Sunday, October 11, 2009

...And then Love!!



The crispness of panjabi kurta was long lost. Sweat is an uninvited friend in this perennial humidity of Calcutta. The chaos was getting on his nerves. Still he managed a bleak smile to those unknown guests lost on their way to the Buffet room.

Standing at his own wedding Sudeep felt as a total stranger. Everything happened so fast. His travel consultancy business was just holding grip when the news of his mother's throat cancer shook him.

He couldn't muster courage to confront her when his mother asked him to marry her best friend's daughter.

He always believed there will be plenty of time to fall in love after he made something out of himself. Love cheated him.

He lighted a cigarette standing on the balcony.

------------

Someone was kind enough to turn the table fan towards her.

Sitting at centre of the hall under the critical eyes of hundreds she silently cursed every drop of sweat that made her twitch.

She never thought that the day she dreamt about all these years will turn out to be such a nightmare. She longed to get out of this heavy Benarasi sari.

As other upper middle class daughters Anindita was convent educated. But still in her family, politics and freedom was something women were never trusted with.

She never dreamt of falling in love. It was all very filmy. All she wanted was to get out of that monotonous past of hers to a liberal present.


She never really had any conversations with Sudeep but he seemed decent. But how could she really know? She trusted her parents. But he is a complete stranger.

She looked around. Where is he?

----------

'So, are u comfortable here?' Sudeep asked, unsure if he should open his kurta in presence of a woman or not.

'Yes' Anindita replied trying to keep the fear hidden in her voice.

How she wished she got a bigger suitcase from home to hide herself inside it.

'So how was your dinner?'

'Nice....and yours?' she asked

'Yes, nice too...I mean good'

'I will be leaving for Delhi tomorrow evening...just for 2 days....work....will u be fine?'

In midst of this chaos, this office tour came as a welcome relief to him. He so desperately wanted to get away and rethink this whole situation.

She nodded. She was not really sure what was she supposed to do. She recalled how her mother packed her father's luggage before every such trip.

Maybe she could go to her home for 2 days. She felt a bit relieved.

Suddenly the double bed felt so cramped. They tried to stick to the edge of the bed making sure not to touch each other. The silence was broken by the whining of the ceiling fan and the soft rustle of her sari.

'So are u comfortable here?' he asked.

------------
He looked so innocent when he is asleep, she thought.

She sat silently and watched a thin smile play on his lips along the rhyme of his dreams.

He was curled up in the corner of his bed as if guarding his secrets of the night from the cruel sunlight.


He felt a soft nudge on his shoulder. But somehow it seemed to go along with his dream.

Then he heard his name but the voice was different.

'Its 9 already, your mother asked me to wake u up’, she said.

'Oh...yes...soorry...hmm...hi...I mean good morning'

She smiled.

She was combing her wet hair and he realised he never really looked at her till now.

The tiny little drops of water shaken out of hair by the brutal pull of her comb formed a glittering aura around her shining in sunlight.

The pain in her face when a knotted hair got pulled and her struggle to hide it.

The soft fresh smell of turmeric from yesterday was still there and she justified it.

She is beautiful.

-------------

Sealdah Railway Station has been an epitome of confusion for every Calcuttan. Nobody gets there direction right for the first time.

In midst of the flowing crowd of Office returning people it was hard to find the platform for Rajdhani.

Anindita secretly regretted her decision to come to the station to drop Sudeep. But she was getting tired of the constant pampering she had to deal with morning onwards at that house.

Sudeep's cousin was too busy figuring out the coach number. Sudeep slowed down to catch up with her.

He saw the horror in her eyes and smiled.

Sudeep held her hand. But as soon as he did, he regretted not asking her permission.

Then he slowly felt the grip of her fingers around her palm. He could feel the flow of her blood. He could feel the throb of her heartbeat.

They walked towards the train. The crowd has slowly thinned. But he forgot to lose his grip.

The train was about to leave. He suddenly regretted all the hassle for the trip. 2 days felt years. And he had so many new feelings to be felt.

The signal turned green. He loosened his grip, but her fingers kept holding his hand for a moment too long. A hesitation.

Her engagement ring left an impression on his palm. He wished it stayed for 2 more days.

He walked, and then ran. But climbed on the pedestal when he could not keep up with the speed of the train.

A last look into her eyes. She had so much to say, he wanted to listen, he promised to listen. But all her eyes could say was,

A drop of tear!


"Train roll on, on down the line
Won't you please take me far away
Now, I feel the wind blow outside my door
I leave my woman at home

Tuesday's gone with the wind
My baby's gone with the wind"

-Tuesday's Gone,Lynyrd Skynyrd




P.S: Wanted it to be shorter....but couldnt make it ny more short....hope its readable!!!

43 comments:

Lakshmi said...

That was lovely BF... commendable... I loved it...n its not tht long...I got hooked frm the first para :D

IceMaiden said...

omg i LOVED it!!! it was really awesome.. :)
esp liked the lil details about the bengali wedding.. abt calcutta. gave it all a very real feel.

*two thumbs up*

Cheers,
Annie.
P.S: I LOVE Lynyrd Skynyrd :)

Soin said...

when it comes to descriptive stories length doesnt mater man..more than readable..but so much feeling after just a day of marriage..??free

Unknown said...

too filmy...

buckingfastard said...

@Lakshmi:thnk u!!dat was da intention...well it was hard writng frm 2 perspectives...coz i m not really sure of a woman perspective in 1st place :D

buckingfastard said...

@Ice Maiden: OMG thnkx!!! yea dats da lill details i gathered frm dose boring weddings where i dunno nyone and end up sitting and wathchin ppl....

seriosly next time watch da bride's face wen u goto sum wedding...u can see her discomfort in her face!!

buckingfastard said...

