That's The Way We Met Page 2

‘Are you thinking the same thing as me?’ I questioned her.

  ‘Yes. We were idiots. We would fight just like them. Silly reasons that would culminate into stupid arguments,’ said Riya taking a bite of the pizza we had ordered.

  ‘You think that we don’t fight as much now?’

  ‘Of course we do,’ she replied, ‘But now we understand each other’s emotions way better.’

  Life without love is like a scorching desert craving for rain. Riya came in my life and cured all my pain. Our relationship had an inseparable emotional bonding.

  I kept looking at her without saying a word.

  ‘Jaan, let’s go for a long drive.’ I wanted to salvage the little time we had at hand before work beckoned.

  ‘I don’t think that’s a very good idea. We have to go to office right now, remember? Let’s go, please,’ she requested.

  ‘Let’s wait for a few more minutes, please. I want to feel you in my arms, I want to look deep into your eyes and tell you just how much I love you.’

  ‘You will never change.’ She gave a wicked smile, pinching me hard.

  I bent forward and gave her a slight peck on her cheek. She responded with equal intensity and planted a gentle kiss on my neck. Her eyes met mine and melted me with its intensity—intensity of an unconditional love that sent shivers down my spine.

  ‘I love you, Riya.’ The honest confession was made in that one magical moment.

  ‘I love you too.’

  I dropped her to office after our delightful evening together. As I saw her enter the gate of her office building, I thanked my stars for the good fortune of having someone like Riya to love with all my heart.

  But somewhere in the corners of our minds, I knew that we still had the fear of losing each other. Neither of us chose to express our concerns to the other for fear of the intuition coming true. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that one person could light up my entire life, that my every decision would require her approval.

  I loved Riya. This time more deeply, madly, and passionately.

  Haseen pal kissa ban jaata hai,

  Koi shaks apna hissa ban jaata hai,

  Kuch log aise milte hain,

  Jinse kabhi na tootne waala rishta ban jata hai.

  The ‘M’ factor

  I was scheduled to attend a conference meet in my office where managers were addressing agent-level employees.

  ‘Your team needs to work on your Net Sat (Net Satisfaction of the Customer) score. The quarterly figures for your group are extremely poor,’ said the manager, almost yelling at our team in the conference room.

  Sitting way behind all the rest, cleverly shielded from the manager, I was busy texting Riya from my cell phone. She didn’t seem to be working as was evident in her quick replies.

  ‘I strictly want all of you to follow the official dress code! No one should wear casuals on weekdays. Moreover, on Monday, everyone should come dressed in black office formals. Recently, I have been getting repeated complaints from the HR team that some you are violating certain company policies regarding the established dress code. Strict action will be taken against anyone found breaching the desired code of conduct. The guidelines for proper dressing will shortly be put up on the bulletin board. Remember, casual dressing is allowed only on Fridays,’ he yelled at our team, even though I don’t think anyone was really paying heed to what he had to say.

  All that screaming was proving to be too much of an overdose for me. I desperately needed a smoke. No wonder I hated managers. They are utter morons. Where do they get the energy to speak so much?

  ‘Why don’t you just take all your traditional beliefs about organizations and apply them to the neurons in your brains?’ he continued.

  I wanted to stand up and tell him that Rome wasn’t built in a day, so how could he expect us to remember all the guidelines in a matter of a few days? After all, the new dress code policy had been introduced only recently. I waited for him to stop laying all that crap on us and give us a breather.

  As the meeting wrapped up, I hastily left the room and went straight to the smoking zone where I lit a cigarette and breathed out a relieved puff.

  ‘Hey, how are you?’ I heard someone say from behind me. I turned back and saw Prerna, my colleague from the same division.

  ‘Plain fucked up! We had a meeting with the managerial team and they screwed us as usual. But anyway, how have you been?’ I replied.

  We then broke into a general discussion on our ‘not so happening’ corporate life. As the five-minute break was just about to get over, I told her to meet me in the next break to continue with our rant.

