NAYANTARA & NEELANJAN CHAPTER 3

For the first ever time, the journey from Churchgate to Jogeshwari did not feel like a penance. Though the compartment was filled to the core, I was enjoying that moment of clutter around me. Having reached late, my eyes had become heavier and wearier. All I needed now was a sound sleep. At that dead hour of the night, all I had to keep me company till my residence located 20 minutes away from the station were dogs. They first barked at me and then gave up on their pursuit of a shaken prey, which I wasn’t. I was prone to coming late and most of the dogs by now must have known me by my smell.

The main entrance gate of the building was locked. In desperation, I did once think of waking up the people who seemed to be sleeping there in peace. Difficultly but successfully I jumped over the gate and finally made it to the B Wing of my building – Jagriti Cooperative Housing Society. Jagriti symbolizes awakening and enlightening. In this case, the building was famous for being home to many a record breakers & achievers in the ‘art of sleeping’.

On the third floor that my flat is located at, the peace was broken only by my activity of opening the lock. I looked to my right and to my left only to feel relieved that no one saw me entering my residence. On entering the flat, I switched on the lights. Since I was yet to take my bath, I thought of playing some sweet western music. Toni Braxton broke the silence of my apartment through my all time favorite & sultry number – UNBREAK MY HEART. By the time, I was back from the bathroom; Bryan Adams had already coupled up with Barbara Streisand to sing I FINALLY FOUND SOME ONE. That particular number made me go back to the agonizing hours that I had spent contemplating a suicide at the Marine Drive. And that song reminded me of Nayantara. I inched closer to the mirror and told myself, “Abhiroop. Today you have been gifted a new lease of life by none other than Nayantara.”

I tried to analyze whether at first sight I had fallen in love with Nayantara. I then discouraged myself of even bringing that thought to my mind. It was true that Nayantara had saved me but did that grant me the liberty to proclaim that I was in love. In the past, love had only caused heartburns and heartbreaks. So, this time I promised myself to not go looking out for love or expect anything from a person I took to liking maybe on the first day of my meet.

My eyes had started flickering. Bryan Adams voice filled my mind when he sung HAVE YOUR REALLY LOVED A WOMAN from the 5th audio track of the CD. I looked at my watch, which teased me by saying it was almost close to 3.15 am and I hadn’t yet slept. Switching off the music system, I retired to bed. I thought I might dream that night. I did dream but Nayantara wasn’t in the dream.

At around 8.30 am, I took an auto to Andheri station. The entire world seemed to be in a hurry except me. My mind was lost in thoughts, which automatically had contributed in slowing down the pace of my leg movement to board a Churchgate bound local.

On reaching office, I was once again put off by the usual worn out look of my office. The only source of entertainment that arrived at that hour was Sajjan Singh, the Head Peon of our office. Finding no one around, he took great pleasure in discussing with me the exploits of his adventurous night. Even though, it were his conversations my mind was out of it thinking continuously about Nayantara. The boss came in and so did his secretary. The entire office knew of their controversial affair. But no one seemed to be interested in pulling them away from each other.

During lunch hour, I really wanted to know how much time was left for the evening to arrive. Finally it was 6 pm. The boss and his secretary had left citing reasons of an urgent meeting that had cropped up at the last moment. The rest of the staff started making arrangements right from 5.30 pm, to exit.

Since I had an agenda on my mind, I preferred to stay back. Finally I managed to escape from office by 6.30 pm. Today, I knew very well where to go after office. I started imagining how Nayantara’s reaction would be on seeing me. I had sprayed maximum amount of body cologne to shun the worst smells. I started waiting at around 7 pm. The hours started increasing. My mind had stopped functioning and I was both agitated and amused because of Nayantara.

It was at around 8.30 pm; I looked at my watch and felt like a foolish who was just made fun of. Nayantara never arrived. I told myself I am not Neelanjan and waiting for Nayantara is like making fun of my ownself.

Nayantara never arrived and I kept visiting the spot for the next few days. Nayantara had left an impact on mind, I thought and kept waiting and waiting.


- vociferous