Friend Request

'Friend request' the red icon popped as Manasvi sat staring at her boring facebook wall. She absent mindedly clicked on it. 'Abhay Sethi' it said. She tried to recall if she knew any such person. Not a childhood friend, not a school mate, nor her college buddy...nope, she didn't know him. She ignored it and logged out.

Since she got married two months back, Manasvi was finding it very tough to pass the entire day alone in this huge flat. Her husband, whom she hardly knew was either in the office till late night or was away on official tours. Her parents and in laws stayed far away, in Akola, and she was finding it rather difficult to adjust to this new life in Mumbai. Since she was a child, Manasvi had dreamt that she would get married to the man of her dreams in a grand, lavish wedding and then walk into the sunset hand in hand with him for a happily ever after. As she grew up, she realized all this was not possible in the literal sense, but still she hoped she would get a good professional degree, find a nice job, maybe fall in love with a colleague and then get married...But real life proved to be quite reverse. She was just out of college when her father took seriously ill. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and the chemotherapy sessions began costing a fortune. Her dad's boss of twenty years helped a lot financially, and as a pay back, her father promised her hand for his son. Of course it was the best match her parents could ever find for her. Rishi was soft spoken, kind hearted, well educated, well behaved guy with a nice cushy job and own apartment in Mumbai. He was a thorough gentleman. But Manasvi was not yet ready for marriage, and for her he was a complete stranger. She wanted to get to know him first, and then take the next step. She even told him about her wish. But she could not say no to her dad as he wanted to see her getting married off while he was still alive and his days were now numbered. So within 8 days, she was married to Rishi and sent off to Mumbai.

From the time they came to Mumbai, Rishi had been very busy with his job. Yet he was very gentle towards her. He had employed maids round the clock for cooking and cleaning so that Manasvi could just relax. He made all efforts to make her comfortable. He would take her out on weekends. But still, they missed the most important thing in married life...conversation. Rishi sometimes tried to make her open up, but she couldn't get herself to be free with him. She needed time...and space, and he respected that. She badly missed her carefree college days, the girls hangouts together, the stay overs and late night gossips. Here she had no friends at all and life seemed getting duller day by day.

Manasvi looked at the wall clock. It had just stuck 8 pm. Rishi was still not home. Dinner was ready but she was not hungry yet. With nothing else to do, she logged onto facebook again. There was a new notification. 'Abhay Sethi is following you'. Now her curiosity was piqued. She went back to his timeline and opened his profile pic. It showed a handsome guy, about her age, wearing casual tees and denims, standing near some waterfall. She didn't recognize him. She tried to click on 'About' section but nothing more was entered other than 20 yrs and male. She thought for a moment and then accepted his friendship request.

'Thanks for accepting my friendship request' a message from Abhay Sethi popped up.

'You are welcome, but do we know each other?' she typed back.

'We went to the same college, though I was in commerce stream and two years junior to you' he typed back.

'Oh...sorry didn't recognize' she typed back.

'No problem. So how's life?'

She didn't know what to reply to this. 'Good' she typed.

'I heard you got married' he said.

'Yeah, I am in Mumbai now'.

'Ok good...hadn't expected you to get married so soon though J'.

Manasvi was astonished at his judgemental statement.

'Why so?'

'Well...a gorgeous girl like you certainly has high expectations...and choices too' he said.

Gorgeous? Manasvi smiled. She knew she was very good looking and many guys in her college had a crush on her. But juniors too? She must not even have given him a second look, while he was pondering about her choices and expectations.

'Well thanks for the compliment but I am happily married J' she replied.

'So how's life now? Has it changed a lot?' he asked.

Just then the door bell rang. Manasvi logged out and went to answer the door. It was Rishi. "So how was your day?" he asked, as he slouched down on the couch. "Usual" she said as she made her way to the kitchen to bring chilled water for him.

"I have to go to Delhi for two days" he said when she had returned. Manasvi did not respond. "Will you come with me?' he asked further.

"No...I will stay here", she said.