  I was just logging into my system when the team manager showed up. He introduced us to our new team leader, Mohit, who had joined us from our regional office in Ahmedabad. He had recently been transferred to Mumbai and had been asked to resume duties in our office. Mohit was smartly dressed and even though he seemed young, he had the look of someone with years of experience behind him. He gave us a warm smile and individually greeted everyone with a handshake. We then resumed work with Mohit keeping a close watch on us, ready to guide us through any improbable complications.

  After an hour had eloped, I locked my system and went outside for a short break. Prerna was in the smoking zone before me.

  ‘How is Riya?’ she asked. Everyone in my close network of friends knew about my relationship with Riya.

  Before I could answer, Mohit came in and asked me for a lighter. I took out one from my pocket and lit his cigarette. That seemed to break the ice between us. Mohit was the first one to ask me, ‘Aditya, were you born and brought up in Mumbai?’

  I replied in the affirmative.

  ‘Great! I’m staying in a hotel as of now. But since I will be working here for good, I wanted to look for a permanent accommodation. Since it is my first time in the city, Mumbai is an alien land for me and I don’t know my way around here. Do you know of any decent place where I could shift?’

  ‘But I thought our company was providing you with accommodation?’ I asked with a surprised look. Usually, whenever we had inter-city transfers, the company usually took it upon itself to provide the employees with proper accommodation.

  ‘Yes, they will, but only after two months. Till that time, I was looking for a room on rent, preferably some place within my budget and which his close to our company,’ said Mohit.

  ‘I can put you in touch with my friend who rents out flats. Plus, I won’t charge you much or take commission,’ I winked.

  ‘That makes things much easier for me. Thanks a lot, Aditya. I owe you one.’

  Mohit shifted to the apartment suggested by my friend the very next day.

  He was single which was hard to believe, since he was quite a pretty good-looking guy, or so I could tell from the way girls cast a glance at him every time he passed by. His family was based in Ahmedabad where he had spent most of his formative years. We became good friends soon after.

  It was another office day and Mohit and I had been slogging it out.

  ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ asked Mohit while accompanying me to the gate after our shift got over.

  ‘Yes. Her name is Riya. We have been seeing each other since the past few years.’

  ‘Are you guys planning to get married soon?’

  I could feel myself go red in the face. Even though we loved each other deeply, marriage was not on the cards—at least for me.

  ‘Yes, maybe three years from now we will. Anyway, it’s too early for me to answer this,’ I smiled as I lit a cigarette.

  ‘Mohit, Riya is on her way to meet me. If you aren’t too busy, would you care to join us?’ I casually asked him.

  Like I expected, he politely declined. But I insisted he should wait so that I could at least introduce Riya to him. By the time we inhaled our last puffs, Riya joined us in the parking lot. I introduced both of them with each other.

  ‘It’s great to finally meet you, Riya. I have heard so much about you. In fact, we were just
talking about you. I was asking Aditya about his marriage plans and he told me he was confused,’ said Mohit with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

  ‘Did you, Aditya? Don’t pay any heed to him, Mohit. We will get married one day, just not anytime soon’ said Riya.

  ‘Aditya, you are one lucky chap,’ he said patting me on my back.

  I held Riya by the waist and said, ‘Isn’t she equally lucky?’

  Both of them nodded in agreement. We then headed to the Cafe Coffee Day outlet near our office. Once we were seated comfortably, I told Riya how good she looked in her trousers and white top—a corporate look that particularly flattered her beauty. Her hair fell loosely on her shoulders and she gave me a perfect smile in exchange for my compliment. I saw myself falling for her all over again.

  ‘So guys, do your parents know about your relationship?’ Mohit asked while taking a sip of his cappuccino.

  We looked at each other and answered at the same moment, ‘NO’.

  Even though my Mom had some sort of inkling about our relationship, Riya’s Mom thought we were best friends who simply chose to hang out together quite often.

  ‘You both look good together,’ Mohit stated.

  ‘Isn’t it amazing how a person who was once a stranger suddenly becomes your world?’ I asked as Riya kissed my cheek.

