. My college team was practicing and I was watching them practice, couple of times ball came towards me and I picked it up cleanly and threw it towards the wicket keeper and it went in his hands straight over the stumps. ‘Nice throw’, a man said and he called me. ‘Your throw was nice every time the ball came towards you, were you playing professional cricket before? I am Sunil, this college’s cricket coach’, he said.

‘Hello sir, I am Vaibhav’, I said. ‘I am an all-rounder, number 3 batsman and a fast bowler’, I said. ‘Hey Vaibhav, why don’t you join us’, he said. ‘Sure sir’, I replied. Next day, I joined the team in practicing, sir asked me to bat. The first ball that I faced was an over pitched ball and I hit a glorious straight drive, most of deliveries that I faced were neatly defended without letting my stumps getting disturbed. A bowler bowled a short pitched delivery at me, I neatly ducked it but he came near me and gave me a stare. Next delivery from him and I smashed it very close to him and I said to him, ‘never come so close to me’. Now it was time for me to shine with the ball and I bowled quite well, even disturbed the wood work couple of times. With my splendid performance my place in the playing 11 was certain.

Rohit and Nupur were my best pals in college, Rohit was a flirtatious guy and Nupur was a sensible guy. Our class once had a cricket match with third year Computer branch class. Our team was pretty ordinary, I think selection was done on the basis of one’s closeness with our captain rather than cricketing talent. I was made to field at third man, a position where you normally hide your worst fielder but that didn’t matter me at all but I was pissed off when I wasn’t asked to ball. Our team got a stiff target of 84 in 10 overs, practically we had lost the match and our batting didn’t start well with 1 wicket down in very 1^st over and I came to crease. During our innings, I stood at the crease like a rock while wickets kept tumbling around me.

Hemant, a fast bowler from other side, thought me as a monkey with bat. In his previous over, he had a verbal banter with me. The first ball of his next over, I hit a six straight over his head, so he bowled outside the off stump and I again hit a six. He tried bowling at my legs and I flicked it for four. Hemant bowled a length which I had guessed. He again bowled a half volley outside the off stump and I creamed it towards the cover boundary. In his four balls, I had scored twenty runs. Next two balls he bowled short at my body and I ducked it. ‘Now I got how to bowl to you’, Hemant said. As he said, he bowled short and angled at my body which I had pre empted earlier and I hooked it to the square leg boundary. Poor Hemant was bowling to my liking and was getting smashed all over the park. We lost the match by a small margin of ten runs as I fell short of partners.

HEMA

When the match ended Nupur and Rohit bowed down in appreciation. ‘Hey, well played’, I heard a girl saying from behind. I looked behind and found a girl. She was cute, fair with long black hairs that ran up to her waist. I shook my hand with her, ‘Vaibhav here’, I said, ‘Hema here’, she said. ‘Hey Vaibhav, why don’t we have a soft drink in the canteen’, she said. ‘Bye guys’, I said to Nupur and Rohit.  

We ordered Pepsi in the canteen and Hema started to talk. ‘Vaibhav, even if I am from Comps, still I applauded every shot that you played, do you play cricket quite often?’ she asked. ‘Yes. I am even part of college team’, I replied. ‘Poor Hemant, you smashed him all over the park’, she said. ‘Do you know what he had said the previous over to me? What? She asked. ‘Why don’t you show us some shots but he didn’t knew that he was talking to a professional cricketer’, I said and she laughed. ‘Can I tell you one thing?’ I asked. ‘What’, she said. ‘When I saw you for the first time I felt that as if I was speaking to a Tamil movie actress’, I said. She laughed and said, ‘do you mean that I don’t belong in an engineering college’. ‘Hey, certainly not’, I said. ‘Vaibhav, I didn’t see you in the field?’ she asked. ‘My captain had dumped me at third man and he didn’t ask me to bowl but he asked any tom, dick and harry to bowl’, I replied. ‘Were you upset?’ She asked. ‘Of course Hema’, I replied. ‘Hema, where do you stay?’ I asked, ‘Mulund’, she replied. ‘Oh! You too because I stay in Mulund east’, I said. ‘Great, I stay near Vaze College’, she said. That day we went together, while travelling back we spoke a lot.

We had our first semester exams, all the papers went nice me, Rohit and Nupur. Today, we had our results and all of us were nervous but most nervous was Hema. I relaxed her by talking non sense stuff with her and like all nightmares come true, she didn’t clear three papers. Going to home with Hema was the right option as I wanted Hema not to be alone at that time. We got a nice seat in the bus and as expected Hema didn’t speak at all. Later, she was overfilled with emotions and cried on my shoulder. ‘Don’t cry Hema, see the bright side of it that you will get another opportunity to score well’, I said. ‘Do you want to join studying with me? I added. ‘That’s so sweet of you Vaibhav, I am going to study with you for sure’, she replied.

Hema began to study with me; she was very good in Maths and solved the problems with ease. Computer programming or ’C’ programming was her grey area and I was equally good in it. ‘Vaibhav, Computer Programming sucks, how come you are so good in it?’ She asked. ‘Hema, I just apply my logical skills in it and I am pretty certain that you can solve them too’, I said. I gave her few logical reasoning questions to solve and it helped Hema. In few weeks, CP became easy for her and as a token of appreciation she gave me a treat of an ice-cream.

We had Physics lecture in college straight after lunch break, full stomach plus a boring teacher made that lecture pretty uninteresting, so I and Rohit decided to complete our Maths assignment. Rohit decided to do it on assignment paper while I opted to do it in notebook. We began copying sums from a guide, the teacher noted that something else was going on the last bench. She came near us and tapped me signaling, what’s going on. I shrugged my shoulders signaling nothing but Rohit was busy completing the assignment, hence he was caught. The teacher was teaching spontaneous emission in radioactive elements. The teacher asked him to explain it but he can’t as he didn’t have any clue of it. The teacher asked him to go out the class and she even complained to our maths Prof. Rohit was in lot of trouble, as he already had an issue with our maths Prof and it reflected in his term-work marks which were at the helm of Profs.   Rohit had something with Profs as they always caught him. Nupur teased him, ‘spontaneous emission’ after the physics lecture fiasco so Rohit stated beating him in fun and I joined him. Our next class was communication skills AKA CS, the teacher saw us beating Rohit. ‘Vaibhav and Nupur, stand up and why were you beating Rohit?’ she asked. ‘Maam, we had an argument with Rohit but he kept on arguing’, I replied. ‘So you started beating him, nice way to convince’, the teacher smiled . Nupur in low voice teased Rohit, ‘spontaneous emission’.

One day, Hema came to my house to study with me. We studied for an hour at stretch so Hema went to my bed to take some rest and she saw guitar in the showcase. ‘Vaibhav, do you play guitar? She asked. ‘Yep’, I replied. ‘How exciting’, she said almost jumping. I played guitar and she started to sing, her voice was really melodious and on hearing her sing even my mom came to hear her song. After she finished singing, I and mom clapped, Hema felt shy. It was the last exam of our second sem exams, I and Hema had decided to take the bus instead of local train, so that we’ll have a comfortable journey back home. Hema took out banana chips from her bag and shared with me. After some time, I took an apple from my bag and started eating it alone. On seeing this, Hema grabbed my hand and took a bite of the apple. This was first time when Hema held my hand and our eyes met, she didn’t take her hand out of my hand. ‘Do I need to say the magical words’, I said in a deep voice. ‘No need’, Hema replied. We travelled entire journey by holding hands.

