by welcome
“Well, she says I"ve a transparent face.”
“I admire men in love.”
“That means you"re in love yourself,” smiled Sathya wryly. “But are you lucky?”
“Not before I lost all hope.”
“I"m happy for you.”
“You"ve come up with an expressive design.”
“Nice you appreciate,” said Sathya feeling oneness with Chandra. “Surely you"ve a
feeling heart!”
“Is it the engagement ring?” asked Chandra as a way of enquiring though he knew from
Sathya"s demeanor it was not the case.
“It"s something of a safety ring,” said Sathya mysteriously. “Hopefully I"ll come back to
you for mangalasutrams.”
“I wish you would,” said Chandra extending his hand to Sathya.
“Thank you,” said Sathya as he shook Chandra"s hand. “Right now I"ve got jammed at
the cross-roads of confusion.”
“Sometimes it helps to talk it over,” said Chandra by way of inviting Sathya"s
friendship. “If you wish, you can make me your confidant.”
“You"re inviting trouble I suppose,” said Sathya heartily. “Don"t you know men in love
make a boring company?”
“You seem to be an interesting character,” said Chandra, laughing heartily.
“She says there can"t be another like me.”
“I suppose she's right,” said Chandra “You"ve a romantic face like I"ve never seen
before.”
“But she never said so,” said Sathya with a sense of disappointment.
“May I know her name?”
“Kala.”
“Honestly,” said Chandra, “I"m getting more and more curious.”
“Not now, but surely some other time,” said Sathya disarmingly. “I"m glad you"re
helping me out.”
“I have a feeling we might click well,” said Chandra as he extended his hand.
“It would be my privilege being your friend,” said Sathya warmly shaking Chandra"s
hand. “I would love to hear your love story some day.”
“Why not,” said Chandra equally warmly, “come out lucky and we shall exchange
notes.”
“I suppose, I need all the luck in the world now.”
“I wish tons of it anyway.”
“Thanks a lot for that!”
After introducing Sathya to the veteran and entrusting his work to him, Chandra
excused himself.
Reaching home, when Chandra told Nithya about his strange encounter with Sathya,
she was so much impressed to express her desire to see the lover who was in a quandary.
“Love seems to be your creed,” she said in the end affectionately. “And I love it.”
Though it was a week since Sathya collected the ring, Chandra was still thinking about
him. Somehow, he was eager for Sathya"s return and as he appeared shortly thereafter,
Chandra welcomed him heartily.
“Any good news?” said Chandra in welcome.
“It"s patchy at the most.”
“How did she like the ring?”
“Thanks for the trouble you"ve taken,” said Sathya gratefully, “she felt it"s out of the
world.”
“I"m glad to hear that,” said Chandra in reciprocation. “I"m all for taking more of such
troubles.”
“Now I"m going to trouble you in another way,” said Sathya in invitation. “as I"ve
reached the stage of compulsive outpour.”
“If you allow me to lend my ears,” said Chandra in jest, “you would get my heart free.”
“Over a couple of drinks, if you please,” said Sathya, “at my place, that is.”
“With pleasure,” he said enthusiastically, “tell me the landmarks.”
As he left the Princely Pearls, Sathya scribbled his Kacheguda address, and mapped the
route as well to enable Chandra reach his place without hassles.
Love in the Bind
“Welcome to smoke and dust,” said Sathya as he led Chandra into his first floor apartment.
“You smoke a lot it seems,” said Chandra, surveying the heaps of Four Square butts
lying all over the place.
“Ten packs a day,” said Sathya lighting another cigarette with the butt in hand, “and
that should give you an idea about my life and love right now.”
“Well, I touched four when I was in the rough,” said Chandra as he lit a Berkeley, “but
now I've cut down to two.”
“And your high was my regular quota,” said Sathya, mixing Black Knight for them.
“I"ve a feeling that your life is rather unusual,” said Chandra in anticipation, “that is,
considering that my own life is no run of the mill.”
“It looks like that,” said Sathya looking vacantly, “going by my past, not to speak of the
present.”
“I"m eager for your story of indiscretion,” said Chandra filling soda to the brim. “And
that"s what love is all about.”
“If no woman ever induced indiscretion in your head,” said Sathya raising his glass,
“then your heart may not be in the right place.”
“Well said,” said Chandra as he raised his as well.
“Cheers,” said Sathya.
“Cheers,” said Chandra clinking them.
“The saga begins in Calcutta,” began Sathya. “Have you ever been there?”
“No, but what I"ve heard about it is enough to make me not wanting to be there,” said
Chandra in jest.
“Then let me begin with Cal before I end up with Kala,” said Sathya, sipping from his
glass. “In a way the incongruities of my love are in sync with that city of contradictions. It"s
as if there is that identity crisis with the woman I love and the city in which she grew up.
