This post is dedicated to ma followers Iron Monkey, Pulsars,Ravi Rahul and Rajitha.
I told myself, ‘Shantanu is just a friend’. May be, he is not just a friend, might be one of the best ones, like Anu or Divya. Lost in such thoughts, I was sitting in my room in the company’s guest house staring through the window. Mobile rang on the table, which I noticed only after a few seconds.
‘Shantanu’ the name flashed. The ring tone ‘heart will go on’ pleasantly echoed. I was looking at the mobile, like in a spell. I didn’t attend the call nor did I ignore it. With hesitation I slowly reached for the mobile.
The pleasant melancholic tone of Celine Dion’s voice ceased, and the room back to its usual grave silence. The two other girls are out to enjoy the scenic beauty of Bangalore.
My heart beats faster now. I am practically shivering with my mobile in hand. I repeated to myself, I am losing a good friend to my stupid hormonal attractions. I don’t want to lose him. Thoughts raced in my mind. My thumb in an impulse pressed the green button.
For every ring my lungs widened to intake more air to give more oxygen to my fainting body. Breathing hard I burst out, “hello Shantanu, sorry I were busy with something else, couldn’t attend your call”
“Hey cool, you sound disturbed, will talk later if you are busy”
“No no I am fine.. free, tell me”
“Just like that, we are missing you here, when are you coming back to college”
‘Missing’, ‘we’ who are those comprised in that ‘we’ or is it just a safer side of ‘I’.
“Heard that you are not allowed into office on Sundays so guessed you must be free”, his voice disturbed the racing thoughts. It’s time for me to speak a word. He is clearly cautious about the way I avoided him.
“Ya ya I am free now. Miss office on Sundays” I smiled.
“Computer wizard! Getting too workaholic huh?”
“If you call me a wizard what will you call these people”
“ok ok enough of your modesty. Hope you know we have our college elections in a week”
“Oh that’s why you called me, fine don’t worry anyway I will not be voting for your side” I chuckled.
“Then you are going to vote for Kiran’s best friend, he is one of the key campaigners in the opposite side”
“I will be there by this Friday at the earliest”
“Well the elections are due only next Wednesday, and I didn’t call you on account of elections, it’s just..”
“hey hey sorry I was just kidding, anyway I will try my best for your cause. See what you have for me”
“For you, I will be the cultural secretary this year, if we win, but for that I have killed myself in elections for more than a year”
“You! I didn’t ask you for any ‘post’. See what I can do for elections. What part I shall play in campaigning. I am not power thirsty and will never run behind posts”
“Sorry sorry, damn my language, anyway you have a good, big friend’s circle and you have earned a good reputation amongst juniors, you must make a difference even in the last minute, just send a mail to your juniors and friends who are close to you asking them on their stand”
“But as you said they have some honor for me, but if I get into elections won’t they feel bad about me?”
“What use is their honor if they couldn’t do something for you?”
“You have learned to speak well like a politician. You remind me of the heroes in the Jeffrey Archer’s novels”
“Hmm… fine then, Shantanu will be the Prime Minister of India someday”
“Ok k fine, so how is college?”
“ya it’s still standing”
“That’s a lame joke”
“Oh sorry I am not as witty as Elvi to crack cool jokes”
“Heard the elections are getting a little violent, keep your ass safe”
“Don’t worry about my ‘ass’ it’s perfectly guarded”
“Oh black cats, huh?”
“Kinda.. ya. I am not moving alone anywhere. People don’t let me alone”
“Oh the reputed key leader, well, very well, waiting to see you walk with a dozen guys walking behind you”, chuckles
“If only you are here, you will also be in a similar security circle”
“Ha I am no where near your election stuff, and I will never be wishing for such a following”
“Fine fine, you will be as far away from elections as possible, but only extending your support for us”
“Ok Mr. Prime Minister, Elvia is at your service”
“It’s the Cultural Secretary now”
“Whatever, See you in college, so when do you want me there?”