‘Hey guys, I am going out with a girl’, I said to Nupur and Rohit, ‘guys, she is from our college’, I added. ‘Hema right?’ Rohit said as if he had made some discovery. ‘Yep guys’, I said. ‘We knew it before’, Nupur said. Sometimes I think that Nupur is more sensible among us. During the college festival in our second year, Hema did a fantastic dance and was way ahead of the other performers. She looked very beautiful that day and resembled like Sri Devi. ‘Whichever guy marries her will be the most luckiest one’, a boy made a remark to his friend. I and Nupur overheard two guys saying to each other. On hearing them, Nupur patted my back.

I went to Thane to roam with Hema and Chaitrali saw us, she immediately came towards me and we all went to have coffee in a coffee shop. ‘Chaitu, she’s my friend Hema and Hema, she’s Chaitrali, my best friend from school life’, I said. They hugged each other like long lost friends. ‘Hema, you are very lucky as he rarely speaks with girls’, Chaitu said. ‘Yeah Chaitrali’, Hema replied. ‘Call me Chaitu’, Chaitrali said to Hema. After few days we went for boating at talao paali in Thane. Hema and I rowed the boat. ‘Hema, do you know that, Chaitu proposed me in school but when I told her that we can remain friends, she agreed and we became best friends’, I said. ‘Chaitu is sweet’, Hema said.

AADARSH

It was our third year and Nupur forced me to contest election for the post of sports secretary and Hema’s friends convinced her to contest elections for the post of cultural secretary. Rohit made a banner for me that read ‘vote for him who has played for you and won many trophies for you’. I won by a huge margin of 200 votes and Hema won too. Our first major event was an annual event of five colleges called ‘Aadarsh’. We were at level in points chart with St. John’s college up to the last dance event. Our team won the cricket match; thanks to my all round performance with bat and ball. As expected Hema’s performance was outstanding and we won the trophy.

‘Hema, the organizing committee or OC of Aadarsh has held a party for committee members from every college’, I said. In the evening, I met Hema for the party. Hema looking quite stunning and she was well dressed for the party. The party was held at Ocean’s club in Bandra. I danced with Hema on the dance floor for a long time. We went to take dinner at the buffet table. ‘Hey Vaibhav, nice to see you’, my old school friend Satish called me. ‘Hi Satish, nice to see you and by the way what are you doing here? I asked. ‘Vaibhav, I am a part of OC of this festival’, Satish replied. ‘Vaibhav, why don’t have the drink that I am drinking’, Satish said. ‘Thanks Satish but I am a teetotaler’ I said. ‘Ok Vaibhav’, he said. ‘Satish, I want you to meet my friend, Hema’, I said and Hema shook hand with him. ‘Wonderful dance Hema’, Satish said. ‘Satish, she is our CS’, I added.

‘Vaibhav, I am feeling suffocated here, why don’t we go outside’, Hema said and we went out. The club had a nice garden, its walls were made of green bushes, they were of enough height for anybody not to come to know that somebody’s in. We sat on bench and I extended my hands to relax while Hema kept her head on it and closed her eyes to take rest. Suddenly, we heard siren of a police van. There was a hustling sound of cops in the club. We remained in the garden till the whole activity was over. After some time we left for our house, Hema was still shivering, ‘Vaibhav, it could have been us, by the way what was the incident about?’ Hema asked. ‘No idea dear’, I replied.

Next day, news came that drugs were served in alcohol and the cops got the tip from its informers. More bad news came that, our group secretary or GS had tested positive and was suspended from the college and stripped off from his GS post. For rest of the year we were without GS and all the responsibility was on the shoulders on the other committee members. ‘Vaibhav, I want to resign from the post of CS’, Hema said. ‘Are you crazy Hema, it was a one off incident’, I said. Hema agreed after lot of my persuasion.

It was our last year in college and we became quite famous in college as a couple. I was going home with Rohit and Nupur from college. At the bus stop, Hema with her friend Sonia were waiting for the bus. Hema introduced us with Sonia. Rohit in his typical way began talking with Sonia like they were long lost friends. Sonia wore teeth braces. Nupur said to me in soft voice ‘Vaibhav, she seems like a stapler to me’, Hema overheard us and began giggling. ‘Hey Nupur, see Rohit’, I said. ‘Typical Rohit’, he said. Rohit was simply good at girls, I overheard them speaking about girlfriend and boyfriend with Sonia. Even in the bus they sat next to each other. ‘Rohit is really good at it’, Hema said.

Since it was our final year in college few guys from our class and few guys from Computer branch went to Alibaug for picnic. We were playing dodge ball at the beach, I and Hema didn’t get out for a long time so Sonia shouted, ‘someone break their partnership’. ‘Sonia, they are inseparable’, Nupur said and gave her a smile. While rest of guys were playing in water, I and Hema went to a secluded area on the beach. That area had a nice tree cover and it separated that area from the beach and we were invisible to rest of guys. Hema rested her back on a tree and I kept my hands on the tree enveloping her. Hema kept her hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Vaibhav, I want support of these strong shoulders for the rest of my life’. I kissed her forehead and said, ‘stupid, is that a statement’ and we hugged each other.

We all were dressed nicely on our farewell party at our college. I was wearing a dark blue blazer and Hema was wearing a dark blue saree, she was looking very beautiful. ‘Hey Vaibhav, a photo of you and Hema together’, Rohit said. ‘Sure’, I said and he took our photo. ‘Guys, you look like a bride and groom’, Rohit said. ‘Hey Vaibhav, let’s go for a walk’, Hema said. While we were taking a walk, Hema asked, ‘Vaibhav, will your parents have a problem on our relationship since I am a south Indian?’ ‘Hema, they won’t have any problem as they are very cool’, I said and hugged her. We all four had dinner for the last time together in our college. ‘Vaibhav, when you guys are thinking to get married?’ Nupur asked me. ‘Nupur, not so soon, let us get settled first’, I replied.

PUNE

I got a job in Accenture Pune, so I left for Pune which meant that I was away from Hema. I would go to Mumbai on weekends and I would get two days to spend time with Hema. One day, when I was in Pune, I called Hema but she didn’t pick up my phone, I thought she must have been busy so I dropped an SMS but she didn’t reply. The whole drama of me calling and she not receiving it continued for weeks. So on one weekend, I stayed back in Pune. Few kids from our building were playing cricket so I joined them and I gave them few batting tips. ‘Bhaiya, why don’t you play with us daily’, Sagar a boy from that group said. ‘Sagar, I go to office on weekdays and I go to Mumbai on weekend but I promise you that whenever I won’t go to Mumbai then I would come to play with you’, I said and  left for my house. On reaching home I checked my personal e-mails, I logged in and found an e-mail from Hema. The subject read ‘wedding invitation’. I deleted it without reading it; I even deleted her number from my mobile phone and remained shell shocked for the entire day.

