Never always well begun - Part 7

Pallika was still fiddling with her food and smiling to herself. And her mother was still observing her. Both of them came back to the real world when the door bell rang. Pallika's father stood up ignoring the bell, he went inside with his copy of The Hindu. Her mother had to call the maid to attend the door. As soon as the maid opened the door, Pallika heard someone calling her name in a familiar sweet and squeaky voice. It was Prutha. She had come to Kolhapur in the morning and was going to stay with her parents for a few days. Pallika had a big wide smile seeing Prutha. She was very happy and rushed towards Prutha and pulled her towards the bedroom before she got engaged in a conversation with her mother.
They were seated in the bedroom for a long time giggling and gossiping. That was when Prutha asked Pallika,
"Palli, do you any guy named Gaurav?"
"Huh?" Pallika was shocked listening to Gaurav's name from Prutha. She never mentioned anything about him to anyone. She pretended dumb and replied as if she did not know what Prutha was saying.
"You don't know anybody by this name?"
"Nope I guess"
"Great, I will ask Siddhartha to talk to this Gaurav fella. Some cheapster I guess. Since the day we had been to the disc he has been calling me like a maniac asking for you."
Pallika was again in her trance, she remembered telling Gaurav,
"Do you believe in fairytale love stories?"
"Nope, waste of time"
"Come on, seriously? Everybody has a fairytale in their life. You just need to search for it"
"Really? What fairytale does our story have?"
"Cindrella"
"You have a vivid imagination" he said this to Pallika laughing a little. Paying no heed to his joke, Pallika continued her explanation,
"We met in a party and we saw eachother. There was something that attracted us. And we know nothing about eachother except for our names. I will probably never meet you again. But that is our end. We are the tragic part of the Cindrella story"
Gaurav caught hold of Pallika's hand and danced in the dim lights of the disc. Though the music was David Guetta, they managed to catch the beats of Enrique and danced holding eachother. Gaurav whispered in Pallika's ears,
"Unless I search all lands to find my princess"
Pallika was not able to digest the fact that Gaurav had actually taken her fairytale story idea so seriously. They had something that night but he had clearly forgotten the line that distinguishes reality and imagination. This was not a fairyworld and she definitely was not Cindrella.
On the other hand Gaurav was having his seventh shot of espresso. He was soon going to go bonkers with the increasing caffeine. His phone rang and he gave a big sigh of relief listening to the phone ring. He picked up and after listening to the voice on the other side he said,
"Son of a Bitch, Jeet its you looser, I thought it was somebody else"
"Are you insane? Are you still into the club girl? You are a freak."
"Shut up. Tell me why you have called me. I am expecting an important call."
"Dude, this is something you might love. You said your girl's name was Pallika. You could not acces her on FB because probably her profile was deactivated. I just ran a search on google, found a chick from Kolhapur with the name Pallika."
"What?"
"Yes boss. I owe a you a treat. I found a girl named Pallika who is on blogspot  She had a story published that was similar to your. I bet you she is your girl. "
"Yeah right, and now you would say that a movie about us is about to release with Deepika and Ranvir playing the leads."
"I knew you will not believe me. So much for being a good friend. Anyway, sending you a link on watsapp, check it dude."
Gaurav swore he will not even have espresso ever, alchohol being definitely out of consideration. He thought he was hallucinating and imagining all the crap Jeet just mentioned. And Pallika could write a blog was a little unbelievable for him. She never did seem like the "Writer" type. Actually he did not even know what writers looked like but he was sure Pallika was not that kind. Nevertheless, he opened the link Jeet had sent.
When he was just about to read the end of the blog, his phone rang and the window shit down. He picked up the call.
"Gaurav?"
That voice was what he was wanting to listen since long. This was her, finally.
"You finally get time to talk? Wasn't it easier for you to jist call me back once? Your friend never told you I called so much. It wasn't all that necessary to write a whole blog on me."
"Gaurav, I am home now. So never knew you were on hunt for me. What are you upto?"
"Nothing much really. Just had to go through the whole web trying to look for you."
Pallika laughed a little and was about to reply when Prutha cut her in between,
"Pallika, your Ajay is downstairs."
Pallika lost all words. Gaurav felt something was wrong. He spoke to Pallika.
"Your Ajay? This is getting more interesting."
"Save this number. Never call or text on this until I tell u."
"Not again"
"Bye"
Gaurav was satisfied that he finally could talk to his mystery girl. But the conversation made her more mysterious.
Pallika cut the call and looked at Prutha. She was wearing a look which maybe meant "What the hell!". Pallika knew she was going wrong, but since the night in the disc all she wanted to do wrong and make mistakes. It made her happy.
She went downstairs with Prutha to meet her fianceê. Ajay was waiting in the sitting room. He was wearing a formal white shirt and black trousers. His hair was neatly combed with a centre partition.
Prutha whispered to Pallika, "He looks like a perfect waiter"
Pallika laughed, her giggling noise made Ajay look towards them. He came closer and hugged Pallika.
"So my lady love is looking gorgeous this morning." He pinched Pallika on her shoulders and looking towards Prutha said , "You know I hate you being with people having low morals and ethics. You continue to disappoint me."
Pallika was quiet but Prutha retorted back, "That is why I tell her she should leave you."
"She will never do that. Anyways I was here to meet my love. I will see you again after work."
"Work?" Prutha asked with a surprise in her tone.
"I am joining my father as a manager in his company."
"Rest in peace to the company"
Ajay ignored Prutha's remarks and again hugged Pallika and left. After he left Prutha was ready to leave as well. While on the door she looked at Pallika,
"Think again"

