Phone-call

Richa had been moving around the house. She was tensed and worried. But more than that, she was angry on him. Couldn’t he spare few minutes to make a call? Why wouldn’t he just call her and say that he is alright. That would bring peace to her and she will sleep calmly. May be she should not call tonight. He will feel this odd and will call her tomorrow morning to apologize.

She was firm for her decision but her impatient heart was still struggling. Finally the brain lost the war and her hand reached the telephone. She picked the receiver and pressed the buttons.

Her 10 year old son, Amrit was watching her mother and knew the usual routine. He knew that she would go on speaking and shouting and complaining. She would only stop after she would have cursed him for marrying her and spoiling her life. Complaining about Amrit and his lack in studies. She would then complain about neighbours and the inflation. At last she would again scold him for not calling her and making her worry about his well-being.

This had been going on for almost three years now, everyday without fail. She would wait for his call and then call him and fight with him.

He went to the kitchen and brought a glass of water for her. He knew she would soon keep the receiver and will feel thirsty.

Today again there will be no reply from the other end.

Friendship and Love

Richa had been calmly reading in the library. The exams were still far away so she was the only one to give company to the librarian. Soon, even he left her to go for a tea break.

Raj came in and sat in the bench beside her. “I knew I would find you here only. You are becoming a better book worm with every passing day.”

“What happened?” asked richa, still reading from the books.

“Why can’t be a guy and a girl just be friends?” The librarian would have thrown him out for the high decibel sound he had made, had he been there.

“Ankita proposed me. You know that I am concentrating on my career and don’t want to get in a commitment and distract my attention. I explained her that and asked her to be my friend. How hard is that to understand?”

Richa blankly turned the next page of the book without paying much attention.

“She said that either she will be my girlfriend or else we would never talk again in life. Is she proposing me or threatening me? Why didn’t she bring a gun along with her then? I asked her to wait for some time till I achieve my goals.”

He looked at her, she was still deep in her books.

“We both have been friends for last 12 years but never fell in love. We remained friends and the best ones. Why can’t she or everyone be like that? Why is it necessary to get into a commitment? If you really love the person then just wait for that person to achieve his goals. He will surely come back for such a kind of love.”

A short pause, she was not responding.

“You tell me. Is it really that hard to understand?”

Richa lifted her head and looked straight in his eyes.

“Well, I understood that.” She smiled and left.

White Rose

Raj was in a good mood today. There was nothing special but he was feeling happy. He went for the morning walk and met almost all of the people he liked. The nature was being gentle and a calm humid breeze was blowing. When you feel good, it seems everything around works in your favour.

He stayed in the park for some while. It was not his regular schedule. He had lived his life with full discipline. Everything was done in a proper sequence and except Sundays you would not be able to discriminate others days in his daily life. Kids used to be at home and the office used to be closed which made all the difference. He never had big dreams and was satisfied with whatever he had. A small house, a beautiful caring wife and three lovely children. What else could someone dream of?

Just then a football hit his head. Ahh, it was a plastic ball not a real one. A four year kid was playing along with her mother. He was mesmerized by his innocence and the excitement the kid showed for the ball. He for the first time was regretting that his children grew up so fast. He stayed there for some time watching kids and other elders. Life seemed different today.

He stood and started walking to way back home. Just then he saw white roses. A road-side vendor had just taken out a bunch of full grown white roses and displayed it on the front. It was not his favourite, he liked red much more than any other color. But white rose had a much special meaning in his life. Memories flashed and he was there in his twenties. It was Valentine day and they were taking a stroll after the coaching classes. Today she was looking very pretty in her light blue suit with white dupatta. She stopped to pay her regards in the lord krishna’s temple. He ran to the nearby florist and asked for a red rose. It was shear bad luck that the number of romeos had grown so much that they bought out even the yellow roses. He knew that he would never get courage again so proposed her with the white rose.

It has been long since he gifted her one. He had been busy with his job and she with the kids. He didn’t remember the last time he said the magical three words to her. He bought the rose and rushed home.

On the way back he tried a lot to come up with some romantic words but a common person can only steal the ideas from the movies. He just went to her, gave the rose and said “you still look so beautiful.”

The woman in her eighties took the rose with trembling hands. Her wrinkled face lit up and blushed like a newly married girl. “White roses, they have been my favourite.” She paused.

“But who are you?”

Interview

The room was silent and calm and the only sound being produced was by the ticking of the small alarm clock. Raj laid on the bed all depressed and dejected. It was his 7^th interview rejection. Being one of the best programmers of the college, everyone had great expectations from him. Yet he was lying there without a job when 80% of the college had got placed. He never thought that all his hard-work would fail just because he was shy and lacked in communication skills. Making out till the last round of all the companies, he was rejected by the HR team. He had been trying very hard, conversing all the time in English but it was not yet sufficient. Every dream job had already rejected him and this was almost his last on-campus opportunity to get a job of his capability. He had been preparing all for the HR round from past few weeks.

The coordinator came to announce the result and his name was not there for the HR round. This time he missed to qualify the technical one.

Shouts and hustle coming from outside the room were signaling that the results were out. Few more can now relax and enjoy the rest of their college life. He hated everyone who had the placement for he knew, he deserved more than any of them. The door swung open and in came Ishant. He tried but faked a smile for him as he knew the reason for his shining face. He had not opened the mail to see the total number of people selected but he didn't even care nor did he ask. Ishant kept in-front of him the packet of sweets. He wished to throw them away. He was so jealous of him and cursed him to bring sweets in the flick of time just after the announcement of results. He tore a small bit of sweets and stretched his lips even more.

“Take more. Finally, the bro got placed.”

“Yeah, congratulations to you.”

“Oye! Idiot. I am already placed, it’s you who got the placement.”

He rushed to the laptop screen and clicked on the new mail flashing on the screen. There was his name on the top.

Kagaz pe kalam

कह  तो  नहीं  सकूंगा , तुझसे  दिल  की  बात  मैं ,

चलो  कागज़  पे  कलम  चला  देता  हूँ ,

चिठ्ठी  नहीं , धड़कनें  उधार  भेजीं  हैं  तुझको ,

जवाब  भी   दे  दे , कब  से  इंतज़ार  में  बैठा  हूँ ।