Back to India
773 Words
"Ugh!"
"Softer, softer..."
She was naked. So was I. Shirtless, she traced her fingers over my abs as I kissed her neck softly. We were in front of the mirror, trying different styles since last month. She loved to experiment, it seemed and Jake didn't have time; so there came in me. I would fight with an imaginary girlfriend back home, and come to her place, bawling like a baby.
She was great. That body and the way she wanted more every time, was exactly the medicine to my desires too.
And like every time, she had a ton to say about Jake post-s*x.
"He wants his career, not me. Every day, he comes back and shouts for his favorite food; the green peas fried with half-cooked rice and a special pink chutney. He then complains about my average skills and walked off to that room. That's it. That's where he lies until he's hungry again"
"He comes out for more food?"
She interlocked our fingers and traced my thick sore palms,
"Yeah....but he looks so thin, unlike Bulldozer right?"
This is what we were. Lying on the bed, after being temporary pleasure seekers, we cursed and gossiped about people who were helplessly in our lives, making it more normal than the so unique we needed. And after every night, I thought about only one person, only one, and that was her.
"How are Sarah and you? Any marriage deals?"
I sighed and put my arms on the back of my head. Her head shifted slowly to my biceps.
"Nothing so far. She seems to be in another relationship"
"What? She is cheating on you?!"
Genelia rose from the bed, staring defiantly.
I laughed, "You i***t, she has the right to cheat...as much as I have"
She slapped my head, "Get your head checked! Nobody has the right to cheat..."
Her word must have dawned on her itself, because she went silent for a second and clicked her tongue. She opened the new bottle of beer and poured a drink,
"I guess, the fun part is, cheating is legal"
She tried to meet her words and their distance again.
I smiled,
"Look Genelia, you're just engaged. You have got plenty more in life than a partner"
"Indian girls don't. I want my life to be crazy, and Indian parents want it to be not so"
"We choose our lives.....they don't"
"They let me come here after all that, "Don't be so American"< "don't sleep in other man's bed", etc, etc..."
The irony hung there cracked my giggles.
We had a drink.
"When are you going back to India?
I shrugged, "No idea. With Bulldozer's assignment, it doesn't seem so plausible now"
She flicked my head, "You know, he is somehow related with me"
Yeah, I did. Some dad's aunt's uncle's nephew. But who cared? He called her, his gudiya, meaning his doll. And I wholeheartedly f****d his doll, so we had a complicated relationship anyway.
Just then, my phone rang.
She took it for me,
"Hello"
"Umm..is this Raghav?"
"Yes, may I know whose speaking?"
"Raghav Shekhar?"
I moaned, rather than a hum, because she was kissing my abs now.
"Yes-s-s?', my knick got her laughing on her tummy. Crazy Gen.
"I'm from Investigation and Police Department"
My head rose in shock.
"Yes sir-r?"
I shushed Genelia who causing a racket now.
"Umm....Do you by chance know Malavika Singh?"
Her name rose in my heart, like the waves of the sea. For a moment, the world stood before me, like a glitch
"Umm...what is your relation with her?"
"I loved her"
The words rose from me, like a recording at the muse of my heart.
"Then please come to India.....there is something really important."
The worry in the man's voice ran a shiver through my spine.
The call hung.
And as reality slowly struck me, Genelia's posture became more evident.
She stood, dressed.
Her face, a silent gloom.
Then as her eyes met mine, it melted into a smile. A rather fake one.
"I-I"
"I gotta go to India"
I spilled it out.
She grinned,
"I heard."
But there was this void. This empty void between us.
I didn't know if it was right asking her.
But neither could I stop myself.
Just as I was about to say,
she clicked her tongue,
"How can I live without you, in that office with Bulldozer?"
I didn't know if I had to cry or smile.
Just that, my arms embraced her and I hugged her.
She brushed my hair,
"Who is she?"
"Malavika"
And my heart ran back to my hostel rooms, with her.
- Writer
