Chapter Two
The Association of Indians in America was organizing a grand event to felicitate an Indian who had made an outstanding contribution to the society. Suman who had made it to the headlines as the youngest and fastest growing entrepreneur was chosen by this organization. It was a proud moment for her and her entire family. Whatever she had achieved in life, she had done it through her own merit. She had no godfather or godmother to guide her way. She sweated out for every bit of the sweet success she was tasting now.
True to her punctual ways and adherence to the rule book and etiquette, she was well ahead of her time for the function. She hated when she saw people promising to come at a particular time and never turn up or come very late. It just showed their attitude of taking you and your time for granted. She respected herself and her time and hated when anybody took them for granted. People always had excuses ready for everything including carelessness.
The event was supposed to begin in five minutes. But all she saw was the organizers rush this way and that as though they were doing something very important while in fact they were all trying to kill time in waiting for their Chief Guest. She was just trying to think why they were all getting so flustered and cutting this guy whoever he was so much slack. They had not given the name of the Chief Guest in the Invitation Card. They were actually not sure even if this big shot whoever he was would even turn up. So they had someone waiting as a backup if he failed to turn up.
It was well past two hours from the time the function was supposed to begin. Suman had asked the organizers the tenth time when the event would begin and they had duly apologized that they were waiting for the Chief Guest. The audience was also getting irritated by this time. Actually if they had begun on time, the event would have even been over. Suman told herself that she was going to count till ten and if the Chief Guest did not turn up before that, she was going to walk out.
Suman closed her eyes and began counting within her breath, "One, two, three...(She did not observe that the entire hall had gone silent while she was doing this.) Four, Five, Six, Seven...(Steps were heard ascending the steps of the podium. Several loud and crazy whispers, exclamations, words of admiration made their rounds among the entire audience.) Eight, Nine...(The speaker who was anchoring the entire event said, "Ladies and Gentlemen put your hands together for the person over whom the whole of India prides, Shravan Malhotra, the winner of the Euro-Asian Table Tennis Doubles, and our Chief Guest for today!"
This was the rudest shock Suman had had in a long while. Everything was still so vivid in her memory as though it just happened yesterday. He was the last person she was expecting to see here, and much less as the person who was going to felicitate her this evening for her contribution to the society. Her throat evaporated for a moment and she broke out into a cold sweat. She said within herself, "So you had to come even here and spoil even this evening for me. After everything that happened between both of us, the least you could have done for the sake of my peace of mind is to have kept yourself out of my way. You could have spared me the happiness of at least this evening. But you're still the same. THOUGHTLESS AND SELF-CENTRED!"
Suman's mind went back to the time when they last parted. Both of them were having a big argument.
Suman: Shravan, please be practical and think of things from my point of view. This is a once in a life-time opportunity for me. I have always dreamt of completing the second year of my postgraduate course in Management in America. My flight is at ten, tomorrow morning. (A bit shyly and hesitantly)Will you come to see me off?
Shravan: You don't need my permission to do anything, do you? I'm not coming. You carry on!
Suman: I am just asking you to be happy in my happiness. And America is not so far off. We can still keep in touch.
Shravan: Oh, I know what you mean! Purna, the very reason why I cultivated your friendship is no more between us. You too can leave now if you want. I am least bothered!
Suman (By now in tears which she could not hold back): Shravan, I know that you liked Purna and that Purna was my best friend. But you are my friend as well. What can I do if Purna was not interested in you and wanted someone else in her life? I did my best to speak to her about you but...
Shravan: It's my mistake, is it? Who would even be interested in wasting his time over a nerdy, unpopular, boring, insipid, and dry bookworm like you? But I did! Remember you had no friends in college except me and Purna. I thought that if a college beauty like Purna found something in you to call you her best friend, there must be something in you. But you are as worth not knowing or being friends with as that stupid bimbo Purna, your so-called friend, who is all face and no soul.
Suman: Whatever be the grounds on which our friendship began or whoever the people, who catalyzed it, I still feel that what we shared with each other was so true and real. Shravan, I was always with you in your everything. I trusted you when even you were not ready to believe in yourself or your dreams. Can't you be with me in this alone? Can't you support this dream of mine by letting me go, without any of this unpleasantness, in a positive frame of mind?
Shravan: Thank you but no thanks for all this condescension! Get lost from my life!
Suman: Shravan, I know that you are angry this moment because I'm going away from...
Shravan: What a joke! Shravan Malhotra missing somebody as insignificant as you...You really delude yourself a lot. Ha! Ha! Ha!
Suman closed her ears to protect herself from the derisive laughter which threatened to batter her self-respect and self-esteem to tatters. She stumbled back from that place turning her back on what had been the broken pieces of a once beautiful friendship.