Next day, in the office everyone discovered a new Vaibhav, someone who remained aloof. When people asked me anything, my only answer would be either a yes or no. A month later, I requested for a transfer to our Mumbai office. My parents thought that since I was feeling alone in Pune so I got transferred myself to Mumbai. Even in the Mumbai office I was quite aloof, my day passed by travelling from home to office and back to home. I spent leisure time at home by either playing guitar or by reading novels. My parents noticed my changed nature. So on one Sunday they took me for shopping with them, even the good shops in Thane didn’t attract me. I didn’t feel craze for new clothes any more, while mom was selecting her saree to purchase and I stood outside the shop.

While I was standing outside, I saw Chaitu. ‘Hey Vaibhav, how are you? Long time ehh’, she said shaking my hand. ‘Mom, dad, I am going out with a friend and would directly come to home’, I said quite loudly for them to hear. ‘Chaitu, coffee?’ I asked. ‘Sure’, she replied. We ordered coffee and drank it while chit chatting. ‘Vaibhav, nice to see you after such a long time, what kept you in hibernation’, she said and laughed. ‘Chaitu, I was in Pune at Accenture these days’, I replied. ‘So wats up with Hema? She asked. ‘Don’t talk about that bitch’, I said loud enough for people to stare at me. ‘What happened Vaibhav?’ Chaitu sounded a bit concerned. ‘That bitch dumped me’, I answered. ‘Any reason Vaibhav?’ She asked. ‘God knows’, I answered.

As I answered it my eyes got a bit moist. ‘Chaitu, I have something important to do’, I said and got up to leave. Chaitu held my hand and said, ‘sit down, Vaibhav, I know that you don’t have anything important to do’, she said. She kept her hand on my hand and said, ‘now Vaibhav, tell me’. I told her everything including my aloofness. ‘Don’t do it Vaibhav’, Chaitu said. ‘Chaitu, if I don’t get close to anyone then no one can hurt me’, I said. In this all thing I spent around an hour with Chaitu. ‘Chaitu, I feel so relaxed after talking this, you know the amount of time that I had spent with you is the cumulative time that I had spent with any friend in last few months’, I said. ‘Thanks Chaitu’, I said. ‘You fool, don’t say that cause I am not your friend only for namesake’, she said.

By now I had three years of experience so I decided to change my job. I decided to take new job as far as possible from Mulund such that I spend most of the time alone and I began applying for jobs. My colleagues here just know my name as I hardly used to speak with anyone. It was around 4 pm and I was busy with my work. My phone rang, ‘am I speaking with Vaibhav?’ a man said. His voice resembled like a mixer that has gone terribly wrong, in hindi we call ‘fata hua loudspeaker’, if he was asked to sing he would compete with a crow. ‘Yes, I am Vaibhav’, I said. ‘Hi, I am Shirish Krishnan from Cube international, I am technical manager here and I look after all credit card related projects’, he said. ‘Hi Shirish’, I said. ‘Vaibhav, does credit card number has any significance? He asked. ‘Yes’ I said, ‘if the card number starts with four it’s a Visa card, if it starts with five it’s a Master card and if it starts with nine it’s a private labelled credit card or PLCC’. ‘The first six digits of the card number are bank identification number or BIN’. ‘Vaibhav are PLCC’s credit cards?’ he asked. ‘No Shirish, they can be used only on the shop’s swiping machine and not anywhere else’. Shirish asked me few more technical questions and I answered all of them. Shirish was very impressed with my technical knowledge. ‘Vaibhav, our company is in Juhu so why do you want to work so far from your house?’ ‘Shirish, I love to travel. even my college was in Andheri’, I said but my love for travel was a lie. ‘Vaibhav, by no means we can reject you, your salary and other details will be mailed to you by our HR’, Shirish said.

The HR mailed me and the salary package was mind blowing, 10 lakhs a year. I went to house carrying sweets. I gave my parents the good news. ‘Vaibhav, won’t Juhu be far away? Dad asked. ‘Dad, ten lakhs a year isn’t bad, I would go to even Churchgate’, I replied. Dad laughed and mom joined too. I called Chaitu and gave her the news, ‘Vaibhav, party’, was her answer.

I took 8.02 am local on my first day then got down at Dadar and took another local to Ville Parle. My office was very nice; Shirish unlike his voice was very polite. He showed me my team; it had three members, two boys and a girl. Sanket, Mohan were the male team members while Rucha was the girl member. I knew Rucha from my Pune days; in fact we were team members in Accenture. ‘Hi Vaibhav, nice to see you here’, Rucha said. ‘Do you know each other?’ Sanket asked. ‘Yes, he was my team mate at Accenture’, Rucha replied, ‘but he’s a quiet guy’, she added. Everyone was anxious to speak with me but I sat down to work. Sanket looked bit tense from past few days. While leaving I asked him, ‘Sanket, what’s the matter’. ‘Vaibhav, this code man’, he said. I sat next to him and began debugging the code. At last, I was able to debug the code. ‘Thanks Vaibhav’, Sanket said. ‘No worries mate’, I said. He was about to speak with me further but I left, ‘Why is he like that?’ Sanket asked Rucha. ‘God knows’, Rucha replied.

KRUTIKA

I went to office everyday by 8.02 am local and I became a familiar face in that local. One day, as usual I was reading novel in the local train. A man got up and I was in a perfect position to sit but I gave my seat to an old man who was standing behind me. ‘Thanks beta’, he said. ‘Not an issue Uncle’, I said and gave him a smile. I flexed my neck left and right. While looking to the right I looked in the adjacent first class ladies compartment. A girl gave me a smile, maybe my face reminded her joke, I thought. I got down at Dadar and the girl also got down at Dadar and even got in the same local to Ville parle and got down at Ville parle too. While I took a rickshaw she walked down talking with a girl. The whole smile thing continued for a week.

One day, when I got down at Dadar station and as I went to take the Ville Parle local Krutika talked with me. ‘So let’s talk while talk while going to the Western line’, she said. ‘So Krutika, what do you do in Parla? I asked. ‘I am doing MBA at NM’ she answered. I raised my eyebrow and asked ‘wow! MBA in what?’  ‘Marketing’, was her answer and ‘what about you Vaibhav?’ She asked. ‘I am working as a software engineer in a company called Cube International’, I replied. ‘Great!’ Was Krutika’s reply. While walking on the bridge I found a 100 Rs note, I picked it and gave it to a beggar. ‘Vaibhav, you could have kept it’ Krutika said. ‘It’s not that I don’t respect money but I don’t want easy money so I gave it’ I replied. ‘Nice Vaibhav’, Krutika said.

My office had kept a small cocktail party at a pub in Bandra called Hard Rock Cafe. It was an open night that day, it means that anyone can sing or play instruments of his liking. So I played guitar and sang a song from film Rockstar ‘Phir se udd chala’. When I sung the stanza ‘kitne saare sapne maine toode hai, choode hai’ Rucha got so emotional that she actually cried. A girl joined me and we sang a duet, after we finished the song there was a huge applause. I shook my hands with the girl and she hugged me. I came back to my table and Sanket said, ‘man this is unreal, I never saw you this way’. ‘Sanket, just one more drink’, Rucha said. ‘Rucha, no more drinks for you’, I said, ‘Vaibhav, since you are a teetotaler it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t drink either’, she said. ‘Rucha, I’ll drop you at home’, I said.

