Its Saturday, The last working day of the week. The scenario in the office is totally different then the usual. Saturdays in office usually passes in a blink of an eye in eagerness for Sunday. Even though the work might be as usual but the mood today is completely different, today all the colleagues have planned for a get together party. An excited Rajesh who always loves such initiatives is eagerly waiting for the boss to arrive since morning so as to get his XUV car for the party. As the boss arrives in the office and completes his routine rounds of the workshop and enters in his cabin, an enthusiast Rajesh reaches his office and asks for permission for his car. Now the time was fixed for 2 O clock to go for the Party.
The girls in the office complained to Rajesh, “We too wanna come for the party”.
“Just a few days more...A big party awaits you” answered Rajesh.
“Party’? The puzzled girls asked.
“Just wait and watch” answered Rajesh as he left the girls on tenterhooks and proceeded towards his desk.
It was now 2 in the afternoon. All had occupied their seats in the car but Rajesh was nowhere to be seen. After 15-20 minutes of waiting, finally the prince had arrived. All were eagerly waiting to pounce on him.
“I already left the office before all of you, but the boss had called me for an urgent work”, a petrified Rajesh answered defending himself.
On getting to know that Manoj is giving the party who is commonly known to be stingy, all were stupefied. A Tricenarian Manoj was still single and was always at the centre of all jokes. If any one would even jokingly talk about arranging his marriage he would take it seriously. But today Manoj was facing a double edged sword—one about his marriage and the other about the party that he was about to give.
Chubby Triwedi begins to play a prank.
“Oh Manoj,” is Your wedding on the cards”?
“No, Not yet. I received a lot of proposals but nothing finalised yet. Now I am afraid whether or not I will ever get married. You all are very lucky. Now even I am very tensed. Anyway...”
Now Manoj pulled me in the picture so all paused at the prank and started the discussion seriously, But Mr. Trivedi was in no mood to give up so easily and so he further continued...
“Any Love affair”?
Hearing about Love made Manoj a bit serious so he paused for a while and suddenly the poet within him whispered gently,
“Kya Paya teri pyaar me,
Paya kya humne khak?
Kati kalai, juban bhi kati,
aur kat gai naak”
[“What did I found in your Love,
Nothing but a dime?
Slit my wrist and my tongue,
Now even my Respect is lost...”]
Manoj further turned gloomy....sadness drew up his face as if a ghost from the past had haunted him. Coming to his senses he suddenly turned on Mr. Trivedi’s question.
“Not understood even a word Manoj”,a puzzled Mr. Trivedi replied.
Clearing his throat, Manoj began...
Her name was Rageshwari...we both were together since our childhood days in play school. Even our houses were in the same street. As we entered our grade 1 our school changed and was located on the outskirts of our village. We both used to have fun together and our fun doubled on our journey back to our homes from school. Even though she was a girl, she would join us in all our games be it cricket, marbles and so on. She was genius in studies too. We had a tough competition between us on who would secure the highest marks. As we began stepping up in life so did we begin to leave our childhood behind. Now slowly and steadily she was maturing into a complete Women. Even through all this we were still best friends. Our school in the village was only up to the 10 grade and eventually as life would have it we took admissions in different schools in the city. After our 10 grade we were much more focussed on our studies as the upcoming two years would be deciding years for our careers. Our friendship was unbreakable and our minds were fully focussed on our studies. With this dedication, none of us realised that two years passed by and our board exams too. This was the exam on which were completely focussed and had everything at stake. It was the last day of our final exams and as we came out of the exam hall on completion of our paper....
“How was your exam”?, I enquired.
“great”, she replied.
“Now lets wait for our results”
“yes...Now God knows what's in the future for us...”
“and even this can happen that this could be our last day together”, I replied.
“we both grew up together since our childhood, playing, studying and having fun together. How quickly we grew up not realising how quickly time made its way through our journey.”
“Okay, Lets do something wild today”.
“Yeah, Lets have some fun”
“Wanna go for a movie”? I placed my proposal.
“I had thought about this a few months ago that after our exams we should plan for a movie”,
It looks like you just took the words out of my mouth Manoj”. She giggled.
And in this way we began walking towards the movie hall right from our examination centre. The movie had already begun, but who cared about the movie?...on one side the movie was running on the big screen and parallel to that on the other our sweet little chatters. As the movie was closing on towards the end, our love story was just taking its course...Even before the movie ended we had proposed our love for each other and promised to keep each others hearts forever as we moved forward in life.
