Part 9

Within 5 minutes they were passing bungalows and larger houses and then soon turned towards larger buildings of private societies with different kinds of apartments.  They soon entered into one such society and after finishing the formalities at the gate Suneel parked the motorbike. 

Till now Suneel had avoided her queries by saying that she would soon know where they were going. They took a lift to reach the 3^rd floor and now Suneel told her that they were going to see Meenakshi.

“Wouldn’t she think it queer?” Nisha was surprised and a little apprehensive.

“She might, but it is important that you see her,” was a distant reply. He added, “She is expecting us. I called her from the café.”

The bell was answered instantly and Nisha found Meenakshi standing in the doorway with a welcoming smile on her face.  Nisha noticed that she looked quite relaxed.

It was a two bedroom apartment with a living room having a balcony on the left of the main doorway separating the living room by large glass doors and an open kitchen on the right forming an ‘L’ shape from the main entrance. The layout had the advantage that one cannot see what’s happening in the kitchen from the entrance.  The living area was being used as a drawing room too as it was spacious enough. It had a modern look with built in structures to hold a music system and accessories with the wall mounted smart TV. The room was given an elegant look by the tasteful décor on the walls. Anybody sitting on the sofa would get a lovely view of the beautiful roses that bloomed in the artistically carved pots in the Balcony.

After they sat down on a comfortable Italian sofa, Meenakshi expressed how glad she was to see both of them.  She asked about the work at office. On Nisha’s remark that her work had increased many fold, she remarked, “You must be wondering why I had left work so suddenly”.

She explained, “I had a very bad experience at office.  Initially I was embarrassed but later I felt a under some pressure ……. that was….that was not acceptable to me.”

Nisha remained silent but Suneel intervened, “you will have to tell more Meenakshi because it’s very important to us.”

Meenakshi looked puzzled, so Suneel quickly added “Mine and Nisha’s families are trying to come up with a marriage alliance between us. We might become engaged you know.  But Nisha is perturbed, she thinks that it might be her fault for what happened to you”.

Meenakshi was astonished and looked questioningly at Nisha.

Nisha blurted out, “Oh, I am so sorry…. I did not know anything about your relationship with Deven. I had gone out twice with him, once for a coffee and next for a movie one evening, that’s all…. and that’s it… nothing more than that… so please don’t take it otherwise… it won’t happen again.”

“It better not”, retorted Meenakshi. She added, “You know nothing about him.” She seemed angry now, “I am really glad that you came here because you must know what has happened though it pains me to remember all that humiliation and suffering at his hands”.

“It is better that I tell you from the very beginning.  Nine years ago my father had died after a road accident when I was in 12^th standard. Our lives were shattered and we were broke. Major portion of my father’s fund was spent on hospital bills that couldn’t save him. Somehow my mother started small tailoring jobs for the neighborhood ladies which later developed as a boutique and this way she was able to run the house and our day to day lives.  She managed to get me higher education. After my MBA I appeared for interviews at a number of companies but somehow luck would have it that I wasn’t offered any job for about three months.  I got through the interview in this company and was desperate for a job because my widowed mother had developed a tumour in her uterus.  That meant we required a lot of money for operation and the post-operative care, I was already under the pressure of an education loan I had taken for my MBA. My younger brother was then in 11^th standard though he could earn a small amount through tuition of younger children but that was barely enough for him to spend on his daily transportation and his own books, stationery, etc."

She paused to give some instructions as the maid brought them some water.

“So as I was telling you I could get through both the rigorous assessments after the interview and was offered the appointment letter. Deven was my reporting officer and mentor during my three months’ probation.  He would deliberately single me out, then point out my faults and criticise me publicly for small things. My colleagues suggested that I must have a talk with him because it appeared that probation period was a critical time in one’s career.  He informed me that I was doing very well and that he wanted to make me perfect and I need not worry about small things.  In fact I liked this view and welcomed a critical assessment of my performance”.

She continued, “The four of us the other three trainees and I started lunching in Deven’s room as he had suggested. Soon we started liking each other and a friendship developed.  After my confirmation Deven and I started seeing each other outside the office.  After my mother’s operation I brought him here to see her.  She also liked him."

“Very soon he professed his love to me. Naturally I wanted the relationship to have some meaningful turn and he indicated that he would talk to his parents about marriage when he would visit them in his village and we may think of an engagement after that.  I never pressurised him to hurry, though my mother was apprehensive and asked me to urge him not to wait too long.”

“I indicated to him quite often that I might not be able to see him any longer if he does not tell his parents about me.  But he kept talking about great plans but never took any action”.

“So, about six months ago I threatened to break the relationship. He promised to go to his village and persuade his parents.  But when he returned from his village he would talk only about the frail health of his father and whenever I would bring up the subject he would tell me that he could not broach the subject with his parents because his parents were orthodox and may not agree to his selecting a girl for himself. As his father is a heart patient he cannot even think of informing him on phone.”

“But he claimed that he was afraid of only one thing that I might leave him and he would not be able to bear that. So every time he would  promise that he would find a suitable opportunity and talk to his parents”

“This made me stop going out with him. I wanted him to value our relationship. He came here to the house and he promised to set things right.  I told him clearly that I would allow myself to be seen with him again only after he has fulfilled his promise. I was actually in a depressed state of mind for the last three-four months because of the uncertainty in our relationship. I was losing my confidence and was in a big dilemma.”

“Three weeks ago he visited his village again and told me that he would then talk to his parents this time. A fellow villager who incidentally was visiting my neighbour Ratna came along with Deven when he returned. Deven did not know that he was visiting my neighbour who is also my friend.”

