April Two - A Night without End

Date :April 2^nd  Time : 22:30

“Cheers!!!” The beer mugs banged, the Celebrations had begun. After a long wait of Twenty Eight years, the dream of hundred & twenty one billion Indians had turned to reality & today we have won the “Cup”, the “ICC Cricket World Cup 2011”. The saga began with a boundary at the very first ball from Mr. Sehwag in the opening match against Bangladesh & ended up with the spectacular “SIX” from the bat of skipper, M.S. Dhoni over long off. We, me & Aarti, were just waiting for the moment, the winning runs from the Indian side, & with the winning Six, our beer mugs stroked, in celebration of Indian Victory. India was celebrating & so were we, in our own style.

Time : 23:45

            “Hurray!!! We won dear, we won. We have fucked them up. Fucked the bustards’ hic...Hic love you Sachin Paajiiiii….hic hic hurray hic….” I was repeating these words for the umpteenth time, not sure, but that was none of my fault, it was the two bottles of beer inside that was doing it all. The celebrations continued. I filled my mug from third bottle of beer when Aarti interrupted “Stop it Yash. You have already drunk a lot” She was still sipping few globules from her first beer but who the Hell is she to stop me. Who cares, I just looked at her & gulped half the mug in one go & then “hic hic…We Won… hic Hurray...” the beer effect again took over. She interrupted again, it had been better if I had joined my Gang to celebrate & enjoy, but no, I had to celebrate with Aarti, such a foolish idea, I cursed myself & then her. She said “Your phone buzzed, Message I guess.”

“Let it be” I said sipping my beer. She picked my phone to check the message. Girls are gifted with natural ability to suspect & she was no different. She muttered something again looking at me suspiciously.

“We Won Yash,

I know it’s a gr8 day 4 U.

U must be happy like anything

Even M 4 U,

Pls come back

Love you lots!! !”

I was celebrating & just sipping my beer with least interest in her words when the last three words astonished me, but I just smiled, I knew I was drunk & maybe it was mere illusion. I said nothing. She had not expected such outrageous reaction & so she shouted this time, “Who is She, tell me you Jack-ass, who is she. All you guys are Dogs, Fucking Dogs” Something was wrong, I realized & asked what had happened. She warned me not to act smart & to tell her about my girl friend. “Ohh so you want to know about my Girl Friend. Well I don’t have any but may be I’ll have one soon, if everything goes fine”

She gave me a horrifying look this time & her eyes demanded to heed the truth, just truth & nothing else. She tossed my cell phone in my hand & said, “I am asking about her. Now tell me or else….you know what I mean”. I read the entire message fewer times & then I looked at the number to identify the sender but it seemed to be an unknown one. I didn’t understand what had happened; I continued recalling identifying the number. Few moments later I realized that was Kamakshi’s message. I tried to convince Aarti giving her fake reasons, myriads of excuses, I tried anything to everything, but nothing worked. The effect of the beer I was gulping, just disappeared into thin air. For Gods Sake! This wasn’t the moment to share my past. The country was celebrating and even I wanted to do the same. I tried to create some diversions to the topic but failed miserably in my attempts. Alas!! I ran out of options and I had to tell her the truth, the truth about my last girl friend, and so I began………     

May, Last year

It was 10:35, as the office clock indicated, late as always, although it was just second day in my new project. I had just got released from my last project & have joined new project, getting a new Project Manager & new team mates. I switched my computer “ON” when a voice broke up “Ohh! you are here Yash”, my new Project Manager said walking towards me in reply to which I nodded & greeted him “Good Morning Sir.”

“Good morning” He inquired mildly “Did you get stuck in traffic Jam?” which seemed to be most familiar excuse to him.

“No sir actually….” & I explained him the entire episode of an extremely new excuse that he had never heard. I told him how I got shock from the electric geyser in the morning & that I had to call an Electrician to get the repair done preventing any major mishap in future.

“Ohh Ok. I hope you are all right now” He added “Anyways she is Kamakshi, she will be working with you in this project.”

I looked at her, a beautiful girl wearing a Blue Salwar Kameez with a white dupatta, her long silky flowing hair, and her deep eyes with a hint of kajal which had made them even deeper.

“She is already there in this project for 3 months & will…………” My project manager tried to pull my attention, while I was just looking her & was lost dreaming about her, which made me looked at him finally thought it was damn hard to keep eyes off from such an incredible beauty.

“Hi, Yash” I introduced myself putting my hand forward.