“ASAP, you said Friday”
“Friday!!! Well, I ll try”
“So sweet, waiting for you”
“Ok bubye”
An unknown illumination surrounded my environment, a feeling of freshness. I got rid of this love madness. I am very clear now. I am back to normal and Shantanu is my good friend. With these cheerful thoughts I called Anu. “hello”
“Hey Shantanu is in Bangalore…”
Showing posts with label a good friend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label a good friend. Show all posts
18. The Artistic Apology
Yes, it was her, my most intimate chum. We avoided them and decided to ask her about it later at hostel. Preethi messaged her, “Hav u reached ur uncle’s place”. A micro reply, “s”, obviously Anu didn’t want to be disturbed.
On the way back, I recalled how I took her to meet kiran on the excuse of getting his 2nd sem books and genral senior junior talk. Anu also called him ‘Kiran’ and also told him about the anonymous messages, and kiran illogically apologized to her. Anu kept messaging some school friend of hers, but never told much about him. Everything dawned on me now.
Anu came back to the room. We were silent. She broke out after a minute, “Please girls I am really sorry, I beg you please talk to me, I should have told you, but I was worried.. I was confused..” she was blabbering in grief.
She repeated, “ Please speak to me..I thought you people will mistake me”
Maria, “You bitch, it’s not us, but you, you are the one who has committed the mistake, an unforgivable one.”
Anu avoided her, and wept more, kneeled on the floor near my cot, caught my hands and apologized with tears.
Divya, “You betrayed all of us, you lied to us. You cheated on your best friend and her trust.”
I didn’t mind her taking Kiran. I never gave a fuck about him. I would have rather been happy about it, if they had opened it up to me. The thing that anguished me, that kept on tormenting me the whole evening was that, she, my best friend ever, lied to me. She hid things of such a huge magnitude from us trickily.
I knew Anu, she badly needed love. After loosing her mom at 10, and her caring grand ma a couple of years back, with her fears of losing her ailing father Anu needed someone, some soul not just to love her, but also to be with her forever. Kiran used this soft-spot well. He cared for her, or at least pretended so, and Anu naturally fell for it.
“OK, ok relax. Everything is fine. I know you like Kiran and this is no big surprise and I am happy about you people. Just calm down, relax”, I said with a softer expression.
Anu hugged me and continued to sob. I took her shoulders in my arms, “ But I still couldn’t pardon you on hiding this from me. Don’t do this ever again.”
Anu swore that she will keep up her trust worthiness for life, but I was skeptical, not just about her, but her new found relationship.
On the way back, I recalled how I took her to meet kiran on the excuse of getting his 2nd sem books and genral senior junior talk. Anu also called him ‘Kiran’ and also told him about the anonymous messages, and kiran illogically apologized to her. Anu kept messaging some school friend of hers, but never told much about him. Everything dawned on me now.
Anu came back to the room. We were silent. She broke out after a minute, “Please girls I am really sorry, I beg you please talk to me, I should have told you, but I was worried.. I was confused..” she was blabbering in grief.
She repeated, “ Please speak to me..I thought you people will mistake me”
Maria, “You bitch, it’s not us, but you, you are the one who has committed the mistake, an unforgivable one.”
Anu avoided her, and wept more, kneeled on the floor near my cot, caught my hands and apologized with tears.
Divya, “You betrayed all of us, you lied to us. You cheated on your best friend and her trust.”
I didn’t mind her taking Kiran. I never gave a fuck about him. I would have rather been happy about it, if they had opened it up to me. The thing that anguished me, that kept on tormenting me the whole evening was that, she, my best friend ever, lied to me. She hid things of such a huge magnitude from us trickily.
I knew Anu, she badly needed love. After loosing her mom at 10, and her caring grand ma a couple of years back, with her fears of losing her ailing father Anu needed someone, some soul not just to love her, but also to be with her forever. Kiran used this soft-spot well. He cared for her, or at least pretended so, and Anu naturally fell for it.
“OK, ok relax. Everything is fine. I know you like Kiran and this is no big surprise and I am happy about you people. Just calm down, relax”, I said with a softer expression.
Anu hugged me and continued to sob. I took her shoulders in my arms, “ But I still couldn’t pardon you on hiding this from me. Don’t do this ever again.”
Anu swore that she will keep up her trust worthiness for life, but I was skeptical, not just about her, but her new found relationship.
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