“Promila Kaki has made payas? It’s so unfair, Baba, that I can’t have it,” Piyali cribbed on phone.
“What do I do, Pihu? Can’t really send someone with it, can I?”
“You could send it with Mukundo Babu.”
“Mukundo?” Mr. Banerjee laughed, “Why? Your Mukundo Babu has got your Harry Potter’s broom or what? How will he take it there? Teleport it?”
Piyali was surprised. His flight was in two hours. He’d already have left for airport. He hadn’t told her father that he was coming to meet her.
“I… I don’t know. He keeps telling me that he’d visit me. He might just be teasing me.”
“Don’t worry. You can have as much payas as you want when you come here for Poojo. How are the studies going?”
“They are going fine…” Piyali went through the rest of the conversations absent-mindedly. Nobody knew about Mukundo Babu’s visits to her? Why?
—
Mukundo had reached in time for dinner and they decided to go to a restaurant in the campus itself.
“We can walk, right?” Mukundo asked, “Then I will let go of the taxi.”
“Yes. Inside the campus you do not need the car.”
She threw a few curious glances at him as they walked beside each other. He grew conscious of that after a while. “What happened?”
She smiled sheepishly, “No. Nothing.”
“Silly girl,” he mumbled.
Her phone rang as soon as they sat down. “No. I can’t come… I am with Mukundo Babu… Yes. He is visiting… I will call you later… I will finish the report…”
“Who was it?”
“Ahwaan.”
“Hmm… So, what is good here?” he glanced through the menu.
“Nothing really. Non-veg is horrible. Paneer is a safe choice.”
“All right. Why don’t you order?”
She did that and then they were free to talk.
“Mukundo Babu. Can I ask you something?”
“You are asking for my permission?” he raised his eyebrows.
“Mukundo Babu. Please! It’s… it’s different. And serious.”
“What happened?” he grew concerned.
“It’s like how you had said… But you should be able to answer it… How can one know if a boy is nice?”
“Huh?”
“As in… he is sincere and not just fooling around?”
Mukundo couldn’t help laughing a little.
“Mukundo Babu! Please!” she pleaded.
“Pihu Rani. At this age, by default, no boy is nice.”
She leaned away from him and looked disappointed, even embarrassed.
“So? Who is it? Good-with-chemistry boy?”
“Forget about it… Let’s call the waiter. Why hasn’t he brought our juices yet? Excuse me!”
Mukundo did not resume the conversation over dinner, but he stopped her when on their way back she made to take the way to her hostel.
“Piyali. Listen to me…” In the street light he could make out her begrudged face. But she stayed nevertheless. “Do you remember the circus we had gone to watch last year?”
She nodded, puzzled.
“And you remember the trapeze acts? How they soared and flied high.”
She nodded again.
“It, of course, took a lot of practice for them to do it right. But they could do it fearlessly, because there was a safety net beneath them. And as if to make the point, there is always a clown in such acts, who falls down.”
“Okay?”
“Life and its decisions are not going to be easy for you, Pihu Rani. They never are, for anyone. It will take a lot of hits and trials for you to get things right. You might occasionally fall. But don’t shy away from soaring high. Because I am there as your safety net. I will not let you fall to the ground and get hurt. Just don’t go to a place where my safety net can’t reach.”
She looked overwhelmed and subdued at the same time. “Mukundo Babu!” she whispered and could not say anything else.
Mukundo chuckled, ostensibly at her reaction, but mostly from embarrassment. He had been too emotional. “Silly girl. Don’t you already know that I am there for you?”
“I want you to meet him, Mukundo Babu.”
“I have met him.”
“I want you to meet him again. And again… whenever you come.”
“Fine. Whatever you want, if he doesn’t find my company boring. Invite him for lunch tomorrow.”
“Lunch would be too hurried. Both of us have labs in the afternoon. Dinner?”
“Sure. And let’s go out of the campus. To someplace which serves better food.”
“Yeah.”
“Good night, Piyali. Sleep well.”
“Good night, Mukundo Babu.”
