Suvan One Shots

Our Own Corner

Shravan had lost his sleep since he returned to his old home in Bhopal, no correction, since he met Suman or his erstwhile Sumo. Was she erstwhile? Had he ever forgotten her? Has he ever, as he had convincingly told his best friend Bunty, not want to talk about her nor know about her? He had known her thoughts without the need for her to vocalize them. He had thought he had lost that edge over the years but now that they were in proximity by the virtue of their profession , he realized sadly how attuned he was still to the flitting emotions on her face, the twitching of her mouth, the shifting of her shoulders. There was nothing about her that he missed, was the love he had for her still alive? That was not true, his heart had long back frozen into the unknown depths with her rejection, he now hated her and probably the hate that made him observe her so closely. Yes, that's right conclusion like people say, "Keep your friends close but enemies closer", he was doing the same. Convincing himself of the reasoning and nodding Shravan picked up a cushion and tossed it on his neatly done bed and tucked himself inside the covers. The moment he closed his eyes, the face of his "enemy" appeared to disrupt his sleep again and the hurt and loneliness behind those hurtful taunts that Captain Suman Tiwari was throwing his way at every interaction started squirming in his grey matter. Sighing he threw back the covers and hoisted himself off the bed and made his way to the infamous balcony where he knew the object of his curiosity will not be waiting for him like she did seven years ago.

Shravan stood by the shade of the terrace garden's overgrown unkempt bushes now as Jhumri struggled to maintain them, observing every portion of the neighbor's house. He could not justify why was he so eager to get a glimpse of the obnoxious Captain as he referred to her now. His eyes were stuck on the Suvan corner that they had once created for themselves 7 years ago which would be a meeting and melting point for their love which now lay in tatters. Shravan was brought back from his thoughts by the sound of a commotion and his now trained ears could figure that it was coming from the neighbor's place. His interest piqued as he could now hear it growing a little louder and he could hear Beena Chachi's voice almost booming over the strong and steady voice of Suman. From the snippets of the conversation that flowed across, Shravan could figure out that there was some disagreement between the two over the property. Before he could digress the information further, he saw his object of curiosity burst into her room hurriedly shuffling through the chest of drawers hunting for something. Shravan watched her closely as she rummaged through them and then suddenly with a small smile on her face retrieved a small object wrapped in silver and now Shravan knew that it was her current favorite, the gum. He wondered what all this with her chewing every time the irritating gum, at least whenever they had come face to face. He had thought this was specially reserved for him to be served like an add-on with her taunts but looked like he was wrong.

As he tried to analyse the reason for Sumo chewing a gum, he again heard some loud arguments between Beena Chachi and Ramesh Chachu and he felt a little weird that he remembered them by her relationship with them while claiming she was his past. Soon Beena Chachi's voice was bellowing as she burst into Suman's space accusing her of being the reason for the doom , for snatching away happiness of the family by not letting them sell the house and again he saw Suman shuffling through the drawers and then hitting her hand on the hard table till it bled causing Ramesh Chachu to pull Beena away. Shravan felt like rushing in to help Sumo like old times, but he could not because neither it was those times neither she was his Sumo who had given him his haq. It took every atom of strength in his body to stop himself from comforting her forgetting all that accusations she had hurled at him. As he turned to go, he saw Suman rushing out of the house towards the garden towards their corner, the Suvan corner. He was now utterly surprised as the wilting plants had told him she never cared about it. Shravan now followed and walked towards the same place where Sumo had headed unconsciously. Hiding himself behind the tree camouflaging him in the darkness he watched Sumo break down as tears rolled down unhindered and she clutched to the pot with the roses not the ones at her side but the one on Shravan's side. After a while she let her dainty fingers roll over the now illegible letters "Suvan" as she let out in a hushed whisper "Shravan". Although it was a hushed whisper Shravan felt his insides somersault at her calling out to him. Clinging on to the tree tightly he stood there till Suman's tears subsided and she walked back promising to never let go of her and his love for her which he painfully realized over the last few moments was still intact his "pagalon ki tarah pyar".