- By Anvi Mehta

Never always well begun - Part 8

Pallika used to be in her room all day. Her parents thought she was upset. But in reality all she did was talk to Gaurav all the time. They spoke on the phone or text eachother. It went on for days and Pallika took good care to remain undetected. She had started smiling quite often and was in a good mood most of the times. Ajay used to come meet her at her house. That was the only time she did not talk to Gaurav.

Gaurav was happy as well. He was getting to know his stranger very well now. His vacations were getting over and now it was time for him to leave back for Pune.

"I am leaving for Pune today."

Pallika replied in a soft tone,"I wish I could come there."

"What is stopping you? You ahould come here. You know you should continue with your job or why don't you find a job as a writer. You are good."

"I cannot. I am getting married in 2 weeks."

"Yet you talk to me all day and night."

"Fine. I will stop"

"Pallika I like you. I won't even marry you now or propose you because our life has just started. What are we? 22-23?? I can promise you that I will be there for you and support you for every dream you want to live. You said you wanted to travel, I do not assure that I will be there in every trip of yours, but I will be waiting for your pictures and stories of your new adventures. I do not want a commitment where you will have to live my wishes, I want you to grow individually as a person. And I know that is what even you want. I am not going to come to Kolhapur and fight with your parents and your looser fianceê, if you want to make your life you are the one who has stand and fight for it. I will be there as your sidekick."

Pallika was almost in tears. All these days she had got close to him.
"Gaurav I want to say something"
"Yes you may"
"I am marrying Ajay because I made a mistake with him. I had an abortion when ina relationship with him."

There was silence for a few minutes. Gaurav replied in a very sarcastic way.
"I thought you were a modern girl who was meant to fly."

"Huh?"

"Are you mad? A 21st century girl who is ruining her life just because her boyfriend did not have the balls to use protection?"

"But?"
Gaurav cut her and spoke very stern.
"Listen Pallika, I am not going to judge you for this. You made a mistake, let me tell you I have made many. If you are ashamed of yourself than do not expect anybody to respect you. You do not have to go through this torture just for this. This is the lamest reason ever."

"No yaar. What if nobody accepts me?"

"Here I am saying that I freaking am falling for you. And even after knowing it I am still falling for you. And you think nobody would accept you? I love you girl."

"Yeah but I made a mistake"

"Have you seen the Ugly Truth?"

"What?"

"I just said I love you"

Pallika forgot everything they had spoken. She was blushing and had become pink when she realized what had happened.

"Hello?Pallika are you there?"

"Yeah"

"I do not want your reply. I just want you to know that there is somebody who loves you and is not bothered by your mistakes."

Pallika was quiet again. Gaurav asked her to call back when she was back to senses. He was happy he spoke his heart out. He left for Pune with a hope that she would come there soon.

