Serendipity

12

God surely had a funny sense of humour. Otherwise, the one man she desperately wanted to avoid wouldn't keep mysteriously appearing in front of her.

Her students had been asking her to teach them how to make lasagne. And many of the ingredients required were only found in the shopping malls of the upscale Ambawadi. So Anupama had made the trip, albeit unwillingly. She felt out of place in these large scale shopping malls where people picked things out from aisles and checked themselves out. She preferred the familiar street markets where she could haggle with the vegetable vendor.

As she spotted Anuj Kapadia examining a pickle bottle, she quietly made her way into the next aisle, trying her best to stay inconspicuous. She wished she could blame the man for stalking her. Her heart would have found this extremely endearing. But her rational mind knew he had no reason to do so. He didn't even remember her from their college days.

Anupama was a realist. She had learnt to be one the hard way.

"Anupama, this is Kavya, my colleague and my best friend," the introduction rang clear in her mind, her then-husband Vanraj Shah had said the first day Kavya had stepped foot inside her house. Vanraj had invited Kavya for dinner and Anupama had cooked her a very special meal.

In the past, when Vanraj had spoken about Kavya, Anupama imagined her as a senior - both in age and position - to Vanraj. And so she'd excitedly cooked one of her best spreads for this woman who seemed to be taking a keen interest in Vanraj's career.

To say she was shocked to meet Kavya was an understatement. Not only was Kavya significantly younger than Vanraj; she was also his junior. During casual conversation, she found out that her understanding was skewed - that it was all the other way around; Vanraj had taken a keen interest in Kavya's career and success.

That day, Kavya had just stayed for two hours, but in those two hours, she'd remained glued to Vanraj. She'd laughed very hard at jokes that were barely funny, she'd found every opportunity to get physically close to Vanraj, and she'd even wiped his mouth when the date chutney had tricked down his chin. She'd called him V.

Anupama should have questioned Vanraj then, but she hadn't fathomed something to this extent even in the wildest of her dreams.

That day she'd learnt the difference between faith and foolishness. And she'd promised herself never to be foolish again.

*****

"Anuj, what a pleasant surprise seeing you here," crooned the unmistakably shrill voice of Kavya Shah. Halfway through her shopping, Anupama stopped and quietly made her way to a spot where she could unobtrusively view the charade that was about to unfold.

"I didn't know you shopped here, Anuj," Kavya gushed, trying desperately to grab Anuj's hand, while the latter looked uncomfortable with this sudden accosting behaviour in a public space.

"How come you never mentioned it the last time we met?"

Anupama smiled. Kavya was making India's most famous business tycoon uncomfortable.

"Mrs Shah please call me Mr Kapadia. We barely know each other."

"True, but we can always know each other, if you want, Anuj." She purposely ignored his diktat.

"Mr Kapadia, Mrs Shah," he said a little terser. "My business colleagues and acquaintances call me Mr Kapadia," he castigated her.

She had the decency to move a few steps back and look embarrassed.

"I was only thinking that since we met at the hotel a few days ago..."

"We met for business purposes Mrs Shah if I recollect."

He would've said something further had Vanraj not appeared out of nowhere and shook his hands.

"What a pleasure bumping into you like this Mr Kapadia."

Anuj pursed his lips, but nevertheless shook Vanraj's hand.

He was about to make his way to the billing counter when Vanraj stopped him yet again. "I know this isn't the time or the place but since we're all here, I wanted to check if you'd had a chance to discuss the project we pitched with your team."

Anupama who'd been witnessing both Vanraj and Kavya's shameless behaviour and Anuj's discomfiture for the last few minutes decided to help the latter out. After all, he was her college acquaintance and the trustee of the school she taught in. Even if he didn't remember the former, she did.

And so she called out from where she was, the far end of the aisle.

"Anuj ji," Anupama waved her hand. "I found what you were looking for."

*****

Mr and Mrs Shah were a unique pair of people, Anuj decided, five minutes after he accidentally bumped into Kavya. The woman pretended Anuj Kapadia was her childhood friend.

Her innuendos lacked finesse - standing too close to him, trying to hold his hand, constantly touching and flipping her hair, wetting her lips - he'd seen better. He could write a book on Being Anuj Kapadia - India's Most Eligible Bachelor and possibly give Kavya a few tips on what she could improve on the next time she wanted to use her sexuality to capture someone's attention. So what he felt at her behaviour was annoyance.

If the wife was bad, the husband was worse. The supermarket was no place to talk business. Both the husband-wife didn't know what personal space meant and yet Anuj was too cultured to create a scene in a public place.

Had this been a boardroom....his wishful thinking was interrupted by the sweet and melodious voice of Anupama. She'd appeared out of nowhere as his guardian angel and so he took the opportunity to excuse himself and make his way to the far end of the aisle.

*****

Vanraj and Kavya found the voice that called out to Anuj oddly familiar. Yet their logical brains refused to make the connection.

"That weirdly sounded like Anupama," Kavya muttered under her breath, miffed with the fact that Anuj had gotten away, again.

"What did you say?" Vanraj was annoyed too. Kavya sensed that. To avoid another argument, she merely shook her head and the two of them continued with their shopping.

Two aisles later they spotted their new favourite person Anuj Kapadia laughing and talking to the person they'd labelled good-for-nothing in their books - Anupama.