Shravan broke down sobbing after she left, "When Purna left, I felt a bit sad. But now when I see you going away from me, I feel as though something within me died!"
Her mother, father, Purna, her relatives, classmates, and even distant acquaintances had come to send her off. In this whole crowd of faces, there was just one that was missing, the person whom she longed to see the most before going away from India. She kept expecting against hope that he would at least come to send her off. But she was mistaken. Soon her flight took off and her tears dried up leaving a broken and empty shell within her. She never returned or turned back to see what she had left behind her after that. It all seemed worthless now.
well i think nailin a piece of writing on shraman has becum ur forte so i m nt gonna praise it bt its quite intrguing n i m lukin forward 2 see hw it unfolds further👏👏
Chapter Three
Shravan could barely resist himself from turning and stealing glances at Sumo every now and then. His smiles and chuckles just refused to stop even though he knew that all this would be extremely odd behavior for a player of his stature. But he never played according to the rules of what was socially acceptable in his entire life. He always wore his heart on his sleeve just as he was doing the same now.
When they parted ways that day, he never expected that he would meet his old and dearest friend like this. Destiny was really something. Everything that goes round really comes back. To say that he was elated was to say the least, but still he dreaded Sumo's reaction to this accidental meeting. Would she think that he had schemed for all this? Even if she did, based on their past experiences, she would not be wrong. He always manipulated her soft and emotional nature and took her out for a ride.
There was a sea change in what she was in college and what she was now. She was dressed to kill in the grey and maroon outfit she was wearing for the event. The big and atrocious glasses she wore in college days were conspicuous by their absence as was the long braid of hair. Her hair was straightened and styled according to the latest trend.
He could as well click his tongue in admiration of her appearance. She had always been the most beautiful and wonderful person he had met in the inside. But now even her external appearance matched her inner beauty. Or was she always as beautiful inside and outside and he never took the time or effort to notice it?
The anchor of the show said, "It's a really wonderful evening for all those who have assembled here to meet two such people who have made such enormous contribution to our society. And the most interesting fact which we got to know just now is that both our Chief Guest for today, Shravan Malhotra and the person whom we are felicitating today, Suman Tiwari happen to be classmates and studied together. May I invite our Chief Guest for the day to address the gathering."
Shravan spoke,
"Thank you. I really must say that it was a pleasant surprise for me to see Sumo ...I mean Suman here after all these years...But if there is one person who deserves every bit of success that is coming her way, it is Suman. Both of us are not just classmates. We used to be BFFs at college. Both of us are such opposites but we hit it off together right from the beginning. If I begin talking something on Sumo...I mean Suman, I could just go on and on. She is so special to me. All of you must be knowing that I'm the only scion of Ramnath Malhotra's The Malhotra Group of Industries.
But none of you would have known how wayward and spendthrift I used to be during my college days. Papa who was scared on what would become of me if I went on wasting his hard earned money took some drastic measures to correct me. I was bundled off to my management school with all the annual college fees and hostel fees paid up for the year and a monthly allowance of twenty thousand for my other expenses.
This was hardly going to be enough for somebody who spent a bomb every month. I blew up the entire amount in the first day itself throwing a lavish party for all my classmates at a star hotel. Among all my classmates, Sumo...I mean Suman was the only one who refused to let me pay for her part of the bill. She paid up for her part of the bill while the rest were happy enough to eat, drink and make merry at my expense.
Can you imagine after this entire episode, my whole allowance for the month was over? Papa refused to enhance my allowance or at least pay up for my expenses for the rest of the month. Sumo saved the day for me. I was literally starving at this time because our hostel food was atrocious and I didn't have the money to buy food from the college canteen which was comparatively good as I blew up the entire amount the first day itself. Sumo...I mean Suman used to share her box with me and even got me a temporary part-time job in the convent school where her mother was the headmistress as a Table Tennis instructor and Sports Teacher.
Papa was very rich but none of it was mine. He was not willing to spend even a single penny on what he called my useless hobby'. He wanted me to join his business after completing my management school course. But it was Sumo who convinced him to give just three years of my life to let me do what I wanted with it. If I succeeded in it, Papa had to let me do what I wanted the rest of my life as well. If I failed in my attempt, then I would listen to whatever Papa's plans for me were.
Whatever I wanted for my dream, I had to earn it on my own merit without any moral or financial support from him. Papa perhaps assumed that I would crumble without him to support me. But Sumo never allowed me to. I don't think even uncle and aunty, I mean Suman's parents would have known that the she gave the money from the fixed deposit they were saving up for her marriage to me so that I could go to London for a very important workshop and training program on Table Tennis. That was a very crucial point as far as my sporting career was concerned. It was our special secret."