Never always well begun - Part 6

Days passed and she was in Kolhapur, her home town. Her freedom was just for a few days. Her dream was over, she had to open her eyes and face the truth. And the truth was she was getting married very soon. Sooner or later she had to get habituated to it. It was just another day for Pallika, she woke up to see another day and again found herself in her bedroom decorated with her smiling pictures and using purple everywhere. Her mother was calling her for breakfast. She got up, washed her face and saw herself in the mirror. Her eyes were loosing the charm due to the growing dark circles. Her tired looking face added to the deteriorating glamor she had.
She walked down to the dining room, where her parents were waiting for her. Her father was an army officer, quite strict but he used to be out of the city most of the times. Her mother was a housewife, she was the sweetest mom anybody could have. She was her bestfriend, and she knew Pallika was not happy with the marraige. But she could not dare say it to her husband. So she always tried to cheer up her little daughter. She looked at Pallika and said
"Beta, come eat."
She walked down and sat next to her chair. Her father did not speak with her since Ajay told him of the night in Pune. She was relieved, no talk was better than the never ending discipline related lectures for her. She was quietly eating everything served in the plate. She did not bother of what was going on around her. The news channel dramatically exagerating the wardrobe malfunction of some model, her mother trying to make a conversation with he father or the utencil sounds the maid was making in the kitchen. None of these sounds were registered by her brain. She was lost again.
"Chance mar raha hai?"
Pallika whispered in Gaurav's ears when he held her hands when they were seated in the bar.
"You don't want me to do that?"
Pallika did not reply, she just held his hands tight and came a little closer to him.
"Tell me were you really going to kiss me? And why me?"
"Aivayi"
He came closer to her and looked into her eyes. When she was just about to ask her what he was upto, he pulled her cheeks hard.
Screaming aloud she said ,"What is wrong with you Gaurav? Why did you do that?"
"Aivayi"
Both of them started laughing at the incident.
This memory was enough for Pallika to smile a little. Her mother was observing her. Her mother knew she was not smiling for Ajay, it was something else or maybe somebody else. She was worried now, Ajay's father and her husband were friends. So when Ajay had come to ask for their marraige, it did not make much of a chaos. Infact, her husband was happy with Pallika's choice. After a few months of engagement when Pallika had mentioned that Ajay was suffocating her amd mentally torturing her, her father said that it was due to Pallika's frivolities. He did not believe her and never support her. The new turn that Pallika's life had taken was quite obvious to her mother. As said a mother can tell what is happening in her childrens life just by seeing her their face.
So was the case with Gaurav's mother. Gaurav was home in Jabalpur for a few days. He did not speak much and was always busy doing something on the phone. He hardly met his friends or spent time playing mischiefs on his mother. The shy Gaurav was very open and fun when back home. But this time his mother knew he was lost into something or maybe somebody.

