For Subhadra // reallyeclecticdreamer
“Gimme a call as soon as u c dis. I luv u. Abhi”
Her phone pinged, for the millionth time in the day, and maybe for the zillionth time in four days. A disgruntled Uttara, eyed the bleeping phone on her study table, took it in her hands, pored over the message, and mercilessly deleted it.
This had been the trope of her life for the past four days, ever since she had known that her boyfriend was, dying to go to Delhi for his post term internship. He had probably sent a million applications to all the firm therein, and had received a thousand interview calls, because of which he had to leave in a week, for an indefinite period. All of this was, okay, till, the fact, that he had not bothered to tell her about his plans, which would have caused her to plan her course of action accordingly, and, secondly, a certain Vatsala was accompanying him to Delhi, and that too, without her knowledge. Abhimanyu’s contention was that, she was to come with him because she had similar plans, and, his parents thought that it would be better if the two of them went together, since, company was better when one travelled without one’s parents. Contention number two, was that, he had thought of telling everything to her, only, he didn’t think that it was as important, as she deemed it to be, because, people kept shifting base, for various purposes. And, contention number three, was, “I’d have told you, baby, sooner or later!”
But, all those contentions were futile, to say the least, when Uttara’s mother had casually mentioned it to her, while she had been speaking about her latest charity event with Abhimanyu’s mother, Subhadra. For Sudeshna, Abhimanyu taking his career seriously, at the tender age of nineteen was a sign of utterly responsible behaviour, reflecting a sensibility that youngsters lacked, these days.
The phone, rang, again. It was strange how Abhimanyu’s calls, seemed to be crying, even when the ringtone was similar for all calls. Tired, Uttara, took a deep breath of exasperation, before sliding on the green icon on her iPhone.
“What is it?!” she boomed.
“Uttara!” came a voice, relieved that she had finally taken the call, “I’m so sorry, love!”
Uttara, clenched her teeth at this repetitive apology, and profanely, screeched back, “Ho gaya, tumhaara?! Ab phone rakhkho!”
She was about to disconnect the line, when Abhimanyu spoke again.
“Abhi, please! Stop disturbing me! I’ll speak to you when I’m in control!”
“UTTARA!” came a pleading cry, causing a dent in the exact place it needed to.
“Okay!” she huffed, “Meet me at Coffee House, at six!” she demanded.
“TEN TO SIX, baby! TEN to SIX! I PROMISE!” Abhimanyu jumped, only to be retorted by a particular beeping that, she had disconnected the line.
As agreed, mutually, Uttara was punctually present at six, in the evening in the much famed Coffee House, the erstwhile hangout for the likes of Manna Dey, Satyajit Ray, Jagadish Chandra Bose, etc, and the eternal hangout for college students, lovey-dovey couples, estranged couples, creepy couples, and every kind of couple existent in the universe. She was right there, while Abhimanyu, as always, was the impunctual, absentee, boyfriend. Uttara, cast an angry glance at her wristwatch, while sipping her coffee.
6:02, What on earth was I thinking?!, she angrily shook her head.
Uttara angrily banged the table, sending the nearby Siamese couple (Couples that are permanently joined to each other by the waist, and are disjoined only when they return to their respective homes, from college), into a flutter. She didn’t even care for the raised eyebrows of the coffee-drinkers, when she lashed herself out of her corner, to leave, when-
“UTTARA!” came her boyfriend, panting. It was evident that he had run the entire length from the Mahatma Gandhi Metro station to Coffee House.
“You pushed your luck too hard, Mr. Kuruvanshi!” she said, unusually calm, like the calm preceding a thunder. Of course, he was looking at an impending thunder, where he would be ditched, in front of a whole crowd of college-goers, some of whom, might just be his classmates.
“I’M SO SO SO SORRY! But the metro lines were terminated for a while because someone committed suicide on the tracks. Trains, were all stopped for fifteen minutes-”
“And, you might just consider, another companion, Abhimanyu.” came the interruption.
“UTTARA! Please!” he pleaded, “I didn’t want to be late! I’m not late on purpose!”
