Hey there...!
Here we are with the 9th episode of the story being written by Sudheeksh.
Episode9:
“Mr.Sandesh? Here, these are your keys.
Congrats and welcome to the Enfield family” said Mr.Arvind, branch manager of
the Royal Enfield showroom, handing over Sandesh his new bike keys.
“Thank you” Sandesh replied to the manager’s greetings and
turned towards his ride. It was parked outside the showroom. Due to fresh
polish work of its body, the vehicle was shinning to the mid day sun. Sandesh
had taken a day off just to get his brand new bike. He moved his hand over its
body as he passed it, delighted to know and call it his own. He sat on it and
using the push button he started the bike. Putting his muscles into action, he
rode away, leaving the dust behind.
“Go to Ganesha temple and do some
pooja for your new bike soon after you get it. Don’t forget to take coconut,
bananas, flowers and agarbattis” his mother had ordered as soon as she learnt
about the newly arriving guest to the family. It’s a tradition to offer pooja
and seek the blessings of the elephant headed god before doing any good work.
But, is buying a bike which runs making loud noise, drinking petrol and leaving
carbon dioxide to the environment, making it even more pollute a good work?
It’s as they say, ‘A terrorist of one country is a freedom fighter of another’.
It’s hard to distinguish between what’s good and what’s bad.
Soon
after the pooja, Sandesh rode directly to his office to show his new bike to
his goddess. He parked the bike and rushed towards his office, in such a hurry
that he couldn’t even wait for half a minute for the lift, ran towards the
steps, covering two steps at a time. As soon as he was in, he marched towards
Adhya’s seat. But, his excitement suddenly collapsed, finding her seat empty.
He roamed around, silently searching for her. After 20 minutes of search, he
came to his cabin and sat on his chair, finding her name on his cell phone.
But, something caught his attention. There was a red, rectangular envelop,
bearing his name. Drawings and decorations on it were lovely. He would’ve
praised the art work if it hadn’t been the invitation card, inviting him for
the marriage of Adhya! He didn’t care to read any further. His eyes were fixed
on her name. Trying to control his emotions, he looked around, puzzled; hoping
it to be some kind of prank. But, it wasn’t. There were couple more cards in
his cabin which were given to his team mates, lying on their desks. He then
looked again at the card in his hand, confirming it was Adhya’s hand writing.
The card slipped from his hand and fell over the floor. He covered his eyes
with his hands tightly as if to push back tears. But, a couple droplets managed
to escape somehow and started rolling down his cheek.
Pradeep was watching Sandesh from the moment he had entered the office.
He didn’t know how to break the news to Sandesh. So, he was standing in a
corner silently, waiting for Sandesh to find it on his own. He then slowly
moved towards Sandesh, held his shoulder gently and spoke out hesitatingly,
“Sorry, bro. I had no strength to break it to you. She came
early morning and started distributing these fucking cards to everyone. I was
shocked to see it myself. I didn’t know...”
Even as he spoke, Sandesh got up and started walking out,
dialling Adhya’s number. She picked it up after it rang for a couple times and
before he could open his mouth, she spoke, “Meet me at CCD at 2”. Then she hung
up.
* * * *
Sandesh was sitting right in front of Adhya. They both held their gaze
low. There were a billion questions running in Sandesh’s mind, but he couldn’t
spit out at least one. There was a lot of pain in his throat which made it
impossible for him to speak. He was fighting back tears every second. All he
wanted to hear was, “Sorry for the prank, Sandesh. I love you a lot”. But,
things don’t happen as w want, does it?
After five more minutes of silence, Adhya broke the silence.
“So, did you get my card?”
“How could you do this Adhya?”
“Do what?”
“Don’t behave as if you don’t know what I’m talking. Please
just say it’s some kind of a joke”
“It’s not a joke. I’m getting married, Sandesh. He’s an NRI”
“So, that’s all matters to you? Don’t you respect our
relationship?”
“Stop talking like a child. I still respect our
relationship. We had a great time together. But, when it comes to life, we have
to choose wisely”
“Choose!? Don’t tell me you chose him over me. I know. Your
parents are forcing you to marry him. They’re... they’re pushing you into this.
I can talk to them, Adhya. We can still work this out”
“Talk what, Sandesh? That, ‘I have a lousy house where I can
keep your daughter imprisoned for rest of her life?’ It’s my decision, Sandesh.
Nobody’s pushing me into it.
“I can keep you happy...”
“C’mon!! You yourself aren’t happy in that miserable house.
Besides, what’re you? Just an engineer struggling to earn your daily bread”
Sandesh was shocked to hear her talk to him like that. He
spoke slowly,
“But, money’s not everything in life, Adhya”
“Money IS everything in life, Mr.Sandesh. We middle class
people say that we don’t have enough money”
“What if he doesn’t treat you well?”
“Treat me well? Hahha!! With five lavish houses worth a ten
billion each, located in five different countries, over a dozen expensive cars,
two choppers, one jet and his successful career in diamond business? I think
I’ll be fine”
Sandesh froze knowing her true intensions and watching her
true face which was covered by a disguise all these days.
“So, you’re after his money?”
“Be practical, Sandesh. One needs money for survival. And he
has a lot of it. One would be a lunatic to kick back such fortune for some
child’s play”
“So, were you using me all these days?”
“Let me clear those things to you. It’s hard for an inexperienced person like me
to get a job in such a huge organisation like Microsoft. I saw an opportunity
through you to get the job and I used it successfully. It’s not like I didn’t
had any feelings for you. But, when I got this proposal on the day of office
party, I couldn’t let it go. You needed love, I gave it to you. Now, I need a
life. Knowing you can’t give me any better than this, just let go of me”
“Now you call that love?”
“Stop thinking so much for god’s sake. What’s done is done.
Don’t ever try to come in my way. Drink some beer and try to forget everything.
If you can’t, if you want to ruin your life, fine. Go ahead with that. But,
don’t try to ruin my life as well”
She got up and walked away without turning back. It took
several minutes for Sandesh to get his strength to stand on his feet. He walked
out slowly and rode to his home. All the way back to home, he kept thinking
about the things she said to him. It felt like his heart’s being stabbed with
hundred knives. When he reached, he went up to his room and bolted it from
inside. He remained there for next two days, lying on his bed, convincing
himself that it’s just nightmare and he will find his Adhya right next to him
once he wakes up. But, the reality had strike so deep that it was becoming
difficult for him to even wink.
* * * *
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