We got into a rickshaw, ‘Santacruz station bhaiya’ I said. ‘Vaibhav, you were simply great today’, Rucha said. ‘What prompted you to change?’ She asked. I lost control over my emotions at that question and broke down in tears. Rucha held my face and asked, ‘Vaibhav, what is it?’ She asked. ‘Rucha, I used to love a girl in my college and we were very close to getting married but she dumped me’, I replied. ‘Did you noticed that I changed over a weekend this was the reason but promise me that you won’t tell it to anyone’, I added. ‘Hard to promise Vaibhav because I can’t keep anything to myself’, Rucha said. Next day in the office, I was back to my normal way of aloneness. ‘Vaibhav, you were great yesterday, so why this boring nature?’ Sanket asked me. Rucha looked at him and shook her head, this prompted Sanket to keep quiet and he returned back to his desk. When I went out to have coffee Rucha said, ‘Sanket, don’t ask Vaibhav about his aloofness’. ‘Why Rucha?’ Sanket asked. She replied, ‘because .... because...’ and she kept silent.

It was about our time to leave office Rucha asked, ‘Vaibhav, ice-cream?’ ‘Sure’, I replied. We took our ice-creams and sat on the chairs to talk. ‘Vaibhav, can’t you fall in love with any other girl?’ Rucha asked me with concern. ‘For that Rucha I need to speak with anyone, I have almost shut myself down so that no one can get in touch with me’, I replied. ‘That’s awful Vaibhav’ Rucha said almost shouting at me. ‘What about you Rucha, do you love anyone?’ I asked. ‘Yes Vaibhav but not that much to get married with him’, she replied. ‘Rucha, please don’t date him for fun, you simply don’t know how much it pains when a girl dumps a guy’, I said.

One day, when I met Krutika while going home, she said, ‘Vaibhav, let’s walk till Parla station’. ‘Sure’ I replied. Pav bhaji was being made in a hotel and was smell was tempting. ‘Pav bhaji?’ I asked. ‘Yes’ was Krutika’s reply. ‘Two cheese pav bhaji bhaiya’ I said, ‘Vaibhav, plain one for me’ Krutika said. ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Because I am dieting’, was her reply. I laughed loudly and said, ‘who told you to start dieting?’  ‘My conscience’ was the reply. ‘You stupid girl you don’t need dieting at all’, I said. ‘Sorry for calling you stupid, my tongue had slipped’ I said. ‘It’s okay Vaibhav, I enjoyed it’, Krutika replied. She was about to give her share. ‘Stop it Krutika’, I shouted at her. ‘You seem to have forgotten that your friend is earning’, I said. ‘Vaibhav, how much is your salary?’ Krutika asked. ‘More than you expect’, was my reply. I wasn’t telling her about my salary but Krutika was in no mood to give up. ‘10 lakhs a year’, I said. She put her hands on her mouth and said, ‘and you are giving me a treat of this stupid pav bhaji’.

All of my colleagues went to see a movie called ‘Jab tak hai jaan’. The introvert character of Shahrukh Khan resembled me. Sanket said to Rucha, ‘that’s our Vaibhav, I wonder if he has changed because of any girl’, and he laughed. ‘Yes’, Rucha replied. ‘Oh my god what is the story?’ Sanket asked. ‘Vaibhav has told me that not to tell it to anyone, he’s very sad because of his break up’, Rucha replied.

‘Vaibhav, I am coming with you to Mulund to spend the entire weekend with my cousin sister’, Rucha said. ‘You aren’t coming back until you come to my house’, I said. ‘Sure’, was her reply. ‘Rucha, we have to walk till NM, as we will pick up my friend on the way’, I said. ‘Okay’, Rucha replied. Krutika was waiting for me at the gate of NM. ‘Krutika, she’s my friend Rucha, even she wants to come to Mulund that’s why she has joined us’, I said. ‘Hi Krutika’, Rucha said. We took a rickshaw to go till Mulund, in the rickshaw Krutika sat in middle with me and Rucha on either side.

MORE ABOUT KRUTIKA

‘Krutika, does he speaks freely with you?’ Rucha asked. ‘Yes’, Krutika replied. ‘Lucky girl because he doesn’t speak freely with anyone’, Rucha added. ‘Krutika, you are doing MBA in which stream?’ Rucha asked. ‘Marketing’, Krutika replied. ‘Wow! Vaibhav is very creative, if you want then he can help you. He wrote a script at the ad mad show at Accenture and it was simply brilliant, he’s an intelligent fellow’, Rucha said. ‘Rucha, please don’t flatter me’, I said. ‘How come Vaibhav is so quite?’ Krutika asked. ‘He was not like that until one weekend,‘ Rucha said and realizing what she had said and she bit her tongue. I looked out, my eyes got a bit moist so I wiped them by my hand. Krutika noticed it but pretended as if she had seen nothing. ‘Krutika, give me your mobile number so that I can call you’, Rucha said. We talked and time flew by, when Mulund came was a mystery. ‘Bye Krutika’, we said. ‘Vaibhav, she’s a nice girl’, Rucha said. ‘So what Rucha’, I said. ‘Maybe you can think of going out with her’, Rucha said. ‘No, not again’, I said and by then it was our time to get down. Later that night Rucha called up Krutika. ‘Hi, how are you?’ Krutika asked. ‘Fine yaar’ Rucha replied. ‘Thanks Krutika, I never saw Vaibhav speak so much for a period’, Rucha said. ‘Don’t thank me Rucha, Vaibhav is a nice, polite and a sensible guy’, Krutika said. ‘Krutika, I know that you like Vaibhav but I request you to not to break his heart as he can’t handle it again’, Rucha said. ‘Again?’ Krutika quizzed. ‘Yes, you noticed that Vaibhav got emotional at the mention of a weekend, actually a girl with whom he was madly in love, dumped him and things unfolded on that weekend’, Rucha said. ‘He had told me to not to tell it to anyone but I told you this because I think that you genuinely care for him’, she said. They had some girly talks and ended the call.

Rucha came to my house on Sunday carrying a box of sweets. ‘Hello aunty, hello uncle’, Rucha greeted them. ‘Mom, dad she’s Rucha my colleague here and was at Accenture too’, I said. ‘Hello Rucha’, mom said. ‘What made you come to Mulund, Vaibhav told us that you stay in Santacruz’, mom added. ‘Aunty, my cousin sister stays in Mulund so I came to spend my weekend here’, Rucha answered. Mom gave her sharbat and dhokla to eat. ‘Rucha, you are having dinner with us’, mom said; ‘Aunty no’, Rucha resisted. ‘Rucha, you come here on your will but you go on my will’, mom said. ‘Vaibhav, please tell her’, Rucha said. ‘No use Rucha as I am his mom’, mom said. Mom made typical gujju dinner, we sat at the dining table to eat. ‘Rucha, does Vaibhav speaks with anyone in the office?’ Mom asked. ‘No aunty’, Rucha replied. ‘When this boy will learn to mix with people’, mom said in a tired voice. ‘Aunty, whatever happens for the good’, Rucha said. ‘Good ehh’, mom said. ‘Apart from you and Chaitrali he doesn’t talk freely with anyone’, mom said. ‘Vaibhav, who’s Chaitrali? Your girlfriend?’ Rucha teased me. ‘Nah, she’s my best friend, in fact I can’t think anything like that for her’, I replied.