 By Anvi Mehta

Never always well begun - Part 5

He found the cell phone in the side pocket of the jacket. All the upsetting and sad feelings of loosing her just got turned into hope and happy.
He was fiddling with his cell phone to retrieve the call list, but unfortunately it was switched off. He banged the car door out of frustration and rushed up to his flat. He kept his phone for charging and was restlessly waiting for it to breathe in a little life. Jeet was staring at him the whole time. He was confused and the hangover headache was anyway annoying him. Finally he asked Gaurav,
"What is going on with you?"
There was no reply. Gaurav had not listened to him, he was busy with the only thing that was his chance to find this mystery girl.
Jeet shouted out, "Dude are you okay? Never seen you like this for a girl."
"She wasn't just a girl, I want to meet her again."
"Are you makin your 'love at first sight' saga or something?"
"No I am not in love, but something was incomplete yesterday. I got attracted to her like never before. There was definitely a connection but I can't say what it was. I have to see her again. I got to do it soon."
"Your hangover is gotten even worse than I had thought of."
"You might think I am not in perfect senses, but I cannot get her out my head."
As he was saying this, the phone switched on. He than ignored to whatever Jeet had to say. He opened his recent call list and then he found it. There it was the phone number that Pallika had dialed last. He finally took a sigh of relief seeing the number but was equally nervous as he did not know what to say to her. In these swirling tornado of emotions, he finally called on the number. After several rings he got an engaged tone. Somebody was ignoring his calls. He tried over and over again, but got the same response. In fact after a few trials a machine generated voice mentioned the phone number he was trying to reach was currently out of coverage area. He was pissed and clenched the phone tightly in his fist.
His behavior worried Jeet, the self centered and disciplined roomie had just lost his cool - and all this for a stranger he had met a night before.
"Are you leaving for home today?"
Gaurav forgot about it, he had to go home today for almost a month. He would be away from Pune, this made his chances of meeting Pallika much more bleak. He sat on his bed helpless and disappointed. Never in his life he felt something so strong for someone. He could not get Pallika and her beautiful brown eyes out of his mind. He did not know if it was love or something else. But whatever it was, his life about to change.
Her life was going to change too - it was going to change for good. The previous night when Pallika reached home in a one piece and vodka stinking all over from her, Ajay was on the door ready for a welcome. Ajay was fair, average height and had a fairly good built. But his eyes were grey and shallow, and something in him was disturbing and upsetting. He looked at Siddhartha who had accompanied the girls to drop them safely. He chuckled and spoke,
"So you have made new friends darling?", He looked at Siddharth and continued,"She probably forgot introducing me, I am Ajay, her fianceê. You must be her new city entertainment?"
Siddharth was trying to seep in the question Ajay had just asked. Pallika replied back to Ajay,"What are you talking Ajay?"
He walked in the house pulling Pallika with him directly in the bedroom. He closed the doors and sat next to Pallika to talk,
"So why is a stranger dropping you home at this hour of night?"
"I am sorry, but it is not what you think. He is Prutha's friend and he just meant to be polite."
"Prutha - the bitch friend who hates me since the beginning. Did you see the way she was looking at me."
"Ajay, listen you are angry now so you are not understanding the point. We can talk over this later."
"Yeah right, I have the whole day tomorrow and then the whole night in the train."
"Train?"
"You are coming with me home, I had a talk to your father as well. Plus, your brother in law is getting married. You have to be there."
"I have work here Ajay."
"Did I forget mentioning you our marraige dates are preponed by a year. We are going to be a married couple in a month now. Hardluck you won't see any of your boyfriends again."
Pallika had no words. She was stunned, her cheeks were again wet with tears flowing down. She lost all the freedom she was getting after a long time. She had gone through a lot when she had to convince her family and Ajay to let her work in Pune for a year before marraige. And now, just two.months and she had to leave everything behind. She knew there was no point in arguing with Ajay, it would just result in a few bruises and venom filled remarks by Ajay. She remained silent and sat on the corner of the bed trying to hold herself.
Ajay opened the door and saw Prutha sitting with Siddharth on the sofa. He went to them and started acting as if nothing had happened. He was normal as ever and was conversing with Siddharth in a very well mannered tone. Prutha did not want things to mess up further so she signalled Siddharth to leave. She text him saying she would let him know if Ajay causes any trouble to any of them. Siddharth left even though he did not want to. It was Prutha who hold his hands when he was about to back answer Ajay when he spoke ill of Pallika outside the main door.
Ajay went out of the flat to smoke his menthol filled ciggarette. Prutha rushed in the bedroom, shut the door and sat next to Pallika. She was still crying over her pathetic life.
"Why don't you leave him?"
Sobbing and fighting her tears back, Pallika managed to reply.
"You know the reason."
"Your reason is pathetic. You cannot live with someone like him all your life just because of that one reason."
"Anyways nobody would accept me after listening to my past."
"You are an educated nd modern girl - what makes you think that nobody would accept you?"
"Ask Siddharth if he would accept a girl who went blind in love and crossed all her boundaries", she paused for a second and than said,"So much so that she had to go through an abortion."
"It was a mistake you did Pallika, Ajay was different then, he loved you and now whatever he has for you is definitely not love. You are not only suffocating with him but also compromising on your integrity and personal life. You are making one hasty decision."
Pallika was quiet. She was in the past thinking of how she had fallen in love with her handsome and dynamic college senior - Ajay Malik. They had met during a college fest and since than had become friends. Soon they were dating eachother. The first year of their relationship was great, during their anniversary they had gone to Goa, where Pallika had made love for the first time. It was special for her until two months later she found she was pregnant and she had to go through an abortion. After that incident Ajay had become more possesive. Ajay graduated a year before Pallika - but he had gone so insane in love, he dropped his job offer and stayed on campus for Pallika. He went everywhere she had to go, and never let her out of sight. When they fought he blackmailed her that he would talk about the abortion to her family. Pallika did not want her parents to feel embarassed of her, so she always gave in the argument. Slowly Ajay's love for Pallika was overpowered by insecurity and fear. He could not take Pallika talking to any other male. The love they shared was now getting difficult for Pallika. it was suffocating her. She had started resenting his attitude and behavior. But she could not leave him. She knew she had no option but him. She had made a mistake in love and now she had to live with it.
Prutha was still trying to convince Pallika, her phone started ringing. The light flashed some unkown number.  She did not want to attend the call in between the discussion so she cut the phone immediately. But the one calling probably had his back on fire, he kept calling again and again. The Truecaller app on the phone indicated somebody by the name of Gaurav owing the number. Prutha did not know him, so deliberately put her phone on flight mode to avoid any more calls. She wanted to concentrate on Pallika alone.