“The same evening when I visited Ratna I met this guy, when he came to know about our company he enquired whether I knew Deven. He told me that he knew Deven’s family well and that he belonged to his wife’s village. He told me in detail everything about his family and the fact that Deven was married for four years but is not bringing his wife with him to the city because she is needed there in the village to look after his ailing parents.”

“This revelation devastated me it destroyed all the leftover faith and confidence in me. All this time I was being lied to. All this time he gave me the impression that I was the only one in his life.

“You know when I confronted him and asked him why he promised me marriage when he had a living wife, he came up with more lies again.  He said he never liked his wife, and he was forced into marriage by his parents. He lied to me again and said he was divorcing his wife and he had already filed the papers.  He insisted that he wanted to continue this relationship which was not acceptable to me, so I told him very clearly that divorce or no divorce, it did not matter to me any longer and that I was done with him and I broke with him completely and would never see him again.”

“When mother came to know about this she advised me to never see him again. But last week I came to know about all the lies and the false promises he had made to me. It was supposed to be me last day in the office because I had already tendered my resignation without a notice. I did not see him I just happened to bump into him. That unfortunate day his PA who knew about our relationship confided in me that a call was received from his house from his father when he was in a meeting and a message was left for him that he had been bestowed with a son.”

“In that moment I felt like a fool, a complete idiot and felt terribly cheated and thought the world had ended for me. I felt I did not want to exist any longer…and very much ashamed of myself......I felt like removing myself… away from everything …., and moved towards that foolish rash action” Her eyes filled with tears, “But Suneel came from somewhere out of the blue, talked me back into my senses, and then brought me home here.”

She looked up at him gratefully, and Suneel exclaimed angrily, “It would have been a shame to waste you on such a scoundrel. In fact the rascal needs to be taught a lesson.”

“Suneel reminded me that it was not the end of the world, and that there are more important people in my life who loved me.”

“He was so right my dear; it was none of your fault that you were so cheated.  You are not the first person on the earth who has been so cheated,” a voice came from behind Nisha.

As Nisha turned around Meenakshi introduced her to her mother. She was a very frail and delicate lady in her mid-fifties but seemed quite active.  Suneel got up to make room for her and bent to touch her feet. She settled near Nisha on the sofa.

The maid brought in some fresh lemonade with biscuits and namkeen. As they helped themselves, mother stated that she had left the decision to continue in the present job entirely on Meenakshi but it was better that Meenakshi found a change in environment and people around her.

Meenakshi declared that she had some good news to share, she has been selected for an executive post in an MNC in the Cyber city area and would have to join the new post after a week. 

She shared, “I had started applying for new positions in other companies two months ago and had appeared in three interviews, this was the first offer because here she had topped among all the applicants who were cleared in the interview.”

“It was not only Deven’s behaviour on a personal level with me but also another action that made me feel uncomfortable in the company. I was unaware that for the last six months he was impressing upon people that I got this job because of him. It is a total lie.  I had no clue about this till two months ago. I do not like talking about such things and creating more embarrassing moments for myself. ”

She added, “I think I just needed to prove to myself my worth again.  I am going to give myself a new start.”

Both Nisha and Suneel congratulated her heartily. Suneel had to take a call on his cell phone so he went out in the balcony.

Meenakhsi’s mother Mrs. Taneja said, “Suneel is a gem of a person. He belongs to a very good and cultured family.  I and Meenakshi went to meet his parents when they were here staying with him in his apartment. His mother is a very sweet and gentle lady.”

“Suneel lives just two blocks away in another society. It is walk able from here”, explained Meenakshi.

Mrs Taneja added further, “His parents are very rich and have a huge property in Manesar and own two floors in a posh locality in Gurugram. They also have ancestral property in Uttarakhand and get a huge rental income.  But they have a very simple living and are so humble that you wouldn’t even get a clue to their riches and this quality has been inherited by Suneel.  He is very good natured, kind and gentle.”

Meenakshi informed Mrs. Taneja that Nisha and Suneel’s family were trying a marriage alliance between the two of them.  She said, “Nisha is soon going to be engaged to Suneel”.

“I don’t know, I haven’t decided”, Nisha protested.

Meenakshi moved a little closer to Nisha, and said to her “You know Nisha, I have always liked you.  Although we did not talk much since our cabins were far removed and your friend circle was different than mine probably because I joined the company much earlier than you did, but I have always admired you and your work. You are really an asset to the company and when Deven secretly raised objections in your excellent presentations and marketing strategies of the projects I used to feel really bad. Still you were able to manage the budgets of the foreign components of the trainings.”

“Oh what a relief”, Meenakshi exclaimed; “Now I can talk about what was happening in the company since I am not ethically bound not to reveal information about the projects”. She told Nisha that Deven was the one who would unnecessarily put objections and seek irrelevant clarifications in her work.

She continued, “I think it’s a rare chance that a girl would get a life partner like Suneel.”

Mrs. Taneja added, “If the god is bestowing you with such kindness you should not think twice but grab the chance”.

Suneel came back into the room and declared that he had been called from his team and he must go back.  So he requested Nisha that they would have to leave immediately.

 He rode a little fast towards Nisha’s house, so that he could return to attend to his work. He dropped her in front of her house and said, “Please convey my apologies to Maa and Baba.  I’ll not come inside; I think they will understand why.”  He turned the bike around and disappeared into the night.

With a feeling of great relief Nisha entered the house.  She knew that she would be able to sleep well tonight as a heavy burden was lifted off her chest.  Maa and Baba were surprised to see her come alone but when she told them that Suneel was called for an urgent assignment Baba said that it was a great thing that Suneel could spare so much time to spend with her.

Now Nisha did not care about anything else as she felt very hungry and there was a maddening aroma floating towards her from the kitchen.