It was a cloudy morning in Ludhiana when we woke up, it looked like it would drizzle and yet it just stayed the way it was, gloomy and dark. Anjali quickly walked down to the kitchen and we were on the first floor bedrooms, Anjali had taken the one with the attached bath and I the largish one with a TV "damn I loved this house," it was built out of rock and had Shweta had insisted on it having 5 bedrooms with largish balconies on either side. Arun had complied and built her a mini mansion, both balconies overlooked a garden and when Anjali came back with two cups of tea, we sat on the cane chairs and chatted, Shweta had taken a liking to Anjali, "and vice-versa I was sure by the look on Anjali's face," and now I was sure that we would resolve what we had come here for. Tea was good, it was one of those Assamese Classics that held the flavour of things to be and yet when it rolled on the tongue I felt heavenly. Downstairs the garden was being tended by the gardener, the chauffeur had arrived and Shweta was talking on the mobile while walking in the garden.
Shweta was from a middle class family and well educated from one of the premier institutes in India, she was short and petite, "that was the word that came to my mind," filled with energy, verve and lot of fun filled thoughts. When I had met her for the first time, she had been working for a large American Financial Conglomerate in New Delhi as a financial consultant. Sharp brained and quick witted, she was as direct and forthright as they come, honest in her opinions and true to her friends. I did mention to her in my first meeting with her that her personality resembled Jessica Lange, "damn, not that I knew Jessica Lange on a personal basis," but Shweta did not believe in a particular religion, she on the other hand was a disciplined individual believing in the atheist way of life, she had admitted last evening that she got confused occasionally where religion was concerned. Her family today included a young daughter and her husband, to her family she was strong willed though her husband would insist on her being a scatter brain, I believed even after 10 years Arun did not know her.
"Isn't she pretty ?" I asked Anjali as Shweta walked on to our balcony and took a chair.
She blushed and sighed nonchalantly, "The gardener tells me that the roses wouldn't last a hard rain, so I was kind of evolving a scheme to get them covered. It looks like it will rain pretty heavy."
"Yeah the clouds are moving in from Kashmir and they are moving in slowly which by the looks of it is a lot of rain. If they move in fast then they go out fast too."
Anjali looked up and the eagles were moving down as if to indicate that it was pretty heavy up there. Shweta was twiddling on her mobile nervously looking at me as if she was about to tell us something. Arun was still asleep, "He is a late riser," she said.
Shweta wanted to hear more from me and Anjali egged me on to speak about my life. Now it was my turn to sigh and Shweta asked me more about her husband, " How was he when you met him ?"
My mind had undergone a tremendous upheaval of sorts, I was in turn the Devil and God himself, my friends would ask me insistently what had been a life changing event for me and I would say the day I landed up in a hospital not knowing why I was there. I had been to a party and got drunk and the next day when I got up I was in a hospital, not knowing why or who had got me here. I was under treatment and observation, the doctors and nurses treated me like a friend not knowing who I was. When they asked me my name, I recalled it correctly but I didn't know anything more than that. The Devil inside was gone but I still had a vague sense of its presence, for instance this visit to Ludhiana, I could sense that this alter ego had also been there a long time back, it had left its traces, the thoughts and its presence left me pondering.
My alter ego was a go getter and at all costs a winner, but in the process of winning he would get hurt, burying the hurt behind a mask and moving on to the next project. Prolonged periods of suppressed anguish would cut him up into half in a periodic recurring cycles, it was no surprise that he had no friends, maybe because it was because of his intelligence or maybe his intelligence was due to the "no friends" phenomenon. Asked about Shweta's predicament he would come out with a well thought strategy which no doubt would give Shweta the peace of mind that she wanted and the freedom of choice but in the long run her mind would go asunder with doubts.
"Arun was never a heavy drinker, though those days on a Christmas or New Year party he was prone to party heavily. Fact is, it does get very cold during that part of the season and with the festivities in the air it was easy to lose yourself in alcohol. He would be depressed about the most mundane of things and prone to be aggressive and even lose his cool. He disguised his anguish well around a well strung out laughter which still rings in my ears from those days."
