The Creaking Chair - Part XXII



22nd September 1992

Pratishtha visited us today after so many years
Kamal had no idea she was coming 
It seems it was Veena who had received her call last week
and had decided to keep it a surprise for Kamal ; 
My son was, let’s say more than surprised to see Pratistha sitting in the living room
as he came back from his evening bicycle ride 
boy, he was flustered


First he looked at me, with the same innocent face 
like the one he made some 17-18 years back when I first got to know about Pratistha and him
I was more angry at him for not telling me that something was going on
rather than the fact that he was dating someone
I had always been cool about it, and I always thought if he ever gets serious he would tell me 
but then he went and told his mom and she unwittingly told me 
I was angry at that betrayal than anything else


But how flustered was Kamal today
it was nostalgic to see him behave like a young college kid who comes back from the playground
and sees that his crush is sitting in his house in front of his parents
only in this case, he was petrified that it was Veena 
for a moment I think he thought, she was angry 
and he wanted to whisk Pratistha away and ask her what was she thinking coming in here


They had dated for almost 3 years during their graduation 
and were dotingly in love – or that’s what they thought
she was a senior to him in his class of engineering
and he was quite the nerd of his batch
their favourite thing was the stroll on the park besides the Jawahar Bridge in rains 
and did he think I did not know of his visit for ‘robotics project’ to her house every second week


It took him some time to recover and get back to his senses
the realization dawning on his face with relief spreading over his entire being
He had told Veena all about all of his rencontres d’amour in life 
and she was having the guilty pleasure of watching him behave like a college kid once again
All said and done, Kamal will open the 15 year old bottle of wine he has preserved for special occasions


~Ashk


P.S. – Kamal thinks no one in the college knew, but his story of waltzing with Pratistha in the park besides the Jawahar Bridge when it rained was quite a story !


P.P.S. – I remember the day when I (who could never shake a leg) waltzed on a bridge on a rainy day with my love. 

funny story – she was super jealous when she got to know I had waltz on a bridge in rain with my first girlfriend in my graduation days and never let her make me dance anytime! I had to make it right 

For the complete series, visit - http://www.ashksymphony.com/p/the-creaking-chair.html

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