While the visitors perceive it as a hole, the residents won"t like to swap it even with heaven
itself. Well, it has that coarse exterior but it has a sublime inner, unique to itself. The casual
visitors fail to grasp this, and that"s why the calumny that"s Calcutta. One understands that
if only one lives there for some length of time. With people and places alike, don"t we form
opinions from appearances? Oh, how people fail to see the soul of Cal! To start with, that"s
how I erred in Kala"s case too. But, once I thought I saw her inner self, I felt she is an angelic
soul.”
“For the same reason I was bitter for long,” said Chandra nostalgically, “that was, till
Nithya came into my life.”
“Tell me how?” said Sathya turning eager.
“We will talk about that later,” said Chandra concernedly. “But now your tale takes
precedence for it seems unresolved.”
“Oh, how nicely you"ve put it!” began Sathya as Chandra got ready not to drop a word.
“It was on 15th March that I reached Cal to join Goddard & Griffith. That was two years
ago and as a Purchase Officer for your detail. And it didn"t occur to me then that Caesar
was done in on the ides of March. Anyway, I was surprised at seeing a peon doubling up as
the receptionist at the office in 13, Camac Street. As I learned later, it was a different story
altogether. It seems the boss of the day fancied the then Miss. Receptionist and took her
under his romantic wings. And to further her professional cause as well, he made her a
Miss Purchase Assistant, what was worse, he installed a peon in her place. Though she was
found wanting at the purchase desk, yet he was making out to the higher-ups, that she was
reducing the lead periods. Why, that made the detractors sneer that the reference could be<
br />
to her own periods.”
Chandra had a hearty laugh followed by a strong puff of the Berkeley.
“As he was a man of substance, even otherwise, he moved up the ladder to the London
Office. The man who replaced him thought it fit to shift the favored Miss to where she
belonged. But the workers" union would have none of that. You know how shortsighted
these unions turn into when it comes to the company interests. And that left the office
reception in the rough hands of that semi-literate. One day, however, the bubble burst as
the younger brother of the company director came on a visit. In a case of classic mess up,
the peon informed the new head that someone from the Younger Brother & Co. came to call
on him. Aghast at what he saw, the irritated visitor reported the matter to his director
brother. It was that comedy of errors which triggered the move to recruit a proper
receptionist. It was thus that my fate had placed Kala at the reception before it led me into
the portals of the office. If you are a believer in numerology, 13 is a symbol of „power"
which if wrongly used will wreck destruction upon itself."
“Oh, the ides of March and 13, Camac Street!” said Chandra a little perplexed. “Were
you struck by lightning then?”
“On the contrary,” said Sathya reminiscently, “I wasn"t impressed by her at all. I found
her odd for she was a little plump with a fluffy face and nigger hair. Not the sort I would
fall for any day. Why, I told my colleague Gopal that she would be the last person to
interest me in the world.”
“Strange are the ways of love!” said Chandra, thinking about the turn of events with
Nithya. “What made you fall in love later?”
“As my job demanded a lot of telephonic talk, she was always on the line with me,” said
Sathya. “Well, she has a marvelous voice and a cultured accent but I was not amused as she
began transferring all and sundry calls to me. Once I lost my cool but apologized readily,
and from then on, I was courteous to her and she started giving priority to my calls. Soon
enough, we were on friendly terms and I began to see the positives of her persona.”
“As we established rapport, she exhibited a unique sense of humor that's intellectually
stimulating,” said Sathya as he drank the dregs and stuffed the Four Square butt. “When I
realized she has a bewitching smile and a seductive look besides, I was drawn to her. And
also seeing her competent and skilful she was at work, I was really amazed. So, I began to
seek her company at every turn and she too started flirting with me. What sense of humour
she has and what a conversationalist she is! I don"t expect seeing someone bettering her at
both. By allowing me to indulge, she had incited my passion for her. As I was groping in
the dark for an opening, she invited me to come home for tea.”
“Don"t I know what passion for possession does to man!” interjected Chandra,
recapping those tortuous times of his love. “I had gone through it myself.”
“Well, it was the rendezvous that changed my life, and brought me to where I"m now,”
continued Sathya reaching for the Black Knight. “Dressed in a dark blue Cali-cloth sari, she
was waiting for me in the first-floor balcony. Oh, how gorgeous she looked and how
obligingly I lost myself to her. But directed by her, as I went up the staircase on the side,
she came down half way, welcoming me warmly. After my introduction to her parents in
glowing terms, as we found ourselves alone in the drawing room, I ogled her charms and
she behaved endearingly. When I wanted to know more of her, she just fluttered her eyes
but as I pleaded with her to take me into confidence, she was in tears. Seeing my concern
for her written all over my face, she composed herself soon. Apologizing for spoiling the
party, she blamed her father for her plight. Maybe, as I couldn"t solace her with my hands,
my enamored eyes took it upon themselves to embalm her with empathy. When she said
she finds my company comforting, I felt the seeds of love sprouting in my bosom. After
extracting a promise from her that she would tell me all, I bade her good night. When I
stepped out into that by-road in the Lake Market, I felt she was as evocative as Cal itself.”
