The Last Touch

“So guys, it's September. Last week, the right time came. Let's head to Mumbai,” started Sid. “Yo, we need funds,” Aruni cried out. “We have our sponsor in the bathroom, let me call him” concluded Jaga, and started to bang the door. Due to the high pay I get, I served as these guys’ Sponsor on every trip we took. “Sponsor got the note, I hope the driver too”. Just then our driver entered the scene, Mridul, “I, Driver, am always ready”. And we started packing our things with no further discussion, as it only took - one to drive, one to spend, and others—to make the trip truly memorable. That is all.

Living in Bangalore with pals who haven't been married at the age of 25 is an experience that can only be felt and never fully explained. For me, who dreaming of being a man and enjoying everything macho, "This is Enough Bro". I had quiet an amount of desires as all others. Mumbai was among them.

It’s monsoon season, and all men need a cool haven. So myself and my “boys” decided to take a trip to Mumbai. Bangalore is fine, but Mumbai is something more of a guy thing.

Sid is basically the same as me; he just happened to turn up as the cute lad. Being the shortest member of the group, Aruni is never easy to manipulate. Mridul, as gentle as his name is. Additionally, Jaga—the true "cool" guy—talks to every girl he can but commits to none of them. And me—the person who is mistakenly believed to be “All Good and No Bad”.

Back on the trip, we reached Mumbai. But for Mridul’s fortune, we reached there in the morning itself, And all of us were tired and hence got the room inn. As we planned it for a week, we went to other places nearby, From Hanging Gardens to Haji Ali Dargah. Last night in Mumbai, we decided to go to Kamathipura. The place made me wish for it, then long for it. “Guys I am not very interested in this… I can be in the car, you guys go and enjoy your night”, said Mridul. “I will just enjoy the exterior”. But, After arriving at the place, even the one who wanted to see the architecture, now wanted to see its interiors. You never know how people’s minds change.

When we entered Kamathipura, I felt some strange familiarity towards that place. I was puzzled about that feeling. Then we entered one of the old-fashioned complexes there. While entering I felt someone eying on me, but didn’t heed to it much. Back in the complex, the Hindustani music playing in the background score, some ethnic instruments that are original to India, like Sitar, Sarangi were placed in the corners of the congested hall of men from different backgrounds with some itching desire.

Aruni and Sid approached the aide, while others were waiting. At the time, I noticed a wistful stare from the entrance of another room that connected to the hall. When she sensed I was observing her, she avoided looking at me or anything else and entered the room. I was definite about choosing her, but not for what I came for, the eyes felt more familiar to me than my friends, no other eyes of women there were looking at me the way she did. My mind filled with Curiosity, with a flurry of thoughts interrupted by a startling lusty voice.

“Who do you want my love?” the brothel mother entered the hall, and headed straight away to me. She was surrounded by two other aides, with her heavy physical appearance, lipstick filled lip, hoarse voice in oxymoron to the ambience of the complex, maybe she found my hesitation. To escape the awkwardness of the scene, I behaved confidently and pointed out to the girl, that I already chosen.

“You want Honey?! You unlucky Fellow!!!” everybody there, even the men burst into laughter. I was completely blank and awkward. “For your charming face, You should have chosen for Lila, the easy girl or Geetha, the hotty, but it’s a new moon day, and I can't stop you from choosing the one you want, try your level best to get the tough done. Best of luck my Love…”, the woman sighed.

While entering the room, I glanced upon my friends. They too found reluctance on the option of choosing her and even gestured to me all the best.

As I entered the room, I saw sitting, in a cream-white saree with dreamy eyes, ideally in the corner of the cot, unlike her Raat ki Rani and Campaṅki/சம்பங்கி which had filled the room with their sweet smell, to welcome me, since she was not welcoming her new friend.

“They said your name is Honey, but I don’t feel like calling you that way. What shall I call you?”

She didn’t reply.

“It seems like you are not interested in this tonight, maybe I can leave”. When I was about to do so, she pulled my hand, “jhooth mat bolo/झूठ मत बोलो”, and handed me the sweets from the table. “Drink?” she asked me in a subtle tone, I shook my head. “It is weird that someone with a desire for women is not drinking”, with a tone of not much amazement. “This is my first time here, like this place” “Yeah, I was able to infer that from your eyes”

“Do you know me?” I asked her.

“How can I forget the face that I admired, just for its calmness? It’s been 10 years since I have been with you in the same class, my real name is Amaya. Do you remember me? Sagar…Right? Your name is”.

“Hey, you were the girl that wore a blazer and white shirt for the Farewell, I really liked your style of course”, I was overflowing with excitement. She gave me a melancholy smile, while seeing me from her side eye.

"If you know me, why offered to entertain me?" I asked.

"I got used to few things, if not for me, at least for the plants, I have to."

“I am sorry about you ending up here. How did this happen?”, I asked. “At least you are feeling sorry, but my husband, who slept with some other woman in front of me, chi.. I don't want to talk about it”, she spoke with mournful wrath. “So was yours a love marriage?”

Because I have already seen such cases in movies, even sometimes in newspapers, but not often. “No”, she said in an assertive tone, yet sorrowful. “ My parents were fooled by him. He presented himself as a Sales Executive in a Big Firm. And if the salary of the breadwinner seems to feed the future too, which parent will be concerned about checking the residency. They just handed me to him.”

Her comforting voice, yet with a disappointed tone. Not only her eyes spoke of loneliness, but now she was also speaking some words out. I was comfortable with the way she talked with me, but the place made us feel uncomfortable with ourselves.

She stood up and went to the table to grab some water, “So, what do you do now? I hope all of the people in our batch got to a better place than mine…”, she turned towards me. “I work as CA for a Big Company in Bangalore, almost all of my friends from other streams have got their own house.” “Even my friends too would have got the life they wanted, a few came to my marriage, some attended it online. I wonder how many of them think of me, or at least remember me”, she continued with discontentment, “Even in my college i didn’t get many friends, even at my workplace, and it was the worst. You are still with the same gang it seems, since Class 11, I saw you all getting into the complex.

“It feels really different with you, everybody else would pounce, to show their manliness, but you’re different”. “Maybe, That’s because this is my first time”, I said. “Maybe, because we know each other”, she said with a heavy breath. She continued, "But, I actually feel like talking with my old best friend now, I don't know why it feels so”.

She rolled down her hand in my arms and rested her heavy head upon my broad shoulders. At that moment, I felt like a Gentleman…