She stretched her hand too “Hi, I am Kamakshi Bhardwaj. Welcome to the project.” I continued to look in her deep hazel eyes which sparkled like pearls & she threw a killer smile on me. Her killer smile just slaughtered my senses.

Our respected PM was watching the entire episode, to which he finally broke his silence, “Why don’t you guys sit together. Kamakshi would explain the project, client’s requirements, & everything else” the generous PM’s did his job, he added, “Kamakshi, I hope you are comfortable with the project”

“Yes sir sure” she nodded “I’ll take care.” The PM left from there.

“Why don’t you join me for a coffee” She asked “& then we shall discuss the project details”

“Sure, I would love to have a cup of coffee” I replied meekly to Kamakshi, who was sporting another beautiful smile to which I continued adding “especially with you.”

“Why me”

“You are just too beautiful”, I complimented her “I am sorry, pls don’t take it otherwise but I just can’t help appreciating your beauty & it will be a honor to have a coffee with a gorgeous lady like you, I mean you look dazzling.”

“Lady?” she interrupted me.

“Oh! em! Girl! I meant to say”  

“Not bad at all” she said beaming “you are a big flirt, I must say. So, on how many girls have you tried this dialogue? But let me tell you these dialogues are not going to do any good here Mr. so all your efforts will be in vain”

“Why, are you in love with some other guy?” 

“No” she condemned sipping her hot fresh first coffee of the day.

I did the same, yet looking into her eyes which were looking at me only. Silence & now the eyes started chatting rather.

  

A week later, it was almost 2:30 in the afternoon, she was sitting just opposed to me, clearly visible with just a Glass wall between both of us which couldn’t stop me gaze at her, I couldn’t stop myself either as she gathered my attention every time she attempt to gather her hairs to put them back with her soft white hands.

She raised her eye brows harmonizing her beautiful smile, looking around ensuring no-ones presence & said “Would you like to have lunch Mr. Flirt or will you keep starring like that” she walked towards me.

“I would love to stare at you for the rest of my life” I flirted “Its better to descend in these beautiful deep eyes rather”

“No ways Mr. & would you stop flirting now” she locked my computer screen & turned off my monitor. We started walking to the cafeteria to grab our food & I felt really hungry. “So how many GF’s have you got Mr.?” she inquired.

“May be I have one soon if everything goes fine” She was a witty lady who understood whom I was pointing at, but she replied even more shrewdly “Oh who is that? She Might be some of your former colleague. Right?”     

“Wrong” I shook my head, our eye balls collided yet again & they started talking putting our mouths to silence.

“Does that mean you don’t have any girl in your life these days” she said putting emphasis on her last two words. She broke the silence at the canteen table while I was just concentrating on my food.

“As in? Would you please elaborate?” I said.

“I mean you can tell something about your ex-girlfriends”

“I tried badly several times to have one but I failed in every attempt”

“Just shut up Mr. Liar” she honored me with one more title, one after Mr. Flirt.

“Why? I mean do I look like son of Brad Pitt or what” I asked “I mean why you gals don’t trust genuine souls like mine?”

“Let me have a look Mr. Flirt. Umm!!Ehh!! Not that good” she added after a pause “but not that bad even. You don’t look that bad at least, good at heart with utter sense of humor & more over, you are a big time flirt”

“Thanks. Nice compliments” I said, I still wondered to take them as comment or compliment, whatever, I added “so does that mean I can make any girl fall in love with me?”

She nodded “Not exactly everyone but yes many of them for sure” she opened her hairclip & refastens it.

“What about you? Had I made any good impression to this lovely lady” I took her soft white hands in mine & we went to silence leaving our eyes chatting. “You are going too fast Mr. Flirt” she said after almost 8-10 minutes of me holding her hand looking into each other eyes “We just met a week before”.

“And, it seems like we knew each other since years” I continued to her pause.

***********************************************************************

“Nothing to feel bad about, but not in office; what if Vipin sir had seen it.”

The chatting on SMS had already begun. The message details showed that the message was received at 1:39 A.M., sender Kamakshi. This was a message in reply to mine in which I asked “Hope you didn’t mind me holding your hand”.

