The Last Ride

This was my first attempt at love story way back in college. And since I very much suck at love and matters relating to love, I ask you to forgive my language. No love story from Shimla would be like this.

The Chevrolet was speeding forward like a hurricane. Had it been old times, Priya would have asked him to slow down the car but now she didn’t care. Inside, her heart was thumping as it always had- when he had taken her for a ride on his new bike, in their Maruti after they had married and even in this new car, when after 5 years of marriage, they had broken up.

The view outside was scenic and the air romantic. But no air was let in. The windows were up, Anuj made sure of that. It was the last time they both would be seeing each other. Their divorce was finalized and he was going to leave Priya to her mother’s place in Shimla.

Somehow, inspite the odd turns in roads and in their own lives, Priya couldn’t help but remember those nice times they had had together. The first ride on his bike, the time spent in college food court, their marriage and the difficult times they both had had. But now everything seemed a haunted old dream which gave her both sweet and sour memories.

She again looked at the speedometer and remembered that first ride on his Yamaha:

“Anuj! Can’t you read the ‘drive slowly’ sign. Please! I am feeling dizzy now. Its just a bike, not a plane”.

“Common! Its just 80 yaar. And you better get used to it. After all, you are going to spend the rest of your life with me”, he laughed.

Holding him tightly she said, “Then you are definitely going to kill me some day”.     

He simply looked back and said, “I will be dead the same day”.

The Chevrolet crashed into the truck…

He woke up early and went upto the window. The weather outside was gloomy. But he liked it like this, dark and cloudy. Like everyday, he looked at the bed side photo of him and Priya, together, laughing. He could hear that laughter still ringing in his ears. It was the same smile that had smitten him the first time he had seen her in the college canteen. The pain was back. And with it came the anguish, the sadness, the wretched feeling of loneliness. It was all he had now – guilt. He walked over to the door and decided not to wake his mother. He didn’t drive the car anymore. So, he walked out of the house into the gloom.

They had met in the college canteen through common friends and immediately both knew that they together, were special. Seldom acknowledgements turned into regular ‘hi’ and ‘hello’. Both looked for reasons to talk to each other. They looked for each other’s class schedules to get to meet each other. And finally after much thinking and scheming, he asked for her phone number. But she blankly refused saying that she minds giving her phone number to guys. More than being hurt, Anuj was shocked and amused at the same time. But he laughed it off and tried to act cool with the situation (he hadn’t really prepared himself for her no). But that night she called him up and said, “You dumb thing!!!! You guys are all same. You take so long to ask a girl for her phone number and then when she says no you try to act as if you are the coolest person on earth. Huh!! You are dumb”. She was laughing and Anuj knew that he was in love.

He looked up. No sun. But he liked it like this. It was going to rain soon but he walked on consumed in his own thoughts…

It soon became the most famous romance of the college. He was the son of a rich, living life king size. She was the prettiest girl in the college and yet the simplest (a perfect ‘bahu’ material, someone said). She had beautiful skin but her eyes emitted intelligence. They attracted the combined jealousy of boys and girls. But driven in love they never cared for the world. He bought his bike – a Yamaha Sports in his 3^rd year in college. He loved the speed, the thrill, the risk of it all. Priya on the other hand worried much more about Anuj and her own life.

His tears had no life, no soul, no reason. As if to complement his mood, the rain started pouring in and he kept walking.

Both were placed in the same company and their happiness knew no bounds. But the happiness was short lived. Heartbroken were they left, when they came to know that they had to go different places for training. Anuj went to Delhi and Priya started her new life at Bangalore. But their love wasn’t made of glass. They talked every day. Each spent the day lonely, waiting. Waiting for the night when they would talk to each other and pour their hearts out forgetting all the distance between them. Distance relationships were difficult, they had heard. But in those careless whispers, lost in each other, who would have cared about what anyone says or hears.

On a lonely evening in his apartment when Anuj was thinking of her, Priya called…

“Please marry me”, she said.

“You want me to marry you on call? Another of the e-marriages?”, he laughed.

“Why don’t you just open your stupid door.”

He almost ran to the door and there she stood smiling. That was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. It was both serene and beautiful. Like a goddess. And at that moment he loved her more than anything in the world.

“Please marry me”, she said.

He could no longer tell the tears from the rain drenching him, killing him. But a smile crept on his face. He had never proposed her, infact, had spent days thinking about how he would. But never in his life had he imagined that Priya would leave her job and career just to be with him.

They married a year later. There was a lot of family drama. Anuj left his home and his ‘bright career’ at his father’s business. She left her career and job to look after her home. But she was happy and content. After all she had married the love of her life. Married life was bliss, they both agreed.

As married couple, they both found happiness in little things of life. She never had her dinner without him and he worked hard to look after his wife and took her to romantic dinners on weekends taking time out of his now busy schedule. Two years after their marriage their first child was born. He was the most blessed man on earth and she the most satisfied woman. A week later they had their first fight.

