Conversation At Bandra Beach, Mumbai - 2

“What are you smiling at?”Jas asked Ritu. He had been looking at her for a long time.
She revived back from her memories. “Ahmmm…I was thinking how will my family react when they’ll see me back unexpectedly.”
“How will they react?”
“Actually, last time when I went back home, I reached there at four in the morning. The gate was locked. Nobody knew that I was coming. I climbed the gate and slowly and secretly I entered into my house, then to my room and lied down there. When I got up in the morning, everyone was around me. They were looking at me as if they have seen an alien.”She started laughing after saying her words. Jas also started laughing.
“Were you a pampered child?”he asked.
“Yes, I was. My mother used to love me a lot. My every desire was fulfilled. My sister used to be jealous sometimes seeing my mother showering her love on me, most of the time.”She smiled, thinking about her past.
“Why?”
She looked at him. “A silly reason. I am the fairest child in the family. No one is as fair as I am. Everyone used to praise me. My mother was very concerned about my skin. I wasn’t allowed to go out in afternoons; I wasn’t allowed tea, coffee. Scores of imported creams and lotions were brought just for me. Every one used to call me Miss India.”
“A typical name in every Indian household where girls are fair.”Jas said.
Ritu looked at him. He clarified, “my sister is also called Miss India at home.”Both of them started laughing.
“You tell me about your family.”
“My sister and I and my parents. That’s all.”
“That’s all?”
“I don’t live in a joint family. My father’s brothers don’t have a good relationship. Everyone got separated after my grandfather died.”
“Greed for property?”Ritu asked. He looked into her eyes and nodded, feeling embarrassed in disclosing the secret of his family to a stranger.
“You and I have lot of things in common.”She said.
“Means your family is also like that.”She nodded.
“I hate my relatives. I simply can’t tolerate them. Whenever they come at my home, I just wish them and go inside and put on music because I know they’d come and fight with my parents on trivial things. Property, property, property. Everyone is so obsessed with having property that no one thinks that this property is not going to go with them after they die.”Ritu said.
“It’s so common now. Every family is facing such problems. Lucky are those who haven’t gone through such tensions in this family…You know what the real cause of problem is?”Jas asked her.
“Marriage?”
“You can say so. But what I meant was, women are the real cause of this problem. Women just can’t live without pin-pointing their husbands. They feel envy looking at what others have but they don’t.”Jas said.
“No way. I don’t at all agree to it.”Ritu retorted. “You mean to say, men don’t feel envy and it is just women who instigate men to fight within their family?”
“Unfortunately yes. I do think so.”
“Rubbish. As if you men don’t have mind of your own.”
“Hey…now you are being feminist.”
“No I’m not being a feminist but I don’t agree to your views. How can a woman instigate man to fight for property when man doesn’t want himself? Doesn’t man apply his own mind? It’s always the matter of greed, be it a man or a woman.”
“But why doesn’t a man fight with his brothers and other family members before marriage. Why only after marriage?”
“It is because after marriage he has responsibility of his own family. He starts comparing himself with other couples in the family and this leads to problems.”Ritu said.
“So you mean, man is the reason not woman for these fights?”
“No, neither man nor a woman. Its just greed. I mean if a man is wrong the woman should try to make him realize his mistake and if a woman is wrong the man should. It’s the togetherness and their mutual understanding that binds them together but their individual thoughts must also be polished and improved by each other. Then the couple becomes the best couple.”Ritu replied.
“Looks as if you have married dozen times.”Jas said.
She looked at him. He was looking at her. A second later, they burst into laughter. Everything they were sharing was having effect on their personalities. They didn’t really realize that at that time but gradually they were realizing the real meaning of a real friend who can correct you where you are wrong and whom you can correct where he is wrong.
“You were telling about your family.”Ritu deliberately evaded the hot topic of discussion.
“My father is a bank manager. My mother is a teacher and my sister is studying Commerce. After I left, my family missed me a lot. I am the only son, so my parents had to face lot of problems without me. But my sister didn’t let them feel my absence.”Jas said.
“Your other relatives live in the same city?”
“In the same colony. They are all neighbours.”He smiled.
“And you are not close to any of them?”
“No. My cousins are very close to me. Everyone is fed up of these family tensions. We sometimes talk on phone and discuss such problems. The cousin I am closest to is the one I told you earlier, who is in America. He decided to leave for America because he was really fed up.”
“And now you also plan to leave for America?”Ritu asked.
“I’m not sure. I really don’t have guts to face my relatives and friends who know that I went to Mumbai to be a great cricketer. Seeing me come back without even playing in State level matches, they are definitely going to make fun of me. I’m worried so much about this that thinking about this gives me butterflies in my stomach. Everyone will make fun and everyone will keep on asking me now what are your future plans and I really don’t know what are my future plans. I am not good at anything except cricket. I never studied; I just played. I have no good qualification.”Jas said.
