Taste of love

Aditya Bajaj was not someone you may meet everyday. With his wit, charm and keen flirting skills he had no trouble attracting people to himself. For women, he was their Prince-charming while men envied his skills. He believed that each and every woman was weak and foolish enough to fall in love if only you have a nice story to tell. For example, they couldn’t stop shedding their tears on hearing about his mother’s illness (who didn’t exist) and how he was having a hard time paying the hospital bills. As a result they sympathized, loved and cared for him. But Aditya hardly cared about their feelings.

And one fine day this chapter of false love and betrayal came to an end. That was the day when Aditya Bajaj fell in true love…

***

Aditya’s Story-

I never believed in love at first sight. As a matter of fact I never even believed in love until I saw her. I only saw her eyes as she was clad with burqa. I could only say that she was fair, thin and smaller in height.

She was seating alone at PRISTINE hotel’s lounge, Goa. I waited for my friends to leave for their respective rooms until I made a move towards her. But she left as soon as I sat next to her. She then stood beside a man double her age near the check-in counter. I didn’t react and thought of her as too shy.

On the same night, I and my friends entered a restaurant for dinner where I caught a glimpse of her. She was sitting opposite to the same man, probably her father. I chose a seat from where I could see her clearly. The only thing I noticed about her that she was expressionless as if she was a prisoner.

In the darkness of the night and mild breeze on the beaches of Goa, my friends were busy playing cricket. But I wasn’t. My mind was elsewhere then. I made an excuse and moved back to the hotel where I asked the hotel manager about this mysterious woman. The information he apprised me with was a big blow: “Mr. and Mrs. Khan are here for their honeymoon”

I walked up to my room and saw a woman sobbing outside the room at the other end of the lobby. It was her.

“Is anything wrong Ma’am? May I help you?” I came running towards her. But she hardly budged. I repeated myself but she continued crying and knocking on the door, “Please let me in. I beg of you!”

I heard a crack at the door and she stopped crying. This time she looked at me sternly and said, “Go away! Now!”

I stepped backwards while she walked inside the room.

I could hardly sleep that night. I heard noises that tormented my mind. I could feel her agony but couldn’t do anything to comfort her. What kind of man would give his wife such a pain, I thought. And then, the guilt inside me grew stronger as I thought of the women who suffered pain because of me. I always thought of myself as a hero but today I despised myself.

The next morning we were sight seeing at Basilica of Bom Jesus where I saw her with her husband. She was looking at me but I couldn’t read her eyes. They were again the same-expressionless. I knew she wasn’t happy but I could hardly do anything about it. Few of my friends noticed the change in my attitude but I couldn’t confide in them my feelings and the burn inside my heart I was feeling that very moment. “Go away! Now!” I could hear her speaking those words again and again.

I confronted her near the washstand after the dinner that night.

“I know you aren’t happy with the old man. May be I can help you…….”

“How?” she said fiercely and I was dumb for a second. I had no answer at that moment.

“I don’t know…but at least tell me something about you-”

“Meet me at 2 ‘o clock on the beach”, she said and left the place.

I walked on the sand until I saw the elfin beauty beside a small bonfire. She was staring into the embers, her fierce eyes reflecting the flames.

“I can think about nothing but you”, I whispered in her ears.

“That’s what he says too”, she said letting out breathe of air, “How can you help me?”

“Tell me something about you first”, I said.

“About me? I am Asra Khan, 3^rd wife of Mr. Ahmed Khan who is rich enough to pay a ransom to my parents and then marry me. I was sold in the same manner as vegetables in a market.”

For the first time I had felt the force of her defiance. I listened quietly while she continued speaking. Initially, I was merely attracted to her beauty but now I started respecting her as a woman who was still waiting for her chance to freedom.

My fingers lingered on her hair for a few minutes and then on her face. She leaned on my shoulders, “He kicked me out last night when I refused him in bed. Anyone can buy me and sell me but my heart will remain my own.”

It was around six in the morning when I woke up beside the extinguished bonfire. I was still on the beach. Asra had left.

