I JUST KNEW ! Part 10

7^th July

I informed my mom that I am going to see a friend of mine near a gym, and will be back soon  and I want Upma in my breakfast. She enquired how will I be managing to go to office. I said I will be taking off today so not to worry. Mom was so happy.

It was 7: 00 AM in morning I woke up really early that day. Feeling determined that I am going to first slap across Sumit’s face and then question him regarding not taking my calls.

I reached RP signal at MG road and found Sumanyu was waiting there, with his Bike for an instance I felt he is being too friendly. However it was me who wanted his help so I am not supposed to judge him that way I thought.

“Hey Good morning Shreya ” Sumanyu greeted as he saw me walking towards him.

“Good morning” I replied “I hope I am not late”.

To which he said “ Not at all he will be here in another 15 to 20 mins, Its just that sometimes he shows up early.” He paused for a while and looked towards the entrance of the building standing just in front of us, entrance was connected to a staircase, it was 4 story building, where the Gym was at top floor. Sumanyu pointed his hand towards a Lane on my right saying “he comes from there.”

I nodded.

We were waiting for another as 10 mins passed. Now I was worried if he was going to show up today. I teased Sumanyu saying “I hope you aren’t on his side and playing some prank on me”

 He laughed “Firstly I am not on any side, I genuinely wanted to help you. Ofcourse Sumit is my friend but you too are my friend, I don’t know what exactly you want to talk, or sort out but all I want to tell you is to move on in your life you are a very nice girl, and ”

I said “Okay, I see a lot of philosophy there… what did you have in your breakfast”

He smiled “I am yet to have my breakfast.” All of a sudden his facial expressions changed and he started staring at a distance , I turned towards the same direction to see Sumit walking towards the building and he noticed both of us.

He slowed down as he found me looking at him. As he approached us Sumanyu said “Hey Buddy.” Sumit din’t respond to him and was constantly looking towards me. I felt something weird in my stomach.

Sumit was calm for around 2 min then he mumbled “Hello Shreya, How are you?”

So you remember me I though and said “very good”

“How come are you here” Sumit asked.

To which  Sumanyu answered “She was enquiring about the gym”

“Oh, So you are planning to join the Gym” Said Sumit, looking at me “fee structure is good here. And….”.

 I smiled and said “I have already checked them out on the internet, thanks.

By the way congratulations I got to know that you are getting engaged.”

Sumit didn’t look surprised he started looking down as if figuring out what to say next.

Sumanyu said “I think I should give you guys some space” and started walking to and fro looking at his mobile.

Sumit looked into my eyes and said “Shreya I know I have been behaving really….mmmmm not nice to you …” and he went numb ……….completely silent.

You know what, its awful…You did not become a celebrity after the breakup, Sumit you had no rights to keep me waiting or testing my patience, it was not justified I haven’t done anything that you could hurt me like this …after all these years of friendship and time we had spent…. not taking my calls was worst of all……. you could have at least spoke to me once……..I was framing up sentences but I couldn’t say anything

.

I don’t know what in me stopped me from getting violent or angry I knew I wanted to shout at him my mind was racing with so many questions I wanted to shoot all of them on him. But I kept calm. And then I said “ I don’t think any of our discussion matters now, mmm all the best for your engagement .. Marriage …good luck, I need to leave now Good bye”

I turned and walked towards Sumanyu to tell him bye. “I am sorry Shreya ” was sumit’s last line but I dint react, I kept walking as if I never heard it.

I said “Thanks Sumanyu and bye I need to leave”. Sumanyu said “I dint expect that, you are either too nice or too patient that was very decent ….whatever you said, You know I would have taken you out for lunch someday but …”

I raised my eyebrows and he continued “My Girlfriend would kill me, I have already told her that I had crush on you long back.”

I laughed and greeted him Bye again and left.

It took me another 30 mins by auto to reach home. I went straight to the  kitchen where I  found mom making some sweet dish the aroma was filled in the room. I asked “Anything special??”

