Infatuation

Roney ran fast out of the front door. He could gulp only two pieces of bread with butter. “Mom I am leaving for school.” It’s already 6 in the morning and school starts at 6:30 am. Roney knew that anyhow he would reach in time.

But he did not want to miss his romantic Auto-rickshaw ride to school. He should be there at the bus stop by 6:05 am and he is almost certain to get the same Auto and his co-passengers but one in particular.

This is now his daily routine since last week. Otherwise, even reaching the bus stop by 6:15 am is not a problem. 

That day he was a bit early. He got into the empty auto which was waiting for other passengers.

A girl arrived, in her white school uniform with a red belt around her waist and took her seat in the same auto. 

She had big round eyes and thick lips. The uniform seemed to cling to her body highlighting her slim figure and Roney was like "Wow...". 

Roney and the girl were sitting on two sides leaving the middle seat empty. Roney was desperately wishing for another passenger to arrive fast so that the girl moves towards him.

How would it feel to sit next to this beautiful girl, Roney thought in his mind. How come I have never come across the girl? 

She must be travelling daily. I am missing her by 5 minutes every day! Should I talk to her? What’s her name? I do not know the uniform, which school is she in?

So many thoughts crowded his mind. A hurrying man arrived and took the third seat in the auto. The man was fat. To Roney’s delight, the girl found it more comfortable to push towards him and avoid the fat man.

Roney was smiling within himself and was numb when her arms touched his. A shiver went through Roney. It was so thrilling. He was dying to know how the girl felt and what was crossing her mind.

Roney sat still holding his breaths. He felt, if he allowed his breaths to flow freely it may disturb the girl and what if she thought bad about Roney. The girl didn’t seem to show any sign of liking neither any sign of discomfort.

An auto ride does not last long and in 10 minutes they were at their destination stoppage. There was no time to stand and introspect the possibilities the incident has brought forward. All the passengers got down from the auto and hurried to their different destinations.

The thought of getting into the same auto every day lingered in Roney’s mind. Though he was hurrying towards school the whole new experience kept repeating in his mind and he was not in any mood to let go of the experience.

Roney decided in his heart to reach the bus stop by 6:05 am the next day and the next…

The Un-Said Words…..!!!

       

“May I come in, Sir?” Eshan looked up at the door as his boss did. A beautiful young girl was at the door.

“Welcome, Tanera. It’s great to have you onboard.” Rachit stood up and extended his hand for a handshake. “Meet Eshan. He will be your senior”. Rachit is young and a few years older than Eshan. He owns the business and Eshan is assisting him. Rachit got married a year ago and his wife is expecting.

Eshan was in a different frame of mind discussing the project. The sudden entry of a beautiful young girl into the cabin, perhaps fresh from college, direct introduction without any background and knowing she will be his junior were too much to handle in too little time. Eshan was somewhat blank and expressionless. He could only stretch out his hand to Tanera.

Tanera is the seventh employee of the start-up and the second female.

Once the briefing by Rachit was over, Eshan took her around the office introducing her to all. Then he guided her to his work station. The place next to his was vacant. Tanera was allotted the seat. “Coffee?’’ offered Eshan to strike a conversation. Tanera nodded her head up & down with a smile. They went to the small office cafeteria. Tanera, first of all, served herself with a glass of water from the dispenser. Then they grabbed their coffee mugs and came back to their seats.

The morning hours are the most productive and no one wants this time to pass by. “Tanera, just go through these files carefully,” Eshan handed the client file and the brief project summary. Let me complete some of the important tasks and we will have a long introduction and discussion when we break for lunch.” “Yes Sir,” she said in an abiding tone. “You may call me Eshan”, he mentioned with a smile. That is the office culture they have developed.

There are now three strong clients and each client is taken care of by a team of two. So far Eshan was doing it all alone before Tanera joined him. The selection is done independently by Rachit and he is ‘damn good at it’ thought Eshan.

Internal meetings, project reviews, client meetings, completing the deliverables - the days were all occupied with work. It was a tough time for the team to prove itself to the client. A start-up always faces such a challenge.

Both Eshan & Tanera are not natives of Kolkata. Eshan stays in a rented flat and Tanera stays with her friend both in South Kolkata. For the last three months, both of them never felt the need for a leave. They worked late but never reached office late.