Uttara, jerked her head at him, in response. She had sensed the quiver in his voice. To tell the truth, a part of her had forgiven him, when he had called, earlier today, but the affections of girlhood, always have a craving for attention. And, ever since their fight, four days ago, she had been the object of Abhimanyu’s undivided attention. And, she seemed to be enjoying every moment of that, just for the thrill of it. As it was, she was the queen bee of her college, for the coolest guy therein was her boyfriend, and that boyfriend was madly in love with her. She wasn't really against the idea of him moving to Delhi, but, the idea of him moving to Delhi, without seeing her, or discussing anything about their future, was devastating for her. They did have a lot of plans, for themselves, and their future together, since, they knew one thing for sure, that their relationship, was not just a mere fling, where, people saw each other for a while, and then parted like nothing ever existed. They knew, they wanted, a future together, where they would be together raising a family. Only, they needed to time things over a period of years, and that was why, Delhi, undiscussed was a bad idea, for her. But, for him, it was just one thing amongst many others, that didn't deserve the consideration Uttara was giving it, and that is where the friction started.
“We need to talk!” this time it was Abhimanyu who had turned fierce, as he seized her by her hand to pull her out of the Coffee House, to take her to the College Square park.
They sat in silence, for a very long time, with the moist breeze of the swimming pool, fanning their urge to talk to each other. Uttara, couldn’t really throw her tantrums here, because, that would mean, creating a scene before, an even larger, and diverse crowd of couples, who frequented the park.
“What did you want to say?” she innocuously asked.
“That you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.” Abhimanyu calmly said.
Uttara fumbled. She couldn't deny that she wasn’t. Yet, girlhood refused to be demeaned, making fumble hard for a counter-argument.
“I wouldn't be doing that, had we spoken about it in the first place!”
“Well, we can speak about it now.” he said. “What do you want to speak about?”
Uttara pursed her lips, together, fidgeting with her words. Her raucousness had caused enough damage for the time being.
“Abhi, I want to have everything planned, for us. But, somehow, you don’t seem to take things seriously.”
“I mean to take things in the way they come to us. You know, I plan as life goes. Preponderance, is not my cup of tea.”
“But, life, in the long term, doesn’t work that way, Abhi! Ma and Baba, are already posing questions about how we intend to put things together, once, we graduate. And, with the announcement of the couture exhibition coming in, with the news of your departure to Delhi, I’m all the more tensed.” she told him.
Of course, that exhibition meant a lot to her. If she qualified, she would have a headway to her career in fashion designing. Abhimanyu had been so engrossed in his pursuit that he had completely ignored this.
“I understand, Uttara,-” he said, “-Don’t you worry, baby girl! You’ll rock!”
God, she is tensed too!, he thought, when she didn’t reply. No wonder why she was having this fit!, he slapped his forehead.
He slid from the bench to come down on one knee, in front of her.
“I don’t know.” she said, “Too many things crammed into a very small space in time.” she almost sobbed, “And, you know, I’m claustrophobic!”
“Oh!” Abhimanyu pulled her into a cuddle, “Come here, baby girl!” he lovingly stroked her back, as he comforted her, “I’m right here, love! Right here for you!”
The best things about couple hangouts was, No one really cared what another couple was doing, in public, since, they were too busy with their own ministrations.
“I love you, Abhi.” she cooed.
“I love you too, Uttara.” he cooed back.
“By the way,-” she said, as if something dawned on her, -”Who The hell is this Vatsala? And, why is she travelling with you?”
Abhimanyu interrogatively wrinkled his eyebrows.
Women!, he wondered. And their penchant for detail!, he puffed to himself with an amused smile.
“Oh!” he said, “Didn’t you know, I was planning to flee the city with her?”
“Abhi!” Uttara, hit him hard on his chest, with her fist.
“Arrey baba!” Abhimanyu held her hand, “She is Shankarshan Mamoo’s daughter! She is my cousin!”
Uttara, smilingly sobbed again, while impulsively tightening herself around him.
He was her forever. They didn’t need a plan for themselves. All they needed was, faith, and friendship, and everything else would fall into place accordingly.
Faith, was all they needed.
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