Suman began shifting very uneasily in her seat. Why was he telling all that before this huge audience and all this press? Why was he giving all of them unwanted ideas? Tomorrow's paper was going to be full of gossip of all sorts just because Shravan could not choose the words he was speaking in a public gathering. All this when there was nothing between them now. He had not changed even the slightest bit in all these years. She still remembered how he used to manipulate her emotional side when that suited him, took her for granted when that suited him, and ignored her when that suited him on yet other occasions.
She was sitting in the ground under the big banyan tree in their campus for her lunch. It was her favorite place in the entire college. Her mother had made halwa puri', her favorite, for her lunch box. Just when she was about to dig into it, she saw him drinking a big bottle of water and staring hungrily at her box. When she raised her eyebrows to ask what it was, Shravan explained the dire straits he was in and how he was literally starving.
Though she was definitely feeling sorry for him, she also felt that he deserved whatever was coming his way. Just imagine blowing up twenty thousand rupees in a single day. An ordinary middle class family of three would get on very well the whole month with this amount. She asked him, "If you Papa is not willing to give you more money, you could ask your mom's help for this month alone, couldn't you? Mommies always have their own savings and resources. Whatever be the mistakes of their children, they will always forgive them and bail them out of trouble."
Shravan said, "My mom died when I was too young to even remember how she looked. Not everybody is as lucky as you are to have a mummy who sends delicious halwa puri' in the lunch box." Suman was immediately feeling very sorry for Shravan. She held up her lunch box before him and said, "Yeh mera tera kuch nahin hota. Ma toh Ma hoti hai! Kaa lo meri halwa puri' agar tumhe itna pasand hai toh." He ravenously devoured the whole box without leaving even a single bit for her. Suman looked a bit disappointed at the empty lunch box and asked, "Mere liye kuch bhi nahin choda?"
Shravan apologized, "Sorry yaar! Bahuth tasty tha aur main bhuk seh mar raha tha!"
Suman replied, "Koi bath nahin! Main kal seh lunch box main zyada lavungi toh hum donon ke liye kafi hoga! (Before leaving from there) Aur ek bath, aur kabhi math kehna ki tumhari Ma nahin hai isliye tumhari parva koi nahin karta. Aaj seh tumhari ek dost hai jo tumhari parva hamesha karegi!"
As she left from that place, Shravan broke out laughing, "What an emotional fool! Tumhari Ma nahin hai toh kya...Ha! Ha! Ha!" Though at one corner, he was laughing at the apparent stupidity of this girl, at another corner he was touched by the care and concern she showed him. If this was the way a mother cared for her child, then he had truly missed something very valuable in his life with his mother's death.
Suman kept up a stony and stoic presence during the whole event even while Shravan was mindlessly going Ga-Ga over their past. She received the felicitation and spoke whatever was expected of her while receiving the award. The whole ordeal was over and when she thought that she was done with everything, a new problem arose. She had a flat tyre and was requesting the organizers for some alternative arrangement to drop her at her flat when Shravan barged in telling, "You guys can carry on. Suman is my responsibility. We're meeting each other after a long time and there's a lot that both of us have to catch up."
Suman did not want to wash her dirty linen in public nor create a scene. So she went along with Shravan's plan and sat down in his car beside him. His whole heart was fluttering like anything. There was a lot he wanted to say and share with her. She was seated so close to him. He could even hear her heart beat. She was looking like an angel today. Of course, she had always been his guardian angel. Only he couldn't see or realize it in time.
When they used to study together, he always used to mistake what they had for each other as friendship. But the wait of these two long years had made him realize that what they shared with each other went beyond the bounds of friendship. It was something magical and soul-stirring. Despite the fact that they had never been in touch these two years, she or her memories never left him. Though his mind told him that there could never be anything between them after the unpleasant terms on which they parted, his heart told him a different story. How do you move on or forget a person who has never left you for even a single mille second?
His imagination was literally going crazy on how this long drive with her was going to be as he put his feet on the accelerator and drove off. His dirty mind was definitely rooting for at least a small stolen kiss. This would actually be their first kiss because he had been such an asshole during his college days that he never realized what his true feelings for her were when she was right in front of him. He told to himself, "Sumo, I badly want you in my life. I have literally been starving without your care, attention...and LOVE these two years. I will not let you go away from me now!"
Hi, everyone! Thank you for responding and encouraging me to write this one. I will not be able to send PMs. Sorry. Please keep checking this thread to find if there are any new updates.
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