9. ROAD WE MISSED

I called my mom and said so many times, with lots of love, “Miss you, mummy.” in a single breath. It was for first time I went so far from her. It was tough distancing myself from her. 

We followed the same routine, from conference to business meeting. Riya understood a coffee was not enough for my hungry stomach so she took me to a restaurant and ordered Hyderabadi Biriyani. Its tastes and fragrance brought water in my mouth. It was so delicious to eat, and for a while I forgot whether I was in Bangalore or Kolkata. It reminded me of Kolkata’s famous Biriyani. We shared our bill and went back to work. In the evening, we enjoyed an amazing beauty of the mall and went back home after finishing all our meetings till evening.

At night, she called me again, and I went with same excitement. She was in her nightdress. I guess only to charm me and get my compliments. Her words were going around and round, making her face puzzled. Her smiling face was hinting of something ripening in her mind. I guessed she was feeling shy to say, but I read her face. It was ten o’clock, when I asked, “Wanna say something?”

 To which she said with taking no time, “I have a dream to walk late at night on a dark street of Bangalore with someone. I never told this to anyone as I never found someone suitable to accompany.”

My mouth went shut for a while. What a nonsense dream she had. I couldn’t utter a word. 

 “Are you mad?” I shouted.

“I enjoy doing crazy things, would you like to try.” she giggled. 

I enjoyed being with Riya but not walking at night. It was a bad idea, but her silence created tremendous pressure on me. Her magical eyes hypnotized me to follow her. I wanted to slap her for her stupid idea, but I ended up saying “Only a few steps.” and she smiled.

Our journey started. A journey which I still think why I took my bloody first step, why I said a few steps, why I got into things, I still curse myself for it. 

Nisha was texting me because we used to talk on message after ten at night, as she had her mother around. She didn’t used to call at night. Riya noticed every message pinged my mobile. She knew I was in a relationship for six long years, yet she took me like I was single. I ignored her message first time, and it didn’t hurt me ignoring her. I texted her goodnight and focused on my journey. I guess it was a reminder to stop going towards a deadliest end. Nisha, in her bed, missed my memories too, which was busy with Riya. 

Our ‘a few steps’ were getting longer and longer and it took around forty-five minutes to complete one round of her locality. Our conversation didn’t get over, so we took a round again. That time I was the person asked her for a favor. I enjoyed walking late at night. It was cool to hang out with her. Being in Kolkata, I had no dream of walking like a wanderer. Walking at night was only when we had no opinion left with, because of lack of transportation.

She smiled and gave her consent. That time all shops were closed, more dogs as if they have assembled to have a conference and hardly anyone on the road. A silent night and empty roads pumped my heart faster. Darkness didn’t bother me but being with a girl alone on the street in a new place was blowing my head with worry. I tried to maintain a comfortable and cool look and enjoyed her company, but deep inside I was tensed. 

We lost so deep in our conversation. We noticed late, we didn’t take a turn towards our mess. It was too late. We were far away from it because it had been over than thirty minutes since we left behind and kept walking. I didn’t miss a turning point towards her mess, I missed a turning point towards my peaceful life.

I was nervous. I hit my forehead with my palm in tension. So, I left things on her. Not a single person we met to ask for help. It was around twelve. Fear made her nervous and coated her forehead with sweat. She was new to her place, and dark roads were oblivious to her. She had shifted to her mess only a week ago of my arrival. We can’t even call her friends as she didn’t inform her about our walk. I had a keypad cell, and she was without a mobile. So, there was no such option of google map. We thought for a while and walked again. We tried to figure out a right way, but we were helpless. Lines of worry were visible on our face. We walked towards nowhere and wandered till our energy reached to zero level, with fear and tension. We took rest when we got tired. My mind was full of questions. Where will we stay the whole night? We can’t even call police. They might take us in a wrong way. We were in our nightdress and they may put behind the bars for some heavy amount. 

It was around two o’clock when we found a group of people sitting under a tree. In a second, our tension got disrupted. We headed faster to get some help. As we went close to them, we noticed they were drunk. Being alone with a girl and facing drunk people was a tough situation. She told our problem to them in their native language, as she knew a little. 

When they got to know about our problem, they tried to use it as a golden chance. One of them headed towards Riya and I found his wrong intention in his eyes. I pushed him back and grabbed her hand and turned back towards our way. It scared me, but I acted as if I am not. They chased us, but we escaped with our longer steps. 

I feared of what happened to us. We wandered here and there till a bright sky appeared.

I relaxed, and my heartbeat became normal when it was around four in morning. We reached a known place, which was around a kilometer away from her mess. I still wonder how can someone forget a road being so close to her home. I still don’t know whether she forgot, or she wanted to spend the whole night with me.

I still have this question in my mind which keeps knocking every time I think about my past. I don’t know whether it was an accident, or she had planned. 

I left her to her mess at 4.30 am and reached mine at 4.35 am. A terrific night ended with lots of mystery in my life. It’s been five years of that incident and I still have this unanswered question which keeps tangling my head. After a mysterious night, things changed 360°. I was no more someone’s same Gonu.