“Raaaaaj Anand”.
“At your service”.
“What a name…Raaaaaj Anand !”.
“What’s wrong with it ?”
“Nothing…just saying..Raaaaj Anand sounds like such a powerful name. “Raj” as in “rule” and “Anand” as in happiness or pleasure. So Raj Anand is like…what…”you rule over the domain of happiness ?” ?
Raj is silent. Not sure how to approach this.
“Come on…say something !”
“Am scared to. You know how it is…if I say something it will end up in a fight”.
“No…Really ? Of course not..you think I always fight with you ?”
“No..but…anyway, nothing wrong with the name. Raj Anand…yes, I rule over happiness..ha ha”.
“YOU rule over happiness ? Yeah, right ! Your parents must have been really optimistic about you to have named you like this when you were born.”
“Hey, enough fun of my name, OK ? What about yours ? Meira ? It is not like you are a Krishna-bhakt or something.”
“Hey, I do my bit of poojas, OK. I am not like you. Nastik.”
Silence.
“Raj, is this what we have become now ? Is this the level of our fights ?”
“Why ?"
“No, I mean..look at us…even our fights are not proper fights anymore”.
Silence. Raj is not taking chances by opening his mouth.
“SAY something. Do you realize in 2 months we will be celebrating 15 years of marriage ? 15 years !”
“Really ? Has it been THAT long ? 15 years ?”
“Yes..15 long years. It feels like just the other day…I was a happy, free person..before…ok, let it be...otherwise I will get depressed.”
Raj, comfortingly, putting an arm around her shoulders “Hey, it has not been all that bad, has it ? You are still the same…ok, you look a little older…obviously you are not the young person you were then…”
Meira, pulling away sharply “What are you saying ? I am old ?”
“I didn’t say that…all I said was that compared to 15 years ago..”
“Come on, say it…I am OLD…just say it.”
“Come on honey, I did not mean it that way…you are still young but..but obviously not like you used to be. I mean…”. Raj is clearly struggling here for the right choice of words. Muttering under his breath “I should NEVER have got into this..”
“And why is that ? Why is it that I am not like I used to be ? Ask yourself. Ok, let me tell you. Because in the last fifteen years, I have had to do ALL the work around here…bringing up Rohit, doing all the housework, attending to my job, even taking care of YOU because you cannot even take care of YOURSELF…how do you expect me to remain the same ?”
“Honey…honey..it is OK…cool down..you don’t have to remain the same..we all change..”
“And now I am OLD ? Of course I am old..thanks to YOU..”
“Honey…”
“DON'T talk to me..I am SO angry with you…I have wasted fifteen years of my life with you..”
Silence.
“SAY something”.
“You JUST told me not to talk to you..”
“Oh, and you always listen to me, right ?”
She glares angrily at him, they stare into each other's eyes.
And suddenly he breaks into a smile.
“What’s so funny ?”
“Just realized something.”
“What ?”
“You really need to be careful what you wish for.”
“What do you mean ?”
“You wanted a “proper” fight, right ? So ? This...“proper” enough for you ? ”
Meira is taken aback for just a moment – and then bursts out laughing.
“YOU…anyway, I guess now that we have had our fight, I feel much better. Don't get me wrong, living with you for fifteen years HAS been a nightmare but …DON’T SAY IT !”.
“I wasn’t going to say anything…”
“Yeah, right ! You were going to say “likewise””.
“I so wasn’t ! Wouldn’t DREAM of SAYING it...even if I thought it..” Ducks to avoid a pillow coming in his direction.
“So we’re good ?”
“Yeah, yeah…I guess we are. Though a hot, strong coffee would make us better than good. It would make us awesome”.
“Coming up, ma’am. Rightaway”.
“At your service”.
“What a name…Raaaaaj Anand !”.
“What’s wrong with it ?”
“Nothing…just saying..Raaaaj Anand sounds like such a powerful name. “Raj” as in “rule” and “Anand” as in happiness or pleasure. So Raj Anand is like…what…”you rule over the domain of happiness ?” ?
Raj is silent. Not sure how to approach this.
“Come on…say something !”
“Am scared to. You know how it is…if I say something it will end up in a fight”.
“No…Really ? Of course not..you think I always fight with you ?”
“No..but…anyway, nothing wrong with the name. Raj Anand…yes, I rule over happiness..ha ha”.
“YOU rule over happiness ? Yeah, right ! Your parents must have been really optimistic about you to have named you like this when you were born.”
“Hey, enough fun of my name, OK ? What about yours ? Meira ? It is not like you are a Krishna-bhakt or something.”
“Hey, I do my bit of poojas, OK. I am not like you. Nastik.”
Silence.
“Raj, is this what we have become now ? Is this the level of our fights ?”
“Why ?"
“No, I mean..look at us…even our fights are not proper fights anymore”.
Silence. Raj is not taking chances by opening his mouth.
“SAY something. Do you realize in 2 months we will be celebrating 15 years of marriage ? 15 years !”
“Really ? Has it been THAT long ? 15 years ?”
“Yes..15 long years. It feels like just the other day…I was a happy, free person..before…ok, let it be...otherwise I will get depressed.”
Raj, comfortingly, putting an arm around her shoulders “Hey, it has not been all that bad, has it ? You are still the same…ok, you look a little older…obviously you are not the young person you were then…”
Meira, pulling away sharply “What are you saying ? I am old ?”
“I didn’t say that…all I said was that compared to 15 years ago..”
“Come on, say it…I am OLD…just say it.”
“Come on honey, I did not mean it that way…you are still young but..but obviously not like you used to be. I mean…”. Raj is clearly struggling here for the right choice of words. Muttering under his breath “I should NEVER have got into this..”
“And why is that ? Why is it that I am not like I used to be ? Ask yourself. Ok, let me tell you. Because in the last fifteen years, I have had to do ALL the work around here…bringing up Rohit, doing all the housework, attending to my job, even taking care of YOU because you cannot even take care of YOURSELF…how do you expect me to remain the same ?”
“Honey…honey..it is OK…cool down..you don’t have to remain the same..we all change..”
“And now I am OLD ? Of course I am old..thanks to YOU..”
“Honey…”
“DON'T talk to me..I am SO angry with you…I have wasted fifteen years of my life with you..”
Silence.
“SAY something”.
“You JUST told me not to talk to you..”
“Oh, and you always listen to me, right ?”
She glares angrily at him, they stare into each other's eyes.
And suddenly he breaks into a smile.
“What’s so funny ?”
“Just realized something.”
“What ?”
“You really need to be careful what you wish for.”
“What do you mean ?”
“You wanted a “proper” fight, right ? So ? This...“proper” enough for you ? ”
Meira is taken aback for just a moment – and then bursts out laughing.
“YOU…anyway, I guess now that we have had our fight, I feel much better. Don't get me wrong, living with you for fifteen years HAS been a nightmare but …DON’T SAY IT !”.
“I wasn’t going to say anything…”
“Yeah, right ! You were going to say “likewise””.
“I so wasn’t ! Wouldn’t DREAM of SAYING it...even if I thought it..” Ducks to avoid a pillow coming in his direction.
“So we’re good ?”
“Yeah, yeah…I guess we are. Though a hot, strong coffee would make us better than good. It would make us awesome”.
“Coming up, ma’am. Rightaway”.
1 comment:
I like the story :) But there are some loose ends, I feel.
Plus - did I miss the connection between the two parts?
And stop saying no one reads your posts! Of course people will and it all begins like this!
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