Still waiting. . .

A never ending love story...

I somehow managed to make my way through the crowd of kolkata station and reached the bus stand. From there it was a three hours bus journey to my home,Asansol. I was returning back from Hyderabad after two years and yes i missed Kolkata-‘city of joy’, its mouth watering varieties of sweets, the trams which gave life to the city, but the thing which i missed the most was the food made by my mother. There is no replacement of whatever she prepares for me. 

Sitting besides the window seat, i tuned to some songs and was lost in memories. Every song had its own feel, own emotions which made me nostalgic. I usually tuned this playlist specially while travelling. After few songs, i was fully lost in my world,closing my eyes and feeling each and every word of the lyrics. Few minutes later, a song played and i started getting flashback of a girl having long straight hairs, gorgeous face. . I stopped the music, removed the headphone and started watching through the window. I noticed that my vision was getting blurred and i rubbed my eyes gently, it was not dust, it was my tears who were taking permission to come out from my eyes and the heart controlled it. . The song was, "main rahoon ya na rahoon . . . Tu mujhme kahin baki rehna" This was the last song which I have listened with my best friend and my one sided love Angela.

Lost in my past memories, i reached Asansol and took a taxi from there to home. It seemed that the whole city was ready to welcome with their own stories. From the Sharma sweets to golgappa stalls, everyone was pleading for a small halt to relive my memories back. Few minutes later i was standing in front of my home and as usual mom was ready to welcome me. I hugged her and then went inside. After having some rest, we had our lunch togethar along with the unstoppable conversations .

 Two days later,while i was watching tv,mom entered my room a bit upset.

" you remember that girl, your best friend Angela . . . . she has came back home after two years of marriage. . . and maybe she is getting divorced. " mom said 

The remote fell from my hands, my face became red, my heart was going to burst. After two long years i heard her name and that too in such a situation. I somehow controlled my emotions and asked                                                                                                       " but why, all of a sudden. . . what was the reason . . . how is she now . ." i fumbled

  “whatever be the reason, but how can they divorce. . . 'divorce' is not meant for indians. . In our culture, once you are married , you have to be with your partner till last breath" mom said fully frustated. I gave her a glass of water and said to relax.       

  " hey mom, chill . . . i will meet her in the evening . . . you just sit and take some rest." Mom smiled and went to take some rest. I couldn’t wait till the evening, so I rushed to her home which was about ten minutes far from my home. After few steps, I stopped for a while and looked at myself. I haven’t shaved since last month, neither have I worn good dress. So I ran back to home, took a shower and took out my well ironed shirt and got ready to meet my bestie. 

I reached there and knocked the door, her mom opened it,                                        "namastey aunty ji, how are you . . . it’s me Raj . . . remember??" I touched her feet.         " oh yes beta, come come. . you have changed a lot in these years" She smiled and blessed me. I went inside and asked her about Angela. Aunty didn’t say anything, she took me to her room where she was lying on the bed and had buried her face in the pillow. 

I went to her and said "hey,. . . . look who has came to meet you. . . "                  She was startled by the familiarity of the voice. . she turned her face and looked at me. Yes , she tried hard to smile but her lips didn’t move. She tried to hug me but her body froze. I saw her face, there was no sign of my charming angela, instead there were some burn marks on her elbow, dark patches on her face. I just continued looking her for a while ,totally stunned.

 "What happened dear. . . " i asked with moist eyes. . . . still she was silent and couldn't utter a single word. I had not enough strength to see her in such a situation ,so i said her to take some rest and left the room.

 I asked aunty about the matter and she said

 “angela called us few days back and said that she wants to come home. We thought may be she had been missing us . . . but when she came alone with all the luggage. We understood that something is wrong. From two days she is only crying and haven’t ate anything. . . she has made this four walls her life. . god knows what will happen"

 " dont worry aunty, everything will be fine. Just keep faith in God. " I had nothing to say other than this.

 With a heavy heart, I left her home. I cursed myself for not being with my best friend when she needed me the most. I couldn’t sleep that night. Whole night her face with bruises haunted me. That moment only i promised myself that i will bring my angela back. I will make her the same girl which she used to be confident,funny,gorgeous and the most talkative girl I had ever met. Next morning, I helped my mom in kitchen and prepared angela's favourite dish 'allu ka paratha' . I packed it and went to her place. She was sitting on the chair with red moist eyes which were still the spotlight of her face. I stopped for a while, made a smiling face and went to her.

 " hiiii . . . look what i have brought for you. . your favourite- allu ka paratha"

 She looked at me And smiled for the first time

 "heyy. how are you ??" She said in a whispering tone.