Krutika was wearing a magenta coloured saree as it was saree day and along with it she had rose day in her college. She was looking beautiful in that saree, with loose long black hairs and light pink lipstick made her more appealing. We were walking to her college from Parla station, Rucha was at Parla station and she saw us. ‘Vaibhav, for a movement I thought that a newly married couple is walking’, Rucha said. ‘Shut up Rucha’, I shouted. ‘Sorry Krutika, Rucha doesn’t have lid to her mouth’, I said. ‘Its okay yaar’, Krutika said. ‘Actually I didn’t mind it at all’, she added. ‘Vaibhav, you go to office, I’ll join you later’, Rucha said and left, actually she wanted us to go together. ‘Krutika, I must admit that you are looking simply stunning today, I am sure that you will get lots of roses today, keep count of red roses that you get’, I said. ‘Vaibhav, I should get a red rose from a special person’, she said and she gave me a smile. ‘How did you celebrate rose day in your college?’ Krutika asked. ‘Lots of yellow roses and only one red rose’, I answered. ‘Nice’, Krutika said.

I met Krutika in the evening while going back.’ So how many red roses, Krutika?’ I asked. She gave me a smile; we passed by a flower shop and I purchased a bunch of yellow roses. ‘Yellow?’ Krutika questioned me so I picked a bunch of red roses and gave it to her. Krutika too picked up a bunch and gave it to me. ‘Krutika, no need to say anything, your eyes say everything’, I said, and in spite of the crowd I hugged her. We walked towards the station with our hand in hand. ‘Krutika, in my college days I used to love a girl but she dumped me’, I said. ‘Why?’ Krutika asked. ‘Because she was a south Indian and I wasn’t’, I replied. ‘How stupid she is’, Krutika exclaimed, ‘I won’t give you distance’, she added. ‘I know that’, I said.

Krutika saw me from ladies first class compartment sitting with my eyes closed and listening to songs. After getting down she asked me, ‘what do you listen?’ ‘I listen to songs from Rockstar, even though they are sad still they are melodious’, I answered. ‘Why do you listen to sad songs?’ Krutika asked me. ‘You very well know the problem’, I said. We had Ganpati function in our society and I was very bored with the boring dance, so I went to meet Krutika. I met Krutika but I wasn’t able to control my laughter. ‘What is it?’ Krutika asked me. ‘We had dance function in our society and that was absolutely fuck all, the girls were pretending to be babes but they were ‘paani kam chai’, I said. ‘So according to you what is the definition of a babe? She asked. ‘Someone who’s simple yet attractive’, I replied. ‘So according to you, am I a babe?’ Krutika asked. ‘No offence Krutika but you are not just attractive but appealing’, I said.

This was Krutika’s final year of MBA course, so she had campus interviews in her college. Nestle India was coming in college today and Krutika was well prepared for the interview. Krutika’s turn came for the interview. ‘Krutika, your marks are excellent throughout, if you are given an opportunity to plan a marketing strategy for our product Maggie, what will it be?’ interviewer asked. Krutika said, ‘it’s a low involvement product, as we can buy it innumerable times, there are many noodles in the market so we don’t have first movers advantage, rural areas aren’t our market only urban areas are our market’. ‘Krutika, if we offer you a job in Bangalore will it be fine for you?’ he asked. ‘No, actually someone special is in Mumbai’, she answered. ‘Okay’, the interviewer said and he offered her a job with salary of 15 lakhs a year. She immediately called me and gave the news. ‘Krutika, party’, I said. ‘Yes dear’, she replied. Later that evening when I met Krutika I congratulated her and she hugged me, ‘Krutika, what are you doing?’ I said. ‘No issues Vaibhav, after all I am not hugging someone else’, she said and we went to Barista’s cafe. There we ordered cafe latte as she liked it.

FAREWELL PARTY

Krutika had annual party in her college so we went there. We danced in the DJ hall. While we were dancing, a girl said, ‘Krutika’ and Krutika’s friend came to us. ‘Vaibhav, she’s my friend Sonam’, Krutika said and we shook hands to greet each other. ‘Sonam, he’s Vaibhav my boyfriend’, Krutika said. ‘Krutika!’ I said. ‘Vaibhav, it’s okay’, Sonam said. ‘Krutika, I have vodka bottle in my purse’, Sonam said. ‘Vaibhav, what about you, do you want to have it too?’ Sonam asked. ‘No Sonam, I am a teetotaller’, I replied. While dancing the girls had vodka, Krutika got high with vodka. ‘Krutika, it’s time to leave’, I said and we left. Krutika was behaving like a maniac; we got into a local, a boy who was sitting in front of us was constantly looking at us. ‘What?’ Krutika shouted. ‘He’s my boyfriend’, she said and the boy changed his place.

When we got down at Mulund station, Krutika’s alcohol effect hadn’t gone and her behavior was a bit weird. We went to a lemon juice center. ‘Bhaiya, a cut lemon’, I said and I squeezed it in her mouth and said, ‘this will bring back to normal’. We walked along the road; cold air assisted me to get Krutika back to normal. ‘Vaibhav, will your parents accept me as their daughter in law as I am a Maharashtrian’, Krutika said. ‘Relax Krutika, my parents are cool and they would love their daughter in law to be a MBA’, I said assuring her. ‘What about your parents?’ I asked. ‘You are such a sweet boy to be always accepted’, Krutika said. One day, I went to office by my car. ‘Sanket, will you like to come with me?’ I asked. ‘I have got my car today’, I added. While leaving, Sanket came with me, ‘Sanket, I have to pick a friend at NM’, I said. ‘That’s perfectly fine’, he replied.

I picked up Krutika from her college and she was looking as beautiful as ever in her yellow dress. ‘Hi Krutika, he’s my friend Sanket and he’s coming with us today’, I said. ‘Hi Sanket’, Krutika said. We drove for a bit. ‘Sanket, I’ve some work here and I’ll come in 10 minutes’, I said. ‘Okay dude, for sure’, Sanket said. I went out and Sanket turned towards Krutika and said; ‘I know that you guys are couple’. Krutika shied and said, ‘yes’. ‘But don’t dump him as he can’t handle it again’, Sanket added. ‘I know it Sanket, Rucha has told me everything’, Krutika said. I was back in ten minutes, ‘Guys, I am back, I hope that I didn’t keep you waiting for long’, I said. ‘No Vaibhav’, Sanket said and we went to Mulund. Sanket got down near kannamwar nagar. ‘Vaibhav, let’s go to Mulund Airoli bridge’, Krutika said and I drove towards it. We got down from the car and parked near the bridge reeling with my hand around her. A man who was completely drunk came near Krutika and was misbehaving with her; I smashed his bottle and broke it into half. ‘Don’t dare to come near us or else you won’t be alive to see tomorrow’, I screamed at him and the man went away. Krutika immediately hugged me; her heart was pounding in fear. I kept my hand on her head and said, ‘don’t worry nothing will happen to you until I am here’, I assured her. Krutika cried in fear, I had no option but to take her back.