Mom Replied “Baby it’s very special, I am making Carrot Halwa (A famous Indian desert) for your dad and your Upma is ready. Why don’t you call your dad for breakfast I am not sure, why he didn’t come to dining room yet?”

I nodded and wondered why dad hasn’t left yet to office, as he always leave early on Fridays. I went to their bed room and saw dad wrapping some rectangular box in gift wrapping paper and suddenly realized

Its 7^th July their marriage anniversary this is disgusting I forgot the day and dint plan anything. Thank god I took an off today.

I stood beside dad and said “What’s it dad , Saree ???”

My dad smiled and said “Yes, you want to see ? ” I replied “ofcourse” .  Dad was unable to Wrap it I said “ I’ll check and wrap it for you Papa, what else have you planned for the day? Going late to office or half day working? ”

Dad laughed and said “You know when your mom said I am making your favorite gajar ka halwa, It was then I realized that it’s our anniversary today, She always makes my favorite dessert on this day, thank god I planned to buy this gift 10 days back. I haven’t planned anything apart from this,But yes after knowing that you are taking off today. I called up my director to inform that I’ll be on leave today”.

 “That’s called chain reaction ” I said “By the way dad, I have planned something , We can go for a movie, I was checking for its review last night and can have lunch at the Dawatt Restaurant it’s near the theatre around 2 Km . What do you say?”

Meanwhile we heard mom calling both of us “where are you people the breakfast is ready.”

Dad looked at me “That’s Perfect it’s been months we went for movie , however don’t let your mom know that I dint remembered anything . I planned this Outing OK ?”

I smiled “OK”. The saree was beautiful and I completed the wrapping handed it over to dad and we moved to the dining room.

As we reached the table mom was sitting there I took chair opposite to her while dad hugged her saying “Happy Anniversary dear” and gave her the gift. Mom wished him back. It was amusing to see mummy unwrapping the gift with such delight on her face. She praised dad’s choice and color of the Saree the garment quality. I kept smiling.

And prompted

“Happy anniversary to both of you, So dad what’s next? ”

We started having breakfast and he took a while and said “We will be going for a movie then , lunch at dawatt”  looking at mom. Mom smiled and added “first we’ll go to the temple and then the rest of the places so, post breakfast just bath and be ready”

I exclaimed “Yayy …. Movie , popcorns  yippeeee”.

The day was perfect I felt so lighter. As if so many burdens were all of a sudden vanished. First the Project, then Sumit…. I felt at ease thinking it wasn’t easier to forgive and forget but holding on wasn’t of any benefit. I am going to enjoy the rest of the day. I looked at mom who was spoon feeding halwa to both of us, Ah I have the best parents in the world I thought.

***************************************

I JUST KNEW ! Part 9

Part - 9

My mom opened the door, as I was about to ring the doorbell. May be she heard my footsteps, She hugged me saying “God I was so worried about you, are you alright, you might be tired” her eyes were in tears.
I felt so warm Mothers they are always so loving and caring so concerned about their kids I thought. Dad was standing at a distance and looking me at. I said “Shall we eat ? Mom I am so much hungry, what did you make for dinner by the way?” Dad smiled and we all gathered to start our dinner.

I loved the sambhar rice, they were my favorite meal be it any season with appadams crisps homemade  they added the best taste, I wasn’t hungry at all but the food was great, I ate really well. As we completed the dinner.  I moved to clean up the the dining table dad was still sitting there it was almost 12 now. I asked him “Dad aren’t you sleepy ?”

Dad said “I was planning to tell you this tomorrow but,  I feel it’s better that I..”

I started making funny faces and looked towards mom and said “Mom please ask dad not to create all these suspense, it’s really late and I am very sleepy ”

Dad and mom looked at each other making me feel a little puzzled. Then he begun, “I was waiting for a response from Sanskar's family from long time,and so I called his dad today”

I was now keen to know what response did they give
“And …… What did he say?”