“I understand.”Ritu stretched her legs. The ambience had been so serene that no voice except the sound of water touching at the rocks was heard. The cool breeze was making the atmosphere pleasant. Jas and Ritu had ceased speaking. Both of them looked at the light, which was visible in between the sea. It would be a small ship, Ritu thought. Jas had no idea about it. He thought it would be a lighthouse. But they witnessed it closely and saw it moving. It was a ship. Ritu was suddenly reminded of the poem she had read in a book in which a female traveler was anxiously waiting for her ship to reach its destination. She had been on the ship for many days and as the destination was coming closer, she was becoming restless. She wanted to reach the shore as soon as possible. She knew her husband was waiting there for her. She knew that he too was very anxious to take her into her arms. Her wait comes to end when she falls asleep in the night. The journey ends but she is still asleep. She wakes up and looks for her husband all around. He isn’t there. He isn’t anywhere. She reaches her home on her own and discovers her husband lying on bed. He narrates that how he had gone to purchase a gift for her and while he was coming back he met an accident and has lost his legs in the accident. She sobs in his arms and looks at the present she has brought for him from the foreign land, his shoes.
“Don’t you sometimes feel that life has brought you to a very perplexing situation?…”Jas asked her. She looked at him; she didn’t understand what he meant. “Don’t you feel crushed under your own desires?”He asked again.
After pondering over his question for some time, Ritu replied, “I don’t think it as my desire. It was my choice.”
“Choice comes out from passion and passion in turn comes out from desire.”Jas elaborated his question, what actually he meant.
“But still, it was my own decision. I can’t stand anyone else responsible for it. Even if it was my own desire, the final choice was mine. I could have chosen a career in Psycho too or may be something else.”Ritu said.
“It really keeps on bugging me that I made a wrong choice just because I had a desire, which was not destined to take me anywhere.”Jas said.
“I have stopped thinking about it Jas. It really gives me shivers whenever I think about it. I have decided to face life as it comes to me. I have decided that I won’t plan for my future from now on.”Ritu said.
“So you don’t know what you are going to do when you reach home?”He asked her. He picked up her bag and looked at the jute handle. He wondered why a velvet bag was provided with a jute handle. She looked at him.
“I don’t know. Studying further would seem absurd now.”Ritu said.
“Your parents will marry you.”
She looked at him. She chuckled, “how did you know I was thinking the same thing?”He chuckled too. “After some days, they’ll ask me if I am ready for marriage. I don’t know what will be my reply…I think I’ll say yes.”
He looked at her face. She was looking at the light of the ship approaching the shore. He wondered would she really agree to marriage. He felt she wouldn’t. He continues looking at her bag.
“What are you looking at this so closely?”Ritu asked.
“Your bag?”She nodded. “Oh! I was just wondering why this soft velvet bag has this rough jute handle.”
She took it from his hands and looked at it. She had never thought about it. It seemed strange to her too. She thought why didn’t she think about it. “You look at things very closely. I am using this bag for last one month and I never wondered about this thing. It really is a question.”Ritu said, trying to touch the handle as if she was going to get an answer from it.
“Now when you have seen it, what do you think is the reason for this rough handle to this soft bag?”He asked.
“I don’t know. You know?”
“May be to give you an insight about your life whenever you carry it in your hands.”
“What do you mean?”
He took that bag in his hands again, “It seems to convey a very particular message. You have to do rough things, hard things to make your life look and appear soft or easy. If you can tolerate the rough upper strata of the life, you can carry on with the soft part of it easily.”Jas explained.
She was dumbfounded. She never thought so seriously about things. She was quiet. Jas was also quiet. Although both of them were silent but their minds were not silent at all. They were thinking lot of things. “You talk very meaningful things.”She said.
Jas chuckled. “Can you come to my place?”Ritu was surprised. She looked at his face. He said, “My mother says I behave childish. Please tell her what you feel about me.”She smiled and looked at other side.
They looked at the surroundings again. Moments later Jas spoke again, “Life is so strange.”She looked at him. He continued, “It’s a sad day of our lives and we are smiling as if we have found solace in the time of trouble.”
She smiled and nodded. “Even I was thinking the same thing.”
“Hey, why does it happen that both of us think the same thing?”
“Because we have similar lives. Similar problems.”Ritu replied. At heart, she was contended that at least she wasn’t alone in this world having such problems. There was someone who suffered from the same grief.
“Lets ascertain out what other things are similar in us? What do you say? Wanna try this game?”Jas said.
“We can.”
“So, what is the thing you think about most?”Jas asked. “Be honest. Don’t hide anything. It’s the rule.”
