The Last Meet

“This guy is ok with your TV anchoring job. He is also working as an art director. He looks good and he's from a very good family. We all like him and above all that, he called me all by himself. You always keep saying that a charming prince will walk into our house and take him with you; this guy can be your charming prince. Why don't you think on those lines? His parents will talk to me in a day or two. I will be very happy if you marry him.” She sang praises about that unknown “art director guy” who had called her after seeing her daughter's profile in a matrimonial website.

Aparna was sitting curled up on her bean bag, looking blankly at the ceiling. By now, she was used to being silent all the time and did not react to her mother's words even in the slightest.

“I am talking to you. Do you even care to reply?” - her mother asked.

Aparna did not answer. She just changed her sitting posture and started staring emptily at the floor instead. Her mother tried to grab Aparna's attention with few more questions but gave up when she realized that she could better be talking to a wall and get a reaction from it than talking to Aparna.

***********

Sandeep's mobile vibrated violently and was about to fall off the table when he grabbed it in his hand. Without taking his eyes off the laptop, he swiped the phone and opened the message. His eyes traveled through the message unconcernedly and he threw the mobile on the bed. When his brain slowly registered what his eyes had read, his heart started racing. He took his mobile and read the message properly once more.

It was very short and it read “I wanna meet you just once before my parents get me married please. Don't ignore.”

He reread the message twice and truth seemed to hit him like an iron ball. “Getting married? What the.. but I never thought.. oh no..” - he thought and he called her. She did not pick up the call but he received a text.

“Txt me. Can't talk.” - it read.

“You wanted to meet. When and whr?” - he replied.

“Same place where we first met. Today 6:30 PM” - she replied.

***********

Aparna was sitting on the same bench on which they sat when they met for the first time in that temple. She was hugging a big cloth bag for refuge and resting her head on it. She didn't know why she was feeling so void and what she would talk to Sandeep. Would she hold his hands and weep “Sandeep, my parents are trying to get me married to another guy. I am not able to forget you. Please come and talk to them and marry me.”? No, because Sandeep had made it transparent that though he loved her, he cannot marry her due to some problem. He refused to discuss anything further with her.

“Been waiting for a long time?” - he asked, arriving behind Aparna's back and jerking her back to senses.

“Sandeepp..” - she said and uttering his name brought a smile on her lips.

Sandeep sat down on the bench and stretched his long legs and hands. He was looking around at the temple while Aparna leaned on the bag and studied him silently. The person who had once sat so close to her, held her hands, hugged her safely in his arms and had kissed her lovingly was now so indifferent and disinterested.

“What?” - he asked when he realized he could no longer avoid her gaze.

Aparna shook her head and smiled at him. She patted the bag on her lap and said - “I bought T-Shirts for you and there's a small sandalwood statue that you can stick on your new car's dashboard.”

Sandeep took the bag from her and said - “That's so sweet of you. Thanks.”

He looked into her face for a second and then looked away immediately, heaving a deep sigh. Questions raced one another in his brain but he did not want to voice any of them. He swallowed more than necessary and kept punching the bag repeatedly.

Aparna smiled when she thought about the number of times Sandeep kept staring into her eyes when they met here almost one year back. Now, he didn't even want to look in her direction. She let out a deep breath and decided to break the silence.

“So well, Sandeep. Like you said, I am going to get married. Mom has found a guy for me and I haven't said a no to her. At least, she shouldn't be disappointed in life.” - she said flatly.

The last line that she spoke rang in his ears repeatedly. Sandeep opened his hands and looked at it for almost a minute and Aparna tried not to look at him. She focused her attention on the kids that were playing near them.

“Will you invite me for your wedding?” - he asked suddenly.

Aparna didn't know what she had expected out of the meeting but a surge of anger washed through her when he uttered that question. Without her knowledge, a secluded corner in her heart had hoped that Sandeep would somehow say - “Aparna, ask your mom to chuck that guy, let's get married.”

In order to control herself, she clenched her hands into fists and counted from 5 to 1. She shook her head and said coldly - “I don't want you to come. Please respect at least this one feeling I have and don't show yourself there. I cannot bear it.”

Immediately, she realized that her eyes were filling with tears and giving her away. She looked at him full on the face for few seconds and said, her throat choking - “This is the last time we meet and never will I get a chance to tell you this anymore. Sandeep, I love you.”

She stood up and ran out of the temple. She did not pause to wear her slippers and did not try to stem the copious tears that poured from her eyes. She was not concerned about where her legs were taking her. All she knew was that, before she could do something stupid, she should be well away from Sandeep.

Sandeep tried to follow her but was flattened near the entrance by a huge crowd that was trying to enter the temple at the same time. When Sandeep shook them off and came out, Aparna was nowhere to be seen. He tried calling her many times but her mobile was switched off. They did not have any mutual friends through whom he could find out what she was up to nor did he know any other number through which he could contact her.

Through out the night he kept messaging her on her mobile and facebook; there was no response. He didn't know when he fell asleep. The next day morning he woke up with a severe head ache.

He checked his mobile eagerly. There were no messages from her. Promising to himself that he'll go and check in the area where she had said she lived, he opened the newspaper. He spread it on the floor and started skimming through the columns. His eyes suddenly fell on a small snippet at one corner of the page and immediately, his whole body started shivering. The headline read “Raped and Brutally killed”.

“Aparna (25) lived in Nungambakkam, Chennai. She was abducted, raped and brutally killed by four unknown men...” the article went on.

Sandeep did not need confirming; his heart somehow knew that it was his Aparna. He read the article again and again and each time it seemed to make more sense to him. He kept staring at the paper in a state of shock, dumbstruck and silent. After few minutes, he read the article again and wanted to believe that it didn't happen at all. It didn't help. He crushed the paper in his hands desperately and tore it into pieces violently. He broke down on the floor and cried loudly.

************

---Bala Iyengar---