Dad replied “They said Sanskar probably needs some time he haven’t made uphis mind for marriage, they were giving pretty silly reasons and said they have to call off the proposal.”

I was a little disheartened. May be even my expressions changed my mom added “It’s OK, we can find better match , and family for our daughter, that guy is definitely a big head one, may be just because he is earning good , any ways I didn't find him that great and …. ”

My dad interrupted her “do we really need to discuss all of that ? Of Course we will find someone better for her”.

I felt really bad, however It was majorly my fault not Sanskars that everything was now called off and my parents,... they were just blaming him. I said “Dad It’s all okay, I think we must sleep now it’s midnight and I am really very tired.”

I picked all 3 plates washed them rinsed and kept them in pot stand, Then left to my room both my parents didn't move a bit. I said “Good Night Ma Papa” they replied “Good night” and then stood and left.

I was waiting for all the lights to get turned off , then I closed the door of my room and started weeping, though I knew all of this was supposed to happen, I had no clue what in me made me feel so treacherous. I tried hard to sleep yet nothing worked. I got up and sat checked my mobile it was 2:00 AM right then I decided I am taking an off tomorrow I am going to eat a lot and sleep tomorrow. I have been working way too much.
This is really common about me I always work and then go in a mode of self pity.

While making all these decisions I thought I have whole day tomorrow, so lets divert my mind and watch some movie or latest promos of some movie. I’ll check out if there is some good one in theatres nearby. I will take mom along, we can have a good outing tomorrow, we can even have a lunch or evening snacks and ....

While I was checking promos of new movies released. I logged into FB in another tab.

And surprised to see 11 new messages out of which most were from Sumanyu

JULY 5TH, 11:20PM

Sumanyu : HI

ME: Hi

Thursday 10:30PM

Sumanyu : I am so sorry there was some network error shreya.

I wanted to ask you what went wrong between you two ??

Last day I got an invite from Sumit .....his engagement.

Actually He met me.....
we go to the same GYM. Even I asked him about you couple of times however he never did speak,

Yesterday all he said was you broke up with him and there is some family pressure so he do not have other option.

he is getting engaged to some of his family friend .

When did you guys broke up.

Are you OK ?

Look I really liked you, I don’t know what to say. But in any case you need any help I am there.

Wow, Now that’s some really good information I thought And so was the reason why that son of a …. Shreya stop using swear words...so sumit was not taking my call for same reason. We were so close friends he could have explained me anyway. I want an answer, this is bad. I should see him. I decided.

I pinged sumanyu asking the details of the gym. And sumanyu contact number.

I dropped the idea of movie and lunch and thought its friday tomorrow I ll postpone it to saturday and take mom and dad along. First I need to meet Sumit I am going to close this chapter.

*********************************

I JUST KNEW ! Part 8

Part - 8

After reaching office it was all same, the standup call, status meetings, Issue report we had to fix 85 % of bugs we were 7% behind the target to release. Being a senior resource I reached out to all of my mentees and explained them the situations and helped them to fix their issues such that we could complete the fixes as soon as possible to deliver the release tomorrow. While in the process Sashwath approached me with a situation he surfaced, I felt very nice that he thought I am worthy enough and could actually help him. He had received a mail from the client site group that there is change in certain percentages of discounts provided and it was sent to us 3 days ago and we missed it.

We took a call to our project manager and decided to fix it right away it took us around 3 hours to make the whole changes in code, while I and Saswath both needed a break we called up Sunitha and Sherlee both were my mentees to test the changes and update us and left for a coffee break.

As soon as I sipped my coffee, Sashwath asked “Shreya ammmm I know I am not close enough to ask you about this but are you in any relationship?”

