The Boundaries of love

*16*

Book ~ 2

Chapter ~ 1

“You hab gotte visitaur (visitor)!” Mark said in his typical Chicago accent. Shravan loved being here. Much better than India. He had a well salaried job, a spacious two bedroom apartment, a beautiful girlfriend. What more could he want!

His girlfriend Rai was a Bengali, who hails from Delhi; the only connection to his country. He had moved out of his uncle's house long ago, immediately after completing his MBA. His Nani was in a better place now, and with her, he had lost all the interest to stay in touch with his family. Sometimes his mother would call, but very cleverly he would make an excuse so that he didn't have to talk to her more than two words.

“Yeah I am on it. Thanks.” He made his way from his cubicle to the front door, and what he saw, just blew his lid off. He still had this difficulty in controlling his anger, and seeing his father standing in his office made it worse.

“Why are you here?” Shravan folded his arms in front of him, clearly his father could see that he was not welcomed.

“Can not a father meet his own son?” Mr Ramnath Malhotra, now a retired sub-judge said. Shravan cringed. He had always hated talking to this man, because he had got his baritone from his father, they always sounded similar.

“Certainly. But not a father like you.” Shravan got a bit nearer as he didn't want to make a spectacle. “Get to the point and leave. Don't forget I work here.”

“Come back.” The two words that came out of his father's mouth made his blood boil, of course he had the nerve to ask him to return. Ramnath Malhotra never worried about repercussions!

“Thanks for the invitation but I am not really interested. I hope you don't mind.” He smiled calmly even when his fists were curled in his pants’ pockets.

“No need to be sarcastic Shravan, I want you to come back. Your mother isn't doing well.” He used his lawyer voice, that used to make people nervous in the courtroom.

“You didn't need to come here and make a scene, you could have just called me. But of course, Mr Ramnath Malhotra just loves to create drama in others’ life. Doesn't he?” He gritted his teeth, barely controlling the urge to grab this old man and made him leave.

“I could have called. And I did call. But you never listened to me. You are always too busy to listen to me.” He sighed, “your mom is dying Shravan. Liver cancer. And doctor have raised their hands, they don't know what to do anymore. All we could do is wait and watch.”

To this Shravan laughed, he laughed till his eyes watered, “so finally all those years of alcohol consumption did the miracle.” He paused looking at his father, who looked bewildered seeing his son's behaviour. Had he not anticipated the damage he and his wife had done? Had he forgotten everything? Shravan shook his head to clear his thoughts, “I'll think about it.” And turned to leave. “If you want, you can stay at my apartment for now. But don't overstay yourself.”

He heard a faint thanks, that made him wonder, what had changed in these past ten years, that his proud and obnoxious father has become like this.

▪▪▪

“So what did you decide?” Rai put kajal in her eyes carefully. She had this weird habit. She loved shopping, she had tons of makeup products, but used only kajal and lipstick while going out. Another thing that annoyed Shravan was she always rejected his plea of them living together. Initially, she had said ‘My father will have a heart attack'. But then she said something, after which he didn't have the nerve to ask her again. ‘You are asking me to move in just because I remind you of her.’

Shravan just shrugged “No idea” , he was still in dilemma. His brain advised him to stay back but his heart wanted to reach out to his ailing mother. “What do you think, what should I do?” He asked Rai, who was fumbling with her left earring.

“They are your parents Shravan, you are the one to decide. Not me.” Shravan sighed. Rai was everything a man could want but her indifferent attitude made her look like an insensitive person. Even though he knew she was simply stating fact, still it annoyed him.

“Right.” He hopped up from the couch, “It's already 8 in the evening Rai, how much more time do you need to get ready? You could have told me the exact time to be there, now here I am sitting in your bedroom in your home doing nothing.”

Rai turned towards him, “Okay Mr grumpy pants, tell me how do I look?” She twirled in front of him, making the ivory satin gown shimmer.

“You always look good!” He sighed, “Why do you even buy those costly makeup products if you are not going to use them?”

“May be a Bengali thing,” she laughed, “we buy everything but dont like to use.” She took her purse from the vanity “come on we can't be late. Tonight, this fundraising event is going to be very important for our advertising agency.”

▪▪▪

Lustrous venue, prim and proper people, overflowing alcohol, unreasonable amount of food.

Rai looked extremely proud of herself. She was the one who had organised this grand event. She was sure, this event was going to be another step towards her promotion. Leaving Shravan's hand, she strode in the direction where her boss was standing. And Shravan looked around for the bar. Another weird thing about their relationship, they never looked after each other when they had company.

At one point of time, the light dimmed, Shravan knew the main event was about to begin. He approached for the table that was reserved for Rai and her plus one.

“There you are.” Clearly on a few drinks high, Rai smiled broadly, “I really hope everything goes just fine. The guest we have tonight is just . . .” She couldn't finish her line when the announcer bounced on the stage.

“Hello everyone, how are we all! On this occasion of our The Laureate Event's silver jubilee anniversary, we are very proud to announce, that our agency has become number two event management agency in Chicago. To celebrate the success, we have arranged a fundraising programme tonight.” The announcer smiled, as if she herself owns the agency. “So the organisation that we want to support this night is Little Hope Organisation, which has become a worldwide phenomenon for it's magnificent participation in the welfare of malnourished children, be it in Asia, or in Africa, or in USA. They have fought against many odds in order to reach where they are now. . .”

Shravan sighed loudly, another boring party, with another boring cause. Working for malnourished children! My foot!  He thought. As if he didnt know these things were all but an attempt to whitewash the corrupt businessmen and their black money. He tuned out the rambling of the announcer successfully.He has become a pro at it.

