Moongphali

"Huffffff..." Rakesh sighed as he threw himself on the large L-shaped sofa in the living room, dropping the massive carry-bags on the floor " I'm done for the next one and a half year, please! God....shopping is hectic! Especially amidst Mumbai weather and crowd !"

"...not so much for me! In fact, I shell out a weekend every two months for that.." chuckled Renu as she dropped the shopping bags from her hand on the sofa, and switched on the AC.

"I know! I don't know how you manage to do that! I'm so glad I've got a wife who loves to shop alone," Rakesh said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Yes, sir! I prefer going shopping alone so that I can spend as much time trying clothes, without feeling guilty about making any one wait. It's my me-time...I end up walking across the mall for hours in search of that right piece of clothing, without even sitting or resting for a bit. Now, who will put up with that kind of thing?" Renu quizzed with a fake innocent tone, as she sat beside Rakesh pulling her hair up into a high bun.

"Definitely not me!" Rakesh said, with a mocking terror in his eyes; glancing sideways at his wife while still leaning back on the sofa.

"Hey, but today's plan was your idea....don't you deny mister," Renu reminded, sitting up straight.

"Yes....only because I got this message about the massive sale going on at this brand showroom. I thought why not purchase some good clothes all at once..like, in bulk, so that I can stay at peace for the next couple of years."

"What do you mean the next COUPLE of years?!" Renu burst into laughter, "C' mon dude you bought only three tees and four shirts .."

"Yeah..and that too because you forced me to. Otherwise, I was perfectly happy with my old clothes.." Rakesh replied.

"You mean the ancient tees that have started having holes and the shirts that are so old that their original colors can't even be guessed?" Renu said.

"Well... yes, those. Man, they are so comfortable. So airy..." Rakesh justified, "some of these date back to my pre-MBA days...I had bought them with my first few salaries after my engineering ..."

"What's the point of doing Engineering and MBA from two premiere institutes if you ain't buying clothes?" Renu pretended to frown in a funny way, " And of course they are airy......that's because they've become thin as kerchiefs over time," Renu explained.

"So what?! How does it even matter....as long as I, the one wearing it, am comfortable! " Rakesh declared, "you KNOW I don't give two hoots about what people think, honey."

"Yeah yeah, I know that very well. That's why I'm relieved at least you went out today to purchase some new clothes...FINALLY," Renu said as she started opening the packet to go through the purchased items " But do start wearing these now. Especially this one..." she said, holding up a light indigo colored shirt, "I've always wanted to see you in this color, I'm glad you found this one" she winked and got up to sort the newly purchased clothes in the bedroom

That day, Renu was happy. Renu and Rakesh had been married for a little over three months now, and it was their first mega shopping stint. Of course, they had done wedding shopping and appliances shopping before. But this one was different. It was the first time that Renu stepped into the showroom with Rakesh knowing fully well which size of which brand would fit him, which colors already did exist in his almirah, what kind of shirts he would generally like to wear daily to office. She was more than delighted to see Rakesh was taking in her fashion advice and was being a good sport at even purchasing bright colors, that was pretty far away from the usual greys and blacks in his wardrobe.

 Even Renu’s friends had pointed out earlier how Rakesh and herself formed a cute yet weird case of opposites….Renu, a fashionista; and Rakesh being completely nonchalant about his dresses and looks. No doubt it was the disheveled stubble, and casually rolled-up sleeves over old pair of rough jeans of Rakesh that had caught the fantasy of Renu, who was always found in well-cut-out, elegant dresses without a speck, with hair pinned up in style.

"What thoughts are you lost in, madam?" Rakesh asked, entering the bedroom; “oh by the way; let’s wash all the clothes before wearing……since it was this mega sale …these might have been tried on by many…not to mention the summer sweat.”

“Oh yeah…actually right…” Renu said.

“Make sure you remove the tags from all clothes….I’m removing the ones from mine..”, Rakesh reminded her as he took his bag aside and started cutting away the paper tags.

Having spent the entire Saturday shopping, they woke up late on Sunday morning, busking away in the glory of laziness. It was a perfect holiday…..with both of them spending time on little nothings and movies. Around afternoon Rakesh suggested they went to Marine Drive for sunset.

“Why not! Let’s put the clothes for washing…..I’ll get ready meanwhile…” Renu offered.

They put the clothes for washing, Renu got decked in a cool summer dress, and came out of the room humming…when she heard Rakesh murmuring “ohh..damn”

“What happened? “ she asked while applying kajal.

“Oh…well..nothing big,” Rakesh was heard saying from the washing area…” one of your dresses....still had the tag on…..so there are black paper pieces on all the clothes now..”

Renu rushed to the washing machine. Indeed, all the clothes were covered in black specs. But what she was more worried about, was whether there was any dye stain from those on the clothes.

“It’s okay, “assured Rakesh, “ these pieces will fall off once the clothes have dried…it’s only paper…..I’ll sweep them off with a broom.”

“That’s least of my concern, “ said Renu, feeling guilty, “I really don’t know how I missed out on this tag….have you checked if there are stains on the clothes?”