SINGAPORE

‘Krutika, I am going to Singapore for a month’, I said. ‘It’s okay yaar, don’t worry’, Krutika said. In about a week, I was off to Singapore. My first day went in jet lag and I was feeling very sleepy. Next day, I had meeting at United bank of Singapore or UBS office, they were migrating their loans from one platform to our platform. It was a very difficult task to migrate data from one system to another as some features from the old system weren’t available in our system and vice versa. Such features had to be explicitly coded in our system. The UBS office was a nice place and it was bubbling with talks from staff and I loved it. A man called David Lee greeted me in their office.

‘Hi Vaibhav, David here’, he said and shook his hand with me. He invited me to a conference room and gave me a cup of coffee and asked me few questions to make me comfortable. David was accompanied by a girl named Lina, who was his co-employee. David started by saying ‘Vaibhav, as the RFP (request for proposal) states that we are migrating the loans from PLS to your platform’ and he discussed all the points in detail. I noted all of them and prepared an excel sheet. ‘I’ll prepare a word document listing all the requirements and would e-mail you the same’, I said. ‘Vaibhav, you’ll have lunch with me’, David said and Lina listened, while we discussed Lina sat there like a wax statue. Her eyes were a bit deep so whether she was sleeping while we were discussing was a mystery.

I came back to our office in Singapore’s CBD area. It was a plush office but unlike UBS office, the place wasn’t chirpy at all, in fact if a pin falls down it will make a noise. In spite of spending days in that office no one came to speak with me, in fact I wasn’t craving to speak with anyone. One day, I called Krutika, ‘how is my love?’ I asked. ‘Bored without my sweety’, was Krutika’s reply. ‘So Vaibhav, are you enjoying there?’ she asked. ‘Not really Krutika. This office is a very wired’, I said. ‘Why?’ She asked. ‘There’s a dull atmosphere in the office and no one speaks with anyone’, I replied. ‘How bad’, Krutika said.

One day, I was sitting late finishing a document in the office and it was about 8 Pm and there was a girl still in office. ‘How come you are sitting so late?’ I asked her. ‘I have a code too complete’, she replied. ‘Hi, I am Vaibhav’, I said. ‘I am Jing’, she said and we shook hands. ‘Jing, can I help you?’ I asked. ‘Thanks but it’s done’, she replied. ‘Coffee?’ She asked and I went to a cafe with her. While having coffee we had a chat, ‘Jing, this office is bit weird, I mean no one speaks with anyone’, I said. ‘Yeah, apart from work no one speaks with anyone, in fact you were the first one to casually speak with me’, she said. ‘Where do you stay?’ I asked. ‘Woodlands’, she replied. ‘Are you from Singapore itself?’ I asked. ‘No, I am from China and two years ago I came here for job’, she replied. ‘Are you in Cube from the start of your career?’ Jing asked. ‘No, I was earlier in Accenture and lately I joined Cube’, I replied. ‘Is it safe to go alone at this time?’ I asked. She laughed and said, ‘yes. Do you want do drop me then say it’, she said. ‘You have got me completely wrong’, I said and she smiled again.

Next day, in office I looked at Jing and greeted her loudly, ‘good morning’. Other office employees looked me as I had said, ‘I love you’. ‘Good morning’, she replied back. ‘Vaibhav, where do you have lunch’? She asked. ‘I’ve it in a nearby hotel’, I said. ‘From now onwards I am going to come with you to hotel’, Jing said. ‘Sure’, I said. We had lunch in a hotel at lunch time. ‘Who else is in your family?’ Jing asked. ‘Just me and my parents’, I replied. ‘What about you? I asked.’ ‘A younger sister and my parents’, she replied. ‘Okay’, I said, ‘Jing, are people in this office like that?’ I asked. ‘Yeah’, she replied.

Jing took me to see Singapore on every weekend. We roamed at most of the places, once we went to a place called Sentosa. It was a beach with other activities like aquarium, dance shows etc. The Dolphin show there was amazing, one dolphin came near Jing and it touched her feet. She felt it quite slippery so in fear she held my hand tight enough for them to leave mark on my hand. ‘I am sorry Vaibhav’, she said. ‘It’s okay Jing’, I replied. We went to take a stroll on the beach, Jing’s leg slipped and I held her and she held me. She held me tight enough such that her fingernail made a scratch on my hand and blood came out of it. ‘I am so sorry Vaibhav’, Jing said. I gave her tap on her head and said, ‘it’s okay, don’t worry’. Next day, Jing took me to Mustafa shopping Centre and Jing said, ‘you’ll get everything except alcohol and cigarettes here’. ‘Jing, I don’t need them as I am a teetotaler’, I said. ‘Good Vaibhav’, Jing said.

We then went to have lunch in an Indian restaurant; we ordered a curry, roti and pineapple raita to eat. ‘Jing, we make small pieces of this wheat bread also called as roti and fill curry in it and eat it and side by side we have this yoghurt also called raita’, I said. Jing was done with only one roti and she was pressing her stomach. ‘Just one roti?’ I said in amazement. ‘Yes Vaibhav, it was quite heavy’, Jing said, she was still pressing her stomach. ‘Jing, rice yet to go’, I said and smiled at her. The rice dish came with dal tadka. ‘Jing, this is called jeera rice and this yellow liquid is called as dal tadka’, I said. We finished it with papad, Jing was still pressing her stomach. She removed her purse to pay, ‘keep it back’, I said. Jing kept her purse and said, ‘the ice-cream is on me’. We had our lunch and since my hotel was near so we went to our hotel to take rest. ‘Nice room Vaibhav’, she said. A novel was lying on my bed; Jing picked it up and said, ‘wow Vaibhav’.

‘Jing, I’ll take rest on the sliding bed and you take rest on the bed’, I said. ‘Vaibhav, normally a boy waits for this chance’, she said and smiled. Jing switched on the T.V and she put the movies channel, ‘Titanic’ movie played on it and we watched it. When the scene came when the hero paints a portrait of the heroine and the scene was quite romantic. ‘Jing, can you please change the channel’, I said. Jing smiled at me and said, ‘don’t feel embarrassed’. Later that evening, we went to Universal studios. Jing lunged on the back of the wax model of superman. ‘Vaibhav, can you please take my photograph this way’, Jing said. ‘Vaibhav, do you want me to take such photo of you?’ Jing asked. ‘Not with superman but a photo with wonder woman would do’, I said with a smile.

A young lady saw us taking photographs; ‘can I take your photo?’ She asked Jing. ‘Sure’, Jing replied. ‘Stand beside each other and keep your hand on her shoulder’, the girl said to me. I looked at Jing and politely replied, ‘no’. On hearing it, Jing held my hand and kept it on her shoulder. As soon as the lady took our photo I removed my hand from her shoulder. We then went to see a musical fountain called as ‘Fountain of wealth’. It was quite amazing to see that fountain. It stopped at 8.15 pm so Jing took me near the base of the fountain. She made a wish and threw coins in the fountain and said, ‘Vaibhav, you don’t have any wish’. ‘Jing, without the coin, god has answered my each wish’, I replied. ‘Vaibhav, we get nice ice-cream here, should we have it?’ Jing asked. ‘Sure Jing’, I replied.

