"No baby... nothing will change.. I promise.. well except the calling rates... and the time zones.. wait I guess a lot will change" Prashant stammered through the last part of the sentencce as he gave Karuna the news over the phone. He was slated to leave for a different country in 2 days but that is a different story altogether which we will get to some other time...
****
"Tell me a story...a funny one" demanded Karuna from under the sheet. Prashant sat on the sofa flipping through old books. He looked through his glasses and eyed her request in faked attention.
"Well I am out of jokes... why don't you tell me a scary story rather..??" Prahsant got up to get a glass of water..
"Ok.. I think I am pregnant..."
"What the f**.. Are you kidding me? What ? How? When? We have not even had...." Prahant mumbled through the questions.
"Well.. that's the scary part... now isn't it?" KAruna winked from under the sheet...
Prashant woke up with a start. He was sleeping on the floor. He made a phone call to Mumbra. Karuna answered in a sleepy tone... "Someone better be dead.. I am telling you..."
"Well my dreams almost were.. How are you? " Prashant gulped some water as he closed the door to the balcony and came out in the open.
"I am good... I think i am..pr.." The line went dead..and Prashant too...
"Mother of god.. I hate fuckinng prepay connection.." Prashant cursed looking at a telecom tower out there in the far.
He waited a while before the phone rang. He fumbled and answered the call.
"Hey.. the line went dead.. you were saying something.. Something about you being..something?? What were you saying?" He shot the questions and prayed to all his gods.
"Ah! I don't remember... Must have been the fact that i am prominently tired today.."
"Excellent!! A very poor choice of adverb... though" he wiped the beads of perspiration from his forehead as he slapped a mosquito dead on his heels cursing silently.
"What? It's 3 in the morning. I don't need a grammar lesson from you..."
"No! I absolutely understand.. You are prominently tired and i must say I am promisingly relieved.." He muttered in a taunting tone. Thereafter the happy and relieved couple chatted sometime about life in general and how the significant half was significantly incomplete without the other half. The conversation concluded to a complete halt almost 27 minutes later and Prashant decided to go back to sleep. It was a shame the night was wasted three quarters already. The night was getting only cooler as he walked into the hall to get some more water. He ran into Shujit who was munching on the overnight food on the bean bag.
"What the hell are you doing at this time of the night?" He asked Prashant and offered him a chapati wrapped over 'aloo capsicum dry'.
"I have a girlfriend. I am entitled to sleepless nights. What are you doing stockinng up on food at this time of the night?"
"You know dude..!! It is that time of the year again...when i get all disciplined about my eating." Shujit gobbled the final chunk in his hungry mouth which eventually made way to his empty stomach.
"Very well..!! I honor your restraint.. Enjoy your dinner cum lunch. I will go get some sleep."
Prashant walked into the room where Vishal was spread with his hands and legs pointing to the vertices of a rectangle which was his bed. Vishal was Prashant's roommate. No, they were not gay. No further questions. Period ... (Fuck...Damn) - Only the smarties got the last one..
The lights were switched off in D118 for the day.
****
I love the city Mumbra. Well.. Prashant loves it. The last time he was int he city with Karuna they went around the same places they had been the last time around. It was fun. He was poor. She was a student. They got through that. Money was only an enabler. The ultimate challenge was being able to make the journey. There were great Samaritans who lent money. Prashant was trying to write something for quite sometime. It was a letter. Apparently it was supposed to be a love letter but all he could write in the last 5 hours was this:
'....And the light streaked across the sky when the time came....the dogs stopped barking for they felt the ever hurting charisma of fear and looked silently
in the sky as a thunderous bolt struck the shiny moon and it was shattered to pieces followed by a waltz of ever soothing violin... thus began the century of
Irony and has been dark in the nights since then... the sun rises in solid fear and rushes across the horizon quickly, only to be lost in a never ending abyss
of darkness... the same villain who engulfed the last pieces of the moon'
He could explain. The metaphors in the message sheathed the vulgarity of the message. He wasn't vulgar. His thoughts were. Ahh!! The irony.. he laughed as he wiped a tear.