"But what will you do here? You will get bored?"

"No, its okay..."

"Why don't you go out? Make some new friends in our building, hang out with them" Rishi suggested.

"I said I am fine" Manasvi said, irritated. She was in no mood of going out and 'making new friends'. She had tried talking to fellow residents in the building once or twice but was greeted with cold response. She was clearly not welcome here. And the last time she had accompanied Rishi on his tour to Ahmedabad, she had spent entire day rotting away in their hotel room while Rishi went away to his workplace. So it was better to rot here, she thought.

Rishi did not persist. He had to catch a flight early the next morning. Manasvi dutifully packed his suitcase and necessities. He retired early. Having slept in the afternoon, Manasvi wasn't feeling sleepy at all. She logged onto facebook again.

She hadn't replied to Abhay's last question, she realized.

'Life is good...married life is a balancing act' she wrote as she laughed sarcastically at herself. Great balancing act she was doing! There was no reply from his side. She waited for some time and then logged off.

As she lay on her bed, she couldn't help but smile at the 'gorgeous' comment. No one had ever complimented her so directly. And it was a different feeling. She had butterflies in her stomach like some dreamy teenager.

Next day Rishi had already left when she woke up. She had expected him to wake her up for tea or something, but he hadn't. He was always thoughtful. Just as she was about to go to the washroom, she found a small chit on the night table.

"Take care, call me whenever you feel bored, will be back in two days" it said.

Manasvi felt guilty for having sounded so rude yesterday night. Rishi was always so particular, be it professional or personal relation, she thought.

Later in the day, she logged onto facebook again.

'Hi' Abhay's message popped up.

'Hey...hi'.

'So? What's going on?'

'The usual...routine...'

'Are you working?'

'No...just house wife at present...might think about working at a later date'

'And you?' she typed further.

'Preparing for finals' he said.

'Okay, so exam leave?'

'Yup'.

'So where had you gone for your honeymoon?' he asked.

'Mauritius' she replied.

'Whoa...great...you are lucky' he typed.

'Thanks'

'But not as lucky as your husband' he typed further.

It took a moment for the meaning of this sentence to sink in. And Manasvi didn't know what to reply. She should have been angry probably, but she didn't feel so...she felt shy!!

'So you must be enjoying these days na?? Going on dates and all? The beginning of your marriage that is?' Abhay asked.

Manasvi recalled the one time they had gone out for dinner. She had been in a particularly irritable mood that day. Poor Rishi, she thought now. He had taken her to the best Chinese outlet in town without knowing how much she hated Chinese. And it was only after they ordered the food that she told him. And he was flustered. 'Why didn't you tell me earlier?' he had said, 'I just wanted to make this evening special for you!'. And she had said nothing. They ate in silence. He tried to make unsuccessful small talk. But Manasvi didn't know what else to say to him. After that day, he never offered to take her out.

'Yes, yes, we do go out on dates...getting to know each other better' she lied.

'So what food do you like?'

'I love south Indian food best...you?'

'I love Continental...'

'Would you mind if I complimented you?' he asked out of the blue.

Manasvi was dumb stuck for a moment. She didn't know what to reply, but she was certain she wanted to hear what he had to say.

'Umm..okay, go ahead'.

'You look absolutely stunning in saree'

Manasvi began feeling butterflies in her stomach all over again. Was she blushing? Was this how it felt while falling in love?

'Thanks but how do you know?' she asked, not knowing what else to say.

'Saw your pic on fb...though would love to see you in real..'

Just then her phone rang. It was Rishi. Manasvi felt a sudden pang of guilt. She felt ashamed for a moment. She did not know what had come over her. Did what she had started feeling for Abhay Sethi qualify as 'crush'? Did this amount to cheating? She had no idea.

'Reached safe and sound' Rishi was saying.

'Ok, great' she replied.

'What are you doing?' he asked.

'Nothing specific, just web surfing' she replied.

'I will be free by 6 in the evening, will call you then, take care' he said.

