Meera was going through the journals while sipping
her coffee, in her chic business suit with her unruly hairs tied elegantly in a
knot on top of her head. She was waiting for her flight in that airport business
lounge. Her mobile phone beeped, and she saw a text from her mother reminding
her to bring some Barbie doll for her niece. Oh no, she had completely forgotten
about it. She gulps down her coffee and rushes outside to the duty-free shops.
She finds a Hamleys’ nearby and buys the doll in question and some more stuffs
which she thinks her 6-year-old niece may like. While returning to the lounge,
she gets a glimpse of a familiar looking person. She turns around and tries to
search though the crowded alleys of the airport, but she finds nobody familiar.
She thinks it may be her illusion and returns to the lounge. It was silly of
her to have an illusion of a person whom she had not met or remembered in last ten
or eleven years.
She is twenty-nine and unmarried, to her parents’
dismay. Her childhood neighbor and best friend, Neetu had been married five
years ago and is now a mother of two kids. And her mother keeps reminding her that
she is wasting her fertile years. Her two elder brothers are also married with
kids. So, every other day, her parents find her a match and either the boy’s
parents reject her for being open minded and independent or because of her
short haircut. Sometimes she needs to decline because she is asked to leave her
job, or something which she does not like. Her mother had told her many times,
she needs to learn to compromise. In any case, it was her who will have to
compromise after marriage also. So, she should not complain now, and she should
not be proud of her high paying corporate job. However, her father and her
brothers had been supporting her all these years. Her own sisters-in-law are
earning handsomely and managing their homes efficiently and the irony is that her
mother is equally proud of her daughters-in-law. This time also she is rushing
to her hometown because her mother’s pundit ji has found some alliance and the prospective
guys’ family wants to meet her this weekend.
Her flight is announced, and she boards her plane.
After keeping her belongings in the overhead bunkers, she falls back on her
seat and ties the seat belt around her waist. She sees the familiar face pass
by her again. And, it was obvious, he had not recognized her. She remembers his
name, Rahul. However, she did not hear any violins playing in the background.
(Yes, every pun intended)
Meera, the plain jane girl of school, scholarly
girl with round specs, was in class seven. This new boy, Rahul, had joined their
school that year. He was every girl’s dream. He resembled Jas Arora, of “Gud Naal
Ishq Meetha” fame. So, she had believed then. Meera would be blushing crimson
red to her ears whenever Neetu would tease her with his name. Meera jolts back
to present when the pilot speaks from the cockpit and the cabin crew starts explaining
the safety features of the flight. She smiles to herself and opens the novel, “The
Twentieth Wife”. She can catch up on the half-read book during the flying time.
The flight reaches its destination after 2
hours of flying. The passengers get off the plane and hurriedly move towards
the baggage carousel to pick their checked-in luggage. Meera bumps into Rahul near
the exit gate again while waiting for her cab. He smiles at her and she smiles
back. He looks at her with an appreciative look which she understands very well.
She knows that she looks good. At the same time, she also understands, he had
not recognized her. She goes her way to catch her cab which will take her home.
Whenever she recalls her school days, a smile
comes to her lips. They were so naive, gullible, and full of life at the same
time. That year when this new boy had joined their school, Meera’s life had turned
upside down. She remembers herself bowled over by this boy’s charms. He was in
a different class than hers. She would find excuses to sneak near his class to
have a look at him. After coming back from school, both her and Neetu would be
talking about the new boy in their school, giggling together. It was Neetu who
had recognized her crush on him for the first time. But being her best friend, Neetu
was never going to give away this secret to anybody.
He was in the basketball team of their school
and all the girls would go gaga over him. He was aware of all the attention
from the other gender and was gleeful about it. She had heard he was equally
good in studies. Also, there had been many rumors that he used to date many good-looking
girls of their school that time. She used to hope that he would look her way
some day and he would find her attractive enough to make her his girlfriend. Once
they had enacted in a musical play in school. Kamadeva (Rahul) and Rati
(Archana) were dancing and playing wild in their romance. They hear anklets,
when they see Parvati (Renu) approaching Shiva (Meera), who was sitting in a
corner in deep meditation. Parvati offered flowers to Shiva’s feet and went away
but Shiva did not open his eyes. Kamadeva wanted Shiva to open his eyes and look
at Parvati, so he shoots an arrow from his bow towards Shiva. Shiva opens his third
eye and starts dancing Tandava, Kamadeva catches fire and the dance drama ends
with Rati’s sobs. While practicing for the musical, Meera had hoped that Rahul
would start noticing her.
The play was enacted on their school Annual
day. After the play everyone was enjoying samosas in the school canteen. She
heard someone calling her, “Ey Ladki, suno”. Nobody called her, “Ey Ladki”.
Everybody knew her name in school. She turned to see who had the audacity to
call her by that name and found her puppy love looking at her with frowning
brows. She found her courage and told him that her name was Meera. At that he replied
that he knew her name and then spoke, “You, spectacled girl, no need to show off
your tantrums on me. Go, give this letter to Archana, and tell her that I have sent
this”. She had replied, “I am not a messenger”, for which he had replied, “Then
what else can you do apart from being a book worm”. Before she could even speak,
he had turned on his heels and rushed off to some other corner of the school.