Even the tears eluded him now. Whose mistake was it? Back then, he was never ready to understand her part of the story and may be, she never understood his. Whoever made those mistakes kept repeating them because the fights never stopped. The pain was back. Why was he even thinking all this now? He could not be with her anymore. It was both stupid and childish to think about Priya. He should carry on. And he carried himself on, thinking…

After his marriage he had spent most of his days and nights in his office. He had worked hard to reach a position of authority and respect in his company. His rise had been meteorical and someone had tipped him to be the next CEO in next 15 years. A week later after their child had been born, he again came home late in the night. It had been the same story the whole week. The multi million project he was handling was keeping him on a very tight schedule. He entered the dark dining room. Only Priya’s face was visible illuminated by the small light from the bed-room. Apparently she had slept waiting for him. He changed and sat next to her. But something was very wrong. Her eyes had dark circles he hadn’t noticed before. Her face was smudged, like she had been crying. Somewhere inside, he knew why she had been crying and somehow, very strangely he just felt contempt (a new feeling for him altogether).

The next night, she was wide awake and he felt the same contempt in her eyes. For the first time after they had married she had had her dinner without him. And for the first time she was really angry. She said something about him being always late and reminded him of his responsibilities as a father. He ignored her. He was back from work, tired and this silly woman could only think of how difficult it is to change a baby’s clothes. Why can’t she just keep a nanny. He had no time for family fights. He had to get back to work early in the morning. That night he had slept on her tears. Every night after that it was the same story in their house-hold. Sometimes he looked at his child’s innocent eyes and wondered if he could be a child again. May be could go back to the care-free days of college. Who should he blame. He had to look after his family and think about his child’s future who was fast growing up. And his wife was angry just because he didn’t see his child walk his first step, because he wasn’t punctual on his first birthday and because he wasn’t there when he had said ‘ma’ for the first time. He was just, never home.

His project was a success and company rewarded him with a new house and a car. They moved in with a truce not to fight again. He promised her that he would try to be a better husband and father. He gave her the old Maruti because she no longer wanted to sit in that death-trap race car with him. The days passed in peaceful but reproachful silences and humble words of love. The life seemed to be returning back to normal. She saw him playing with their child in the nursery and was grateful that the worst in their life was finally over. She had been traumatized by his unconcerned behavior but starting life all over again, he had proved himself to be a more mature person than she had thought him to be. But Priya was in for the biggest shock of her life when Anuj’s cell-phone beeped twice.

Anuj, evn i m really sorry for watevr hapnd n I kno u really luv ur wife n child bt i also kno dat u luvd me 2o. Hw cud u jst turn ur back on me nw wen i need u d most. m nt askng u to leave ur wife bt jst giv me a little space i deserve 4 all d little time v spent togedr… stil waitn 4 ur luv…

Anuj agreed to the light affair he had had with his office trainee when he and Priya were having hard times. He said that he was beyond it now and that there was nothing between them now. But she had lost it. She couldn’t face the man for whom she had left her everything. She had given up her dreams, her aspirations, had fought with her parents just to be with him. He had ignored her, traumatized her, fought with her and now was casually telling her that he had cheated on her love too. She called it quits right there.

“Did you give her a ‘nice ride’ in your car?” It was her turn now.

He called it quits there.

He walked upto the house he had been to many a times now. Several times he had tried to get the glimpse of his growing son in the same house. He had tried to make up for the time he had missed with his son. He had now seen him cry the first time he went to school. He had seen him eating ice-cream and had seen him trying to read the school poems. He sometimes peeked through the windows and sometimes barged right through the doors. Should he go in today? There was no need to think. He went in. There was no need to knock. He knew all the rooms. He had walked through these corridors for 3 years now. He could see the door at the far end. He reached for it and went inside.

There she was, sleeping soundly with one hand over their son. He had grown up in the last few years. Should he go upto her? She might wake up or someone might come in. He didn’t care. She won’t wake up and no one will see him. He sat on the bed besides his son. He put a hand on his head. Anuj felt peace he had never felt before. The pain seemed to vanish for a moment. But it came back. How much he regretted all that he had done. He looked at Priya who was looking beautiful as ever, fast asleep. The strands of her hair falling on her face. He wanted to touch them, to tell her how much he loved her. He held back because a knife was wounding him, cutting him from the inside. There are things you come to believe and there are things you carry in your blood. He felt all those voices, the ghosts of the past torturing him and telling him to let go of his consciousness.

Whose mistake was it? He had just wished her to be happy and had gone on to make her wish that she had never met him! He remembered the last day they had spent together. They had divorced and he was going to leave her to her mother’s place. Their son had already gone. Priya had his custody. They were in his car and none had spoken a word to each other when their Chevrolet had crashed into the truck.

He could hear footsteps in the corridor. A man walked into the room. But he didn’t notice Anuj sitting on his bed besides his wife. He couldn’t. He walked upto Priya and kissed her forehead. She looked up. No one seemed to care that Anuj was there with them. He took her into his arms and carried her to the wheelchair sitting in the corner of the room. Priya smiled at him. And that very moment Anuj knew he was long dead. He knew what the pain meant and that he had been a dead man since three years, walking these corridors repenting. Repenting for her endless love.

The rain outside had stopped. The sun was out with brute force piercing the window and illuminating the couple in the corner of the room. Funny weather, Anuj thought, changes quickly. He stood, looked at that beautiful smile for the last time and walked back into the darkened corridor. There are many endings to a love story. Some sad, some happy. In this particular story, finally, she was happy and he…was free…

…continued forever…