This is not a love story; but it is a story about love.
When I was living and working in London I knew an Indian girl called Ayesha. She studied Polytechnique in the same university with me and was my batch mate. During the summer vacation she joined a group of students- some of them English, most were French, German, Indian and African who all were doing a group assignment in one of the raspberries farm.
Late one summer, on her return from the farm, she introduced me to Prachi, an Indian girl in her twenties who had come over England for a similar holiday.
"This is Prachi, my distant cousin. She came to London today and you have to look after her." said Ayesha.
"But I want to look after you." I protested. I had been infatuated with Ayesha for some time; but, though she was rather fond of me, she did not reciprocated my advances, and it was possible that she had conceived of Prachi as a device to get rid of me for a little while but I didn't knew that this approach would change my life completely.
"Please look after Prachi for a few days, Milind. She doesn't know anyone in London." said Ayesha, thrusting her hand in mine," Bye and don't get up to any mischief!"
Ayesha disappeared, and I was left alone with Prachi at the entrance to the Charing Cross Underground Station. She grinned at me, and I smiled back rather nervously. She had deep brown eyes and a smooth, tanned skin. She was small in front of a normal Indian girl, reaching only up to my shoulder, and her figure was slim with all the curves quit visible to my eyes. She was carrying a small travelling-bag. It gave me an excuse to do something.
"Hi I'm Milind Mishra……. Nice to meet you." I introduced myself.
"I'm Prachi Shah…. Good to see you." she responded with a bright smile on her face.
"We'd better leave your bag somewhere," I said taking it from her.
After depositing it in the left-luggage office, we were back on the pavement, grinning at each other.
"Well Prachi," I said. "How many days do you have in London?
"Only two. Then I go back to India."
"Good. Well, what would you like to do?"
"Eat. I'm hungry."
I wasn't hungry; but there's nothing like a meal to help two strangers grow acquainted. We went to a small but not very expensive Indian restaurant off Frizzy Square, and burnt our tongues on an orange-colored Hyderabad Chicken Curry with Chicken Fried Rice to go with it. We had to cool off with a glass of cold lime juice before we could talk.
"What do you do in India?" I asked.
"I go to college and I'm in my second year of B.Com."
"And your parents?"
"They are no more. I live with my Granny who owns a bookshop."
"Then you must have done a lot of reading."
"Oh! No, I don't read much. I can't sit in one place for long. I like swimming and tennis and going to the theatre."
"But you have to sit in theatre."
"Yes, but that's different."
"It's not sitting that you mind, but sitting and reading."
"Yes, you're right. But most of us there like reading – We read more books than English girls."
"You are probably right." I said.
As I was out of a job just then, and had time on my hands, we were able to feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square and while away the afternoon in a coffee-bar, before going on to a theatre. Prachi was wearing a tight jeans and an abbreviated duffle coat, as she had brought little else with her, she wore this outfit to the theatre. It created quite a stir in the foyer, but Prachi was completely unconscious of the stares she received. She enjoyed the play, laughed loudly in all the wrong places, and clapped her hands when no one else did.
The lunch and the theater had lightened my wallet, and dinner consisted of simple tangy pasta with garlic breads. After picking up Prachi's bag, I offered to take her back to Ayesha's place.
"Why there?" Prachi said. "Ayesha must have gone to bed."
"Yes, but aren't you staying with her?"
"Oh! No. She did not ask me."
"Then where are you staying? Where have you kept the rest of your things?"
"Nowhere. This is all I have brought with me," she said, indicating the travel-bag.
"Well, you can't sleep on a park bench," I said. "Shall I get you a room in a hotel?"
"I don't think so. I have only the money to return to India." She looked crestfallen for a few moments; then she brightened, and slipped her arm through mine.
"I know, I'll stay with you. Don't mind?"
"No, but my Landlady – "I began; then stopped; it would have been a lie. My Landlady, a generous, broad-minded soul, would not have minded in the least.
