Life's Like That

For three years, Abbas was everything to me. Then he left, never to come back.

He was my friend, my philosopher, my guide, my lover, the only one whom I trusted blindly, whom I could talk to on any topic under the sun.

Ours was a chance meeting four years ago, the first of many, when I bumped into him at the food court of a suburban mall.

I was there to meet a friend, Abbas was there to meet a friend as well, or that’s what he told me later on.

I went to the beverages counter and asked for my favorite brand of soft drink, the guy at the counter immediately pulled it out of the freezer and gave it to me.

Suddenly, I heard someone shouting from behind; he was sarcastically announcing that the guy at the counter serves that brand of soft drink only to females. Any guy who asks for that brand is given a standard response that stock is over.

Poor chap, the counter guy, I thought. I was happy that I got preferential treatment but also felt bad that the counter guy had to bear the brunt of this guy’s annoyance.

I coolly turned around after the paying the money, that’s when I saw him for the first time. I must say he was tall, handsome and well built. I could not stop myself from admiring him.

I wish I had moved away that day without turning around. I never wanted to be someone who loved and lost ever. But that’s what I was destined to be.

I walked up to him and offered him the soft drink. By then, he had calmed down a bit. He was pleasantly distracted by me offering him my soft drink. He politely refused and told me not to get him wrong. He had been at the counter just five minutes ago and has asked for the same brand of soft drink which the guy refused saying that it was out of stock.

He then told me it was nothing personal and apologized if he had come across as rude.

I told him it was fine and he need not apologize. We introduced ourselves to each other; he mentioned that he was there to meet a friend who ditched at the last minute. Even my friend turned out to be a ditcher, sent me a text at the last minute. I told him that I was in the same situation as him, kept the soft drink at his table and turned to leave.

Suddenly, he called out saying if we could have dinner together and share the soft drink as well. I was already starving and there was this outlet at the food court which served yummy parathas. I was still unsure, he immediately clarified that he was not asking me for a dinner date and so I can say yes. I agreed and we went to different counters to get something to eat. I picked up an aloo paratha with pickle and curd. He picked up a burger and a pack of fries.

It was one of the most amazing dinners I have ever had in my life. I wished it just went on. We had so much to talk that we lost track of time. We spent almost three hours chatting and then decided that we should be leaving now to continue later sometime. Abbas told me that he was from Delhi and had moved to Mumbai for work. He had finished college and found a job at a call center where his cousin worked too.

I learnt that he was 22, three years younger to me; he had rented a one room kitchen flat in Bandra which he shared with a colleague from the call center. He mentioned that he was from a lower middle class family, had two younger sisters to support. His parents had separated when he was young and his mother had taken up odd jobs to raise three kids. His mother still works as a maid but her health has been poor of late, also her sisters were both in school. Abbas sounded determined to ensure a good future for his sisters. Also, he wanted his mother to stop working and get some rest.

I had never met anyone before who had shared so much about himself in the first meeting itself. I also realized that background wise, we were poles apart. I belonged to a well to do family in Mumbai, went to London to do my MBA, worked there for two years post my course completion and came back to join one of India’s leading MNC banks. I was still 25, had dated a couple of guys but was yet to find the thing called love. Not that I completely understood what love was, for me, it was that feeling when you are with someone and you become oblivious of the world around you. That was exactly what happened that day.

He offered to drop me at my place but I politely refused as I had already booked a cab by then. We exchanged numbers and left. I got a text from him the next day stating he had a great time and would like to stay in touch. We learnt that our respective offices in Andheri were located just one kilometer away from each other. We decided to meet the next day in the evening after we had wrapped up our day at work respectively. The venue was a coffee shop next to my office.

We met every alternate day over the next three weeks. I would catch him gazing at me while sipping coffee but still would ignore. Somewhere I liked it too. Finally, over one weekend, as expected, he admitted that he liked me very much. I was the one he was very comfortable with and wanted to grow old with. He also made it clear that it was absolutely fine if I was not interested.

We both were very sure that we wanted to give this relationship a shot and what followed were the best three years of my life. Then, there was a big change a year ago. One fine morning, I called him but his phone was switched off. I tried his number many times during the day but in vain. We had just met the previous evening. I was starting to worry as everything was perfectly normal until yesterday. I called his flat mate; he told me that he did not come back yesterday night. He thought that Abbas was with me but that was not the case. I wanted to call the police but then decided to wait for one more day. One more day passed and it started to become more evident that something was terribly wrong.

I was constantly in touch with his flat mate, he confirmed that he did not come to office as well; he could sense something was wrong. We both decided to go to the police when his flat mate got a call. It was from the local police station. He was no more. We rushed to the local hospital. There he was lying, calm personified. It was as if he would wake up anytime and hug me tight.

The doctor mentioned that he was alive until an hour ago struggling for life. The police mentioned that they did not find any identity proof or document, even his phone and bag were not with him, and hence they could not reach out to us earlier.

The police narrated what had happened. The evening we met, he got me a cab and then started walking towards the next street from where he was to take a bus. While he was walking, he was hit by a car. It was a case of drink and drive, the boy who was driving the car was a minor. There were two of his friends with him who were also underage. They panicked, got down of the car, removed his bag, phone and his identity card and left him on the road. I would say it was a cold blooded murder. An hour later, someone noticed him on the road and took him to the hospital but it was too late by then. He had bled a lot and his vital parameters had started to fail.

What haunts me is that he was alive until an hour ago before I reached the hospital. I wish I’d been there earlier. It might have made all the difference. So all I can tell you is why he was murdered. This happened exactly a year ago. It has been business as usual since then but nothing is the same for me without Abbas. His mother and sisters are still in shock; they are somehow trying to pick up pieces of their shattered lives and getting back to normal. I never got a chance to interact with them directly but get updates from his flat mate who is in touch with them. They received compensation under court order but loss of life can never be fully compensated. We all miss him a lot. As for me, I had loved and lost.

Life’s like that...