05-08-2019, 09:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-08-2019, 09:50 PM by Antar. Edited 1 time in total. Edited 1 time in total.)
House of Dolls …
Normally, my stay at the Singapore HQ used to last two days and three at most. This time, however, I found myself being detained for over a week, that too on some non-serious issues at the HQ. My restlessness grew. Before, I had left NY, I had been entrusted with another resource restructuring project. I had tried to impress upon Mr. Ching that the project did indeed need my presence at the NY office but somehow, he didn’t seem to share my sense of urgency.
“Take little time off”, he advised me instead, “helps long running machine.”
Curiously again unlike other times, when HQ visit would mean working late into the evening that included meetings with the board and other top bosses; this time, I was totally free for the whole time after lunch. So my mind used to wander, and it was in the inevitable direction there – so much so that – Preeti had marched upto me once in the office and fiercely whispered “Stop thinking about little Ramesh and stop smiling at nothing inside the office”.
“Go to hell”, I shouted at her retreating back.
Daily after work, Preeti drove me to her house and there I used to relax in her company with a drink and dinner. Later on, she would dial a cab for me and I would return to the company guest house.
I asked her about her mother and her younger sibs. Her brother was writing his masters thesis at that time. He had already had several firm job offers and seemed to be all set. The sister, who was married, was all set for her first stint at motherhood.
Maybe it was the effect of a drink too many or it might have been that I was feeling maudlin the whole day and looking at Preeti’s bustling in the kitchen – I felt a constriction in my chest. There she was toiling away merrily, she who had been used like a tissue paper by our ex boss Rao. No doubt she had worked her way up, with fate arriving in the form of Mr. Ching. She was close to being established professionally as well as being a sterling model of a daughter and sister to her family back in India. But was that all that was there to life for her!
I departed early for the guest house.
Back in my room, the thoughts wouldn’t leave me. I had plenty of time to ponder about the latest curve ball that life had chucked at me. On the one hand, there was Kajol, and what was I to do with her now? There were a cupboard full of memories that I had forcibly shut away long back – the years of young love and navigating together during the early years of struggle. Both of us then believed that she would be able to find a job in the respectable field of academia and that would stabilize our financials, given that, I was then in image consultancy where the future prospects were unpredictable. And after that only - then there would have been family considerations …
I had to take decide in a manner that would be best for Kajol, Riz as well as for our child. Having arrived at my room, I had laid in bed chasing the recent kaleidoscopic images of the past week. My emotions were tumultuous. I tossed about in the bed for a couple of hours and sleep wouldn’t still come. Finally, nearing midnight, I got out of bed and rang up Preeti.
“Ramesh, what’s up?” There was concern in her voice.
“Ei sorry dear, couldn’t sleep. Hope not disturbing you …”
“Oh ok! “, I sensed the relief in her voice. “Wild thoughts, eh? You looked preoccupied today.”
I paused trying to think of what to say…
But her voice came over “You know what, I think you have dialed the wrong number this time …” she chuckled.
“Preeti, stop trying to play cupid! You of all people should know that the problem is not that simple.”
In the maddeningly infuriating manner that the fair sex sometimes employ to display their thoughts, with scant regard to logic or reason, she continued, as if she hadn’t heard my admonitions.
“The problem lies in India but our NYC honcho is trying to fix things in Singapore. By the way, which idiot did coin that name ‘Brains’ for you, eh!”, she added for effect.
I thought it over a bit. She was stating the obvious.
“Preeti, I love you. Thanks dear.”
“Huh! Wish I had heard that when I lived with the man for months.” She replied facetiously.
I laughed out loud and she did join me.
And all at once, the stiffness from my chest was gone. I felt clearheaded after a long time…
With a grin, I looked up the Kolkata number in the cell phone.
It was Riz’s sleepy voice which answered after a series of rings and I realized that I had dialed to the landline number rather than to Kajol’s mobile.
“Hey, what’s up you guys? Dinner over?”, I burst out, too glad to hear the familiar voice.
“Whoo? Aa, Ramesh …”, I heard him yawning audibly, “What’s the matter?”
“No, no, just wanted to hear your all voice.”
“Voices?”, he slurped, “Ssale, do you know what time it is! Everyone is asleep.”
Suddenly, I came to my senses. I had totally forgotten about the time difference.
“You bloody Fucker”, it was so relaxing to lapse back to childhood slang with this friend, “you got to play with my boy-toy all the time while, here I am stuck up with my own thoughts and yet, yet ….”