"All right," I said. "I don't mind".
When we reached my room which was a small cottage like with one bedroom, kitchen cum dining space and a small area which I call my Living room, Prachi threw off her coat and opened the window wide. It was a warm summer's night, and the scented honey suckle came through the open window. She kicked her shoes off, and walked about the room barefooted. Her toenails were painted a bright pink. She slipped out of her top and jeans, and stood before the mirror in her lace pants. Her whole body was whitish like she had just taken a bath in milk.
She slipped into the bed and said," Aren't you coming?"
I crept in beside her and lay very still, while she chattered on about the play and about her friends. I switched off the bed lamp and she fell silent. Then she said," Well I'm sleepy. Good night!" and turning over she immediately fell asleep.
I lay awake beside her, conscious of the growing warmth of her body. She was breathing easily and quietly. Her long black brown hair touched my cheek. I kissed her gently on the lobe of the ear, but she was fast asleep. So I counted eight hundred and sixty two Scandivian sheep, and managed to fall asleep.
Prachi woke fresh and frolicsome. The sun bathed in through the window, tingling her from her sleep and I busied myself with the breakfast. Prachi ate three eggs and a lot of bacon, and drank two cups of hot black coffee. I couldn't help admiring her appetite.
"And what shall we do today?" she asked, her dark eyes shining. They were the bright brown eyes of a Siamese kitten.
"I'm supposed to visit the Employment Exchange." I said.
"But that is bad. Can't you go tomorrow – after I have left?"
"If you like," I said.
"I like." And she gave me a swift, unsettling kiss on the lips.
We climbed Primrose Hill and watched the boys flying kits. We layed in the Sun and chewed blades of grass, and then we visited the Zoo, where Prachi fed the monkeys. She consumed innumerable Ices. We lunched at a small Greek restaurant, and I forgot to phone Ayesha, and in the evening we walked all the way home through scruffy Camden Tower, ate a fine dinner of fish and chips and went to bed early – Prachi had to catch the flight next morning.
"It has been a good- great day." she said.
"I'd like to do it again." I said cheerfully.
"But I must go tomorrow."
"But you must go."
She turned her head on the pillow and looked wonderingly into my eyes, as though she were searching for something. I don't know if she found what she was looking for; but she smiled, and kissed me softly on the lips.
"Thanks for everything." she said.
She was fresh and clean, like the Earth after spring rain. I took her finger and kissed them, one by one. I kissed her breasts, her throat, her forehead, and making her close her eyes, and I kissed her eyelids. Then there was no stop, as our passion grew through the night, we made a fierce love to each other as one could hear Prachi's whimper in the silence of the night.
We lay in each other's arm for a long time, relaxing and savoring the warmth and texture of each other's bodies. Though we both were very young and inexperienced, we found ourselves imbued with a tender pleasure, as though there lay before us not just this one passing night, but all the nights of a lifetime, all eternity. There was a great joy in our loving, and afterwards we fell asleep in each other's arm like two children who have been playing in the open all day.
The sun woke me next morning. I opened my eyes to see Prachi's slim, bare legs dangling over the side of the bed. I smiled at her painted toes. Her hair pressed against my face, and the sunshine fell on it, making each hair a strand of burnished gold.
The airport was too much crowded, and we held hands and grinned at each other, too shy to kiss.
"Give my love to Ayesha." she said.
"I will."
We made no promises- of writing, or of meeting again. Somehow our relationship seemed complete and whole, as though it had been destined to BLOSSOM for these two days. A courting and a marriage and a living together had been compressed, perfectly into one summer night………. But however destiny brought us together once again after two years during my visit to U.S.A. where Prachi was doing her Master's Degree……… and today we have been tied in a knot which will keep both of us together till eternity, the knot of marriage which we had once dreamt of was now fulfilled.
Bigg Boss 19
Parineeti