"I am prone to believe that there isn't anything in this world that cannot change and he must have too over the years hurting you, Shweta, in the process."
We had finished our cups of teas and all in sombre mood walked to the dining room for a quick breakfast. Shweta was already looking sprightly and happy, it was a pleasure to know that our appearance at her home could alter the mood of the household so drastically.
Its The Worldly Game, the Good and the Bad.
Shweta was from a middle class family and well educated from one of the premier institutes in India, she was short and petite, "that was the word that came to my mind," filled with energy, verve and lot of fun filled thoughts. When I had met her for the first time, she had been working for a large American Financial Conglomerate in New Delhi as a financial consultant. Sharp brained and quick witted, she was as direct and forthright as they come, honest in her opinions and true to her friends. I did mention to her in my first meeting with her that her personality resembled Jessica Lange, "damn, not that I knew Jessica Lange on a personal basis," but Shweta did not believe in a particular religion, she on the other hand was a disciplined individual believing in the atheist way of life, she had admitted last evening that she got confused occasionally where religion was concerned. Her family today included a young daughter and her husband, to her family she was strong willed though her husband would insist on her being a scatter brain, I believed even after 10 years Arun did not know her.
"Isn't she pretty ?" I asked Anjali as Shweta walked on to our balcony and took a chair.
She blushed and sighed nonchalantly, "The gardener tells me that the roses wouldn't last a hard rain, so I was kind of evolving a scheme to get them covered. It looks like it will rain pretty heavy."
"Yeah the clouds are moving in from Kashmir and they are moving in slowly which by the looks of it is a lot of rain. If they move in fast then they go out fast too."
Anjali looked up and the eagles were moving down as if to indicate that it was pretty heavy up there. Shweta was twiddling on her mobile nervously looking at me as if she was about to tell us something. Arun was still asleep, "He is a late riser," she said.
Shweta wanted to hear more from me and Anjali egged me on to speak about my life. Now it was my turn to sigh and Shweta asked me more about her husband, " How was he when you met him ?"
My mind had undergone a tremendous upheaval of sorts, I was in turn the Devil and God himself, my friends would ask me insistently what had been a life changing event for me and I would say the day I landed up in a hospital not knowing why I was there. I had been to a party and got drunk and the next day when I got up I was in a hospital, not knowing why or who had got me here. I was under treatment and observation, the doctors and nurses treated me like a friend not knowing who I was. When they asked me my name, I recalled it correctly but I didn't know anything more than that. The Devil inside was gone but I still had a vague sense of its presence, for instance this visit to Ludhiana, I could sense that this alter ego had also been there a long time back, it had left its traces, the thoughts and its presence left me pondering.
My alter ego was a go getter and at all costs a winner, but in the process of winning he would get hurt, burying the hurt behind a mask and moving on to the next project. Prolonged periods of suppressed anguish would cut him up into half in a periodic recurring cycles, it was no surprise that he had no friends, maybe because it was because of his intelligence or maybe his intelligence was due to the "no friends" phenomenon. Asked about Shweta's predicament he would come out with a well thought strategy which no doubt would give Shweta the peace of mind that she wanted and the freedom of choice but in the long run her mind would go asunder with doubts.
"Arun was never a heavy drinker, though those days on a Christmas or New Year party he was prone to party heavily. Fact is, it does get very cold during that part of the season and with the festivities in the air it was easy to lose yourself in alcohol. He would be depressed about the most mundane of things and prone to be aggressive and even lose his cool. He disguised his anguish well around a well strung out laughter which still rings in my ears from those days."
"I am prone to believe that there isn't anything in this world that cannot change and he must have too over the years hurting you, Shweta, in the process."
We had finished our cups of teas and all in sombre mood walked to the dining room for a quick breakfast. Shweta was already looking sprightly and happy, it was a pleasure to know that our appearance at her home could alter the mood of the household so drastically.
Its The Worldly Game, the Good and the Bad.
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