- By Anvi Mehta

The Mistake..

This is one incident that had moved me. All such instances justifies all messages given by shows like Gumraah and Webbed. When you see them you feel it wont ever happen to you. But it proved all wrong after listening to this.
There were two friends who knew eacother since junior college. They were good friends since then. Kavish and Anki - both of them were like buddies. They never considered eachother more than that, but always shared a great bond. After junior college, things changed a little. Anki stayed in the same city and had a different lot of friends. She even got close to a guy in that group and started dating him. On the other hand, Kavish was out for his further studies. He lived his life king size. New friends, partying most of the times and always some hot chick near him. As time passed by, the two of them had reduced their contact. It wasn't deliberate, but they both got busy with their lives. Graduation was over, both of them gad lived their ups and downs.
Co-incidentally both Anki and Kavish came together in the same city for their post graduation. This was the time they met again. They were very happy to be together in the same place, remembering of all the past moments, sharing with eachother the things they had missed and making a lot of future plans. Kavish was a party person and he had a lot of girlfriends but always the wrong ones. He wouldn't stay constant with one. He had a party to attend and wanted a girl to company him. He asked Anki to come along with him, he got a company amd plus he wanted to introduce Anki to two of his very good friends - Rajiv and Sukant.
Anki was fine with the plans. She was excited and happy that she finally would get to see the much hyped night life of the city. She did not even care to ask Kavish who all would be there and where they were going to stay for the night.
Both of them went to the party. Anki was smart but sometimes she made silly mistakes. This was one of those. She met Rajiv and Sukant. Rajiv was a little older than the rest of them. Sukant seemed okay ish, he was with a girl. Being a people person she immediately meshed up in the.group. It was hard to guess that they all had met her that very day. Everyone was either into hookah, alchohol or both. Anki was talking and dancing with both Kavish and Rajiv. Sukant was with his gf and he left a little early for Kavish's flat. He apparantly had to reserve for the bedroom. Almost nobody except Anki and Kavish were in their senses. Around 4 AM, all of them went to Kavish's flat in his car. The couple was already in so the three decided to rest in the hall. They were so tired with the dance and booze that they just slept off wherever they found a place. Kavish slept first, Anki and Rajiv were still talking for quite a long time. Somehow they slept off, not realizing when.
In this, Anki did not understand but somebody had put a hand on her when sleeping. After some time she could feel a warm breathe near her neck. She instantly got up and turned to see somebody holding her with his arms and sleeping next to her. She was shocked to see Rajiv, Kavish's friend. He seemed to be in deep sleep, so she moved away from him and slept facing his back to him. After some time, she could feel the same hand was now moving all around her back. She was scared and at the same time a little embarased. She turned towards Rajiv and asked what was he doing. He opened his eyes and started touching her lips. Anki was feeling grossed out by now. She asked him to stop and got up. Rajiv forced her down on the bed again and grabbed her. She shouted but it was dark and nobody responded. Rajiv crossed his limits and tried kissing Anki, forced her and abused her. When she shouted and asked him to leave, he told her to calm down and enjoy. Finally Anki hit him hard on his face and kicked him. It was around 6.30-7 in the morning when all of it happened. She felt wretched and dirty. Though Kavish was in the same room, he did not respond to her shouts. She wanted to leave the place and run away. She was shivering and scared, but did not want to show herself weak. She got up, washed her face, took her bag and left for her hostel. Nobody knew whe. she left except Rajiv who was shamelessly seeing her leave. After that day nor did Anki or Kavish had any contacts. It was as if they were strangers again. Anki did recieve a text from Rajiv though, which said
"Do not take me seriously when I am a devil. I thought you wanted to do it as well. Anyways hope to see you soon dear."
Anki was angry and she did not know what to do or who to tell this. Her boyfriend would blame her and so would her parents. And it is obvious. Being a girl I am not just being biased for her. She was at fault to go out late night with people she did not know except for some childhood friend who had changed to extents that she did not. But that was her only mistake. A mistake that could ruin her life.
But she was not at fault for being an extrovert or having a modern approach of life. I do not feel it was wrong of her to talk to a guy or dance with him with limits drawn. It was Rajiv's mentality that was at fault. I do not understand why are girls who dress modern, have many male friends or talk openly with all considered as easily available. If a girl has a boyfriend or if she has had intimate relations with somebody than that is her personal life. Nobody should get judgemental about a girl's integrity or character just with the way she lives. Anki still feels wretched and stays away from new friends and parties and Rajiv still tries to get laid with any and every girl he finds prey. Who is at fault here now and who should change?