“Ummmm…well…” Rakesh stammered, “ yes, this t-shirt of yours which had the tag, has got some stain….” He said as he held up the clothe, a light pink colored one, which now had dark bluish stains all over.

“This looks like some one has just sprayed ink all over and just let it spread !” Renu said, dazed. It was one of the things she had liked most on her shopping list that day. But she wasn’t really worried about her own clothes. She was more concerned about Rakesh's. All of a sudden, she felt very guilty for having spoilt that one shopping experience of the man she loved the most, that he would probably have had in more than a year.

“Show me your clothes,” Renu claimed.

“They’re fine….”Rakesh said…” forget it now, let’s hang them for drying….. let’s leave, we’ll get late for sunset otherwise.”

“Just…show me,” Renu said.

They examined all the clothes one by one.

Another skirt of Renu’s was spoilt with the stain, while Rakesh’s indigo shirt had a noticeable patch of dark blue on its bottom left. Renu took the stained clothes, soaked the affected areas in warm water and applied stain removers and detergents on them. Rakesh swept the paper pieces off the drying area.

“It’s okay…let’s go now,” Rakesh said, cheering her up, “all the other clothes are fine! Let’s wash the soaked clothes after we’re back today….if the marks aren’t gone, we will take your skirt and t-shirt to the laundry tomorrow.”

“I’m not worried about my t-shirt and skirt, Rakesh,” Renu said, in a morose tone; “ The very indigo shirt I said you would look so good in, is spoilt. I feel so bad. It’s all my mistake….”

“It’s okay…you’re a human being, not a robot programmed on Artificial Intelligence, “ Rakesh reminded her while driving to Marine Drive.

It was crowded, as was expected on a Sunday evening. They managed to find a spot by the sea and sat down. Rakesh got two paper cups of tea and hot, freshly roasted moongphali in a paper-cone. Sipping the steaming hot tea, and stuffing her mouth with some of those moongphali, Renu started into the horizon. The sunset had just happened. The sea looked like a glistening mauve colored metallic sheet, overlooked by a pink sky with pieces of bluish purple colored clouds all over. To her left, the part of the sky towards Nariman Point had already started getting darker.

The end towards Malabar Hill was still playing with the last hues of the day, to mark the sky and sea in pinks and purple; as a reminiscence of the sunset. A calmness unrolled itself across Renu’s soul, as she realised how she wasn’t bothered about the specks on her own dress………that how, it was her affection for the man beside her that had been keeping her melancholic all this time….that how, all this while she was only thinking about the patches on his shirt and not the ones on her skirt and t-shirt. It was strange given the way she had always been self-conscious about her own dress and appearance so far.

It was well past dark by the time they were home. They washed off the soaked clothes. The stains had faded slightly, but despite several trials, they didn’t get fully removed. The next day they took those to a laundry store, but even the store people declared the stains wouldn’t go.

A week passed by. It was Friday night, and Renu and Rakesh were to attend a party with their friends.

Rakesh was to come directly from the office, while Renu decided to go home and freshen up for the party. They both decided to meet straight at the party venue. It was a high profile restaurant where they were having a re-union with Rakesh’s MBA batchmates.

“Hi Renu..what the hell,” Rakesh laughed as he spotted her at the restaurant, “ I thought you would’ve thrown it away! Given it’s you. “

“Why? What’s wrong with it ?” Renu asked, with a mocking, yet serious tone. She was teaming the pink t-shirt which now had faded specks of purplish marks all over….just like the sky over Marine Drive; with a black skirt, and a pair of heels.

“Absolutely nothing wrong! That’s my point….you should be beyond all stains and scars!” Rakesh said.

“Stains? What stains! This t-shirt has a sunset-based theme….the designer was inspired by how the sky and sea look after sunset.” Renu said, in a defending tone.

“Okay! That’s wonderful”, Rakesh chuckled.

Just then, a group of their friends came ahead and patted Rakesh.

“Look at you Rakesh! I sorely miss our brother who used to laze around hostels in rugged clothes,” one of the men mocked, “what have you done to him, Renu? He doesn’t look so familiar in such clean and pressed shirts”. They all laughed.

Another of them said, “No but seriously Rakesh, you look good! Nice shirt”

Just then Renu noticed, it was the same indigo shirt Rakesh was wearing, tucked well in his pressed formal trouser, sleeves rolled up.

“Oh, I didn’t notice earlier…is this the same shirt?” she whispered.

“Yes of course… I wanted to show you while getting ready for office…but you were still sleeping. I had a meeting with my boss so I had to rush anyways…. I thought why not inaugurate it today…since you liked it so much..” Rakesh said.

“How was your meeting?” Renu asked.

“It was good,” Rakesh replied.

“What about the stain?” Renu asked.

“Relax, it’s not visible when I’m tucking the bottom part in. And there’s a bit of it on sleeves….not visible when I roll it up, “ Rakesh said, casually, “and even if it was, I couldn’t have cared less.”

Renu smiled at him, Rakesh winked, as he put his arm around her waist and posed with her for a photograph while one of their friends said “smile” while clicking the camera.