No matter where you are in your life, you may regret choosing the wrong love.
You may repent of some bitter deeds you committed in the past.
What is it like if life luckily gave us a second chance? Can those issues be resolved at least then for a better life?
For instance, what about love in middle age?!?!
"Happy Sunday!", greeted Ishitha, switching on her video on the zoom call. She smiled and greeted Raftaar, her meeting host as he turned on his video. "Namaste Ishitha Ji! Welcome to my online counseling", invited Raftaar, joining his hands and nodding. "How did you hear about me?", enquired he, adding that he needed a few details for the sake of formalities after which he would begin counseling her. "Nisha Verma is my school friend. For the past few days, I have been feeling lonely. I shared my feelings with her that she suggested to meet you", answered Ishitha, taking a white card and bringing it closer to her laptop screen. He nodded at 'Raftaar's Counseling' written in bold green on a white background. His name and degree fell on the footer of his visiting card which had his business line in the middle:'Book your online consultation right now and I will fight your worries!"
"That's great!", exclaimed Raftaar. "Thank you, Nisha Ji", he turned away from the screen and cheered at the closed door of his room. As Ishitha chuckled, Raftaar smiled, justifying, "Ishitha Ji, Nisha will hear me." He locked the fingers of his hands, announcing, "Friendship, neighborhood, and telepathy." The two laughed and he began, "So, what are you, Ishitha? Nisha never mentioned you to me. Are you really thick friends?"
Ishitha shrank her eyes, arguing, "Oh, please! We have been besties since our tenth grade. Back during the 90s, we were in touch through letters and then emails, and finally", she showed her iPhone and concluded, "Phones!" As he chuckled, she doubted, "I doubt if you are such a thick friend of hers. Are you, indeed? Or just being over-confident?" He burst a round of laughter. She shrugged, commenting, "No, Raftaar. It wasn't funny at all! I am serious about my friends. I don't care if you are the kind of person who makes friends for granted. Perhaps, that's why you live alone!"
"Cool Ishitha Ji, please calm down. I am sorry. I was only playing around", apologized Raftaar, reasoning, "Perhaps, Nisha never spoke about you to me as we were strangers till now."
"Exactly!", screamed Ishitha, adding, "Why do you overact? I wonder if you counsel all your clients in this manner. Weird!" Raftaar burst out another round of laughter. "Now I believe that you and Nisha are besties", declared he. "What a turncoat you are? What did you infer? I didn't say anything...", questioned Ishitha.
"Listen, I am a psychologist. Ain't I?", began Raftaar, at which Ishitha nodded readily. He went on, "I believe more when I correlate two minds, analyze and understand. Nisha too found me a little weird the first time we met on the road. She mistook me to be flirting with her! She later remarked that I had been a little creepy with my over-sweet behavior. And you too! You are the only two who ever found me a little strange", laughed Raftaar, correlating their reactions. Ishitha slammed her forehead and laughed her heart out.
"Wait, did she ever tell you about me apart from the counseling?", enquired Raftaar. Ishitha shook her head and they figured out, in chorus, "We don't know each other!" They smiled again. Ishitha sent a thumbs-up on the virtual meet. Raftaar acknowledged the same with the smiley wearing sunglasses. Ishitha grabbed the remote beside her and turned on the AC behind her. She introduced herself, "I work as a faculty in Rishi University."
"Great!", acclaimed Raftaar, clapping and asking, "Which department?"
"Computer Science", replied she. He then introduced that he was a senior marketing manager at Lily shampoos.
"What's bothering you, Ishitha Ji?", asked Raftaar, beginning the counseling session. "Sir...", started she, at which he gestured for her to stop and shrugged. He looked around and asked her, "Were you addressing me as 'Sir'?" She nodded at which he ordered her to address him only by his name. "Sir madam and so on exist only in your Engineering college. This is my session! Understand?" They smiled again as she chuckled a bit.
