Life Partner

Krishnaa was standing poised as the ball rolled down the lane to hit its ten pin target. It was a strike and as most of the time she finished top of the board. Her colleagues were thrilled as apart from her individual win it was a friendly competition with their rival company. They all were behaving like a bunch of college kids and went out for a beer to celebrate their win.

In the evening she gets home and opens the door to her cosy living pad which was tastefully decorated by a designer. She liked to indulge herself as she liked living life to the fullest. She was always dressed her best even when she was lazing at home. She gets a call from the broker with who she had registered for finding a marriage partner. Being a divorcee she did not trust the online sites as she thought people place their profile there mainly for fun and not for a serious relationship. This was one of a high end broker who charges a bomb but comes up with trustworthy proposals. Vishal Sivadasan is the name he says and he would mail his details to her and she could get back to him.

Krishnaa’s marriage was an arranged one set by her parents and relatives and she at that time didn’t matter as she was more focused on career and she was fine with getting married to anyone, if that meant she didn’t have to do any work finding the right guy and parents did all the verification suited her. However it did not work too well and once they reached a stage where they did not have anything to talk to each they had an amicable divorce after 5 years.

However it was not that krishnaa lost complete confidence in the institution of marriage and hence she thought of finding a life partner she could share her life with.

She was waiting at the Italian restaurant that she chose Vishal who throug the broker had been told to meet her here. He reached on time which was a pleasant welcome sign for her. The details that the broker had sent mentioned Vishal worked for another IT firm like hers and was a bachelor since he just started looking for a partner now. He had already gone through her profile and was not unperturbed by the divorcee status.

As Vishal was walking into the restaurant he saw Krishnaa sitting at a table with an air of independence which was not to be mistaken for arrogance. This was the same look he had noticed in her pics that he had definitely gone through in facebook and liked. This was one of the first meetings for the purpose of matrimony that he had arranged. Of course there had been many a few years back when his parents had taken him around town. He had politely declined all and his parents had stopped them. Now Vishal had realized that he had reached a stage where he would love to share his life with a partner.

The lunch was a pleasant affair and atleast one person went back in love though that person was not Krishnaa. Maybe it was because of her previous marriage but she is very careful these days. She definitely liked Vishal, nothing not to like about him. However she thought it didn’t ‘click’ and this is what she told the broker.

When she went to her school friend’s wedding the next month she was actually pleasantly surprised to see Vishal there with his family. Vishal on his part had a ‘heart in mouth’ situation seeing her walking in a pastel lehnga. He had never imagined seeing her ever again. She came spoke to him and got to know that the groom was his cousin. She spoke to his parents and mentioned casually about her meet and how it didn’t work with vishal. They looked dazed and Vishal quickly filled them in; Vishal’s father threw the glass that he was holding and was about to start screaming when his mother and Vishal quickly took them out of the room.

Krishnaa stood rooted wondering what just happened because she couldn’t imagine anyone behaving like that to their children. Her parents were always the bed of support and love. They were in a different city but in touch and supportive of anything she did.

Vishal was used to his father’s outbursts since childhood as there could not be one sentence that can occur in their house that does not end up curdling his father’s blood.  He remembers the first time he understood was when as a kid he wanted to ask his father to come to school for debate that he was participating and he got a earful. He always had heard his father’s screams in the house but never took it seriously but as a 10 year old he understood it better. His father just was not made to live in matrimony, with kids or society. He just did not like to react or communicate and the only thing he could do is to leave him be the renowned table player he is. His job , his passion and his life. However today as every other time when Vishal witnessed this he felt an anguish that he or his mother could not help his father in any way.

As she got out of the daze and was at the parking lot she wanted to check how vishal was. As his face growing pale in the hall did something to her. She messaged him a sorry and that she didn’t know she was going to start something. Her next message surprised vishal and her too. She asked him if she could take him out for Coffee now. She did not receive any replies and was about to start her car when Vishal was at the door with the same look. He got in the car and they quietly drove to the lone coffee shop that was open at the midnight hour. As they got out Krishnaa couldn’t help giving him a quick hug. 

They did not talk about the incident and it looked as if their coffee outing was a continuation of their lunch. This was a start to a friendship between them which went on to last a lifetime.

Phoenix Moment

The phoenix in the painting of the wall seemed like it moved. ‘Is it my imagination?’

Is it a signal that she should take it up? God I should stop thinking like this, maybe it’s the overdose of Bollywood movies or hindi serials that’s giving me these kinda thoughts.