The bus was taking longer than usual today. It was the traffic outside Sion. It was scorching when he got down at the Andheri(W) bus depot. She lived in the east. Near a fire brigade. Of course.
This was the first time he was in Mumbra with more money than he had combined in all his trips. The budget to Mumbra trips had always been 2000 rupees of which 104 were spent on his ticket to Mumbra and 600 were allocated for the Mumbra autorickshaw pension fund. Well of course money lost its value and the equivalent comparison can not now be drawn but this time he spent 1200 on the ticket alone. He had called her up twice as he stood under a tree with a bag which for the first time of all his trips to Mumbra was not the charismatic Green that belonged to Rishabh. To know more about Rishabh read : Trip to Thol She came out of the building in a while. Her pony tail swaying as she walked. 'I love you woman...' he said to himself for she was far away. He stood there motionless. She did all the moving.
"Well someone's been smoking..." her first remark was always the sharpest.
"Actually the dude who stood next to me near the pan shop smoked in my face.."
"Very well.. I guess you shook his hand too.." She smelled his hand and took his bag.
"I missed you.." he tried to break the tension
"hmm..!! I don't live in cigarettes by the way.. So stop searching me there..." She started walking towards the building and he followed like the eye follows Katrina's moves.
***
They talked at length. He lay on the bed and she lay across with the back of her head on his chest. He held her hand and played with her skin. He never left the clasp of her skin when she was around. It drove him crazy.
They did not speak for it was redundant. She could hear the heart beat. He could feel the goosebumps on her hand. A clock ticked in the background. A bus honked outside the window as it passed by. The crowd howled in the traffic. Someone was trying to sell lemons on the road. He could hear it all. She could feel it all. All this did not bother. Mumbra was complete with him so close.
She played with his hand and made shapes using his fingers as wings and her palm as the torso. It started to rain. They did not move. It was evening when the rain stopped. He had fallen asleep. His fingers still moved on her skin. I told you right... They never left contact.
She did not lay watching him as he slept. She did not sit and appreciate how peaceful it seemed. She did not stay awake savoring the moment. She just curled up and joined him in his peace. This was all that was missing. This was all that was needed. This was peaceful.
....continues in the next part...Spoiler alert : Prashant and Karuna take a trip to marine drive and don't kiss...:)
****
"Tell me a story...a funny one" demanded Karuna from under the sheet. Prashant sat on the sofa flipping through old books. He looked through his glasses and eyed her request in faked attention.
"Well I am out of jokes... why don't you tell me a scary story rather..??" Prahsant got up to get a glass of water..
"Ok.. I think I am pregnant..."
"What the f**.. Are you kidding me? What ? How? When? We have not even had...." Prahant mumbled through the questions.
"Well.. that's the scary part... now isn't it?" KAruna winked from under the sheet...
Prashant woke up with a start. He was sleeping on the floor. He made a phone call to Mumbra. Karuna answered in a sleepy tone... "Someone better be dead.. I am telling you..."
"Well my dreams almost were.. How are you? " Prashant gulped some water as he closed the door to the balcony and came out in the open.
"I am good... I think i am..pr.." The line went dead..and Prashant too...
"Mother of god.. I hate fuckinng prepay connection.." Prashant cursed looking at a telecom tower out there in the far.
He waited a while before the phone rang. He fumbled and answered the call.
"Hey.. the line went dead.. you were saying something.. Something about you being..something?? What were you saying?" He shot the questions and prayed to all his gods.
"Ah! I don't remember... Must have been the fact that i am prominently tired today.."
"Excellent!! A very poor choice of adverb... though" he wiped the beads of perspiration from his forehead as he slapped a mosquito dead on his heels cursing silently.
"What? It's 3 in the morning. I don't need a grammar lesson from you..."
"No! I absolutely understand.. You are prominently tired and i must say I am promisingly relieved.." He muttered in a taunting tone. Thereafter the happy and relieved couple chatted sometime about life in general and how the significant half was significantly incomplete without the other half. The conversation concluded to a complete halt almost 27 minutes later and Prashant decided to go back to sleep. It was a shame the night was wasted three quarters already. The night was getting only cooler as he walked into the hall to get some more water. He ran into Shujit who was munching on the overnight food on the bean bag.
