That Girl... He hated but loved the most (Part 2)

Reetika was alone, not just because Mitesh had left her company and his story incomplete – yet again, but also because of the loneliness that shadowed in their relationship.

“…She holds no value in my life. I don’t remember her name.”, these parting words from Mitesh reverberated in her head. Making her pain and suffer deeper than it already was.

Everything that Mitesh did was like fulfilling an obligation, a tick mark from his to-do-list. His acceptance of her as his wife was limited to the information, he gained on his road to recovery so far. Still, there were many gaps to be filled and many questions to be answered. She knew he was doing his best but not enough to plug the holes in his head. All she wanted from him was his natural well-being. The way he looked and behaved with her were the product of therapy sessions. For his Doctors, it meant as a sign of progress or sign of recovery but for her it was artificial, just like someone is forced to play a character.

The patter of rain drops continued as it hit the aluminum shades covering her gallery and many in the premise that belonged to others. She could faintly hear the commentary of a cricket match, “Virat Kohli is on strike. One of the best batsmen…”, She exhaled in relief, as Mitesh’s eyes were glued to the television.

She quickly returned to herself and wondered, ‘What if my patience ran out? What if he never recovers? What if he remembers that THAT GIRL was no one but me? I want him to remember but not half-heartedly as he does today’, She immediately dismissed these thoughts and looked at the sky, as if she was seeking for direction or solution for her problems which stay hid behind those black clouds.

With no one to help, she closed her eyes and tears rolled down her cheeks. She ran her palm over her closed eyes to wipe every bit of dampness. Of course, she didn’t want Mitesh to find her in that state. She tried to hold her second flow of tears back but deep within she knew she needed this. She wanted to cry her heart out and let it out. No, but she couldn’t, and she didn’t.

Just like Mitesh, she needed a distraction. The kind of one that would sweep her pain and worries under the carpet, at least for time being. She left and came back in a moment with her phone sticking to her right hand. Her thumb impression on the home button unlocked her phone on the way.

‘Just the right reason to stay home and binge-watch.’, one of the notifications she received from an OTT app said, it also had an emoticon of cloud sprinkling out drops besides it. ‘Marketing doesn’t miss any opportunity, come what way.’, she thought and sat on the chair with her head and back bent forward, her hands clasped around the phone and her elbow resting on her thighs.

In no time, her thumbs got busy tapping on alerts and messages. The kind of distraction she craved, and the world desires to get rid of.

She opened watsapp and saw plenty of messages waiting to be read. Majority of them were from the group where she was the member. They were all swarmed with viral videos of waterlogging and deluge caused by incessant rainfall since last night. Some of those videos were the clips of news reporters reporting from the flooded areas. She opened one of them and it ran like this, ‘The rain hasn’t stopped since last night. Many had to stay awake due to the fear of being washed away, their homes, especially in low lying areas are heavily affected…’, Then she stopped the video and thanked God for being safe.

She scrolled through other notifications from the leading newspaper’s app. Almost all of them had the similar story depicting the wrath of the nature in their own perspective. While scrolling through some of the images captured by news agencies, she stopped at one that might had been taken earlier in the morning. The picture showed a local train that stood still amidst the waterlogged railway tracks, a few commuters, who perhaps took the risk to travel today, were seen helplessly waiting at the edge of footboard hoping for the rain to stop and water to subside.

There was something she didn’t like in that picture and regretted the moment she realized, ‘Oh no, I shouldn’t have looked at it.’, she thought and then locked her phone immediately. She could have simply continued to read something else or scroll down for the other images to keep her mind busy and most importantly distracted, but she didn’t.

Sometimes our conscious effort to distract us from a particular subject fails and we tend to focus on that even with more intent. So, instead of trying to distract further she chose to rest back on the chair and closed her eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn’t trick her mind for long. Then suddenly, the image of a motionless man besides the railway tracks whose shirt was completely soaked in blood flashed in front of her closed eyes. She gave up and opened her eyes back again, but the flashing still continued. Just like lightening she witnessed outside.

Tired of her attempts to dissuade her mind, she held the banister which was on her left and gripped it tightly. She didn’t want to get up but started to feel restless. ‘I think I had too much for the day. First him and now his…’, she thought and shook her head. She gasped for air and took a deep breath to comfort her lungs that lacked oxygen. No matter what she did, how much she tried not to think of it, she could never forget the darkest day of her and Mitesh’s life. The image that she saw made her re-live those dreadful moments from the past. 