‘Vaibhav, Peach Apricot flavour is nice here, I’ll order it for us’, Jing said. ‘Two cups of peach apricot ice-cream’, Jing said to the ice-cream parlour owner. We ate it, ‘Jing, it is advised to drink water after having ice-cream’, I said. We purchased a bottle of water and we drank water. Jing choked while drinking water. I rubbed her back and said, ‘look up Jing’. ‘Vaibhav, there’s a medical shop nearby,can we go there cause I’ve to purchase a medicine as I have a small headache due to migraine problem’, Jing said. ‘No arguments Jing but I am coming to drop you at home’, I said and Jing agreed.

We got into the MRT, Woodlands was quite far, even MRT took 45 minutes to reach there. We sat side by side. After few minutes, Jing kept her head on my shoulder and slept, I thought that it was because of headache. ‘Vaibhav, can you please massage my forehead?’ Jing asked. ‘Jing, I am not in a position to massage your forehead’, I said. Jing held my hand and kept it around her shoulder and I quickly removed it. ‘Vaibhav, you can massage it this way’, she said. I kept my hand on her shoulder and massaged her forehead. She kept her head on my shoulder and slept, finally I had to wake her up when Woodlands came.

While walking towards her house Jing said, ‘Vaibhav, I haven’t had such a sound sleep for months’. I smiled at her, by then her house came and I took a U turn. ‘Vaibhav, no arguments but you aren’t going to your hotel until you come to my house’, Jing said. I had no other option but to go with her to her house. It was a nice house; Jing had kept it very clean. It was a typical Chinese house with many small decorative items. Jing brought Orange juice to drink. There was a photo of god neatly kept in a photo frame. Upon seeing it I folded my hands and bowed down. There was a photo frame with a boy’s photo in the showcase. It might be her brother, I said to myself. Jing ordered pizza for us. There were many novels on the bookshelf; I went towards it like kid goes when he finds a bowl of chocolates. ‘Vaibhav, do you like books?’ Jing asked. ‘Yes, I love them’, I replied. I ate the pizza and returned to the hotel.

Since it was a Sunday so I went with Jing for dinner to a hotel. ‘The roasted duck here is very nice’, she said. ‘I am a pure vegetarian but I don’t have any problem if you have it’, I said. ‘No ways Vaibhav, even I am not going to have it’, she said. We had planned to go to a disco one night. Jing was looking absolutely stunning in red dress and I had worn casual clothes too. We danced at the beats of music. Jing got close to me while dancing, I thought that it was out of flow but she attempted to kiss me and I backed off. ‘Sorry Jing but I’ve already committed someone else’, I said. Jing shed tears and said, ‘I had got engaged a year back but a month back he expired in a car accident’. ‘I am so sorry Jing’, I said. I looked around and saw two boys eve teasing a girl and I didn’t like it, so I stood before the girl facing the boys. My angry looks and a heavily built body scared the boys and they went away. ‘Thanks’, the girl said and I looked at her and I smiled at her and said, ‘it’s okay’. ‘Hi, I am Samantha’, she said and shook her hand with me. ‘Hi, I am Vaibhav’, I said. ‘Samantha, where do you stay?’ I asked. ‘Woodlands’, she replied. ‘Oh! That’s great even my friend Jing stays there you can go with her’, I said. I introduced her with Jing and Samantha felt safe with us.

Samantha and Jing left for Woodlands while I headed for my hotel. Samantha and Jing went in a taxi and they talked a lot. ‘How do you know Vaibhav?’ Samantha asked. ‘He is from our India office and he’s here for a project, Samantha', Jing replied. ‘Oh! Call me Sam’, she said. ‘Jing, people like Vaibhav are hard to get; if someone comes to help you in your bad time then he is indeed an angel’, Sam said. ‘I think that we shouldn’t leave him in his bad time’, Sam said and Jing nodded. ‘You know Sam, that Vaibhav loves someone else, still he cares for every girl’, Jing said. ‘Oh yea?’ Sam asked. ‘He’s so sweet that no girl can stay without him. He’s like an adhesive’, Jing said and laughed. ‘When I was about to kiss him he backed off saying that he’s committed’, Jing said and laughed again. ‘That’s so sweet’, Sam said.

It was my last day in Singapore and Jing came to drop me at the airport, she had tears in her eyes. ‘Poor thing’, I said and hugged her. ‘Vaibhav, once you reach Mumbai don’t forget me and do mail me’, Jing said. ‘Is that a thing to say’, I said and held her cheeks, she smiled and hugged me. At Mumbai airport Krutika came to receive me, on seeing me she immediately hugged me. ‘Vaibhav, I missed you so much’, she said with delight in her eyes. ‘I missed you too sweety’, I said. One day I went out with Krutika to eat pizza. ‘Vaibhav, which one should I order? ‘Krutika asked me. ‘Anyone but veg’, I said. ‘Why?’ Krutika asked again. ‘Because dear, I am pure vegetarian’, I said. ‘Will your parents accept me because I am non-vegetarian, you know since I am a Patil I eat non-veg’, Krutika said. ‘No worries Krutika, you can even eat it after our marriage as my parents are very liberal’, I said.

ACCIDENT

I was driving back home listening to songs in my car. Krutika called me up and said, ‘where are you dear?’ ‘Jogeshwari Vhikroli link road and I am driving back home, how was your first day in office?’ I asked. ‘Nice’, she replied. ‘Any nice girls for me?’ I jokingly asked. ‘I haven’t seen you so much joking earlier; it seems that Singapore trip changed you completely, you should have been sent earlier’, Krutika said. We did a lot of talking and she hung up the phone. Mom called me and asked, ‘where are you?’ ‘Eastern express highway near Bhandup’, I replied. ‘What should I prepare for you today?’ she asked. ‘Pav bhaji, mom’, I replied. She was about to hang up the phone suddenly back tyre of the truck ahead of me got jammed and the truck came to a complete halt and my car collided on it. I couldn’t react so quickly and the only words that I could hear were my mom screaming my name. ‘Vaibhav’. Bystanders tried to get me out but my legs were stuck under the steering and my head was hurt when it collided on it.

I was rushed to a nearby hospital and my parents reached there as the man who took me to the hospital had called up at my home from my mobile phone. The docs took MRI of my brain, they feared that not a single drop blood came out from my head injury and it might had created a blood clot in my brain and their guess had come true, the MRI had shown a blood clot in the brain and the docs had to surgically remove it, the surgery is called as Craniotomy. There were multiple fractures on my both the legs and to be fixed immediately too as there was a fear of septicilin or internal infection.

I opened my eye, the day card read 1^st April, I very well remember the day of my accident 1^st March. It means that I was in comma for a month; I can very well imagine the condition of my parents in last month as their only son was semi dead. I couldn’t walk as my both legs were fractured and the blood clot had a severe effect on my walking ability. Fortunately, none of my body part was amputated or else it would have been worst. Exactly a month laterm I was discharged, the docs said that I would be confined to a wheelchair for few months and then I can walk using clutches. The first thing that I did on reaching home was I checked my personal e-mails. There quite a lot mails from Krutika and one e-mail from Jing. I replied to both of them.