"Yep. So, Raftaar, I have been living alone for years. I have always been fine with being home alone for I was always occupied with work. Yes, even now, I am busy with work yet I feel lonely nowadays. I talk to my friends over call, check out social media, and catch up with old colleagues yet I feel incomplete missing my family in Chicago. My elder sister, her family, and my parents visit me at times. They even advise me to shift abroad for the best opportunities and growth in my career. But, I feel sick about leaving my homeland and living far away. It just doesn't suit me. I can't settle somewhere else. However, my family is settled there. I miss them but I don't want to leave Delhi!", narrated Ishitha.
"Okay, I understand. But, it's hard to find patriotic citizens like you, Ishitha Ji. Our younger generations wait for a chance to flee abroad but you...wow!Hats off to you!", acclaimed he, standing up, moving back by a few steps and saluting at her. She smiled and thanked him. He sat back, gulped a mouth or two of water, and placed his bottle back on the study. He further enquired, "So, did you ever consider the option of getting married? Or, are you already married? Because you didn't mention your marital life..."
She shook her head, citing, "I had always been busy with research and lecturing-my passion that I never gave other things a thought. I feel incomplete but not due to the absence of a spouse. I just don't understand why! I miss my family but can't help it. I don't know what to do!" He nodded, folded his hands, and sat back. He sighed, suggesting, "Try a new hobby or catch up with an old hobby. Let's see if it will help"
"Oh!", exclaimed Ishitha, nodding and supporting, "That's a cool idea. It has been years since I did my hobbies. I guess the last time I ever sang was back during college. I hope it was the reason..."
"Have you ever loved anyone?", Raftaar interrupted her. She shook her head, at which he asked, "Didn't your parents or other friends convince you?" She nodded, revealing, "But, they are themselves. I am myself. I attended many of their weddings too-guys and girls yet I didn't feel anything. I don't know why. I somehow feel that relationships aren't my cup of tea because I doubt if I can be stern and commit myself to it..."
Raftaar smiled, sharing, "It was nice talking to you, Ishitha. This is the first time I spoke to a unique client like you. In most of my cases, through my years of experience, love and relationships have been the primary cause of loneliness, depression, anxiety, and more mental issues. I like the way you see things. Keep it up!" She thanked him as they waved and hung up before which Ishitha said she would pay her fee through NEFT and Raftaar nodded.
"She too never felt like loving!", thought Raftaar, yawning and extending his hands. "I can only count two who never felt the need to fall in love. Most people are mad in love like Nisha and Alok! Look at Ishitha!", wondered he, sighing again and smiling to himself.
Ramlal whistled as he dusted his master's car, with a piece of cotton orange cloth. He heard the gate open behind him. He turned back and blushed at Sarla. He waved and greeted her, "Hi pretty darling!" She faked a smile, left her slippers, and rushed inside the house. He ran behind, buttering her, "Sarla, red bangles, red salwar, and red slippers too! Pretty red riding hood!" She bet his hand and gestured for him to stay quiet. She complained in a breath, "I must cook Alok saahab's lunch before the clock strikes one. I am already running out of time. Stop distracting me further!..."
"Good morning!", greeted Dr.Alok, entering the hall from his bedroom. Tears of sleepiness accumulated in his eyes as he closed his mouth with his hands and yawned. Ramlal too yawned along, smiling at his master and proving, "Yawns spread quickly. I got it today!" Sarla joined her hands and pleaded, "I am sorry...Your lunch isn't ready yet...My daughter was pestering me. I couldn't leave..."
"No issues!", excused Alok, filling a small plastic mug with tap water from the common wash basin. He gobbled his mouth as his surprised servants shrugged at each other. "How come he is so cool?", whispered Sarla. "Sahab slept and woke up. It has been almost two days since he met that Nisha ma'am. Seems like her love is still supplying a good fuel for his heart to pump. He seems to be in an excellent mood these days...", Ramlal whispered to Sarla as their boss brushed his teeth. As Alok blushed looking at himself in the mirror and leveled his hair like a teenager going for his first date, Sarla pointed it out to Ramlal and they chuckled secretly.