 " just the same . . leavee all these. Look i am very hungry right now . com'on lets finish this first " i said while opening the packet. She didnt even looked at them,and said she was not hungry. She was the same girl who once pounced on whatever i brought and fought with me even for the last bite. I took one bite of the paratha to her mouth and requested again to have it . . . but she got irritated this time 

" i told na, i dont wanna eat. Why dont you understand" I was dumbstruck by her reaction but tried again, this time by emotional blackmail

 " okk then,i am going home. I will also not eat" I stood up to go back and a smiling face held my hand

 " sorry dear. . comon let me taste what you have made . . . " We ate together after a long time. From that day, we had our breakfast together. I never asked anything about her life . I gave her all the bio-data of whatever I did in Hyderabad, sometimes made stories of my own to see that smiling face of her. I knew it was the time to show true friendship and thus I tried my best to see a smile on her face. She loved eating pickles but aunty always scolded her as it always resulted in stomach pain. So, as usual I brought some ‘aam ka aachar’ for her and we went to the terrace that was our hiding place. I took my first bite and it suddenly slipped from my hands and fell on my glazing white shirt. For the first time I saw angela laughing like anything. Her laughter was just like the  flow of river enchanting a very soothing music in which I was fully lost but soon her laugh converted into sobs, she hugged me and started crying. Her grief broke and she let out all her emotions to flow.

“why did this happen to me only. Why, he cheated me when I loved him so much… “ she spoke for the first time about her life. I held her shoulders, lifted her chin and looked in her eyes and said,” just say whatever happened….. “

She took a deep breath and started

“it all started after one year of our marriage, previously everything was going all right.. we were playing our perfect roles of husband and wife. Pratick was a very caring and loving husband which every girl dreams of, I  showered all my love for him but soon situations changed, he started keeping privacies….our talks got minimized. He usually came drunk and then a series of quarrels and shoutings took place. I truly loved him and started changing myself for him. But I found that his choices have changed. Now he is more interested in Shanaya ,his new assistance.”  Angela’s throat got dry, I gave her water to drink and then she continued

“I tried my best to bring him back but he treated me like a sex toy. I was totally broken and left alone to fight in that hell. He thought that I was not fit for his high profile status. Yes because I didn’t knew to show off. But one day he crossed all his limits and came with shanaya fully drunk. That night only I left that place.” Angela finally unfolded all her feelings.

My face was fully red with anger. I wanted to go and grab that b*****d by his collar and ask him that who gave him the right to ruin my best friend’s life. I was burning deep inside but then I saw my helpless friend and said to her

“look, its your battle of life and you will have to fight it alone. Your parents and friends can only provide you tools but you will have to mould yourself so that no one could have the audacity to put a finger on you. I knew the girl who was strong, independent and confident. Just bring back my lost Angela. I miss her a lot. Don’t waste your time cursing people, instead give a strong boost to your life towards success”.

I motivated angela and made her understand that her life is not over. She always dreamt of being a dancer and I reminded her of her dreams which she had forgotten in maintaining the proper balance between her dreams and the society.

I came back home but saw mom a bit upset and murmuring something. I asked and she replied, ”where were you….. what relation you have now with that girl.. afterall she is divorced and today people are making stories on your relation with her..”

 I was taken aback by mom’s reaction but soon understood the whole matter and smiled ,” hey mom, you better know what relation I have. And I don’t care abut the whole world , I only care about what you think.. u trust me  na !!”

Mom hugged me and said, “ I know you are not wrong and yes I trust you but I don’t trust this world. Sorry beta…..  and hope Angela gets well soon”

Next day I had to leave for Hyderabad as my holidays were over…

I met angela for the last time . 

“ thanx raj for making me fall in love once again with myself. Really you are the best gift I have got … will miss you and yes, get married soon or else you will not get a girl“ she said with wet eyes. 

“ still waiting for the right girl dear….will miss you…. Take care and hope one day I could see you performing on tv…all the  best.. and no tears” I bid her good bye

Again I boarded to the same bus, the same route and and loads of memories…. I tuned to some songs and after a while the same song played

“main rahoon ya na rahoon

Tu mujhme kahin baki rehna..

Bas itna hai tujhse kehna “

But this time a smile spread on my face. My love has to wait still more and I am still waiting for her.

