Hey guys,
Another story!!! It is a story in the truest sense and is quite short!!!I wanted to write something experimental, atleast for me it is something different?I hope you will appreciate it!!!! I am open to criticism? as always?here it goes?
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15 Afternoons? ?
Bani kept staring at that yellow half-moon, late-risen, and swollen as if with
tears, there in the transparent mist of the black night the yellow half-moon enlarged, sagging down, drooping, almost touching the face of the sea ? ?surrounded by the cloud of imperviousness she lay on her bed sideways?facing towards the transparent window pane?she could hear the faint noise of the television?the most obsequious person in her life, her husband was watching the cricket match? ?something which he loved to do almost everyday?only if there was an ongoing match?she heaved a deep regretful sigh?switching off the bed lamp?she tried to sleep covering her ears with the pillow? ?something which didn?t help but she still did? ?
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Bani browsed through the various consumables as she kept pushing the trolley?her mind wavering with thoughts of her childless arranged marriage of 6 years? she couldn?t conceive naturally and each day passing without a glimmer of her pregnancy hurt her terribly?her husband who?s mind was preoccupied with the facts and figures of the stock exchange rather than her?he offered security and stability?but Love?was a big question mark?they did enjoy the thrills of the newly married life?holding hands?walks in the rain?but now they shuddered under the dripping canvas with cups of gritty coffee and had nothing to talk about?they were just staying in one house?but lived their lives separately? ?she was now very much accustomed to his long silences, mute head nods, and obvious ignorance?she wondered Why they were still together???? What prevented either of them to throw around that dangerous ?D? word?she tried to analyze probably habituation and familiarity had led them to tolerate each other?they were safe in their own comfort zones? ?pushing away those thoughts of her smug future she headed out of the departmental store paying the bills?carrying the heavy plastic covers? ?
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Jai Walia?looked of the glass door?the meeting had just finished and everybody had gone for lunch?he didn?t feel like eating?he wondered what life had become?How his much wanted marriage had become sour and unwanted over a gradual time elapse?the sweet sober woman he had liked had transformed into a socialite who never got tired of attending those futile kitty parties and page3 cocktails? being Mrs. Walia had its perks?this sudden change of character in his wife was surely a matter of surprise to him?he missed a loveable presence in his life?and her stubbornness to not become a mother as of now, didn?t help much?he wanted somebody?to love?who would love him in return?anybody?he closed his eyes?the autumn weather was very favorable?without the scratchy hot sun?he decide to go down?just for a brisk walk to clear his head?it was too preoccupied by the last week?s bitter arguments and show down with his wife?he felt a bit nice being away from her?he was in Mumbai for 2 weeks long scheduled work? ?it was just about 3-4 day?s work but he extended it deliberately?
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Jai kept walking lost in deep thoughts?when a distant lady struggling with her grocery bags?caught his attention?she looked extremely familiar?he moved forward to have a close look of her?she was very familiar?he thought hard?finally he was able to recall?she was none other than Bani? ?he approached her?
?Bani?Bani Dixit?? jai said?standing near her?Bani turned around surprised at being called on the footpath by a stranger?she turned around to find a known face?she looked at him for a second trying to recollect his face? ?
?Jai Walia?? she said hesitantly? ?
?The very same?? he smiled?which was returned by her similar smile?
?How?have you been?? she said?
?Very well?how about we talk over lunch?? he suddenly felt hungry?
?Sure??
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She was his first and foolish love or rather crush?hers as well?they were together in college? and were very good friends?their friendship slowly had culminated into an affair?not surprisingly enough?they had been very close?but they knew that their relationship had no future?the reasons attributed to their different culture, background, social status, and many more? ?but they were together still because of their mutual liking? ?
In the half-light of the morning he lay awake waiting for her quiet, almost silent feet to come down the hallway into his rented small room? her scent, a curious mixture of honey and peach to part the thick air outside his room filled with the lonely smells of young men and women living away from home? She would pause outside his door for a moment to put on her slippers before climbing the two steps down into the kitchen, and his foolish imagination would swell with the shadowy silhouette of her lingering by his door, a phantom more real than anything he could have seen with his open eyes? Every morning, every morning, he waited like that, for the circles of azure and gold and auburn to gather like clouds inside his closed eyelids as he felt her steps down the hallway over his body, and for the clouds to burst suddenly and reveal her large and limpid eyes framed with demure lashes, the ghost of a smile on her bud-like lips? Stretching out his arms toward the naked light bulb, his eyes still closed, he would cry out, muted by his blanket?and she used to stubbornly wake him up yelling that they were getting late to college? ?
Those youthful serenades were never to come back?they were gone and over? they had lost their innocent sensibility living in this mechanical society?running in the never-ending rat-race?amassing wealth and what not?but loosing the encompassing feeling of love and togetherness? ?wish time was still?but Alas!! It wasn?t? ?
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That one afternoon lunch paved way to many meetings in his personal suit where they talked while relishing the delicious cuisine?and he made it a point to keep himself free for the afternoons?he hardly had much work?they parted every afternoon with a promise to meet the very next day? ?they had certainly changed?the freshness of their youth had withered away which was now replaced by the weariness of middle-age?they were not quite impressed by their respective semi-wrinkled unglowing faces? ?but somehow they connected again? ?they could read the other persons? sad smiles?vacant eyes?and pretence? ?unable to handle anymore they poured their hearts to each other?trying to find solace in each other? ?they finally vented out their frustrations and inhibitions?the bottle up emotions which were turning poisonous had finally sublimed? ?
It was one such afternoon?when her lilac scent was in the air? ? his calloused hands advanced to touch her?she didn?t resent?he neared her?she didn?t move?he kissed her?she kissed him back? ?they equally trembled with tenderness and desire for each other at a mere imagined brush of their hands? ?
And the afternoons following? were spent in each others? blissful bare arms?lying under the cotton sheets of the soft bed?in the curtained?lightless? air conditioned room? ?
The known certainty of their brief affair?drove their respective guilts away? ?it had started to end? ?they were very well aware of it? ?
But they were enslaved by their weak directionless emotions? they didn?t gain anything by their adulterine act?but they certainly didn?t loose anything?it was like an obsessive need for either of them?which if not fulfilled would make them insane?a need which aroused out of extreme suppressed wants, desires and the countless compromises they had to make to survive?they wanted to live?even if it was for a minute second?and they had lived? ?whole-heartedly? ?forgetting everything else? ?
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He was set to leave?their meetings finally came to an emotionless end? ?he left?she did the same? ?carrying the memories of those 15 Afternoons along with them? the unexpected, sudden love imprinted in their hearts? ? the images fever etched in their minds that would last a lifetime? ? safeguarding the moments of the 15 Afternoons like a poem heard deep, deep inside their ears? ?
Jai entered his lonely, empty house?sighing he went up to his room? ?he undressed himself to take a shower?he felt her presence?her smell lingered with him? ?
Bani morbidly waited for her husband to come home for dinner? ?she cautiously ignored the guilt pangs of betraying him? ?she could still feel the warmth of his embrace?his touch remained with her? ? she eagerly waited for her husband?s arrival unlike she ever did?she was desperate to talk to him about the fertility treatment? ?probably there was flicker of hope left? ?
The sand dunes of the ever-lapsing time took away with it the secret rendezvous of their 15 Afternoons? ?
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The End? ?
God bless
Dhani
P.S.: I know it was a bit different, please don?t throw joothas and chappals at me!!! 😃😊
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