“Hi! Good morning,” Tanera greeted Eshan keeping her bag on the desk.

“Where were you? I couldn’t find you on the platform,” Eshan was concerned.

“I was late, just managed to get into the last coach,” she explained, gulping some water from the bottle.

“You could have called me. I could wait after getting out of the train,” he showed some authority and anger with a slight rise in voice. She was taken aback by this completely unknown behaviour of his senior. From the experience of the last three months, she never anticipated such an expression.

Eshan is a cool guy. No one in the office has ever seen him heated up or angry.

She elaborated, “The train was crowded and I thought anyhow I will reach office in time”. Eshan just turned the other way and started working as if Tanera was not present in the seat next to him.

A discussion was scheduled between the two on strategy. Tanera peeped into Eshan’s screen and found that he has started working on it alone. She felt hopeless and lost by this attitude. She has given her 100% on the job and done whatever Eshan has told her to do. But why this junking for such a petty issue.

Tears rolled down her cheeks and if anyone could watch with care, the yellow saree she was wearing was reflected in the tears. “This same senior insisted to get this yellow saree when they went shopping last week. And now! He totally missed it”, repented Tanera.

She is not so weak to give up easily. Once she got over the initial emotions, she brought herself a mug of hot coffee and started to work on designing the content matter for the marketing campaign.

Tanera started feeling hungry early today. She had no breakfast. She was cursing watching the movie till late last night. Thought she would have something after reaching office but the rough behaviour from Eshan made the day tensed and the mood sour.

It was 1 pm and Tanera politely mentioned “Lunch”, without saying anything else. Eshan did not respond and tried to look busy in his work. “Enough is enough,” thought the girl. He pushed back the chair while getting up hastily and went to lunch with others.

This is the first time the two were not going to lunch together. It was like a daily routine that the two will work together, come and go together, have coffee together, lunch, shopping, movie and everything together. Only they lived in different houses at night. Today’s incident did not escape the notice of others in the office. They looked at each other for an answer.

When all returned from lunch, Nathan asked “What happened Eshan? No lunch today?” Perhaps Eshan was waiting for that little Que. Pat came the reply, “You can’t afford a lunch break when you have to do all by yourself.” The reply was more to Tanera who was just trying to take the seat, than to Nathan.

Tanera’s face turned red first with some kind of a shame but slowly it turned to furious anger. “All by Yourself? What does he think? Can he do whatever he likes? What if I was a bit late and didn’t call him. It was only a matter of 10 minutes. He is not my guardian to scold me for that. I am a grown-up independent lady. Even I do all by myself.”

She was fuming and could think nothing. All the events of the last two months started flashing in her head. Whatever she could think had Eshan in it. She realised in the last two months it has been only two of them. Perhaps they parted at the Metro station to return home and only to meet at the metro platform next morning.

Eshan has calmed down working hard through the day. Both were tired more from the mental war than from the work. It was 6 in the evening and others were leaving the office. These two were undecided on how to break the ice.

Eshan packed his bag. Since all others had left already, Tanera also started to pack her bag. He moved out of the office door alone but could move no further. He waited in the corridor. As she moved out, they started moving towards the lift slowly. He was slightly ahead and she was following. Neither looked at each other but they knew well that they were together.

Moving out of the office building Tanera walked a bit fast and went to the ‘Bhelpuri Wala’. She knew Eshan was hungry, he has missed his lunch today, though intentionally. She herself could not have lunch properly due to all that happened today. He ordered two Bhelpuris. Eshan was waiting at a distance patiently for ten minutes. Tanera paid and took two packets of Bhelpuris, came towards Eshan and handed one to him. He took it without any word and had a mouthful.

Nearby, there is a tea seller at the corner with his makeshift store set on the footpath. Next to that, there is a bench made of a concrete pipe. Both went and sat on the bench while they enjoyed the Bhelpuris. In the meantime Eshan ordered two special ‘Adrak wali chai’, they both love it after the day’s hectic work.

Adrak wali chai at the end of day’s work sitting on this bench is a daily space they offer to each other. No talks, sipping the tea and perhaps introspecting the day. There are all hustle and bustle of the city but inside they feel calm and blissful. It is a refreshing time for both before they join the crowd towards home.