Author's Note

Plzz ignore the grammar part . .
This a sequel of my very first story-'waiting..'...
recap of story waiting-
angela and raj were childhood best buddies... but as they grow up. raj fells in love with her but its a one sided. angela is a openminded and a confident girl but as she was not good in academics. her parents married to her to a rich guy. raj doesnt disclose his secret love for angela and goes away from her life accepting the harsh reality of life. but still he waits for his love and wants a last laugh with hisbest friend Angela.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A wonderful story my new friend.
“ thanx raj for making me fall in love once again with myself. Really you are the best gift I have got … will miss you and yes, get married soon or else you will not get a girl“ she said with wet eyes. "
I loved the complete story and the above lines. Kind and generous words shared by her. Thank you for sharing the amazing and worthwhile story.
Coyote

[barleygirl]

This is a great story! You've done a good job of SHOWING instead of telling -- for example near the start where his eyes got blurred & then he realized it was tears. This is the way to show us the feelings without explaining. Your conversations are realistic & sounding like everyday talk. Even tho your story is about these events on the surface, underneath you share life lessons which are applicable to everyone. For example, not caring about the gossip and just caring about being a good friend to the hurting friend, Angela. So many guys think about getting the girl for himself, but here you speak as if it's more important to bring back the liveliness in this best friend & help her find her zest for life again. I love the way this is about being a good friend for someone else, even when deep inside the guy is in love with her & would probably like to focus on getting her for himself. But he is not selfish like this -- a good lesson for many of the stories I read from guys who are all about themselves.

[mou]

as you have started with Kolkata, so first it makes me stop with this 'city of joy', since I too have many memories in Kolkata..you have penned the feelings that gradually are drawn from previous days with the help of that beautiful song..I think may be all the Indians here probably get the significance of that song specially as it's written in hindi and almost our favorite too..a duty and love for a true friend are preciously described from all aspects.and still some never ending wisdom of telling her the true feelings keep the mind for expecting a sequel of this probably :)
I don't want to say about any grammar or any words as I feel that writing is all about a panel where emotions can flow without restriction and makes an unknown reader understanding about someone Else's thought..and It's just like that..though I mostly write poems and visit poem pages but your story is beautiful..wonderful work and waiting for your next pen on it..thanks for the rr

[Wowvi]

First of all being kolkatian of course the name of city itself makes me fall again . Everyone once in life must visit this place. The plot of story gives perfect taste to love story with all desi feelings. You words connect. The dark reality of indian society highly spotted. Overall good job. Error!! WELL bang on!! :)

[Pravir]

Thanxx . . and yes i love this city . . . everything,everyplace from the howrah bridge to the south city mall . . . everything is very close to my heart . . thanx for visiting and sharing ur beautifull review . ..

[rukmini chaudhary]

how much one can wait.1st one is waiting den still waiting,i think now you will come with continuing waiting...and then with how much sequels of waiting you will come up,only you know..
your story is appreciably good.
main rahun ya na rahun
tu mujhme kahi banki rehna..as you mentioned the one of favorite track of the character in your story.....so the love is already live in the heart of the character....you only need to give a expression to their beautiful feeling...
continue writing...all the best

[Pravir]

. haha . thanxxx . its a never ending love story dear . . u always wait for ur love to comeback some day

[Anjali]

Wow.... It's such a beautiful story. I was engrossed in it, since I read the first line! Keep writing!

[Pravir]

Thanx anjali for visting . . glad u loved it . .

[Anjali]

You are welcome!

[Fanicia E.]

I love this continuation of the story! I can't wait to see what lies ahead :)

[Pravir]

thanx fiancia for your visit... m glad you liked it

[Fanicia E.]

you're welcome and no problem!

[Surya]

Sorry for delay..Yeah it's a good story....
you improved much from the prequel to present...I hope it goes on.....
Angela, a good name....Raj reminded me of DDLJ...hahaha....Keep working on story buddy, believe me you do more than you are presenting now....I loved it...:)

[Pravir]

Thanx surya . . . i was really waiting for your review .. . .because you are with me from the first story of me and have always helped me with your inspiring reviews. . .hope you will continue this lovely relation . . and apology from my side also as i am not a full time writer so its very hard for me to take out time for reviewing . . . so i do review some selected ones . . hope you understand . . thanx friend

[Surya]

Hey never mention that.....I was busy a l'll...and yeah sure it continues...:)

[samis]

Nice story Pravir. Some grammatical errors are there that need to be corrected. The flow of story is good. Keep writing!

[Pravir]

Thanku for your kind words . . . will surely try to edit my grammaticAl mistakes .

[Priyanshi]

This was brilliant, Pravir..it's an interesting too...enjoyed the sequel...
keep on writing.

[Pravir]

Thanxx a lot priyanshi . . . keep visiting

[Priyanshi]

My pleasure...of course, friend.