Riz’s chuckled. “Ok, ok, got it ssale. Little one may get up yaar. …. also I am really tired now … and there is office tomorrow … you talk with Kajol … wait, let me go to her room …
There was a brief pause after which Kajol said hello on the extension and I heard a click. Riz had put down the phone in his room.
“Kajo”, I stopped.
“Ramesh”, she answered without a trace of sleep in her voice, “how are you there?”
“I am okay”.
“And Preeti?”
“She is fine too.”
Again the ludicrousness of the whole situation struck me. I didn’t know what to say further. The pause was becoming a little too awkward.
And then she opened up. She gave a detail of the boy’s daily activities – how he won’t let go of the toy train I had given him and how it was lying now in multiple pieces, how he tripped while trying to run while still sitting … scrapped off the skin on his knee and cried when she applied Dettol and it was the passing kulfi vendor which brought his bawling to a halt … She spoke about Riz getting into a rage when he returned home and then taken the boy off her hands completely thereafter ….
Sometime in the middle, I reached for the glass of water by the bedside. Then I noticed the time on my watch. We had been talking for more than an hour! It had been so easy and the years had all rolled back…
Then she jolted me with a question.
“Would you listen to me if I asked you to do something?”
The penny had fallen. Providentially, for one of the few times in my lifetime, I said something which I would never regret …
“Kajo, I can listen to each and everything that you say. But never, never again let me know that through anyone else – anyone and that includes Preeti and Riz as well.”
“Oh, ok!”, she gave a sigh of relief. “Listen, I came across something in his jacket pocket while doing laundry … there was this job offer letter from a gulf company and … and when I asked him later … … he just laughed it away … … can you persuade him? You know, his finances are not all that good." I heard a sharp intake of breath from her end and her voice dropped "I will manage somehow with Ramesh … … you know you can trust me on that … … can get a job … … you know it will be good for him … and … and only will listen to you … …”
In the dark tunnel that my mind had been completely stumbling about there opened up a very dim lighted corner...
“Kajo”, this time there was no hesitation in my voice, “tell that crybaby husband/boyfriend/girlfriend of yours that I would be arriving this very weekend and in particular don’t forget to add that I will be whipping his ass till the point that he is able to see reason.”
Normally, my stay at the Singapore HQ used to last two days and three at most. This time, however, I found myself being detained for over a week, that too on some non-serious issues at the HQ. My restlessness grew. Before, I had left NY, I had been entrusted with another resource restructuring project. I had tried to impress upon Mr. Ching that the project did indeed need my presence at the NY office but somehow, he didn’t seem to share my sense of urgency.
“Take little time off”, he advised me instead, “helps long running machine.”
Curiously again unlike other times, when HQ visit would mean working late into the evening that included meetings with the board and other top bosses; this time, I was totally free for the whole time after lunch. So my mind used to wander, and it was in the inevitable direction there – so much so that – Preeti had marched upto me once in the office and fiercely whispered “Stop thinking about little Ramesh and stop smiling at nothing inside the office”.
“Go to hell”, I shouted at her retreating back.
Daily after work, Preeti drove me to her house and there I used to relax in her company with a drink and dinner. Later on, she would dial a cab for me and I would return to the company guest house.
I asked her about her mother and her younger sibs. Her brother was writing his masters thesis at that time. He had already had several firm job offers and seemed to be all set. The sister, who was married, was all set for her first stint at motherhood.
Maybe it was the effect of a drink too many or it might have been that I was feeling maudlin the whole day and looking at Preeti’s bustling in the kitchen – I felt a constriction in my chest. There she was toiling away merrily, she who had been used like a tissue paper by our ex boss Rao. No doubt she had worked her way up, with fate arriving in the form of Mr. Ching. She was close to being established professionally as well as being a sterling model of a daughter and sister to her family back in India. But was that all that was there to life for her!
I departed early for the guest house.
Back in my room, the thoughts wouldn’t leave me. I had plenty of time to ponder about the latest curve ball that life had chucked at me. On the one hand, there was Kajol, and what was I to do with her now? There were a cupboard full of memories that I had forcibly shut away long back – the years of young love and navigating together during the early years of struggle. Both of us then believed that she would be able to find a job in the respectable field of academia and that would stabilize our financials, given that, I was then in image consultancy where the future prospects were unpredictable. And after that only - then there would have been family considerations …
I had to take decide in a manner that would be best for Kajol, Riz as well as for our child. Having arrived at my room, I had laid in bed chasing the recent kaleidoscopic images of the past week. My emotions were tumultuous. I tossed about in the bed for a couple of hours and sleep wouldn’t still come. Finally, nearing midnight, I got out of bed and rang up Preeti.