Manasvi sat back feeling ashamed of herself. She should not chat with Abhay. She switched off the computer and headed to the kitchen to try out some new recipe. But her mind kept wandering back to her conversation with Abhay. As time passed she began feeling restless. She could not concentrate on what she was doing and almost burnt the preparation. Oh my God, she thought, what has come over me? Why can't I stop thinking about him?

Finally when she could resist no longer, she logged onto facebook again. She was not actually cheating on her husband, she reasoned with herself. She was just making new friends, like he had suggested.

Five messages from Abhay.

'No reply...hope I didn't offend you...'

'Sorry if I did...just spoke my mind out'

'U there?'

'Hey tell me do you dance?'

'Still angry?'

Manasvi laughed. He had been so desperate to hear from her! Though he was offline now.

'Sorry was a bit busy, its okay, not angry..and yes, I do dance' she replied.

Manasvi waited for a reply from him, but there wasn't any for a long time.

Rishi called in the eve to ask her how her day was going.

"Umm..Rishi..I met a college friend on facebook", she told him, convincing herself that telling him about it would reduce her own guilt.

"That's great, where is she now a days?" he asked.

"It's a he, not she", she said.

"Oh, good...anyways I have to go for dinner with some colleagues..so will message you while retiring to bed, okay?"

"Okay" she replied, glad that she had told him about Abhay.

After having dinner she logged onto facebook again.

'Hey there' Abhay.

Manasvi saw a notification that her school friend had uploaded pics of her wedding. She began checking out the pics before replying to him.

'What happened? Your hubbys around?' he asked.

That irked Manasvi.

'No he's not, but how does that matter?' she typed back.

'Oh..sorry didn't mean it that way, but I was not sure your husband would like your chatting with me..'

'And why wouldn't he? We are not doing something wrong, are we?'

'No no of course not, but not all couples are that transparent...as far as I know'

'Hmmm'.

'So your hubby must be really cool'.

'Yes he is'

'Would he mind if I took you out for lunch or dinner sometime?'

Manasvi didn't know where this conversation was going. Her inner instinct was telling her to stop this conversation, block him, unfriend him, but she couldn't.

'Hey I am sorry if that sounded wrong...I didn't mean that literally, I was just asking if marriages can be so free as to accept each other's friendship with opposite sex, that's all..'

'Yes my husband trusts me, so he won't have any problem in this hypothetical scenario' she replied.

'So you said you dance...have you learnt any particular form?'

'Yes, I have been learning Bharatnatyam for 9 years'

'Wow that's awesome...do you perform? Like on stage?'

'I have given two exams, but not yet performed'

'That's great...I also love dancing..but no training you see...'

'Hey you know it has always been my fantasy to do salsa with my husband...' she bit her lip just as she hit the send button. Why was she even telling him?

'Wow...lucky man he is...so are you guys taking lessons or something?' he asked.

She hadn't even told Rishi about this ever, leave apart taking lessons with him, inspite of the fact that he had asked her several times if she wanted to do something interesting on weekends.

'Not yet, but we plan to...soon..'

'Good good...all the best...can I ask you something?'

Manasvi didn't know what bombshell he would drop next. But she couldn't resist typing 'sure'.

'I know you had an arranged marriage and all...but if a guy wanted to propose you, how would you want it to be?'

Manasvi fell deep in thought. The answer to this was something she had imagined for ages...but why was Abhay interested in knowing?

'You may refuse to answer if you feel I am invading your privacy...' came his message when she took more than a minute to reply.

'No...that's okay...well, my dream proposal would be in a beautiful place, where I and the guy are sitting under stars, having candle light dinner. At the end of the dinner comes a cake, small heart shaped cake. The moment I begin cutting it, violins play in the background. And the first piece that he feeds me, I spit out something...that turns out to be a diamond ring...'

Abhay didn't reply.

'What happenend' she typed, worried.

'I M speechless!!'

She laughed.

'You are a hopeless romantic' he replied.