"I will cook our lunch today. Sunday special!", announced Dr.Alok, making his way to the kitchen. Ramlal and Sarla threw their mouths open at each other. Their heads spun as Ramlal whispered to her, "What did Nisha do to our sahib, darling? He drove the other day and is cooking today." "She just proposed again. Why is Sahab affected so much?", wondered Sarla. They stood beside the wall marking the kitchen's entrance.
"Sexy! Nisha medam loves me! Twenty-eight years!! Yippee!", exclaimed Dr.Alok, blushing and throwing the onions and tomatoes upward. As they fell back, he chopped them perfectly in the air and the pieces acted as if they were programmed; they fell right inside the opened mixi. Ramlal burped and Sarla placed her finger on the lips.
As Alok added some pieces of tamarind to boiled cold water in a vessel, he mixed it manually. He blushed more, recollecting: "I have always loved only you, Alok. Why can't love be reciprocated?..", said Nisha, standing up, sobbing, and running away. "Divorce Payal...Don't you dare meet me again. Go away!", cried Nisha; he shrugged and sighed, recollecting her cute angry expression: her mudded angry face in tears. He recollected kissing the ant's bite on her hand. When he regained his consciousness, he chuckled at seeing himself kissing his hand and kissing it again!
"Sahab is mad. Call the ambulance!", informed Ramlal. Sarla bet his head, defending, "Sahab is mad in love. Every lover is mad including you!" He leaned forward and let his fingers through her hair, teasing, "Oh! Whom do I love, my darling?"
Alok smelled the pooris he fried on the medium-sized frying pan. "Nisha has been loving me for the past twenty-eight years yet her love sounds so fresh just like these pooris. How did you do this, Nishoo?", thought he, dropping a ball of wheat inside. A drop of oil fell on Sarla. Ramlal wiped it off with the car's cloth although she insisted that she was fine. "Aww! Even my husband doesn't care about me. You should have entered my life earlier. Why didn't you?", whispered Sarla, as they smiled at each other with tears.
"Yummy!", appreciated Sarla, as the three sat and dined together. "Cooking is like swimming for me! If you have a good grip when you learn it the first time, it's your day whenever you return to it after days, after months, or even after years!", bragged Alok, tasting the first bite. "Channa masala too is tasty. You are an all-rounder, sahib!", Ramlal added. "No wonder why Nisha ma'am has been loving you for years...", said Sarla. Alok cut her, revealing, "No, I was away from cooking back during college. I learned it when I went abroad for my research."
"Sahab has got talent!", screamed Ramlal, at which the three laughed. "Then, why did you hire me? You could only cook daily right, Sahab?", questioned Sarla. Alok chuckled, explaining, "Cooking, the art, ought to be relished. I can't do it in hurry-burry daily."
A while later, Dr.Alok volunteered to collect and wash their plates. "Sahab, why are you serving us?...", enquired Ramlal. "Understand one thing- your boss has recently been in a very good mood and will hereafter be! Take a leave tomorrow and spend some time with your family!", granted Dr.Alok.
"Aww! It's the first time I have ever seen our boss happy in these two months. I wish he gets his Nisha soon", hoped Sarla. Ramlal nodded, observing, "This is the best side I saw in him since he shifted here to Delhi. Nisha madam and Alok sir should be together this time. No devil should stop them."
"It's not fair that the source of your happiness is deep under the ocean and you live in the clouds. They too deserve a happy married life. I hope they become a couple soon!", added Sarla. Ramlal then pushed a bite of poori into her mouth and they smiled at each other.
Will Sarla and Ramlal's wishes come true? Is Dr.Alok sure of his feelings for Nisha at least now?
Dear readers,
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