I thought if you think you are not that friendly you shouldn’t have asked then I bluntly answered “NO ” with a weird expression as if I never knew what its to be in relationship. He continued “I actually have a friend, who always asks and talks about you in other business unit, you know he is kinda interested in you, you guys can hang out if you like”

“And who is this ? your friend do I know him ?” I enquired.  “No I don’t think you know him he joined like 2 months back to the corporation earlier he worked Aditya birla group as in IT service  group there.  His name is Sanjay Hegde”

Something clicked in my head as soon as I heard about Aditya birla, this is reappearing now is there some link, What do you want god I thought

“If you want I would talk to him, But trust me I am in no mood to hangout with any stranger” I said.

Sashwath was trying to convince me saying “You need to add some fun to your life Shreya It’s fine to work hard and carry on with so much things but at the end you require someone to share yourself , someone to hold your hand and you know what I mean”

I wasn’t understanding what all he meant, or why was he trying to promote his new friend. To break our conversation Sunitha appeared. And started all in girlish manner, using her so called foreign slang.

“Haaaiii Sashwath sir” with a too big smile on her face, I felt pathetic when females like her changed their mode of talking. Maybe they think its cute and very attractive for boys I never felt the same way.

“We have like  completaid the testingsszz   which you both have advized you know it is so late now, even already 11 PM can we leave now. Shreya Maam Sudheer sir (Manager) was also asking if you can join he is about to leave home,

as the work is completed we have received mail for confirm delivery tomorrow ”

She elongated

I felt better hearing that the release will be be done tomorrow and things would be smooth however, I really didn't realise that it was so late.

I said “yes of course let's go home” I went upstairs while both of these followed me keeping some distance, I did see that these two were holding hands behind me. I avoided thinking further as I reached my desk I checked my bag and reached out to my phone, I found my phone flashing 12 missed calls out of which one was some idea call centre number, 3 from my mom and rest from dad. I felt pang in my heart damn they were so worried this morning and I am here this late. I called up my dad as the phone was rang I heard Sashwath conveying “I  and Sunitha will be at parking waiting for you, Please find Boss and just come” I noded.

Meanwhile Dad picked up the call and said “Hey where are you, we were so worried it’s so late did you eat anything?”

I replied “Dad I am so sorry My phone was on silent mode I couldn’t check I was pretty busy, I am really sorry I am just starting from office now ….”

I saw Sudheer walking towards me “Pick up your bag lets leave, where are these two love buds” Asked my manager

“I said they are waiting at parking ” moving my phone at a distance from my face and soon picked my backpack and followed my boss parallelly answering my dad “I will be reaching home in another 40 to 45 mins dad I ll eat at home, Please don’t be awake you’ll again have early morning schedules ” .Dad wasn’t angry his voice seemed relaxed by now he said “Doll we are waiting for you, we shall have dinner together OKay just come home soon”. And he hanged up, I felt really bad, I was the reason they were so worried and now I kept them hungry and waiting.

As we were about to reach staircase, Sudheer realised he missed something and exclaimed “Shreya you just go down, I missed my lunch box at my desk I’ll soon come down I ll take the elevator OKay ?” I said “Okay !!”

I went down to the parking crossing 4 floors, when I reached the parking I started moving towards Sudheer's car  it was however the only car there in the parking and as I approached a little near I found Sashwath and Sunitha Kissing, I was frozen for an instant they were completely immersed in whatever they were doing just standing beside the car. I felt a little nasty now and tapped my feet strongly on the ground. Sunitha was panicked and moved aside and  both of these behaved as if nothing has happened, within a minute or two we heard “beep beep ”the car was unlocked by Sudheer, coming from a distance and as always I took the front seat while they slipped in the back seat.

On the way to home that day I tried really hard not to think about whatever just happened and focus on other stuff, but it wasn’t seeming easy as both these were completely calm, unlike other days and both were staring out of their window, My manager was driving quite fast that night as there wasn’t any traffic at all. And my mind was driving me to various romantic scenes which I saw in movies all those lip locking sequences, I never did kissed any boy in that passionate way. Infact I never kissed Sumit in that way, I kissed him like 3 or 4 times that too on his cheeks we never smooched I thought and may be that was missing in our relationship. Men!!! may be they tend to look on getting physical and I was only emotionally attached to sumit, It was all my fault, I remember how many times did he tried to call me at his place or for outing at outskirts spots of  hyderabad and I always denied him. No wonder he left me.