Oh, you must be wondering about who’s Vipin Sir. So let me introduce him, though you all had already met him, yes right, Vipin Sir is the same PM who introduced me to Kamakshi, assigned us the same project. I would have just killed him if he had not done so & if he had tried to flirt with her. He was a man in middle forties with ugly moustache & thick glasses. He must be having 3-4 kids at home. How the hell can he even try to flirt with a beauty like Kamakshi. She was just half his age & that bastard is still trying to flirt with her. I know all these men are bastards. They all are dogs & all run for one & the same thing from girls. But I won’t let Vipin to do any such thing. I would just kill him. I planned a conspiracy how he will meet with an accident involving a truck on his way to home & if he survived by any chance then I will throw him in the river. All these thoughts filled my mind on listening Vipin Sir’s name. But, actually Vipin was a nice guy, who introduced Kamakshi to me & let us works together, giving me a chance to interact with her & to come close to her. I wanted to thank him but I wouldn’t otherwise his suspicion will turn into indemnity.

“No one will see & I don’t care even if any one does” I replied to her message.

Her next message came with a blast “Why would you care. It’s me who’s the girl not you & it’s my integrity. You may never understand” She sounded emotional.

“Hey nothing like that honey. I understand that & respect girl’s integrity. I will take care. Don’t worry” I replied. I just hated typing SMS’s on cell phone. One need to press 5 thrice to type the letter “L” or even worse press 7 four time to type letter “S”. Such a tedious task, but I had to do that as I was chatting with a beautiful girl & its hard to avoid them, Girls, the most beautiful creature ever created.

“What’s your plan for tomorrow?” I asked about her plan for the weekend.

“Nothing much, you tell”, in reply to her, I invited her for a “Cup of Coffee”

We meet at Barista for the first time outside office & since then it had become a regular schedule to meet not just at weekends but even after office hours, to roam together almost everyday, till mid night sometimes & spending time together for the next 8 months.

It was already 1:40 & I had told Aarti, all about Kamakshi. Celebration for Indian Victory was still on; I heard guys hooting, crackers still bursting & what not. 

“So you still love her & you never even told me about her”, Aarti said, “You never told me about another girl in your life.”   

I told Aarti everything about her, even about her Birthday night when I was at Kamakshi’s place for the whole night sharing same bed with but I told her proudly that nothing happened between the two of us & that we broke up a week later.

.

“Yash don’t misunderstand. We should stop it here itself that’s better for both of us. I’m Sorry” That was the last message from Kamakshi, I told her.

Time 02:45

I looked at her. Her face went dull, even redder then ever & suddenly the tears rolled down her cheeks. I was astonished to see her crying; after all it was me who should have cried for losing a beautiful girl & receiving her message today, after four odd months. But No, it’s the Female Community who have got all the rights reserved.

“You’ll leave me too” she whimpered, “I know, All you Guys are dogs, you left her because you got nothing from her. I know all you guys are dogs.”

“Excuse me” I protested “Would you please mind your language” & then I told her how we broke up or I should rather say she broke up because she was a Brahmin girl, a community that I didn’t belong to. She was daughter of a Brahmin Colonel who was a strict disciplined & religious man who saw two of us dating & then he emotionally blackmailed his daughter. He wanted her to marry Nirvan, a Lieutenant in Army, his friend’s son. So she couldn’t go against her dad’s wish & her dad would never agree to our relationship, she informed and so we had to end our relationship; that’s how we broke up. I told her everything. I looked at her, she was still crying. I wiped out tears from her face & then few stupid words sounded from nowhere; I never knew how those stupid words can erupt from mine inner self.

“I can’t promise you perfection,

B’cos that’s not who I’m,  

“I can’t promise you forever,

B’cos I don’t hold Fate in my hands,

“I can’t promise you Sunshine,

B’cos there will be Rain at times,

“I can’t promise you Happiness,

B’cos true Love comes with a lot of Pain,

“I can’t promise to make you Smile everyday,

B’cos Life knows to make us Cry,

“I can’t promise you that I will stay Strong,

B’cos sometimes it’s hard to give life a second chance.

I know I am not perfect,

But I Promise,

To give up whom I am,

Promise to hold your hand when Fate challenges us,

Promise to cover your Head when Rain is pouring,

Promise to heal you when in Pain,

Promise to wipe your tears when Life makes you Cry,

Promise to give you unlimited chances till the Time I die."

She cupped my lips instantaneously, breaking her silence “Don’t you ever dare to speak of Dying; I’ll kill you for that.”

“What?”

“I love you, I just Love you, I can’t live with you” She said, her face so near to mine that I could sense her breathe, she went silent & within few moments her Lips collided with mine. I took her in my arms, “I Love You Too” I said kissing her petal-soft pink lips & continued to live those moments. It was a night that India didn’t sleep, neither did we, me & Aarti. India celebrated that whole night & so did we, making love the entire night. It was a “Night without End” that India will never forget, neither will I, indeed!!!