Part Two. . .

This is a work of fiction and any resemblance with any person living or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional.

 

 

Two

Smriti hurried while locking her apartment door to catch the lift, which as always was 10 floors below hers, the other one was 12 floors below. Her mood further soured when she saw both the lifts were going down. She mentally calculated the time the lifts would come to take up to the 24^th floor, provided they came uninterrupted, against the time she would take if she made her descent by the stairs. She decided upon the stairs rather than waiting for the lifts, which stopped at every floor, like local trains and were basically of no use at all. Although when she reached the ground floor she would be exhausted, but she didn’t wish to be late for her meeting. She was never late till date and she wanted to keep the same record for as long as she could, may be forever.

She was well versed with the traffic condition which changed with every day of the week. On Mondays she took 80 minutes to reach the office which reduced to 50 on Wednesdays, Fridays it generally took 60 minutes, same on Tuesdays. After keeping record for almost a month she had deciphered this pattern and thus started at the appropriate time for office. Her colleagues, who got late to work, would always blame the Mumbai traffic, to which she would reply, you guys just don’t know how to handle it!

She reached her desk exactly 5 minutes before the start of the meeting. She muttered “Phew, just in time!” to herself.

“Which you always are…” a voice said from behind her. Although she already knew who it was, she turned and said “Oh Aniket, I didn’t see you entering. Thank you for the compliment, you do know I prefer to be on time.”

“Save your thanks for later, when I actually compliment you. You look stunning today, tell me what’s your secret?” he asked with a naughty smile.

“Her secret is that she is single and tensionfree.” added Niyati while entering the cabin.

“Then by that do you mean am good looking too? Well I’m single too!”

“Oh please Aniket, give me a break!! If flirting, dating and hitting on random girls means being single then I think I need you need to revisit  the dictionary.”

Smriti was smirking at her seat listening to the usual bickering of her friends cum colleagues while she organised things at her laptop for the meeting.

Everyone sobered up when their manager entered. The meeting started and went on for a good three hours. After convincing their manager enough about the proposal, they dispersed.

Three of them headed for the cafeteria.

“Smriti, you are our star!! I get pissed off with the vague questions our manager asks, they are so pointless, stupid and silly. However you weave convincing answers for those unfathomable questions and do it with so much ease. No wonder you always get top ratings.” Niyati said.

Smriti smiled in response and sipped her coffee in silence.

“So Smriti what’s the plan for tonight? I heard about this cool cafe which opened recently at Bandra. What say, let’s check it out tonight, three of us?” Aniket said.

“Oh no no, my fiancee would slaughter me if I didn’t go for the weekly prayer at his parent’s place. Sorry guys better you both check it out and let me know your feedback.” Niyati added.

“I tell you Niyati, leave this guy, he is always into pooja path. These spiritual proceedings are better done at old age, our age is for partying, boozing and having fun.  Besides if you don’t join us there are thick chances that Smriti would come alone with me, she is kind of scared of my dashing personality.” Aniket said guffawing along with it.

“It’s nothing like that Aniket. Am not scared of you, kido; however I can’t come tonight because I need to work on the client presentation.” Smriti replied non chalantly.

Niyati placed a hand on Smriti’s palm and said “Smriti, who are you fooling? You always have your excuses ready. How long are you gonna be in your cocoon? It’s high time you come out of it, live life, meet guys, date, fall in love, marry, have kids!! Get over your mourning period babes, you have mourned too long.”

Aniket placed a hand on Niyati’s shoulder signalling her to stop. He gestured her towards Smriti’s face which had turned red. She was definitely crying.

“Ok girls let’s give the discussion a rest and start over with our work. If you both have forgotten let me remind you people, there’s a pile of workload awaiting us to be done by EOD.”

Thus three of them retired to their cubicles and the rest of the day passed uneventfully.

After getting back home, Smriti freshened up and called up her mother. The conversation was mostly one sided with her mother doing most of the talking, the topics were always the same, about Smriti’s future plans, complaints about her father’s irresponsible behaviour, updates about relatives whose existence Smriti had totally forgotten, ultimately culminating at her marriageable age; which Smriti would tactfully avoid and disconnect the call. She had been able to put off this important event for almost five years now and she planned to keep it under the covers for a long time, given a chance forever. It was not like she didn’t get any suitable proposals; she met guys who were decent enough to spend life with; there were guys who were richer than she could ever be in her entire lifetime; there were guys who had truly loved her; there were guys who were thoughtful, intelligent, smart and kind; there were guys who were aware of her life’s motto yet were ready to accept her; but there was none who could replace him.

 Post call, she would have her dinner, a tiffin box of home cooked food which she bought from the famous Mumbai Dabbawaalas. Despite being a regular customer for almost a year now, she still liked the taste. It was delectable, palatable, piquant, good-tasting and made her feel like having her mom’s hand cooked food.

Dinner followed by some left over office work, which normally took an hour or more. Only after she was completely satisfied with the output she would turn off the laptop. Sleep would still be far away from her eyes, thus she would sit with a novel at the balcony. The rocking chair would rock her soothingly, relieving her from all her worries and transporting her to another world. Sometimes she would be so immersed in the book, she would lose track of time; sometimes she would stay up all night to finish a book.

Nights when she didn’t feel like reading she would simply sit at the balcony and gaze at the scene outside. Her balcony overlooked other apartments in her society. Every window was like a theatre playing a movie, to her. She knew a lot of the people who stayed in those apartments, although she hadn’t met or known them personally, she knew their stories. Watching them carry on with their simple regular lives made her feel she was a part of it all; as if she was a part of one big family. Seeing parents helping their kids with their homework, couples having dinner, teenagers dancing to wild tunes, old aged people praying; was way better means of entertainment than a television could ever provide.

Only sometimes when she felt alone, she felt the dire need of a person alongside her, like a soulmate; at such times she reminded herself of the true purpose of her life. Her mind had died the day she underwent the betrayal. This was merely a body alive, alive for a purpose, alive with a mission; after which the soul would be free.

She had left it upon God for a long time, she had believed in His powers of punishment and righteousness, but when she had inspected closely she had found God was only helpful to those who helped themselves. Just trusting and believing was never enough, one should take steps to fulfil their desired actions. Life’s proceedings were never by chance; they always carried a message along with them. Sometimes people were too engrossed or deaf to heed them. Smriti had got her message a long time ago, she knew what she had to do in order to attain her salvation, she knew what she had to do to obtain her mental peace, she knew what was lost was lost forever, but she couldn’t have borne all the suffering and pain for nothing at all. She knew she had to take the revenge.

To be continued. . .