'That I am J'

On and on they chatted about their likes and dislikes till late night. Once in a while Abhay would say something which didn't seem right, but Manasvi chose to ignore it. She was enjoying this conversation and she just couldn't stop it.

Rishi called at midnight. She was still chatting.

"Hi...I so wish you were here. We had a very sumptuous dinner in this amazing seven star hotel" he was saying.

And then suddenly Manasvi snapped out of her facebook world. She felt the pang of guilt all over again. She felt guilty for not having missed him even once.

"Are you alright?" he asked when she did not reply.

"Yes...I am just sleepy, that's all" she replied, cursing herself.

"Okay...will give you a call tomorrow when I am free for lunch. Actually I have to go to the site tomorrow early morning... won't disturb your sugar sleep then. Good night".

Manasvi could not sleep a wink. On one hand she was feeling guilty, on the other hand she was blushing like a teenager, the conversation with Abhay going on and on like a tape in her head. He was clearly smitten by her, and that made her feel something she had never felt before.

Next morning the first thing she did was log onto facebook. Abhay was waiting for her, it seemed. The moment she logged on, his message popped up.

'Hi, good morning'

And they began chatting. They spoke about everything on earth. And Manasvi forgot about everything else. Once in a while he would say something too personal that would make her a bit uncomfortable, but she chose to ignore it.

Rishi called in the afternoon to tell her he was missing her dearly and would be home by midnight. Manasvi felt another pang of guilt. Here was her husband who loved her so dearly and she was enjoying chatting with a stranger behind his back.

Manasvi decided not to chat with Abhay anymore. She resisted the urge to log onto facebook but finally gave in by evening. As expected, there were lots of messages from Abhay. And in no time, they again began chatting. However, as time passed, Manasvi realized, his questions were becoming more and more personal, and because he realized she was not objecting to any of his awkward comments, his inhibitions had gone.

"So does your hubby really love you?" he asked.

"Of course...what do you mean?" she asked. She could not understand how he could even ask such a question. Just because she was friendly with him didn't mean her husband didn't love her, she reasoned.

"I mean, you are practically with me since two days...had I been your husband, I wouldn't have left you like that to chat with a stranger' came his pat reply.

And it hit her like a stab in her stomach. On one hand, inspite of her detached behavior, her husband was making all efforts to come closer to her, be nice to her, all the while trusting her completely. And here she was, behaving as coldly as she could with him and spilling her heart out to a complete stranger whom she had not even met in reality. Where had her conscience gone? How would she feel if the reverse had occurred? All the guilt that she was suppressing in her mind and convincing herself that she was not doing anything wrong sprang back up and clouded her conscience. This was wrong and if she did not stop in time, things would spiral out of control.

'You are right Abhay...I shouldn't be talking to a complete stranger like you...because it amounts to cheating on my loyal and loving husband...thanks for making me feel good about myself and making me realize what I must do...I hope this serves as a lesson for both of us...'

She typed as fast as her fingers could. And then before he could reply, she unfriended and blocked him. Then she switched off the pc and sat back. She sighed as she felt relieved for finally stopping this insane, crazy conversation that was leading nowhere. She didn't want to think what Abhay must be thinking about her. Now she needed to take efforts to establish a strong relation with her husband, and that was all she wanted.

She looked at the wall clock. It was 7 pm. Rishi would be arriving by midnight. She knew what she needed to do. She quickly googled the recipes for fried rice and gobi Manchurian, and began with the preparations.

Rishi smiled as he read the latest message. He had achieved what he wanted to do. Tomorrow would be the day. He would take Manasvi out for dinner at the best south Indian restaurant in the city. There he would place the diamond ring in the heart shaped strawberry cake that would arrive last. He would instruct the orchestra to play violins just as she would cut the cake, and he would also arrange for rose petals to shower on her while he proposed to her. And this would be followed by the real surprise. Their couple registrations for weekend Salsa classes at the city's most happening dance hubs. Now he knew Manasvi well, so now he would know exactly how to win her heart. Now there was no need for him to masquerade as Abhay Sethi.