Once they are over with the tea they started talking and laughing while they walked towards the metro station. As if nothing has happened. Tanera joked at Eshan with the phrase ‘all by yourself’ thrice and they both had a good laugh.

They part when they come out of the metro station. They have till now maintained this rule and never tried to reach each-others flat. As Eshan started walking towards his flat the phrase ‘all by yourself’ kept ringing in his years. He is really ashamed of the comment and that too in front of all.

And what will this junior girl think, “The senior is crossing his limits’. Eshan smiled to himself, ‘That does not seem to be the case.’ He was happy how Tanera handled his behaviour in a matured way and felt relaxed.

Eshan was really worried when he didn’t find Tanera in the platform this morning and Tanera reciprocated with the Bhelpuri in the evening. It’s not that they were trying to prove something. It happened so natural, they never planned for these actions. These are natural gestures one extends to someone they really care for.

A moment changes the course of life and the same happened with Eshan and Tanera. They were never cautious of their first meeting. There was nothing special that happened in Rachit’s cabin. It was only the joining of a new member into the team and Eshan was by chance in Rachit’s cabin.

November, December and January, lots and lots of works and a hand full of achievements for the new company.

Rachit called everyone into the conference room after the lunch break, “Quick, everybody’’. He announced the appreciations received from all the clients one by one and appreciated each person for their contribution. “I am very happy and grateful to you all for your support and hard work,” Rachit announced with a broad smile and energetic swag.

“This is just the beginning and many more to come. So guys it’s time to celebrate this event. As soon as Rachit ended all shouted: “Work hard and party harder”. “I request Eshan to arrange our vacant office space into the party venue and Nathan will take charge of the food and drinks,” said Rachit. Obviously, the others would form teams with these two.

Everyone was in a pack up mode. But before that, they need to get the day’s work done since the next two days are holidays.

By 5 in the evening Rajesh got the cleaning essentials and along with Eshan went to the vacant flat on the 10th Floor. It first needs some cleaning before they set the furniture. They took the help of the office boy to do the cleaning. The two security guards were assigned to shift the sofas, chairs and tables – some from the office and some already kept in the flat.

Around six that evening, when the doorbell rang, Eshan was busy getting things ready for the evening's party. Wondering who had turned up so early, he grumpily went to the door. It was Nathan. "I'm here to help you," he said with a smile. "How much can you possibly do all by yourself." Holding forward a single rose that had a long, slender stalk, he bowed dramatically. "Congratulations. For now, you could stop being jealous," he sneered. Eshan knew that the emphatic 'all by yourself' was hardly intentional, but it bothered him.

And what’re this congratulations for? Eshan thought. Neither he nor Tanera has ever expressed anything between them. They have not even given themselves enough time to think over this. “Is it so obvious to all now,” few drops of sweat appeared on Eshan’s forehead.

Or is he simply celebrating the official success?

Rajesh called from inside, he wanted Eshan’s help to arrange the furniture. The party is to start at 8 in the evening. Cars have also been to drop each person to their homes.

Rachit has committed to join any minute after 8.

Tanera and June were back with balloons, some lights and scented candles to boost up the mood. Very simple and effective choice in such short notice,” thought Eshan, “Must be Tanera’s idea”.

Everything was set and all were pretty happy with the arrangement. It’s already 8. The restaurant is in the same building on the mezzanine floor. The waiters are already there with the ‘kebabs’ both veg and non-veg. All were hungry and more than that thirsty to get boozed. They were desperately waiting for Rachit.

They have given 200% for the last few months, they just want to chill it out and lose control.

It is all loud music, bottoms up, dance at the party. This 10th floor flat has no other neighbours. The balcony peeps into the road below and it was all colourful below. Cars, Busses, Bikes, noise.

It was 11 at night. Rachit had to leave at 10, as his wife was home alone. Others already lost control Eshan is a gentle drinker. She had only two pegs of red wine only. None of the others was in sense to note where these two are. Nathan was in control though he had drunk a lot.

In the balcony, in the pleasant weather of February, the two were standing. Looking at the street below, feeling the light breeze. Eshan touched Tanera’s fingers on the steel railing. She perhaps waited for this. She gave in and Eshan took her hand in his. They moved closer and hugged each other tightly.

Deep breaths with pounding hearts went up and down. They knew what they mean to say but all in silence. They were in the moment lost in time. Only a gleaming light reflected from their smiling lips.