“Ok. Fine. Marriage.”She said.
“What about marriage?”
“About my marriage. Whom will I marry? How will be my life after marriage? Will I be able to be happy after marriage? How will be the relationship between me and my husband and also with my new family?”Ritu replied, “lot of things related to marriage.”
“Same here yaar.”
“I knew you’d say the same thing.”Ritu smiled. She knew every guy likes to flirt in the same way.
“Listen, I am not lying. It’s true.”
“Ok. Whatever. Ask the next question.”She said.
“What is the thing you hate the most in a person?”Jas asked.
“You say it first. Then I’ll say.”She replied.
“Dishonesty.”
“Being artificial. So here we differ.”Jas nodded.
“Your favourite colour, animal, number and flower.”Jas asked.
“Blue, Dogs, three, Rose.”Ritu replied.
“Blue, Rabbit, three, Lily.”
“You have seen Lily flower?”Ritu replied. He nodded. “I had never seen it. I’ve heard from many people about it but I never came across any Lily flower. I want to see it.”
“We have Lily flowers in my garden. And moreover, here where I was staying, there also we had Lily flowers outside our building. It’s a small beautiful flower.”Jas explained.
“So we match in colour and number. Actually, truly speaking I also like rabbit but I forgot about it while I was thinking for the favourite animal. I like it very much. They are so cute. I haven’t seen many rabbits in my life.”Ritu said.
“In Amritsar, where I live, there’s a zoo nearby. There are lots of rabbits there. I have even seen black rabbits. Usually they are white in colour. You know, usually the eyes of rabbits are blue in colour. They are very afraid of human touch. You stand close to them and they won’t come near you.”Jas explained to Ritu.
“I haven’t seen many things in life.”
“That’s disadvantage of being fair.”Jas said. Ritu smiled at his comment. It was true actually.
“Anyways lets continue with the game. Your favourite actors.”Jas asked.
“Hrithik.”
“Oh God. Not again!”Ritu started laughing as Jas said these words.
“Guys are really jealous of Hrithik. He is such a handsome man. Everything suits him and look at his dance. He is brilliant in everything.”Ritu said.
“I like Shahrukh. I want to meet him one day.”
“You want to meet him? Lets go.”Ritu said.
Jas was surprised; what did she meant by lets go. “Where?”
“Lets meet Shahrukh.”
Jas chuckled, “as if Shahrukh keeps on roaming at this beach all the time.”
“Ya, he does.”Ritu was smiling.
“What do you mean he does?”Jas was getting surprised by what Ritu was saying.
She laughed again. “Shahrukh lives here.”
“Shahrukh lives here!”Jas was amazed, “Here? In Bandra?”
Ritu nodded. “Herein Bandra and he lives there.”Ritu turned to her south-western direction and pointed to a building.
“In those flats?”
“No. Can you see those coffee shops?”
“Ya.”
“His house is behind them. It’s sea-facing.”
“You’re joking, right.”Jas couldn’t seem to believe what Ritu was saying. He didn’t know that his favourite movie star was living just behind where he was sitting. He at once wanted to see his home. “Hey, show me his home. I don’t believe you.”Jas said to Ritu.
“Lets go.”Both of them got up. They started walking and came out on the road. Jas wasn’t ready to believe until he see it with his own eyes. He has seen the pictures of Shahrukh’s bungalow. When they reached the coffee shops, Ritu took him to a road behind the shops and there he showed him a bungalow called ‘Mannat’. Looking at it mesmerized Jas. He didn’t believe he was actually standing in front of Shahrukh Khan’s bungalow. He touched the sidewall of the bungalow. It was real. It isn’t a dream, Jas told himself. He wondered that he had been living in Mumbai for so many years and he had never seen his favourite star’s bungalow.
“Now you believe me?”Ritu asked.
“Ya. Thanks. At least before leaving Mumbai, I’m seeing it.”
“You are here for so many days, you never saw it, I’m surprised. It is the first thing a newcomer to Mumbai would like to see if he comes to this beach.”Ritu said. Both of them came back to where they sat earlier. “Let us continue with the game.”
“No. I don’t feel like continuing now.”Jas said.
“So what’s the result?”
“Our likes and dislikes differ a bit but our thoughts and life path is same.”Jas said.
“How can you say about life path?”
“Whatever has happened till now proves that. Similar things have happened to us. I feel as if our destiny is also same.”Jas replied. Seconds later he said, “Hey, show me your palm.”
“Why?”
“I want to see you lines on your palm and want to compare them with mine.”
“You can read lines?”She was surprised.
“Just a bit.”He said opening his hand. She showed him hers. The next moment they were looking into each other’s eyes. They stood stunned. The lines in their hands were nearly the same - same length, curves, designs and vividly engrossed lines.