Part 99

February 10^th 2012

Friday

7:03 PM

Chembur

Ritwik’s Mom picked up her plate with a great difficulty, she looked beautiful full blown pregnant…. Her face flushed… and healthy… her Mom was singing Sukha Karta Dukh harta in front of the huge Ganpati idol… the voice soft trembling… the tone mellifluous…………

The smells were familiar to Khanak… the sounds of televisions from every apartment.. kids playing cricket the Chembur hawkers… it reminded her of a time this used to be her life…. Her whole entire life….

“You’ve got to be kidding me” he barked when she told him on Tuesday that she had to work this weekend

“You go away every weekend day” she countered

“So it’s a frickin competition now?” he asked savagely…

“I told you last week I have a new boss… its not easy”

“You also told me you wanted to go to Pune to see Kaka end of Feb” accusing….

“Mujhe aapse nahi ladna hai”

“You know what I think I have better things to do as well” he slamed the door and walked out…

She hadn’t seen much of him since Tuesday AM

Pai Uncle had texted her this morning “Chabi mili mujhe aaj” in broken Hindi

The apartment her and Ritu shared was empty now, the bachelor that was renting it had moved out… since Pai uncle was the RWA head, he had the keys for who ever wanted to see it next…

Khanak had smiled for the second  time in days…

She had had multiple run ins with Sanjay already… with things as silly as having sent him a 5 MB email and being “coached about email etiquette” to forgetting to sending the most recent update on the CAD program for the Marine Drive changes…

“I expect MY people to be perfect Khanak”

“I don’t want people in M&D to talk about MY people in hushed tones”

“Your work should always be clean”

Khanak had returned to her office and fantasized slamming the yellow pad on Sanjay’s face and walking out…

She had texted Ritu, Ritu had promptly responded with a series of inappropriate punishments  torture methods for Sanjay…. As she burst out laughing…

“If they ever sweep my phone for content I am screwed” Khanak had texted back to her…

“Chhod de naukri Mystery”

“How easy!” she snapped back

“Bola Gujral ko”

“He knows… he is sulking becoz he didn’t get any last weekend”

Ritu had called her on that…..

“R:KYA? Aisa KAISE hua?

K:Hee haw, very funny

R:I mean… Myst….

K: We had a fight on Tuesday… and so… weve been avoiding each other like the plague…..

Ritu’s heart sank… their sexual chemistry was explosive… she knew that… but it was worrying that Khanak’s work commitments kept her away over the weekend… and now the fight… during the week

R:Go home early aaj?

K:Ummm… nahi… Pai Uncle ne call kiya

R:Kyon?

K:Unke paas chabi hai (smiles)

R:What a stink ball! Are you going to see it by yourself?

K:U have 4 hours my friend… u can get here if you want (taunting)

R:Gujral is right you are bloody infuriating

K:WHEN did he say that?

R:Hamesha!

K:Get lost!

Ritu hung up giggling…….

Here she was at Ritwik’s

His Nani handed her modak……

Khanak said her goodbyes… Pai Uncle gave her the keys and left… she walked in…….. carefully removing her shoes exactly where she did before………

Went to her favorite window and looked down…….  A silver Toureg turned around the corner she didn’t notice it………

She inhaled deeply … the house didn’t smell of anything now… the windows were left open……… the mantel shelf still contained the fragrance of incense sticks when she inhaled……… that’s where she had Sooraj’s picture…………… she felt the spot….. it was smooth and… cold…

She had sent Pradeep home at 5:30 when she got off at Chembur………… he had texted his boss to tell her… It annoyed him that she still chose to go back to Chembur……. It reminded him of Sooraj… insecurity overwhelmed him…

She walked into the bedroom….. the window where he kissed her for the first time after her wedding after she had transferred that huge sum of money into his account……….his temper was scary but his passion and aggression during love making was more frightening………… she had fought him……..  her parents had walked in and out when they just heard muffled groans and his chuckle……….. she didn’t know that……… ofcourse…

A warm blush covered her entire body………she lay awake many nites when she had clashed with him at work………… sensing the arousal she felt when he approached……….. his eyes bothered her… deep piercing…….. erotic…….the day when she had gone to check on him with Nivedita when he had broken his arm……….her labored breathing  after the M&M tussle……..as she lay on his couch and the way his eyes roved over her chest… hungry and craving…..

She heard the elevator creak………..open and close……….

Shantanu let himself into the empty apartment… and hit a light…….. impatiently looked for his wife…