How can two
living entities possessing intelligence and judgement ever be tied together for
a lifetime?
-
R K Narayan, 'Malgudi Days'
Let nobody fool
you, most couples are conjoined on earth. The mismatches....now, they are a
different story. They are made in heaven.
Kiran Nagarkar,' Cuckold'
Our
back tell stories no books have the spine to carry.
-
Rupi Kaur, 'Women of Colour'
The traffic on the Western Express
Highway was moving at such a pace that would make a snail proud. With
intermittent rain that July night, it was the last place one would have wanted
to be.
“Oh, this traffic is so mind
numbing and I wonder why need to go home just to change and return in this
traffic back again. Aren’t we being plain stupid?” said Ayesha.
“Maybe you are right, do we have a
choice?” said
Abdul.
“Don’t we?”
“Yes, maybe junk this job and see
another near the place where we dwell? That sounds like cutting your nose to
spite your face”
“What did you say?”
“I said what I said. Did you not
hear?”
“And what qualifies you to say that
to me?”
“Ah! From when did qualifications
become a pre requisite for having a casual conversation?”
“Never mind. Whatever”
“I plan to
go out over the weekend. A drive to the hills. Care to join?”
I don't think would not want to go
any place with you. You get on my nerves. Any time we speak, it ends in a
headache for me,”
she went on like a double barrelled gun.
“Do you have to be so rude always? Or
is being obnoxious your calling card?”
“It just complements your behaviour,
Sir”
“I think you just hate me”
“Hate, dislike whatever, I think you
know why!”
The rain was not making matters
better. The vehicles were stationary longer than they were moving.“Can we stop
at a coffee shop and have something while this traffic clears?”
“With you? Never! Coffee would never
taste so bad!”
"You seem to be very angry at
something and I guess I am your punching bag...."
“A lot of dunces seem to be around in
office doing PhD s on lack of common sense. And everyone seems to outdo the
other!”
“Oh.”
“And every such chap seems to be
around me!”
“I guess you ought to be a bit
tolerant of people who have lower IQs....”
“Well I tolerated you for many years,
didn't I?
“Hey that’s getting personal!”
“What better example can I give? And
see, the vagaries of time conspire that I am with you even now!”
”Who says exes cannot be friends?”
“We 'were' friends..”
“What?”
“No. I am
not getting back with you again!’
“Yes. I guess I too find the friendship better
than the marriage!”
"As it suits you..Not for me…"
The coffee shop was just around 200
hundred metres away and Abdul was steering the car to the left of the highway.
Ayesha bent forward, rummaging through her handbag.
“Can you go a little back? You are
getting in the way of the mirror”
“Where are you going?”
“The coffee shop, I said.”
“Not with you..a headache and coffee
together? No way.”
“Instead of wasting fuel in this
bumper to bumper traffic, a stopover at a coffee shop would ...”
Ayesha
did not answer.
“What are you doing?
“It’s a
Friday and I am with a very beautiful woman. Yes, I was married to her once. Now I am
taking her to a coffee shop – all the ingredients of a date but it is just that
it is not one! Just plain coffee to ward of the traffic.”
Ayesha
was taken aback but did not protest. Guess she was also too tired of looking at
myriad red tail lights.
Abdul
looked at her and smiled.
“Hey mister, what are you smiling
at?”
“You,” he said gently towing the car
to a parking lot.
The Starbucks coffee shop at Goregaon
was teeming with the Friday crowd but they managed to negotiate and got lucky.
As soon as they entered, they got the farthest corner of the coffee shop. It
was Ayesha who spotted it.
“Wow, cozy.”
“You got it
because of me.”
“As always. You
look very beautiful. And in blue, gorgeous.”
“Hey where
are you going? I said it is not a date! And we are exes!”
“Is just
saying that you look beautiful an ingredient of a date?”
Ayesha smirked. In a blue salwar with
gold embroidered brocade, she indeed looked gorgeous. Regal, in fact. And those
diamond ear drops just embellished her.
“A
plain cappuccino for me,” she said.
“And would
you like to eat something with that?”
"Are you an
Indigo air hostess? ‘Would you like to eat something with that?’” She imitated him.
“You are
still the same, Ayesha. The anger hasn’t subsided one bit,” Abdul said, putting on a
smile.
“I have had
a bad day. I am angry at bosses, subordinates, people,
situations...everything...”
“Don’t you
think you should order a cold coffee then? It should cool....”
“Can you keep
your smart suggestions to yourself, Sir?”
Abdul went, ordered and in five
minutes he was back with a cappuccino, a cold coffee and cookies.
Ayesha took the cold coffee from the
tray.
“I thought
you wanted a cappuccino, Madam”
“I changed
my mind.”
“And what do
I do with the cappuccino?”
“You have
the option of drinking it or throwing it and getting a cold coffee for
yourself,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“Throwing
it? It is 365 rupees plus some bloody taxes.”
“Like I
said, throwing is only an option. You still have the other option. Pretend that you are at The Amethyst at Chennai and gulp”
Abdul smiled. A big grin, in fact. “You haven’t changed one bit, Ayesha!”
“You have
changed, for the better, I say!”
“Oh, so you
observed?”
No response from her.
After a couple of minutes, she said,
“The cold coffee was a good choice.”
Before Abdul could even throw a ‘I-told-you-so’
look, she added, “For once. For once, I
say!”
“What can I
say?”
“Nothing.
Pay the bill and let’s get out of here.”
“I would be
happy to pay if it is a date, but ....”
“Date or no
date, you are paying." They
were in the car and reached Borivli in an hour.
“Bye,
Ayesha.”
“Bye. Thanks
for the coffee. And, that’s smart dressing.”
“Oh. Thanks.
I thought I always...”
“Oh. As I
said before, you have changed"
“You haven’t changed... oops! I am sorry!”
“Ah...You
will never change!”
After an hour, Ayesha messaged Abdul.
“When are
you leaving for the hills on Saturday, you said?”