It was two to three months now since our examination was completed. Our results had been declared...our results were fair enough so as to secure us our seats in engineering college. After watching the movie together that day, we still did not have a chance to spend time together all by ourselves. Now in order to fill up the admission form in the city, we had a chance to travel together. Now even I had a bike. So seizing the opportunity, we both travelled to the city on my bike. This was our first outing together after our commitment to each other. Now everything was looking great, after getting good results we were overwhelmed and had great expectations from the future. there was no one to stop us. The process of filing of admission forms were completed in a short while as we reached the city.... Then it was our time. We watched movie together, had lunch in restaurant and spent quality time together in the city garden biting on each other shares of Ice cream. as it was getting dark, we began our journey back to our village. But as we reached our homes the scenario completely changed. Chills of fear were felt by both of us. someone had seen us at the restaurant and had kept a watch on us the whole day. He was from Rajeshwari’s family. He reached home before us and had said everything that he had seen to Rajeshwari’s father. As I was slowly parking my bike and entering my house, he yelled at me and charged towards me... Slowly and steadily people gathered around us... before hearing anything he slapped me. I felt as if some one has broken all my teeth in a shot. To be honest I even kept my hands on my mouth to check if any of my teeth has been lost. Till the time I could realise anything, I was abused and slapped all along. By the rime I regained senses, I felt sores of swelling all over my body just as one has the feeling of holding potatoes in ones hand. Slowly and steadily the swellings came down but the pressure to leave the village just kept on increasing. I had secured admission in Mechanical engineering in a college in Ahmedabad. I was aware of the criticisms that my parents were facing because of me by the villagers. As I got a job in Ahmedabad after completion of my Engineering I called my Mom over to stay with me. Now I am well settled in my job but the dream of my mother to see me getting married is still...
“And what about Rajeshwari”, Mr Trivedi inquired.
“Now I am not interested in knowing about her. I just know that she completed her engineering and now has been married.”
“Did you not try to contact her”?
“No.... Mom had taken a vow from me. And for me nothing is greater then the love of my parents,,, they had to face so much because of me. I could not give them any more trouble. I have no hard feelings for Rajeshwari. She must have faced a lot more criticisms than me. Where ever she might be I just hope that she is happy. If life permits us to meet again I would just love to tell her that I hold no grudges against her in my heart but I just regret that we could not be one....I guess that this is what life is.
Saying this Manoj concluded. All realised the reason of why Manoj was the way he was.
The car now reached Raja Bhel centre and all ordered their favourite bhels waiting eagerly for their mouthwatering dishes.
“Bhaiyyaji, My Raja special Bhel with extra chutney”, ordered Rajesh getting down from his car and eagerly ordering his dish.
By nature Mr. Rajesh is a very calm person, but when it comes to his Bhel he aggressively becomes impatient. After ordering his own dish, he asked Bhaiyyaji to note down the order of all of us as per our taste.
“A Punjabi Bhel for me”, ordered the one and only sardarji of our company Mr. Kawaljit.
“Make a Chinese Bhel for me”, Sumeet our dispatch clerk ordered.
“My sev puri Bhel”, Ordered Mr. Tambe our planning in charge.
“Make chhana Bhel for me Bhaiyyaji”, A protein filled proposal from Nishit.
“whatever these people ordered, a platter consisting of all of them for me”, Mr. Trivedi Played his master stroke.
Worried by the jumbo order of Mr. Trivedi, Manoj ordered his plate at last. “I want a simple one for me”.
“you’ll have a simple wedding one day”, all exclaimed in one voice.
“Oh! I’m talking of a simple Bhel not a simple wedding”, roared back Manoj angrily.
“just chill down and enjoy the Bhel”, Calming Manoj down whispered Rajesh gently.
One by one all the orders of everyone started arriving and all Attacked their favourite dishes. All had completed except for one, Mr. Trivedi who was still playing his innings calmly. Till then all kept their chatting among themselves. Rajesh asked Bhaiyyaji,
“how much the bill amounts to” and asking this he removed his wallet to pay the bill.
“Money had already been paid by Brother Manoj while you all were ordering. He quietly placed a 1000 Rupee note in my hand and gestured that we will settle the bill later.” replied Bhaiyyaji.
All astonishingly gazed at Manoj.
“yes its always Mr. Rajesh who plans the party on someone’s name and usually pays the bill in the end always, so this time I decided to pay”. Answered Manoj.
“wow! Manoj Great!... Thank you very much” everyone cheered in joy clapping hands for Manoj.
Now the Bhel party came to an end. All occupied their seats once again in the car and left for the office. After reaching office all proceeded towards their desk to complete their share of work. Now in an hour it was time to enjoy the weekend till Monday morning.
After completing his work, Nishit left the office and proceeded towards his bike thinking all along how he would spend his weekend as he did not have a big friend circle. Also it was not in his hobby to enjoy movies or to visit places, so he was waiting now for Monday morning to begin his work once again. As he was lost in his fantasies a poor boy approached him and asked him to wait. Nishit stopped the bike and asked the kid...
“Yes kiddo, tell me, what Happened”?
In reply to his answer the kid placed a small chit in his hands. Surprised, Who had sent this message through this kid and on enquiry the kid pointed out his finger towards....