Hi Krutika,

You must be wondering about my presence for last one month. The day when you had called, later I had a major car accident and my both the legs got fractured and my legs have lost control. Currently I am confined to a wheelchair. It’s good that you didn’t wait for me and got married. Please remove the guilt from your mind that you got married, unlike Hema you didn’t dumped me. I wish you good luck for your married life.

Regards,

Vaibhav

Hi Jing,

You must be wondering about my presence for last one month. On 1^st March I had a major car accident and my both the legs got fractured and my legs have lost control. Currently I am confined to a wheelchair. It’s not that I had forgotten you.

Regards,

Vaibhav

My letter was shock to them and they replied to me.

Hi Vaibhav,

The news about your accident is quite shocking for me, no wonder your mobile phone was switched off. How are you feeling now? You must be wondering that what made me marry; family pressure to get married, forced me to take this decision.

Regards,

Krutika.

Hi Vaibhav,

The news about your accident is quite shocking for me, no wonder your mobile phone was switched off. How are you feeling now? Please give me your alternate phone number and your address, I would come to meet you as soon as possible.

Regards,

Jing.

WHEN MY PARENTS MET JING

I gave Jing my contact number and address, the very next week she came to India to meet me. She had got flowers for me, the first thing that she did on seeing me was to cry. ‘How are you now?’ She asked. She kissed me on my forehead and said some prayer, ‘it’s our Chinese way of curing’, she said. ‘Now you have an international treatment too’, dad chuckled and said. ‘Mom, dad, she’s Jing my friend colleague from Singapore’, I said. ‘Hello uncle, hello aunty’, she greeted them. ‘Vaibhav, I was so shocked after I heard about your accident’, Jing said. ‘Vaibhav, we are going out, Jing, please take care of him’, mom said. ‘Sure aunty’, Jing said and my parents left.

Jing sat next to me and asked, ‘Vaibhav, what about your girlfriend, does she meets you often?’ She asked. ‘She couldn’t wait for that long and got married’, I replied. ‘Not her fault as Indian girl can’t wait for that long to get married’, I said. ‘Very sensible of you, you said that an Indian girl can’t wait but a Chinese girl can’, she said. ‘Jing, do you know what you have said right now?’ I asked. ‘Yes Vaibhav, it’s not an instantaneous decision but a well thought of decision’, she said. ‘Jing, I can’t commit anything right now, I need to speak with my parents about it’, I said. ‘Sure’, she said. Jing had gone to see Gateway of India and it was the nice time to talk with my parents about Jing’s proposal. ‘Dad, do you have any demands about my wife?’ I asked him, ‘no Vaibhav’, he replied. ‘Mom, actually Jing has said that she would wait for me to get well’, mom couldn’t hide her happiness and they said in unison, ‘we don’t have any problem’. ‘Mom, she’s a Chinese girl’, I said, ‘so what Vaibhav, cultures can be taught’, mom said.

JING WAS ACCEPTED MY PARENTS

That night when Jing came back and mom’s attitude towards Jing had changed completely, she began to take extra care of her. One day, my parents went for a walk and they helped me to sit on a three seater sofa. When they had left Jing sat beside me. ‘Jing, I had told my parents about your proposal and good news is that they didn’t object’, I said. ‘In fact I didn’t have to convince them at all so once I get well then we can get married’, I said, on hearing it Jing hugged and kissed me. ‘Vaibhav, you were reluctant to kiss me for the first time’, she said and smiled at me, Jing kept her head on my cheast. I found that T-shirt on my cheast had gone a bit wet and I held Jing’s face by lifting her chin, ‘why are you crying?’ I asked. ‘You won’t  understand why I am crying’, she replied and kept her head back on my cheast, Jing’s hairs were so silky that they were blowing even in fan’s air, a lock of her hairs blew on my face irritating me and I removed it. ‘Sorry Vaibhav, I should have tied them’, she said. ‘No Jing, I like them when you keep them open’, I said and I curled her hairs. The situation got very romantic and she made me lay on my back and randomly kissed me. I had additional duty of holding her hairs as her hairs were falling on my face; the situation was getting intense when the doorbell rang.

‘It must be your mom and dad, wait I’ll open the door’, she said and it was them. Mom saw lip gloss which Jing had applied on my lips and she smiled at me. ‘Vaibhav, vegetables are so costly these days’, mom said. ‘Jing, what do you eat in China? Mom asked. ‘Aunty, whatever you get in India’, Jing said. ‘Aunty, we get meat too but since you people are vegetarians that’s why I am leaving it’, Jing said, ‘Jing, not compulsory that you should leave it, in fact you can eat it even after marriage’, mom said. ‘Aunty you are so liberal’, Jing said. ‘Aunty?’ Mom asked. ‘Call me mom’, mom said. Jing smiled and hugged mom. ‘Jing, we don’t shake hands with elders instead we touch their feet and say thanks’, mom said. She was about to touch my feet when mom said, ‘not him, only people of my age and above’ and we all laughed.

That night mom prepared special Gujju food for dinner, ‘Jing, get used to it as you would get it regularly’, dad said. It was time for Jing to leave for Singapore and join work. Her eyes were filled with tears while leaving so mom hugged to pacify her. ‘Bye sweety’, she looked at me and said, I said the same. After Jing had left dad teased me. I went on my bed to take rest when I received Jing’s call, ‘Vaibhav, are you alone as I want to say something personal?’ She asked. ‘Yes’, I replied. ‘Vaibhav, once you get well then stay with me in Singapore for a week we’ll have a nice time’, she said and she made a kissing sound. ‘Yeah’, I replied and made a kissing sound too.

HAPPY ENDING

Like I had promised, once I got well I went to Singapore to spend some time with Jing, she was ecstatic to see me at the airport and she hugged me. I completed the immigration formalities and went with Jing to her house. On reaching at her house I sat on the sofa and Jing welcomed me to her house with a kiss, after drinking tea I went to sleep as I had jet lag. When I woke up, I found Jing sleeping next to me. I curled her hairs and she got up. Later that night we went to a disco, this time I kissed her and as promised by Jing we had great night at her place. Next day after coming back from office Jing prepared dinner and we sat at the dining table to eat it, to my surprise she had prepared typical Gujju food. ‘When did you learn it?’ I asked with amazement. ‘When you were getting well’, she replied.

It was my time to leave Singapore, after a month she got transferred to our India office. She asked her relatives in China to come to India and we had registered marriage. It was a nice feeling when we exchanged garlands, as this was the moment we and our parents had waited for so long. The feeling that Jing would be henceforth called as Jing Vaibhav Shah, made me happy.

EPILOGUE

If you think that this story is a work of fiction then probably I couldn’t explain the story properly as this is a true story of a person who is very close to me. Neurological disorders are one of the worst disorders, in Vaibhav’s case the neurological effect because of the blood clot was pretty mild. I have seen cases where the residual effect due to the blood clot is very severe as it directly affects the controls of the body. I won’t tell you that your family and close one’s would definitely love you and take your care very well but the feeling of being wanted by someone else helps the patient a lot to get well as most of the cure of neurological cases is psychological. In Vaibhav’s case he didn’t made harmony with his past as a result it screwed up his present and he became a complete introvert. Whereas Jing’s unconditional love had enabled him to recover faster, there’s no better medicine than love so believe in miracles as they can happen anytime. Life is beautiful, enjoy it.

 sensex