- By Anvi Mehta

The Wishing Lamp

"My lantern just floated away in the air. And I was there with a lot of them around me. Hardly anybody knew what exactly had happened. Nobody knew why I was smiling so much or rather say blushing."
It all started with my tantrums - I so wanted one of those "tangled" lamps floating around in the skies. Lately, there were a lot of them seen. He being the one who loved me had to go get one ofcourse. That was mandatory for him - especially after 5 years of our sweet and salty love affair. We were net buddies in the start, met eachother after a lot of chatting anf texting. Initially, we werent at all serious with eachother, we thought our relation would not last more than 3 months. But than cupid had dicferent plans, we fell hard for eachother. 5 years but we were still the same newbie lovers. Today evening all my friends, he and me went up on the terrace to light those lamps. All of us had wishes written on our lamps. He did look a little off and wierd to me then. I thought he was upset on me or maybe he was just trying to like all the lamp and wishes stuff - i knew he wasnt into any of it. I asked him to help me light my lamp. He lit the fuel and we were waiting for the lantern to light. Both of us were holding it facing opposite to eachother. The terrace was completely dark. He looked handsome in the yellow lamp light. I was staring at him, smiling for what all he did for me. Almost all the time I was looking at him, admiring him. He was looking at me too, but he was quite nervous about something. His wierd expressions were quite funny.
The lamp was almost ready to float away - we just had to leave it. Everybody around us had left their lamps to go away somewhere unknown. They were all cheering and shouting and guessing of where their lamp would go. Nobody saw us standing still.
Just before I could ask him to leave our lamp, he looked at me and murmured something.
I asked him what he was saying. That was when he asked to me let go of the lamp. Our lamp was just above our heads when he came closer to me, held my hands and looking at me asked the one question that I was dreading to answer for years
"Will you marry me?"
It was unbelievable. I am a romance freak and something like this was the peak of being romantic. The best moment in my life - in the light of our lamp floating away, I saw him asking me this. I wished the moment never came to an end. I wished we could juat be like that forever. I did not even need to answer him, my rarely occurring combination of "smile and tears" said it all. I looked at him and hugging him tight said YES.
This was it; never expected situation. I kinda freaked out a little, but he always knows how to control the hyper side of me. He just kissed me on my forehead and said, "Relax honey, I am yet to propose you with your bollywood film style - getting on my knees and a dianond ring" I laughed at him. And then we were standing there seeing our lamp go away , in the dark, enjoying our defining moment. I was holding his hands tightly and he was holding me in his arms. In this he asked me,
"By the what was your wish on the lamp?"
"You just fulfilled it"

]

- By Anvi Mehta