Marisha was a high flying corporate employee who climbed up the corporate ladder at great speed. She was always excited and full of ideas and hence used to be included in all the important meetings internal and with clients. She had the rare distinction of being liked by people above her and her co-workers. She was easy to work with and at the same time came up with some great plans. In 10 years’ time she was at the brink of reaching the top rung of management. She was happy with herself and gave herself a treat by taking a trip to Bulgaria. She was always the adventurous kind and wanted to try something different. So this time it was this trip with her school mates to this European country. They planned for days together and the highlight for their trip was that they would be skiing and it was peak winter. However the one thing that was unplanned was that her best friend sweety would fall of the peak and go missing as it was very difficult to conduct search operations. By the time they found her body a week later the entire group of friends were heartbroken and were hardly talking. Marisha efficiently managed all the work with the authorities and managed to take back Sweety’s body. Back home she took up taking care of Sweety’s parents and helping them manage everything and coping with loss.

As to the outside world Marisha was her usual efficient self nobody could see that with Sweety something inside Marisha was lost. It was not because Sweety was her only best friend or something like that. It was that she saw death first time so close to her rather she was seeing ‘life’ going away for the first time. She herself did not realize that she was any state of depression. Next month when she was given a promotion she declined telling she thought she needed more time in the current role. Though it came as a shock to all she was otherwise as easy at work as always. At home it was a total different scenario ; her parents were seeing a total different side of her. She was scared of going out with friends, going to office, going on a journey, planes , using equipment etc; anything and everything. They initially thought it was a phase but as after 6 months she was still the same they started getting worried. This was the time when her aunt who was her idol in her formative years came to stay with them for a few days. Her aunt realized and told her that she should meet a psychologist a get some help. Though Marisha did not believe she is depressed nor that she needs help did she meet one to indulge her aunt. Initially reluctant and later friendly sessions with the doc brought back the old Marisha.

As she was looking at the painting of Phoenix again and back to the email which was telling her that she’s being given the Global head for her company and that she needs to relocate to Bulgaria for the role she remembered the entire series of events.

A month later at the airport bidding her family a bye she was the same confident person who boarded the flight 6 months. Yes, she did feel it was her ‘Phoenix’ moment.

Startled

                                                                

Being the weekend as always she had made plans of going out. This day it was a music show; it was the first time that her daughter would be attending one. She was really excited to take her for it. As she was a music enthusiast she had a ray of hope that her daughter would eventually be one. She packed snacks for her daughter, change of clothes and some comfort toys to keep her entertained in case she gets bored.           Her mother, an uncle and aunt were also joining them for the show as this was a niche singer at the helm.

In the evening being her punctual self she started atleast 2 hrs earlier anticipating all kinds of traffic jam or any other blocks and reached venue an hour earlier. The venue was at the outskirts of the city and hence a huge place. As they entered they saw boats inside a pool kind of a place getting treated . There was a weird smelling mist around the place. They did not give it much of a thought and went to the entrance. As they were early and the seats were already booked there was no need to rush, however the doors to the hall would open only 5 mins before the show. This also means that the show would start half an hour after that; IST ‘ugh’. How people enjoy being late for everything and still think that’s the most irrelevant aspect of social life.

As the heat in the city was unbearable she thought of waiting just outside the hall with her daughter as it was cooler there. Mom, uncle and aunt went out to grab a bite as uncle had directly come from work and really needed an energy booster. Her daughter was happy to be outside as she also hates being locked inside the apartment and liked seeing new people and new places (but with her mom around).

After maybe about half an hour as her daughter was getting restless she thought of going out and finding her folks. The sun had set and it was cooler outside. As she stepped out the weird smelling mist hit her and she thought; why would they do something like this on the day of the show? However with her daughter tugging at her hands she moved forward and instead of moving in the direction of the canteen she went on a stroll towards the back side of the hall which is usually pretty deserted. As she sat by a bench and let her daughter run around the lawn. Suddenly she realized the mist had thickened and she went closer to her daughter to take her back. As they were going to walk back they spotted a deer and then another and then another and in a minute they were all running towards them. She picked her daughter and started towards the hall; realizing they had wandered towards the end of the lawn and also to their horror the start of the forest. She knew that she should not be running and was quickly wondering what to do to get time for the guards to come for help and at the same time distract or scare the deer. She rummaged into her handbag and suddenly her hand spotted her daughter’s whistle. She knew that this was it, the noisy thing which is really loud and normally irritates her might actually be the perfect thing for now. She started blowing the whistle non-stop. The deer were startled and stopped in their tracks and also started moving back a few steps. In about 5 mins from the corner of her eyes she saw that about 2 guards were rushing towards them. She didn’t stop the whistling until they were there and then she just ran outside the lawn. The guards were trained for handling such situations being close to the forest. She hugged her daughter and went towards the hall and saw her folks waiting outside the hall.

As she opened her eyes she realized that she was dreaming. Of course Bangalore and spotting deer outside a hall where a music show is happening. Come on. Anyways she quickly rushed her daughter to get up as she had to reach the show on time.