“ . . . And we are honoured to have her on this stage.” She clapped loudly, and Shravan flinched, he slammed down the flute of champagne he was holding and looked up.

Blinking didn't help Shravan. He tired to clear out his vision. Taking a long breath, he tried to calm his heart down. But all went straight in vain. Wearing a simple pink gown, with her hair cascading down to her waist, she looked magnificent.

She . . . Suman Tiwari.

The girl who had brutally murdered his feelings in front of the whole student body.The girl who he had loved with all his heart, and the girl whom he hated the most now.

And the girl who had still managed to sneak into his dreams and he still loved her endlessly.

▪▪▪

“Hello, everyone . . .” And he closed his eyes. Listening to her voice used to be his favourite pastime, the reason he had always asked her to speak. Soft voice, but strong enough to put her views in front of everyone. “Never had I imagined,that I would get such magnanimous praise here. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.” She smiled, “I haven't prepared a speech as I am not at all good at it. All I can say is, this organisation is just a little endeavour for those children who are here on this planet but not have enough food for living. Thousands of children are dying out there just because they don't have someone to look after. Children . . ."

Shravan just looked and looked. Ten long years. Time only did good to her. Her chubby cheeks were now smoothed down, her hair had grown but it still had that brown tint; But her eyes, those that used to shine like sun before, now looked a little dull. She looked happy, but only for the world.

“Thank you so much for this lovely gesture.” She ended it with a smile, the lights lit up on cue of the loud claps, her eyes roamed and stopped exactly on one particular person.

The smile that was grazing her lips, washed out instantly, and she took a step back, as if it had hit her physically. For a second or two, she remained immobile, then as if sensing something she turned away.

▪▪▪

“ Pretty , isn't she!” Shravan's eyes were glued on Suman, scrutinising every single step she had taken, twirling the flute in his hand, he just took a sip, when Rai came near to stand by his side. “You just can't look away. She still has this effect on you.”

Shravan choked on his drink, “What?!”

“Suman Tiwari, batch 2009, Imperial Engineering College.” She smirked, “We did a background check when we thought about inviting her. I had a hunch then, but now looking at your face, I am sure, she is the one, isn't she?”

“Was . . . She was the one. And secondly, I didn't expect this from you, you could have just told me, I would have . . .”

“You would have avoided being here, with me.” She laughed, “Which is not possible. Every single person knows about you. You can't say that because of some hopeless crush you had on a girl, you would not accompany me.” She shook her head, “But I have to agree, she is something. Hard to forget! No wonder you still have a hard time remembering her.”

Only if she knew, to remember someone you need to forget them.

“I need to go. You can hail a taxi or you can ask one of your friends to give you a ride to your home.” Shravan just didn't want to see her face right now.

Rai grabbed his hand, “Not so easy tiger! Come with me.” She dragged him to the corner where Suman was talking to one of the philanthropists.

“Leave my hand, don't make it a spectacle Rai. Please.” He pleaded, but secretly he loved the idea. He wanted to show her, that he had moved on.

“Excuse me . . . “ At Rai's voice, Suman turned and for a fraction of a second her eyes fluttered when she saw them holding each others’ hands, “Hello, I am Rai. The senior idea developer of this agency. And this is. . ."

To which Suman smiled politely, “Shravan. I know him. He was my batch mate.” She smiled more, “it's a pleasure to meet you Rai, I hear, you are the one who has organised everything out here. I must say, you are amazing.”

Shravan just gaped. How was this possible! Not a single emotion played on Suman's face, nor did her voice quiver. As if meeting him didn't affect her at all. Whereas he had become an emotional mess at the instant his eyes fell on her, how . . . How. . .

Suman looked into Shravan's eyes, “How are you Shravan?”

“How am I looking?” He snapped.

“Good.” She paused, “You have changed a lot. A nice change.”

This time Rai jumped into the conversation, “what change are you talking about?” she was intrigued to know about the depth of their relationship. How could it be possible for a man, to still remember his first love even when it had never been reciprocated.

“The Shravan I knew, would have done anything to miss this party. He would have definitely gone for a bookstore or a library, or he would have been in his bedroom in his bed, reading his poetry collections which he probably knew by heart.” She laughed, as if remembering something. “But as I said, it's a good change. Now he enjoys his life.”

His heart beat painfully against the ribcage, she remembers. . . She remembers it chanted. But his brain, it just signalled, how brutally she had mocked him again . . . He might have changed, but clearly she hasn't.

“Shravan and poetry, I don't know about this?!” Rai turned to look at Shravan, “Why don't you come to our house, I mean for a dinner, of course. I would love to know more about Shravan. It's been 7 years since we are together, we will be celebrating our 8th years of togetherness on coming Sunday. Why don't you join us?” Shravan noticed how Rai used the word Our, he again looked at Suman, who just smiled.

“Well congratulations, but I dont think that would be appropriate for me to join you two, when . . .” Shravan couldn't take it anymore, he had to stop her charade of nonchalance.

“Please Suman, we were best friends, and for the sake of it, please do join us, we will be happy” he smiled and looked at Rai, who looked amused for some reason, “Isn't it baby?”

“See I already have plans, if not, I would have come, that's for sure, but . . .” Suddenly, her phone rang in her clutch. She fumbled with the zip while taking it out, and suddenly the phone was on speaker, a child's voice broke in, “Mumma? Dhruv wants to talk to you . . . Mumma?”

Suman, hurriedly put the speaker off, “Excuse me” she held the phone to her ears, “Yes beta . . . Dhruv, mumma is here . . .” And she walked away leaving a very amused Rai and a fuming Shravan.

▪▪▪