The Unnamable Bond (On Hold)

A telegram and a quarrel

The postman fiercely rung the clinking bell on his bicycle and threw an envelope on the pavement. The envelope unfortunately landed on the kolam (drawing in front of a house drawn using rice flour or chalk powder or chalk) which Aishwarya was drawing on the floor. She was enraged. Swearing the postman under her breathe, she picked up the envelope, dusted it and asked Prasad to take it inside. Then she resumed her kolam, making corrections to the smudged area where the envelope had landed.

"Akka, it's a telegram from Manohar. Come fast!" Prasad yelled from inside.

Aishwarya's heart skipped a beat. Usually, telegrams either meant emergency or bad news. She wondered which one it would be, as she provided the finishing touches to her kolam. Wiping her hands with the spare cloth, she barged inside and snatched the telegram from him. Opening it carefully, she read.

MEET ME IN BESANT NAGAR BEACH AT 5:30 PM TODAY

She heaved a huge sigh of relief that it wasn't an emergency or bad news. It was just a casual meeting with Manohar. She wondered why he had sent a telegram to meet her. Generally he would call to the nearby payphone shop to relay the information or wait for her in the Besant Nagar bus stand. 'I think he has something important to talk to me,' she thought.

*****

"Hi, dear, how are you?" asked Manohar sweetly. He had an ochre shade of skin tone, flappy hair, deep-set eyes with black eyeballs, hoarse voice, peachy lips and well chiselled muscles. When he spoke, he had an air of authority around him. But he had acquired that manner in order to excel in his profession. Otherwise he was soft-natured and optimistic.

"I am fine. How are you?" asked Aishwarya rather blandly.

"I am fine, too."

"Why did you want to meet me today? There was a tone of urgency in your telegram."

"It isn't that much important. I felt a longing to see you. That's why."

Aishwarya smiled and entwined her fingers with his'. Manohar tightened his grip around her hand as if to say that he would never leave her at any cost. His reassuring touch sent shivers down her spine. Though she had been in a state of confusion for the past one month, her love for Manohar had never quavered. She rested her head on his shoulder and reveled in the lovely moment.

"I love you, Aishu." He professed.

"I love you, too." There was genuine love in those words.

"You know, I have been missing you very much for the past one month. You were busy in your work and I was also busy with my work. But when you were in college, you had lots of free time to spend with me. We would meet regularly. But nowadays I feel that a distance has been created between us. I am in the constant fear of losing you, Aishu. I am beginning to have a bad notion that if we don't meet regularly, we might lose interest in each other."

"I too have been missing you, Mano. But what you speak is absurd. Distance can never make us love each other any less. Do you feel that you have fallen out of love with me? If so, tell me frankly."

"No! I love you as always I do. But you are just 21. You might feel that I am not up to your level. You might feel left out. I am not that much jovial too. So the fizz in our relationship might fade out."

"Mano, you are such an optimistic person. From where do you get such negative thoughts?"

"I am sorry, Aishu. But I just felt like telling this to you. We need to meet more often."

"Sure, we can make some arrangements for that."

"What can you do to make our meetings frequent?"