‘Sleep well,’ Piyali repeated the words to herself as she walked towards her hostel. And for some reason, her mind went back to the ragging days. “I went to bed… with Mukundo Babu.” What would it be like to sleep beside him? Feel the warmth of his body… ‘You have become deprave, Piyali,’ she reproved herself, ‘Stop reading Mills and Boons.’
Mukundo slumped on the chair in his room back at the guest house. He buried his head in his hands and took a deep breath. But he could not stop a drop of tear that fell into his lap. He was trying to not get in her way, to not do something that will make her either uncomfortable with him, or leave her feeling smothered. He hoped that he didn’t end up making her unduly licentious. He would have been much clearer in his head if his own little heart was not creating troubles in between. What on earth was wrong with him?
“Oh Piyali! You will drive me mad.” Why had he agreed to these monthly visits? But he couldn’t have disagreed without saddening her. And he hated the very idea of her being sad. He’d bear a thousand times more pain that he was bearing right now just to ensure that she smiled.
—
“Tired?” he asked when she came to his room the next evening.
“Yes. Classes since eight-o-clock in the morning. Three hours in the lab – standing all the time. This place is made to kill people.”
Mukundo smiled.
“And there is a test tomorrow. I have to study as well,” she said dumping her bag on the table and falling back on the bed with a thump.
“If that’s the case, it is not the time to sleep. Get up and study. Do you want to cancel going out for dinner? It will waste several hours.”
“No. No. I will finish before that. Don’t worry about that.”
“Piyali…” he hesitated.
“What?”
“I was wondering… You know… Life here is hectic. So much to do. Studies. Extra-curricular stuff… Don’t my visits put even more pressure on your time…”
She sat up and he found her body stiffening. “If you don’t want to come, it has to be your decision. Don’t put that on my head.”
“Piyali. I was only trying to have an honest discussion. We don’t remain the same all our lives. Our perception of what is important to us, what we need, what we want – everything changes with time. And you are at a stage of your life, where you will experience so many new things and feel these changes come to you very, very quickly. You would be a completely different person by the time you graduate from here. And then again a completely different person a few years after that. You had probably never imagined that you could live happily, away from your Baba, from me, from Kolkata. But you are comfortable here, right? You have friends you like. You have a life – much different from anything you have had earlier. Am I right, or not?”
Her eyes were glued to the floor for most part of his monologue. She continued to stare down as she replied. “Everything you have said is right. Yes – it is exhilarating. This different life. This sudden feeling of independence and growing up. The need and ability to make my own decisions. You are right. Sometimes, when Baba gets too pedantic, I feel like telling him that I am not a little girl anymore. And that he doesn’t have any idea of what my life is like. But honestly, Mukundo Babu,” she looked up, “I still look forward to your visits more than anything else. Yes – I am already more mature and independent than I was. So, if you decide that your monthly visits are not worth the hassle, I will be able to live with it. I will not come crying to you like earlier. But since you wanted an honest discussion. I would really like you to continue visiting. I’d be disappointed and sad if you didn’t.”
She was devoted to him, wasn’t she? As devoted as he was to her, if not more. Mukundo could not help feeling overwhelmed and he did not try to hide how he felt.
“In that case, Pihu Rani,” he sat beside her and looked straight in her eyes, “Nothing can stop me from visiting.”
Her smile on hearing that reached right up to her eyes. That heart-warming smile!
—
To be continued
6 thoughts on “The Safety Net (Part 3)”
Heart warming update……:) When Mukundo says….he’ll always be there for Piyali…as a safety net….would never let her fall and get hurt…..it feels so so good….such a nice bonding…..such reassurances give you so much of security and inspiration……Mukundo is trying to get away from his feelings…..trying to be away from Piyali….but….there a few people in life…..whom you love so so much….nothing can change how much they matter to you……how much they mean to you…..full of love
Mukondo is very much in love with Piyali…but he is running away from his feelings…same goes with Piyali…she loves him but unable to understand her feelings towards him..
I hope Aahwan will create a Jealousy factor in Mukundo
This Mukundo is more self-possessed than “Ultimate Realization” one
Oh come on… Y doewnt anyone ever tell that they r in love.. Running is not the solution, is it?
If they didn’t how you will you have the stories?