“Ramesh, what’s up?” There was concern in her voice.
“Ei sorry dear, couldn’t sleep. Hope not disturbing you …”
“Oh ok! “, I sensed the relief in her voice. “Wild thoughts, eh? You looked preoccupied today.”
I paused trying to think of what to say…
But her voice came over “You know what, I think you have dialed the wrong number this time …” she chuckled.
“Preeti, stop trying to play cupid! You of all people should know that the problem is not that simple.”
In the maddeningly infuriating manner that the fair sex sometimes employ to display their thoughts, with scant regard to logic or reason, she continued, as if she hadn’t heard my admonitions.
“The problem lies in India but our NYC honcho is trying to fix things in Singapore. By the way, which idiot did coin that name ‘Brains’ for you, eh!”, she added for effect.
I thought it over a bit. She was stating the obvious.
“Preeti, I love you. Thanks dear.”
“Huh! Wish I had heard that when I lived with the man for months.” She replied facetiously.
I laughed out loud and she did join me.
And all at once, the stiffness from my chest was gone. I felt clearheaded after a long time…
With a grin, I looked up the Kolkata number in the cell phone.
It was Riz’s sleepy voice which answered after a series of rings and I realized that I had dialed to the landline number rather than to Kajol’s mobile.
“Hey, what’s up you guys? Dinner over?”, I burst out, too glad to hear the familiar voice.
“Whoo? Aa, Ramesh …”, I heard him yawning audibly, “What’s the matter?”
“No, no, just wanted to hear your all voice.”
“Voices?”, he slurped, “Ssale, do you know what time it is! Everyone is asleep.”
Suddenly, I came to my senses. I had totally forgotten about the time difference.
“You bloody Fucker”, it was so relaxing to lapse back to childhood slang with this friend, “you got to play with my boy-toy all the time while, here I am stuck up with my own thoughts and yet, yet ….”
Riz’s chuckled. “Ok, ok, got it ssale. Little one may get up yaar. …. also I am really tired now … and there is office tomorrow … you talk with Kajol … wait, let me go to her room …
There was a brief pause after which Kajol said hello on the extension and I heard a click. Riz had put down the phone in his room.
“Kajo”, I stopped.
“Ramesh”, she answered without a trace of sleep in her voice, “how are you there?”
“I am okay”.
“And Preeti?”
“She is fine too.”
Again the ludicrousness of the whole situation struck me. I didn’t know what to say further. The pause was becoming a little too awkward.
And then she opened up. She gave a detail of the boy’s daily activities – how he won’t let go of the toy train I had given him and how it was lying now in multiple pieces, how he tripped while trying to run while still sitting … scrapped off the skin on his knee and cried when she applied Dettol and it was the passing kulfi vendor which brought his bawling to a halt … She spoke about Riz getting into a rage when he returned home and then taken the boy off her hands completely thereafter ….
Sometime in the middle, I reached for the glass of water by the bedside. Then I noticed the time on my watch. We had been talking for more than an hour! It had been so easy and the years had all rolled back…
Then she jolted me with a question.
“Would you listen to me if I asked you to do something?”
The penny had fallen. Providentially, for one of the few times in my lifetime, I said something which I would never regret …
“Kajo, I can listen to each and everything that you say. But never, never again let me know that through anyone else – anyone and that includes Preeti and Riz as well.”
“Oh, ok!”, she gave a sigh of relief. “Listen, I came across something in his jacket pocket while doing laundry … there was this job offer letter from a gulf company and … and when I asked him later … … he just laughed it away … … can you persuade him? You know, his finances are not all that good." I heard a sharp intake of breath from her end and her voice dropped "I will manage somehow with Ramesh … … you know you can trust me on that … … can get a job … … you know it will be good for him … and … and only will listen to you … …”
In the dark tunnel that my mind had been completely stumbling about there opened up a very dim lighted corner...
“Kajo”, this time there was no hesitation in my voice, “tell that crybaby husband/boyfriend/girlfriend of yours that I would be arriving this very weekend and in particular don’t forget to add that I will be whipping his ass till the point that he is able to see reason.”
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