  ‘Yes it is. And it is nice to know that love like yours still exists in the world,’ Mohit continued.

  ‘So let’s turn the tables on you, Mohit. When are you planning to settle down?’ I asked.

  I told Riya that he was single which she found hard to believe.

  ‘You can date Prerna, you know. She is a real hottie with a body to die for,’ I teased Mohit. Riya pinched me on my arm and gave me a disapproving look.

  ‘Shut up and stop kidding! Let’s get going,’ said Mohit getting up from his seat.

  Arching one eyebrow, Riya signalled me to stay back and let Mohit go. Mohit understood that we wanted to be left alone for sometime. He excused himself and took the bus back home while we zoomed off on my bike.

  ‘So what do you think about getting married?’ I casually asked Riya while driving down to Marine Drive.

  ‘Aadi, you know I want to marry you—I have ever since I met you. But I want to become financially stable before that. You know how I feel about living off someone else’s money.’

  I did not want to spoil our evening, so I chose to remain silent on the issue and dropped her off near her house. How was I to know that it would become a major bone of contention between us later on?

  Mumbai Rains

  It had been one helluva long day. But since it was a Friday, the weekend was thankfully just round the corner. And the temptation of the approaching weekend made it impossible to concentrate on work. I wanted to complete my target for the day on time and leave. Mohit came and monitored my last call before pack up.

  ‘Thank you for calling SGS. How may I help you?’ I asked in a mechanical tone opening my call.

  ‘Listen, I am facing difficulty logging onto the internet,’ the customer complained.

  ‘What is the error message on your computer screen?’ I looked at Mohit. He instructed me to keep a track on the AST (Average Session Time).

  ‘The prompt that I am getting is “wrong user ID/ password”,’ he grunted.

  ‘Can I confirm that you are keying in your password with the Caps Lock key off?’ I asked.

  ‘What is that all about?’

  ‘Sir, I think you need to type in your password in lowercase after turning off your Caps Lock key. Would you do that and let me know if it works?’ I suggested.

  ‘Look here, this is bullshit! There is no such thing as switching off the Caps Lock—I can’t do that.’ the customer said in an agitated voice. Watching the proceedings behind my desk, Mohit was trying his best to control his laughter.

  ‘Why don’t you give it a try, sir? Just press your caps lock key and you will get a prompt on the right hand corner of your screen saying “caps lock key off”. Then punch in your password. If it still doesn’t work, we can try something else,’ I said in a mock serious tone.

  ‘Oh my God, you are right! I had been typing the password in capital letters all along! Dude, you are a fucking genius,’ he muttered in excitement. And dude, even a child would have been able to figure it out, I thought to myself.

  Once I hung up the phone after giving him a lowdown on all the basics, I burst out laughing, joined soon by Mohit who still seemed pretty amused by it.

  A happy customer meant an increase in my Net Sat score. I logged off the system and left the floor with Mohit who wanted to know my weekend plans and suggested we hang out together if I wasn’t pre-engaged in another thing. Since I didn’t have any concrete plans as such, I agreed to meet him on Saturday. Then I rushed to meet Riya after my shift.

  Once seated at our regular meeting point—a dhaba outside her office—she asked me, ‘What are you doing tomorrow? Let’s go out somewhere.’

  I couldn’t tell her outright that I had already made plans with Mohit, but I also did not want to say no to her. So I made up a miserable excuse of having some pending office work. She didn’t say anything but her face told me she was clearly upset. I knew she wasn’t buying it. I thought for a moment and said, ‘Okay, I will try and finish all pending work on Sunday. But can Mohit also join us tomorrow? He is new to the city and wanted help exploring it. Plus, it’s more fun in a group. We could all just aimlessly roam around the city. And I am sure you must now be bored by my company. What do you think?’

  She didn’t say anything for a while. Then she smiled and I knew she had fallen for it.

  ‘What if Sonam also joins us?’ Riya suggested.

  ‘That’s perfect. That’ll allow us to have some time for our own without feeling guilty about Mohit getting bored since he will have Sonam for company,’ I added.