"What the hell are you doing at this time of the night?" He asked Prashant and offered him a chapati wrapped over 'aloo capsicum dry'.
"I have a girlfriend. I am entitled to sleepless nights. What are you doing stockinng up on food at this time of the night?"
"You know dude..!! It is that time of the year again...when i get all disciplined about my eating." Shujit gobbled the final chunk in his hungry mouth which eventually made way to his empty stomach.
"Very well..!! I honor your restraint.. Enjoy your dinner cum lunch. I will go get some sleep."
Prashant walked into the room where Vishal was spread with his hands and legs pointing to the vertices of a rectangle which was his bed. Vishal was Prashant's roommate. No, they were not gay. No further questions. Period ... (Fuck...Damn) - Only the smarties got the last one..
The lights were switched off in D118 for the day.
****
I love the city Mumbra. Well.. Prashant loves it. The last time he was int he city with Karuna they went around the same places they had been the last time around. It was fun. He was poor. She was a student. They got through that. Money was only an enabler. The ultimate challenge was being able to make the journey. There were great Samaritans who lent money. Prashant was trying to write something for quite sometime. It was a letter. Apparently it was supposed to be a love letter but all he could write in the last 5 hours was this:
'....And the light streaked across the sky when the time came....the dogs stopped barking for they felt the ever hurting charisma of fear and looked silently
in the sky as a thunderous bolt struck the shiny moon and it was shattered to pieces followed by a waltz of ever soothing violin... thus began the century of
Irony and has been dark in the nights since then... the sun rises in solid fear and rushes across the horizon quickly, only to be lost in a never ending abyss
of darkness... the same villain who engulfed the last pieces of the moon'
He could explain. The metaphors in the message sheathed the vulgarity of the message. He wasn't vulgar. His thoughts were. Ahh!! The irony.. he laughed as he wiped a tear.
The bus was taking longer than usual today. It was the traffic outside Sion. It was scorching when he got down at the Andheri(W) bus depot. She lived in the east. Near a fire brigade. Of course.
This was the first time he was in Mumbra with more money than he had combined in all his trips. The budget to Mumbra trips had always been 2000 rupees of which 104 were spent on his ticket to Mumbra and 600 were allocated for the Mumbra autorickshaw pension fund. Well of course money lost its value and the equivalent comparison can not now be drawn but this time he spent 1200 on the ticket alone. He had called her up twice as he stood under a tree with a bag which for the first time of all his trips to Mumbra was not the charismatic Green that belonged to Rishabh. To know more about Rishabh read : Trip to Thol She came out of the building in a while. Her pony tail swaying as she walked. 'I love you woman...' he said to himself for she was far away. He stood there motionless. She did all the moving.
"Well someone's been smoking..." her first remark was always the sharpest.
"Actually the dude who stood next to me near the pan shop smoked in my face.."
"Very well.. I guess you shook his hand too.." She smelled his hand and took his bag.
"I missed you.." he tried to break the tension
"hmm..!! I don't live in cigarettes by the way.. So stop searching me there..." She started walking towards the building and he followed like the eye follows Katrina's moves.
***
They talked at length. He lay on the bed and she lay across with the back of her head on his chest. He held her hand and played with her skin. He never left the clasp of her skin when she was around. It drove him crazy.
They did not speak for it was redundant. She could hear the heart beat. He could feel the goosebumps on her hand. A clock ticked in the background. A bus honked outside the window as it passed by. The crowd howled in the traffic. Someone was trying to sell lemons on the road. He could hear it all. She could feel it all. All this did not bother. Mumbra was complete with him so close.
She played with his hand and made shapes using his fingers as wings and her palm as the torso. It started to rain. They did not move. It was evening when the rain stopped. He had fallen asleep. His fingers still moved on her skin. I told you right... They never left contact.
She did not lay watching him as he slept. She did not sit and appreciate how peaceful it seemed. She did not stay awake savoring the moment. She just curled up and joined him in his peace. This was all that was missing. This was all that was needed. This was peaceful.
....continues in the next part...Spoiler alert : Prashant and Karuna take a trip to marine drive and don't kiss...:)