Two Years Ago

“Reet. I am sorry.”, Mitesh said while walking in the corridor of his office. He just had his lunch and as habituated he called Reetika to talk. Talking to her was the part of his routine.

“No, it isn’t just your fault. Please forgive me too.”, Reetika replied. She liked to hear him say ‘Reet’. He would use her full name only when he was angry, and he did that today that made her really upset.

She had thought of not answering his call after an argument they had in the morning. But she couldn’t resist his habit that rubbed off on her as well. She was next to her phone. She knew it would ring anytime and she was sitting beside her phone in ready to answer mode.

“Well. So, we both are responsible.”, Mitesh continued.

“Indeed. We are. Remember our partnership?”

“School to University to Marriage… I do.”

“And to Death. And in everything else.”, she said and giggled.

“Okay, so you are not going to let me rest in peace?”

“What did you say?”

“No. Leave that. I was joking. Let’s have dinner at the restaurant today. I will leave on time today.”

“Are you sure? Hope nothing pops up last minute.”

“Even if it does it will have to wait today.”

“Then the little tussle we had was worth it. I will make sure we fight at least once or twice a month.”, she said and giggled again.

“That won’t be required. We can plan for such dinner even without an argument.”

“I can’t wait.”

“It is just a matter of few hours. I will buzz you before leaving.”

He kept his promise and called Reetika while wrapping up for the day. He never spent his time at work as per the clock. The official window was for 9 hours and he exceeded the hours all the time, but not today. He dashed out sharp at 6 pm and soon found himself walking on the street. He waved at Rickshaw, his ride to the nearest railway station. Like most of the office goers, he commuted by train – undoubtedly a lifeline for Mumbaikars.

Normally, it would take 20 mins for his ride to reach the station, but today it took nearly an hour. Mitesh had called Reetika while he was in the rick, “Reet, I haven’t reached station yet. Very unusual, there is a heavy traffic. Yes, I am thinking to walk to the station. The rickshaw stopped but its meter won’t.”, he hung up, paid to the driver and got down to walk. He wasn’t ready to spend another 20 minutes in the rickshaw and as advised by Reetika, he got down to cover less than a mile’s journey by walking.

‘Dear Passenger, your attention please, due to some technical issues between…’, he closely heard the announcement as soon as he entered the platform of a railway station, ‘Thane and Vikroli all the down locals will be running from platform number 3 instead of platform number 1…’, he exhaled and looked towards the platform number 3 which was already crowded, ‘Please expect the delay of 20-30 minutes, we regret the inconvenience caused.’, then the announcement concluded.

“What the…”, he almost swore for what he heard. He quickly marched towards the escalator which took him to the foot-over bridge to cross from platform number 1 to 3. He climbed that escalator which was also crowded and finally reached on the bridge. He hurried his pace and thought, ‘one of those days, when you solve one problem and another one is waiting for you to knock the door.’

When he reached to another escalator that would take him down to platform number 3, he thought it would be better to call Reetika and inform about the possible delay. He moved back and called her. 

“Reet, you won’t believe. First the traffic and now the trains.”

“Trains?”, her voice on the other side said. She blushed hearing her name again which Mitesh couldn’t see.

“Yes, all the trains are delayed because of some bullshit… technical issues.”

“How much is the delay?”

“20-30 minutes. So, instead of an hour it may take half an hour more to reach.”

“Don’t worry. That restaurant is close by and for me you are still reaching early.”

“Okay, see you.”, he said laughing and hung up. He quickly slipped his phone in the pocket.

He steadied up his mind. The flow of crowd already pushing him to the escalator. He stepped on it or was pushed, anyways he was going to do that and reached the platform number 3.

Mitesh felt nauseated. There was no space at all. He feared that he would step on someone’s foot. Then he noticed almost the entire side of platform number 4 which was adjacent to number 3 was vacant. He wasn’t surprised. He knew very few travelled in the opposite direction during peak hours. At least, one could afford to stand. He moved there to get some air. He was already sweating profusely. His shirt and body beneath were completely wet as if he just had a shower wearing formals.

He patiently waited and skipped a couple of trains, thinking that it would reduce the volume of the crowd. He wasn’t afraid of them. He was used to travel during peak hours, but he never saw people swarming like this before. He joined the crowd thinking, to wait would be a waste of his time. In fact, people kept on adding in numbers. If he could count, he was on 8 or 9th row, there wasn’t a queue, but the situation made the commuters to form layers. And he was in the second last layer.

