Yes, I know that it's Saturday, not Friday. However, with the server down all day yesterday I have been left at the mercy of the internet. So, just a day late, here's this week's Friday Feature.
by Himanshu Saxena
He was a perfect hunk – big height, iron biceps, boulder chest, long hair, not to mention a national guitar contest winner, topper of his class in engineering, and finally a job holder in the most glamorous consulting firm in the world. Meet Raj Bhaskar, a name that stands for everything that a guy always wanted to become, increases heartbeats and stops everything around. Raj Bhaskar had seen victory in every sphere possible, and there is perhaps nothing else he could have wanted.
But not the same for his parents. Being the parents of Raj Bhaskar has an added challenge – how to get him married. Boys like him simply don’t marry – and unless he marries he cannot be responsible for his life and his family’s.
So came the inevitable.
Dinner table fight ending in near fisticuff, and the final verdict – Raj Bhaskar should get a girl by the end of the year of his parents would get one for him. And if neither happens, then all the property including hundreds of acres of land, a condo near Marine Drive, a chain of 13 hotels and a horse stable will go to a variety of charities that Raj Bhaskar couldn’t even count.
Raj Bhaskar didn’t like it the least. He calculated how long would it take for him to earn as much as his father….assuming that his career goes the fastest in his deluxe consulting firm…and it came around 40 years. Calculating for inflation and real estate price rise, it came to around 85 years. Not a good thought. A really bad thought indeed.
Moral of the story- Raj decided to get married.
Raj woke up. Bad nightmare. But still, he needs to get married. To a girl like her mother. Soft. Tender. Caring. Helping. Not asking too much. Trusting. Taking care of kids. Cooking good food. Yes, he knows just the girl he needs to marry. Where can he find one?
Ananya had just finished her cooking class. She was a childhood friend and was preparing for her MBA entrance examinations, and Raj was the best person to help her in Maths. Raj really hated wasting time teaching her, but slowly he started liking it. Ananya was perhaps the girl he always wanted as a wife. All she wanted was to be around Raj – to love him, take care of him and do anything to ensure that Raj stays happy. And happy he was, in his wonderful married life.
Their life progressed as all marriages do, except that there were no kids and Raj was getting increasingly career oriented. He slowly started avoiding Ananya, who had almost entirely left every other activity except taking care of Raj. Ravi, Raj’s closest friend, spoke to Raj once talking about how it would be great to take a break and spend some time with Ananya. But Raj was about to get a top notch project in the US and executing it efficiently would imply that he becomes a partner – something that he really wanted.
And his closest aide in the entire consulting project was Lisa – an ambitionate Harvard graduate whom he had met just recently. Lisa was a girl every man loves to hate, and secretly hates to love. Stunningly gorgeous- beautiful eyes with a stunning figure, extremely smart and sharp – something that could slice your arguments and your heart into pieces, and at times cunningly supportive, something you love but aren’t really sure about. Lisa was a desire in every male’s heart in that company, and everyone wanted to work with her since her advice was never refuted or challenged by her clients.
Lisa was working with Raj on this crucial project, and they travelled together for weeks, going from country to country to analyze the strategic positioning of the organization. They unwillingly started learning about other positioning too – and Raj, although a bit guilty, started to have a full blown affair with her.
No one could have resisted Lisa, last of all Raj who was tired of a monotonous relationship with Ananya. Lisa was a great change in life, and he was sure that he could manage the relationship without Ananya getting an air about the affair.
Or so he wished.
He got a legal notice from Ananya, asking for divorce.
And she had photographs for evidence.
Raj couldn’t believe that a trusting and loving Ananya could ever suspect him. And even if she did find out, he always thought that she would forgive him.
No amount of convincing could help it, and Raj eventually had to accept defeat in court.
The court granted divorce on grounds of an illicit relationship and granted half the property of Raj to Ananya, as willed by Raj’s father. He was also supposed to give half his monthly salary to Ananya as maintenance.
It was a big shock. It was true that he had ditched her. But he couldn’t accept such a big loss.
A week later Lisa left him, without a word spoken. He tried contacting her, but couldn’t reach her. No response on e-mail, phone was switched off. He was feeling extremely lonely, and his world was slowly crumbling down. Perhaps he got it back fair, fair for ditching someone like Ananya, someone so true and honest, someone whom he really loved at one time and someone who had loved him forever…
As he lay down on his bed, he couldn’t sleep. He turned his head over. A small object caught his eye.
Lisa’s cell phone.
He switched it on – there were many messages, all sent by him.
He browsed through the inbox.
A message from an unknown number – ‘Thanks for everything. Didn’t know that you would complete this project so fast.’
Another message from the same number 2 days later – ‘Money transferred. Balance will be given a month later.’
He couldn’t make out what it was all about. Somehow the unknown number seemed familiar.
He dialled it on his own cell-phone.
The cell phone display panel showed – ‘Calling Ananya’…
Himanshu Saxena, Mumbai, recently completed his MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur. Reading and writing are his first loves, but he also enjoys travelling, coffee and eating.
Good Read;)
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