He woke up with the usual noise of the phone ringing. He knew it was Arpita calling, (trying) to wake him up and make him reach the station on time. His 7 o’clock local train was one thing he never missed because it meant taking a taxi and reaching office late, which again he hated. He liked everything to be perfect.
"Hmmm.." he said answering the call.
"Goodmorning! Wake up! J" Her voice was one thing he couldn’t miss either.
"Hmmm.."
"Wake up please. You’ll miss the train."
"Hmmm.."
"I’ll call back in 5minutes to check. Mwah."
The phone did not ring again. He knew it wouldn’t. He knew Arpita more than he knew himself and it was the same the other way around. She had been his girlfriend since the past 6 years and his wake up call ever since. They had shared everything together and dreamt of doing so for a lifetime. He knew and loved every bit of her.
The frequency of their meetings and calls had reduced tremendously since their college days, but the love continued to grow. And today was a special day. He would be talking to his parents about her, them and their marriage.
He reached the office on time as usual. His office was something he worshipped. If it hadn’t been for this job, he would have been a totally different person and his journey wouldn’t have been the same either. Reaching his destination wouldn’t have been in the scenario. Just as he entered his cabin, his cellphone rang again.
" Hope you’ve reached office. I’m off to the shoot. C’ya in the night. Best of luck for today." Arpita was a girl of few words and that was the best part about her. She said it all in the unsaid way.
His life was perfect at the age of 27. He had a perfect home, perfect parents, a perfect job, a perfect car coming in a week and he had Arpita. She was perfection personified. Maybe more than love, it was this that kept their love alive and the romance undying.
He woke up the next morning with nothing like before. His parents had expressed their strong rejection for Arpita and he knew nothing would change that. Not liking her nature of work, her bold attitude for a woman and her family background, they had said she would never keep them happy.
He had never fought, never worked towards a thing in his life. But one thing was straight. To have arpita would mean not having his perfect home, parents and car. He had let arpita know the situation as soon as he had digested it himself. She had not protested knowing him more than he knew himself. He couldn’t believe he had ended a strong 6 year relationship just like that, in the span of a night. It was however, her last message that made him feel like a coward.
" It’s the lost battle you need to fight and win."
She expected him to go to her and atleast give a reason. That’s all she deserved in the least. But she knew he wouldn’t. He gave it a lot of thought himself. But he too knew, he couldn’t. For months, nothing changed. He lived his life in identical days for almost a year. If not everyone, his parents were happy and his car had brought him some happiness too.
A year later, he got married to Pooja, a girl of his parents’ choice. Pooja was a girl who could make anyone feel complete. Her life had been dedicated to her parents and now to her husband and their expecting child. It was her 8 month of pregnancy. She was perfect in her own world and one could find possibly nothing negative in her. A writer by profession, she had an ability of making everything around her peaceful and serene.
It was their last dinner at their favourite restaurant, just opposite Marine Drive. He left to take the car by which time Pooja would take a small walk along the sea. Pooja suddenly felt the urge to have ice-cream and decided to parcel it for the night. She would finish it with her usual late night movie. She found sleeping early a bit difficult now-a-days.
He got the car out of the parking lot and was surprised to not find pooja near the usual place opposite the Taxi Stand. He called her immediately. He got very restless now-a-days if she was not in front of her eyes.
"Hello! I was just going to call you. I’ve come back to the hotel to parcel some ice-cream."
" You should have told me. I got so worried till I heard your voice."
" Nothing would happen to me. Ever."
" Come soon. I’m waiting."
"I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait till eternity." She said and laughed jokingly.
At that particular moment, he heard a ear deafening sound and saw the hotel and his life blow into pieces. He knew it was over. He ran inside knowing he wouldn’t be allowed. The next 10 hours were spent with ambulances, police, sirens and fire brigades. The endless calls from home did not help. Afterall, his parents loved pooja more than he did. She was their dream come true daughter in law. He was finally told what he already knew, in the wee hours of the morning. He just couldn’t forget the last words pooja had said to him.
Exactly a year later, he sat on the same spot at Marine Drive analyzing his life so far. People had organized a peace march for the last years’ catastrophe. His life was shattered, his planned perfect life. It would never build again. He had not been to work, not said a word, not done a thing.
Just then a small child came to him with a lit candle, paper and pen. He was a school going child taking down suggestions and protests for the incident that had changed his life and of million others. He looked down at the child and a tear came down his eye. By now, he would have been a father himself. He remembered only one thing and smiled for the first time in a year and wrote down something he had never himelf followed but now intended to.
" It’s the lost battle you have to fight and win."