  Sonam was Riya’s good friend and colleague. A Delhi girl, she lived with her relatives in Mumbai. I told Mohit about our double date and asked if he was comfortable with the plan. At first he hesitated, but finally gave in after I pestered and reminded him what a head turner Sonam was. We decided to meet at Inorbit Mall in Malad at 1 pm.

  I messaged Riya that night:

  Babe, I was just thinking about our college days and how much fun we had together. Remember how you used to force me to write long messages even though I could barely write a sentence? I used to send you the same forwarded messages over and over again. But it’s different today. Now words aren’t enough to tell you how wonderful you are. Although this is just a small attempt to do so, the fact that will remain constant is that I will love you forever. Here’s a love message that was in my inbox which I had saved to send you at the apt moment. ‘I wish I was your blanket, I wish I was your bed; I wish I was your pillow underneath your head. I want to be around you, I want to hold you tight and be the lucky person who kisses you good night.’

  Riya replied:

  Aadi, I don’t need fancy love messages to assure me of your love. You are a blessing in disguise to me. I cherish every second I spend with you. I find myself loving you more with each passing day. You are the reason for my being. You are my Mr Perfect and I love you.

  I slept with a smile on my face that night.

  I reached Malad at 1 pm sharp and spotted Sonam sitting near the water fountain. She was wearing a white halter-neck top with dark blue slim-fit jeans. Mohit and Riya were yet to arrive. I greeted her with a casual ‘hello’. After a few minutes, Riya arrived. I was amazed at how she could take my breath away every time I glanced at her. She was suitably dressed for the hot weather in a blue tube top and shorts which showed off her perfectly toned legs. She was wearing the blue bracelet that I had gifted her on her last birthday on her right wrist. She came close to me and gave me a slight peck on my cheek. I whispered to her how beautiful she looked. Before she could get a chance to reply, we saw Mohit enter from the mall’s main gate. Riya introduced Mohit to Sonam. We chilled out in th
e mall for a while, after which we decided to start our Mumbai tour from Bandra.

  We hopped into my car, with Riya sitting in the front with me while Mohit and Sonam sat in the backseat.

  ‘Sonam, even you have never explored the city or so I hear from Riya? I was under the impression that it has been quite a while since you came to Mumbai,’ I asked her.

  ‘Not really. In my line of work, we hardly get weekends off and when we do, I prefer to stay at home and get some rest,’ said Sonam.

  ‘Your job must suck then! So listen up guys—what I propose is that we go to Bandstand first and then head off to the Gateway of India. Does that sound good?’ I asked. Everyone seemed to like the idea.

  We reached Bandstand within an hour. I parked my car near Taj Lands End hotel. Mohit’s excitement on seeing the sea was visible on his face. We walked towards the seashore. The girls were walking ahead of us, deep in conversation like teenage school girls who had lots to gossip about. I observed Mohit glancing at Sonam. It made me smile.

  ‘This is Bandstand, the most famous lover’s point in Mumbai. Mannat adds to its charm,’ said Riya.

  ‘Mannat is Shahrukh Khan’s house, right?’ Sonam asked curiously.

  ‘Yes. It’s on that side of the road. Let’s walk and see if we can click some snaps,’ I said as we walked towards Mannat. ‘Maybe we can spot Shahrukh too,’ said Riya

  Sonam and Mohit turned out to be huge Shahrukh Khan fans and were equally excited to click snaps in front of the now world-famous bungalow. Mohit peeped inside the huge gate but could see nothing except for a couple of seemingly expensive cars. Mohit cheekily went up to the security guard and asked if Shahrukh was at home. However, the security guard shooed us away. I clicked many pictures of Mohit and Sonam near the bungalow. Then Mohit took the camera from me and forced Riya and me to pose together. After our photo session was over, we headed back towards the seashore.

  I rummaged for a cigarette in my pocket. Seeing me light one, Riya screamed like a possessive housewife, saying, ‘How many times have I told you not to smoke when I am with you?’ Sonam too gave me a disapproving look.