Aboli

Part 35

"I need a break guys, I am both hungry and tired! Parth, can you call for something to eat? Anything that gets delivered quickly will be fine!" Vidushi declared, kicking off her shoes and resting her skinny jeans clad feet on the desk. Parth and Vidushi were assisting Randhir in some important business matter. They were so busy that they completely forgot about lunch. "Hey Vidushi, you should join us formally, you are a natural at business!" Randhir complimented her. "I am planning to, as soon as  I finish college and Parth and I get engaged!" She replied. 

Randhir knew Vidushi had potential, and already her relationship with Parth had gotten the stamp of approval from both set of parents. He liked how Vidushi made a sincere effort to protect Parth's stake by offering her full support and motivation. Thanks to her Parth was grasping the essentials of strategy. Parth dialed Sanyukta's extension and asked her to call for some sandwiches from a café nearby. "You can join us for lunch when the food arrives!" Parth added. Vidushi was not expecting Sanyukta to be at work today. Both girls tried to steer clear of each other, they did not have much in common.

 Parth invited Sanyukta to join them out of courtesy, he knew Vidushi kept her distance from her but her mood swings did not have a pattern, PMS or no PMS. It was just the four of them working on a Saturday, the office was empty otherwise. Vidushi made no comment, she went back to poring over the flies while Parth made them some coffee.The problem needed to be attended to urgently and while they were busy Sanyukta occupied herself with the paperwork she had been assigned. She tried to keep her eyes on the screen, somehow feeling like an outsider among the other three who behaved like a family.

By the time the food arrived they were almost done working. Randhir paid for the delivery and brought it into the cabin and they all tucked into their chicken junglee sandwiches. The boys did most of the talking with Vidushi adding a touch of humour every now and then. Sanyukta barely spoke, she simply sipped on the coffee in between bites of her sandwich. Pairing together two women who were not compatible had to be a foolproof way to silence them, Randhir thought. Vidushi was obviously confident and a born leader while Sanyukta was rebellious and unconventional. Friction between them was only natural. 

"What is that book you are reading Sanyukta? I am not familiar with it. " Feeling greatly revived after the meal Vidushi finally tried to break the ice. "It is a fantasy book about a magician summoning an ancient djinni to do his bidding!" Sanyukta wished she had kept the book better concealed under her bag, she was unsure about the reaction her choice of reading material would evoke. "You like reading fantasy?" It was a rhetorical question but Vidushi wanted Randhir to believe that she was trying to cultivate Sanyukta. She knew from experience how protective he was toward the girl.

"Not all writers, but I've read Tolkein, C S Lewis and of course, Rowling!" Sanyukta said. "Well, as a kid I enjoyed reading Enid Blyton, Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl.  think they top the list of writers in that genre. I stopped reading fantasy after school, but I am sure you may have read books by my favourite writers!" Vidushi was being as indulgent as she could. "No, I have never read Blyton, Dr Seuss and Dahl!" Sanyukta sounded defiant. "That's weird, you don't know what you are missing!" Vidushi longed to call Sanyukta weird to her face, but she restrained herself. "I know, and I have no regrets!" Sanyukta got up, excused herself and resumed work at her desk while Vidushi hauled herself to the ladies.

"What was that about?" Parth wondered aloud and Randhir sighed. "Oil and water, they are unlikely to emulsify! In any case Sanyukta will be back in college after a few days, chances of a Sanyushi encounter will dwindle after that. Tell you what, we are almost done! I'll wrap up here, you take Vidushi home, and do something to lift her mood!" Randhir winked at Parth who grinned at the suggestion. Right enough, as Vidushi emerged from the bathroom she declared that she wanted to go home. Randhir said goodbye to them and they walked out of the door.

"Sanyukta, you can finish your work sitting across from me. As soon as we are done I'll drop you home. She walked in with the laptop, relieved that Vidushi had left. She never meant to spar with Vidushi but the equation between them had always been this way. When it was time for them to leave office it began raining heavily. "We'd  better wait till it stops raining, call your mother and tell her that!" Randhir suggested and she complied. They sat down quietly and watched the rain lash the earth and rattle on the windows.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to upset Vidushi. I think she left only because of me." Her tone revealed the regret she was voicing. "You'll both get over it soon. But I am perplexed about why you were abrupt, she was just trying to make conversation with you! And most of us read the works by the writers she mentioned when we were children!" Randhir had to hold out a mirror to Sanyukta, she had miles to go before learning to be tactful, especially with Vidushi. "I am not sure I can explain, it is just that I connect with some writers more than I can with the others!" She admitted.

"Fantasy seems your favourite genre, one would expect you've read the lot!" Randhir smiled. Trust Mowgli to bury herself inside make-believe worlds whenever she felt the strong urge to hide from the demons of her past. "I know what you are thinking Randhir, and you are partly right. Yes, throughout childhood my need to escape reality has been served by such books, they made up for what had been missing. But I could never bring myself to read works of writers who were two-faced in real life. They brought grief to their spouses with their promiscuity."

" Dr Seuss and Dahl both went on to cheat on their partners with their wives' close friends. Helen Palmer Geisel supported and inspired her husband till he became a celebrity and when she battled a series of illnesses including cancer for thirteen years her unfaithful husband slept with the other woman. It drove the shattered Helen to suicide. Her husband simply married his mistress in a few months. Patricia Neal struggled with Dahl's betrayal for years after their divorce, and he went on to marry Felicity Crosland with whom he had cheated Patricia for over a decade!"

"These people who inflicted emotional cruelty on their spouses cannot be ideals for the minds they were supposedly writing for. I chose not to endorse their works!" She surprised him with her tirade and he was not sure how to react. "Why do you associate the book with the choices the writer made in his personal life? Some of the best works have been attributed to people who were actually promiscuous. Shakespeare, Byron, Victor Hugo, Tolstoy, HG Wells, Ayn Rand, Oscar Wilde- and these were just writers, the actual list could be endless!" 

"If an actor enacts a deity do we expect him to be spiritual in real life? An artist's creation and his character can be disparate, admire the work even if you don't admire its creator." Randhir knew Sanyukta had many layers, and these could be connected to her experiences in life. "Let me ask you this Randhir, if you marry a beautiful and talented woman, will you continue to see her in the same light after you discover that she is being unfaithful to you?" She looked him in the eye to see his reaction.

"Of course not, but how can you compare that with a writer's work and his personal life? Stop mixing together all colours on the palate, you will only end up making a mess!" He stood up, it had stopped raining and as promised he had to drop her home. "I beg to differ!" She tried to continue the argument as they locked up and made their way downstairs to his car. "You cannot dwell on instinct and impulse on all issues. Learn to rationalise things, Mowgli, or else you will be an angry, lonely girl with unresolved issues who will hardly make friends." He wanted her to see reason. 

"I don't need friends, I just need the one person whom I can trust blindly and vice versa!" She blurted out. "Good luck finding one!" He laughed heartily. This girl was a complex puzzle but he always felt at ease in her company. Normal people probably lacked the vision to see the real Sanyukta under the facade of Mowgli, the wild child! That even rhymed, he smiled to himself. "We are here! Try not to dwell too much on infidelity among creative people, it gives a tremendous boost to their inherent genius!" He loved badgering her. "In that case may you be blessed with a highly creative but unfaithful spouse yourself!" She immediately countered. "We'll see about that!" He remarked casually as he drove off.