“Did you tell her about your first impressions of her?” asked Chandra.
“I haven"t, but I don"t know whether Gopal told her,” said Sathya applying his mind.
“After all, when it comes to women, men have their petty jealousies and tentative designs.
Now I wonder whether her ill-treatment of me had anything to do with her hurt vanity!
Anyway, how does that matter now?”
“Why, is it quits or what?”
“No, my love is in the bind as her fatal attraction is holding me in a vice-like grip,” said
Sathya having a sip as if to extricate himself from that. “Now I realize, if love makes you
blind, passion robs you of your reason as well. Add sentiment to that and you would have
a deadly mix that afflicts life itself. That"s what happened in my case. As I told you, I didn"t
find her physically attractive, to start with, that is. But as her intellectual qualities
stimulated my romanticism, I found her irresistibly attractive, what with her flirting
fuelling my desire further. Though I began craving for our romantic union, somehow, I was
sure it was not love. Neither was it lust. I was conscious about that when I went to her
house that evening but our interaction seemed to have affected my ethos itself. I fell in love
with her then and there and I was aware of that when I left her. I was familiar with the
changes love brings in the heart for I loved and lost more than once before. When I met her
at the office the next day, I experienced the joy of seeing a beloved. But she told her tale of
woes, in bits and pieces that too after much of prompting and that exorcised into pitying
her."
“What"s her story like?” asked Chandra seeing the similarities in their love stories.
“To make a long story short,” said Sathya enigmatically, “she and her younger sister
were born to the old man"s second wife. Cut up with their father for his second marriage
when their mother was still alive, her stepbrothers severed all ties with them. So, after his
retirement, as her father came to depend upon her earnings, he was averse to her marriage.
What"s worse, he made a nuisance of himself by throwing tantrums at trivial matters. The
only silver lining in her life is her uncle, an Appraiser in the Customs Department in Cal.
It"s he who got her this job and others before it. Well, I"d seen him a couple of times in our
office.”
“I found her story moving?” said Sathya gulping from his glass, “and feeling she was a
jewel-in-the-gutter, I was seized with an urge to wash her afresh with my love. So, on an
impulse, I proposed to her but she was not prepared to accept though she said she couldn"t
have hoped for a better man for husband. Well, to shore up my sagging morale, she blamed
her misfortune for she couldn"t take a hand like mine. When I said even after our marriage,
she can support her family; she said her predicament stemmed from a different ailment,
and being pressed, she came up with her own love story.”
“To tell you the truth,” said Chandra seeing their love stories run on parallel tracks, “I
thought
as much.”
“Imagine her being in love with the self-same uncle from her childhood,” continued
Sathya without apparent jealousy. “Since her father refused to marry them, he waited for
her for years, hoping that the old man would yield in the end. With the passage of time as
her father became more of a parasite on her, she prevailed upon her uncle to marry another.
Though deprived herself, she derived the satisfaction of seeing him turn into a family man.
But as his wife and children couldn"t wean his mind away from her, her uncle was stuck
with her emotionally. So, they are bound thick and thin in a platonic relationship.”
“What a catch,” said Chandra having sensed the parting of ways of their love stories,
“what"s there left to pursue anyway!”
“What was the judicious Yudhistar left with when he pursued the game after he lost his
kingdom and pawned his siblings as well?” said Sathya as though he was addressing the
question to himself. “Oh, didn"t he think it fit to bring their common wife to the table as
stake? Life and logic don"t seem to mix at all, and coming to my affair, I told you that it was
empathy that ruled my heart when I proposed to her. But her platonic plight only furthered
my sentiment and enhanced my resolve maybe for I found it challenging to win the heart of
a woman in love to assuage my ego of being a ladies" man. Somehow, it had always been
the recurring theme of my daydreams, probably borne out of my confidence, or is it vanity,
to win over women. I always knew I could attract women if I chose to, but somehow I cold-
shouldered the girls who craved for me. Maybe, it is their curse that haunts me now
making me unlucky in love! I do feel that my fate and psyche together played the part
when I made up my mind to win her over and make her my wife.”
“I always wanted to be a ladies" man myself but sadly couldn"t,” said Chandra
nostalgically. “I am glad to have met one and I want to hear all your stories in time.”
“Why not, but let this story take a proper turn though I don"t see it happening for now,”
said Sathya lighting one more Four Square. “No denying, I went to ludicrous lengths to win
her love and approval that compromised my position at the office. Yet as she remained
unrelenting, I wanted to give up in frustration and my parents too began looking for a girl