@soin: yea spot on bro!! i also felt dat dere cant be so much intimacy within a day of marriage...but else da story wud hav been long enuf to tick off readers...

so kinda did it dis way!! :)

welcome 2 mah blog!!

buckingfastard said...

@debarati: "arre babumoshai...ye duniya ek rangmanch hai...aur hum sab is rangmanch ke katputli!"

now its filmy....

i kno its filmy...but too much to tell in a short story...so had to keep it a bit filmy..will try to make it a art filmy next time :)

Unknown said...

thankxx :)

Gauri said...

Loved it!

Language flowed merrily.

Keep it up! :)

Unknown said...

aww..this one was so damn good ya..really well wrtitten.well explained...kept me glued in till the lastline..was a tad bit long..but again,the ending made up for it!

oRange* said...

'A last look into her eyes. She had so much to say, he wanted to listen, he promised to listen. But all her eyes could say was,
A drop of tear!'

amazing! i so loved it!
u had my attention till the end!
and yes, ur description of every minute detail is commendable!
keep writing!

buckingfastard said...

@gkam: thnkx!! well i will try hard to keep it up!! ;)

buckingfastard said...

@Madhu: thnk u!!! dis tim i kept it clean eh!!

yea da length factor i understand...but i cudnt make it shorter widout jumpin required parts...else it wud be more nonsensical!!

buckingfastard said...

@orange: i luv dose lines 2...well yea i am seriosly attracted to dose minute details we always tend to ignore...

thnkx..and keep reading!! :)

the second face said...

nw dis ws criosly awsm man...hw dya do it...!!!
P.S. - I'm green wid jealousy... :P
well actually kinda yellowish green coz its autumn..

Vishnu said...

tht was ossum.. loved every line.. was the song an inspiration??
if i were to end the story..i would hav created an anti climax.. while he ran for the train.. he slipped n fell.. n died.. ;)..

bliss said...

that was great one.. totally makes up for the long absence!!!! i cant say much about the details cuz i have none myself but the feelings expressed were amazing, man!!!! loved it to the core!!!!! :)

buckingfastard said...

@ 2nd face: thnkx bro!!! btw it wasnt depressin i hope...as i was slowly gettin categorised as!!

well 'go green' dats our techfest motto nyways

buckingfastard said...

@vishnu:hehe...still laufin abt dat anticlimax...nxt time...pakka!!

song wasnt an insiparation fr da story...but yea fr da endin...else da endin settin wud be diffrnt!!

buckingfastard said...

@bliss: thnks :D ...never mind da details till da feelins get thru u... if words can carry my feelings...my job done!!!

Blunt Edges said...

was i the only one who was expecting some "uncensored" action here??? ;)

good one dude...a pucca arranged marriage scenario! very real!

buckingfastard said...

@blunt: tch tch dirty mind!!!..so it seems ur da only one re!!

coz i m dood-ka-dhula...nd cant even imagine abt such thngs!! ;)

The Unsure Ascetic said...

Very well written description of marital jitters. It happens a lot in arranged marriages. The suspense adds beauty and spice in the new relationship. You have drawn a neat picture including minutiae details of Kolkata and a bengali wedding.
Commendable!

buckingfastard said...

@ unsure ascetic: thnkx....yea da details of kolkata was easy....but details of post marital situation was difficult,as no experience in hand for me :P....hope its similar to reality

Anonymous said...

Er your template is hard to read,

Anyway. That was sweet. Reminded me of this ad, I think it was for platinum rings, something like this.

And I love Vishnu's anti-climax lol !!

Shanu said...

Loved it..very well written :)

buckingfastard said...

@Post Script:arre!! wats da name of dat ad...!!

sumone else also told me da same thing...but evn she cudnt remember da name of da ad!!

buckingfastard said...

@Shanu: thnkx... :D

Chandni (Chanz) said...

hey... its ma first time here...just read one post.. and i enjoyed it thoroughly.... :)

good work..

buckingfastard said...

@Chandni: hey thnkx...and welcome 2 my blog...

keep visitin :)

Urvashi said...

wow...I just loved it..

Like the way u write..!!!though long.....it was worthy...every word had its importance..!! :)

buckingfastard said...

@urvashi: thnk u very much...as long as its worthy...its do able...do tell me if its too long to keep following...coz dats one thing i cant analyse myself!!

keep visiting :)

Stupidosaur said...

Did something happen in the end? Or was this story like the journey meant to be enjoyed? (which I kinda did!)

Shruti, Mumbai said...

Hi, Reading your blog for the first time. Loved this post..:)

Goddess of Nonsense said...

Wow! Are u kidding me? I can't believe a guy has written this.
Every word was so beautiful.
It was precise yet so descriptive. kept me hooked till the end :)

buckingfastard said...

@Shruti: hey welcome 2 my blog...and thnk u!!!

dont u blog??? coz u dint posted frm ny profile!!!


keep visiting!! :)

buckingfastard said...

@lavender: ahh!!! y guys r not allowd to hav emotions??

jst tried to potray love as i think it is....hope i dint overdo it!!

welcome 2 my blog...and keep coming!!

Iddy Albatross said...

Interesting concept, and like the previous one, well played. That made the story enjoyable..

By the way, awesome song selection there dude!! Cheers...

buckingfastard said...

@iddy: luv da song!!! same pinch!!!

keep likin if it likable enuf :D

Meenakshi said...

wonderfully woven.. so beautifully traps the emotions. loved the line: wish the mark of her engagement ring on his palm stayed for 2 days. hmm.

Arshat Chaudhary said...

You got the eye for detail man...The eye for detail man.. You got it.. awesome! Respect!

AnicA said...

i started following ur blog after reading this post.... and it's today finally that i'm posting a comment on it....i wud just say... "i'm a fan!"...:)