She had felt humiliated and had wept that whole
evening after coming back from school. She had thought, she was not a book worm
at all. She was good in studies, but she was equally a good singer and dancer
of her school. She had won many laurels and brought many prestigious awards for
her school in singing and dancing. Neetu had consoled her that evening saying
he does not deserve her. She was her best friend and could not see her friend
in distress. That encounter had ended her puppy love for him. She had topped her
school in tenth and twelfth standards and had left her hometown for her
engineering from a prestigious college. Later she had done MBA from an equally
prestigious University and had never gotten any chance to remember him. Neetu had
also never talked about him after that incident. For both these friends, he was
a forgotten chapter. After around eleven
years or so, she had seen him today.
The whole house was abuzz with preparations.
Sweets have come from the famous sweet shop of their town. Her eldest brother
and sister-in-law with their 6-year-old daughter, Sonia, have also come for
this weekend. Her second brother and sister-in-law are expecting their second
child so they could not come. Meera was not at all happy with this chaos but
did not speak anything to her mother. This was for the first time; some alliance
had come from their same town. And whole family was hoping for a fruitful
encounter. She heard that the guy is a dentist. She was warned by her mother
not to speak anything rude in front of the guests. Her sister-in-law winked at
her while helping her drape a heavy Sari from Banaras. Her Bhabhi also helped
her apply a light makeup accentuating her cheeks and bright big eyes. She looks
at her reflection in the mirror and is satisfied.
A car pulls up in front of the porch of their
ancestral house. Her brother and father go to greet the guests at the gate. Her
Bhabhi and mother also go to greet them at the door, and she can hear people
talking and some laughter in their living room. Her Bhabhi comes to her and
gives her a tray loaded with teacups and says, “time for the parade, come” and
smiles at Meera. Meera is ready for the ordeal but she does not hear any trumpet
announcing her entrance.
She enters the living room with the tray and
peers at the audience. Then she sees him again. He was wearing a charcoal
colored suit and when he looks at her, he smiles and gives her another
appreciative glance. She smiles back but her smile and her eyes narrow down.
Both her mother and sister-in-law warns her to behave from distance, she can
feel their eyes on her. She is asked to sit in a sofa between her father and
Rahul’s mother. She sits and smiles at every one around her. The guy’s mother
asks her, “Beta, do you know cooking?”, “We have only one son, we want him to be
looked after well after marriage”, “He had been away from home for studies and work
for so long now, that we get worried about his eating and all. So, we want someone
to look after him and hope he gets good home cooked food after marriage”. And
so on. Meera kept her smile intact and made affirmative sounds. Her mother starts
speaking, “Meera knows everything about taking good care of a house. She cooks well.
You don’t have to worry about anything. She is earning well in her job, but she
will definitely take care of the house after marriage.” Meera listened to all the
hoopla around her and did not comment on anything. “Let the guy and the girl
talk in private. They are grown ups and let them find more about each other”.
So, she was rushed into verandah where sitting arrangements were already made
for two people. Tea and sweets were brought in here for the two people.
Rahul and Meera sat across each other and were
asked to find more about each other. “I had seen you at the airport yesterday.
I did not know that I have to come and see you today”. She says, “Yes” and
smiles. “I heard that you had gone to the same school where I had studied. I don’t
remember seeing you. I would have remembered a beautiful face like yours”, and
he winks at her. Meera says with her mischievous smile on her lips, “Well, I
remember doing a play with you once in school. I was the Shiva who had scorched
the Kamadeva. I guess you were the Kamadeva”. Recognition dawns at him and he exclaims,
“Oh my God, you have turned into a beautiful lady”.
The visitors leave their place and the whole
family is eating dinner now. Her mother signals her father to speak to Meera. She
notices that from the corner of her eyes. She had been dreading this
conversation. She looks at her Bhabhi for any signs, but she is busy feeding a
fussy eater Sonia. Her father speaks, “Beta, did you like the guy who visited
us today”? She turns to look at her father’s face, she hears a different
question this time. Earlier he used to ask, “The guy was good, today. What do
you think”? She narrows down her eyes at her father, her father continues, “The
choice will be yours anyways. But the guy has completed his Bachelor of Dental
Surgery and waiting for his post-graduation. He is still not earning properly”.
She thinks, “Aahhh, Bullseye”. She looks at her brother, her bother speaks, “I
also think, this guy is not good for you. But still the choice will be entirely
yours”. She rolls her eyes and thinks to
herself, “Yes, right big brother”. Her mother says, “We saw you were having a good
time talking to him. If you still want to go ahead, we have no problem”. “Mummy,
of course not. He had gone to the same school where I had studied so we were
remembering some old friends. I am sure whatever you decide would be good for
me. I am happy with your decision”. Everyone heaves a relieved sigh at the table and they continue
eating in a happy relieved mood. This time her sister-in-law narrows down her eyes
at her and Meera smiles and winks at her Bhabhi.