“Where the hell were you?” I was darted with questions as soon as I entered my room. My friends were already packing their belongings.

“With someone…”, I said politely.

“Oh god! What about those two women from Mumbai?” one of them asked appallingly.

“It’s different here”, I said in my defence. It’s always difficult to make your friends understand when it comes to women. All of them start acting like a concerned parent. But I didn’t quit. After several minutes of persuasion they left without me as I had bigger issues to handle at that moment.

I followed the couple everywhere they went, but couldn’t think of anything that might help her. On the same night, I heard frequent knocks on my door. I opened it and saw her sobbing. Her cheeks were moist and swollen red. There were bruises on her hands. The old man must have beaten her severely. I never felt so much of hatred for anyone in my life as much as I did for this man. I took her by her hand and moved towards her room. She resisted, “Please! I don’t want to go there. He’ll kill both of us if he sees us together.” But I didn’t hear her and knocked on their door. He opened it only after the knocks turned into bangs. He was in his underwear with a bottle of whisky in one hand and a wooden stick in the other. He raged with anger when he saw me holding her hand. He hit the stick hard on my chest, “HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HER!!!”

I caught the end of the stick when he raised it for the second time and punched him on his face. The blow was so hard that he couldn’t balance himself and his hands left the bottle while clutching my collar. As a result his head knocked on the small dressing table behind him and he took me along with him. My head crashed on it as well.

I didn’t remember what was going on when I woke up. Asra was packing her bags. I realized that I had been unconscious for some time. But what appalled me was the blood on the floor that was oozing out of the old man’s head.

“He’s dead….” she declared.

Her voice sounded distant. When he fell his head crashed on the dressing table’s upper corner and may have lead to him dying instantly.

“We need to elope or else the police will catch us”, she said hurriedly.

I packed my belongings as well and checked out of the hotel with her. Though she kept on saying that it was just an accident but my mind couldn’t escape the remorse of my deed. I had killed a man!

We reached another hotel after two hours of journey. Asra was leaning on my shoulder and was fast asleep. I gazed at her. She looked beautiful in the moonlight falling on her face. When love is right, things workout, my mind said. I paid the cabbie and entered the ATM outside the hotel. She was still sleepy but she managed to stand beside me while I withdrew the money.

I took her face near mine as soon as we entered the hotel room and whispered, “I love you.” She blushed like a little girl and said, “I know what you want from me, but first you take a shower!” I smiled back. This little girl isn’t that little I thought.

I stepped into the shower and thought of Asra and the future waiting for us. I was happy that she was with me and not with that old frog. I stepped out of shower in bathrobe and shouted with exhilaration, “I LOVE YOU!!!” But there was no reply. I put on the lights in the room but there was no one. Both of our bags were missing. And not to mention my wallet, ATM card, my clothes, my underwear were missing too. I was feeling like what-the-hell-is- happening.

I called the hotel’s manager and he confirmed that the woman accompanying me had left and had asked me to call PRISTINE hotel. I didn’t understand at first but was shocked to hear from the PRISTINE hotel’s manager: “Mr. Khan left just minutes after you.” I realized where I was wrong. I believed Asra’s words that he was dead but never checked it myself. I called the police when I was assured that there was no murder.

“Do you read newspapers, sir?” the man in khaki clothes asked me. I shook my head and he handed me that day’s GOA TIMES. The headline said- FATHER DAUGHTER DUO CONNED SEVERAL MEN. I banged my head with my hands. “Sir there’s a note on the table left for you”, he said and handed me the small piece of paper. It said- Hi Aditya. By the time you read this, I and my father (the man you killed! Remember? ) must have gone far away. You were one of the most handsome men I spent my time with. It was really nice conning you. Take care handsome. Bye.

Yours forever

Asra

PS: I saw your password at the ATM

***

Life has its own ways of teaching lessons. For Aditya, he understood that it was he (men) who was weak and foolish enough to fall for an unknown woman so easily. So unlike other love stories, he tasted the fruit of love but some fruits can be bitter in taste.

--ARITRA SEN