He took his phone out and thought of travelling by cab. It would be little expensive, but he deserves it considering the situation. He opened multiple apps that provides cab services, but all were booked. The cabs were not available. Then he realized, they either must have been stuck in the traffic or many might have already thought and booked their travel before him. He was cursing his fate, but he moved on and determined to make his way to the local train.

As the crowd in front of him started to board, he came closer with only a couple of layers of people close to the edge of the platform to board the gents’ compartment of the next train. He could see there were people everywhere.

Finally, his wait was over, the crowded train which would be overcrowded in no time zipped at the platform. The people who were at the edge pushed back a little to let the train enter and come to halt. Before even the train stopped, people behind him pushed and eventually he was pushed to enter the coach.

The commuters kept forcing their way in from almost all the direction. He lagged a little behind, some heavy ones elbowed him and squeezed in to fill the little empty space enough for one to stand in the coach and not on the footboard.

Mitesh was in two minds. He had to decide quickly whether to board or let this train go, with another one due in 15 or 20 minutes. He searched for his instincts but before he could ponder during those given seconds, he was forced by the wave of crowd to step on the footboard and the train started to leave the station. Somehow, he managed to cling on the thick single steel-metallic bar that divides the entrance of the coach. He held onto it tightly with both hands with his head facing inside the coach. He was standing on the footboard on his toes, his heels hanging with nothing beneath to rest. The train picked up its speed in no time and he could feel the breeze starting to blow on his face, as he looked in the direction of the moving train. His hair flying back exposing the larger portion of his forehead. While he could feel the breeze entering his body through the nook and corner of his shirt, his hands were still sweaty and palms wet. His instincts which was late to react told him, perhaps, he could have avoided boarding in this train.

Reetika, on the other hand being completely unaware, was trying her clothes to wear for this special evening. Since Mitesh started working and she chose to be a homemaker, it wasn’t a regular occurrence for them to dine out. Not because they didn’t like to, but she was particular about their health. She never gave him an opportunity to be complacent about his health. That’s why they regularly adhered to their joggings and other physical activities even after marriage. She had not agreed to see her husband go plump and she hated the belly fat.

“This is the one.”, she announced looking at the mirror. Though she was in her late twenties, she still felt as young as a teenager and so did Mitesh. She had an oval face with fair complexion. Her eyes were brown, and her hair was always pulled back and tied with pony. This time she allowed her hair to fall on her shoulders. She wanted him to comment.

She quickly checked the time at her watch and mumbled, “Where has he reached?”, she called him, and it went on to ring for few seconds and then the line went dead. She wondered why these service providers never upgrade to provide better network. Half the time, either the phone rings out or it is not reachable. She tried to ring him again and the voice said, “The mobile number you are trying to reach is currently switched off.”

“That’s odd. It rang just now.”, she said it out aloud and tried again.

“The mobile number you are trying to reach is currently switched off.”, the network lady repeated the message.

Not giving a second thought, she got busy to wrap her errands in the kitchen. She knew there is no need to cook any food. The leftovers from the afternoon meal were deposited in the fridge. She already had thought of reusing the leftovers for breakfast. She never believed in wasting or throwing the food. In fact, she believed the leftovers tasted better the second time.

She picked up her unfinished Ruskin Bond book and began from where she stopped last. She got engrossed in the amazing description of nature and life through Ruskin’s eyes.

It had been an hour since she was reading, and she got distracted by a message tone. She looked at the time, it was already 8.30pm and there was no sign of Mitesh. Leaving her book aside she tried calling him again. His phone was switched off. She thought, ‘How is this possible? Mitesh never keeps…’, then dismissed it immediately thinking that his phone’s battery must have died. Though she found it little unusual.

The clock was ticking to 10, she began to feel little worried and kept trying his number. It still said switched off. She thought of calling his colleague but dismissed the idea as Mitesh had himself called before boarding the train. She thought that the train might be terribly late. She exhaled and decided to give some more time thinking, ‘he must be here anytime.’

An hour passed by and then her worry transformed into a fear. She could feel her heartbeat. She didn’t want to panic and again tried her luck by calling him. But the message remains unchanged. His phone was switched off.

She got ready and decided to check it out at the station. She tried to calm her mind but couldn’t control her emotions in heart. Just as she was about to leave, she decided to give another try. This time his phone rang, she heaved a sigh of relief but that lasted only for a moment.

“Yes…right…okay…ha…WHAT!…NO!!…are you sure...okay…yes, I am leaving right now.”, she said in response to the person who answered the call while her hands began to shake and her heart almost sank. That wasn’t Mitesh.

(To be continued in Part 3)