Maybe he deserved someone better and may be…

The saga of my thoughts were broken by my manager he said “Shreya are you asleep ?” I replied “No sir, I was just ..” and I realised we had reached my place already. I got down saying “Thank you sir, Good night.”I didn't wait for any reply and rushed to my home.

I JUST KNEW ! Part 7

Part - 7

5th july 2014

After the meet with Sanskar and deciding not to take up any thoughts about Sumit, Next few weeks passed in a pretty routine pattern and really hectic due to our project release date falling in third week of the coming month, I used to wake up early and take bus from my Bus-stop to office, and with too much work load I used to leave office late almost every day  and take a cab back home. Or we used to club in my manager's car and he would drop 3 of us. Me sunitha and sashwath.  We lived almost 2 to 3 km distance from each other. While Sunitha and Sashwath were both quite close  and very friendly to each other they always took back seat and kept murmuring all the way. Sashwath was an year senior to me while Sunitha was my mentee. I always sensed something fishy between these two just to ignore all of that I used to either listen to my ipod, some music or update about the tasks and project status to my manager. Yes I know I was playing like a really boring person, However I felt that's the best way to keep myself away from that feeling of being single, rejected or lost. I just wanted to be indulged in my work. Though it wasn’t easy for me.

I always tried not to call Sumit but I ended up spying on him through Facebook, checking what all has he posted, though there were no much updates and then  I used to worry may be because I  have unfriend him a month back I am unable to see those updates.

While in this thought process, I saw Sumanyu Ping”HI”

it was almost 11:30  in the night I wondered who on this earth starts a conversation at this time. I thought better I logout and sleep. But then I thought He was Sumit’s friend and we became friends through Sumit, May be he want’s to convey something about Sumit.

I replied him “Hi”.  And it was his turn. He went offline. Well I felt funny, wasn’t I thinking something similar. May be I got dose of my own medicine. I closed my laptop and slept. However I couldn’t sleep well enough to feel fresh next morning.

When I woke up I realised, It was already 7 :30 AM in the clock. I woke an hour late from my regular timing, I felt I am surely going to miss my bus today, Still I rushed myself to get ready, I packed both my breakfast and lunch. Mom and dad both were worried about me as I was keeping myself so busy. Dad while eating his breakfast said “I see you are very busy these days, we barely find you at home, I believe everything is okay? ” i replied “ “it just the workload dad we have our release day after, I’ll be free after that”.

All the while my Mom was asking me to complete my breakfast at home.

“Is something wrong we never saw you being so quiet shreya ?” My mother was really concerned. “Please eat and then leave, I am not sure when would you be getting time to eat it” I had no other option than to ignore all of that, I said “please mom don't be so worried I’ll eat in my bus. I don’t  want to miss my bus”.

Though I almost ran towards my bus stop, I missed my bus. When I reached the stop I realised I reached almost 7 mins past the bus left. For a while I thought to go back home, but then there were too many task dependencies on me. I was feeling pretty tired to take City bus, as I need to change 2 bus on the way and they take long route it would be more than an hour I would reach further late. I decided to take an auto. I checked my purse I randomly calculated and as soon as I was satisfied that I have enough to pay the fare of auto ride to my office, I called the auto wala, “AUTOOO” as we always do.

He drove me from a shortcut route, the route was different from my regular one,  While we were almost around 5 Km of distance to Gachibowli I saw a huge office “Adiya Birla Group” It was the same office where Sanskaar worked I peeped out of my auto, wondering if I could see Sanskar there, however it was funny finding myself thinking in that manner, Yes Shreya he will be standing out of his office gates just because you are passing by I said to myself and laughed.