Mish' Fiction

Subrato was agitated. It had been exactly one year since Stacey had walked out on him.

“You are just not stable enough, Subrato,” she had told him.

He was shocked. He had been preparing to propose to her. He had the entire wedding planned out in his head.

“What are you talking about? What is not stable about me?”

“You keep running off to weird places.”

“I like exploring things, Stacey. You are an artist. You can understand that.”

“Yeah. I am an artist and I need more stable man in my life to make up for that.”

“Stacey. It’s not like I don’t hold jobs or something. I just take up experimental projects. I can easily provide for you and the family we will raise together. And if needed…” Her audible sigh had made him realize that he was getting into a futile discussion. He asked her, “That isn’t the point, is it?”

She had nodded not meeting his eyes.

“Who is he?” he had tried hard to conceal his fury.

“Let it be, Subrato. It doesn’t matter. It wasn’t working out between us. I just… I had been meaning to tell you for so long.”

“What went wrong?” he had asked realizing even himself how hopeless those questions were.

“It wasn’t meant to be. Good bye, Subrato.”

He had stood rooted to his place as she left. Then he had gone to his bedroom, picked up the ring he had bought and flushed it down the toilet. He had done a real experimental thing with his career and life after that. He had decided to move back to India, at least for a while. But it had taken several months to work that out. As soon as his posting at IIAM had been confirmed, he had left US taking a sabbatical from his job there. His joining was still four months away, but he just had to get away from that place.

Subrato jumped out of his office chair. He needed fresh air. His class was about to start. But he had anticipated his inability to work that day. He called the TA (teaching assistant) of the course and handed him the question papers for a surprise test in the class. It was to be an half-an-hour test. The students were to be let go after that.

He walked out of the office towards the ground where he usually went for his jogging. His reverie was broken by the sound of her voice. She was sitting on the lone bench on that ground, her mobile pressed on her right ear, while her head was partially buried in her hand.

“Mummy. How many times have I told you to call me at the night, if you have to talk this nonsense. I have classes to attend for God’s sake. How am I supposed to concentrate?…. Mummy. Please. Let me complete this year, get a job… Of course, you don’t care. You want me to live the life you have lived… Just… I have to go the class…”

Subrato got out of her line of sight as she got up, but he could figure out that she was upset and crying. And she would get a test in the class!! On an impulse, he took a clandestine route he had discovered from the ground to the academic area to reach the class before her. He had hoped to stop the TA from distributing the test papers. But by the time he reached there, the papers had already been distributed. She reached the class shortly after him. She was late by ten minutes for the test. She sighed and shook her head when she realized that a surprise test was waiting for her. She had washed her face, but Subrato did not miss the swelling around her eyes. He felt bad for her. But she just picked up a test paper and went to her seat to start working on it. Subrato let the TA go telling him that he would supervise the test himself. He decided to let the test go on for forty minutes, so that she got enough time for completing it. But he was surprised when she got up from her seat to submit her answer sheet even before the originally planned time for the test was over.

“Can I leave now?” she asked him not sure if he intended to continue the class after the test.

“Yes,” he nodded. She probably wasn’t in the right mental state to take the test, he thought.

But he was in for a surprise when she left the classroom and he casually turned the pages of her answer-sheet. She had answered all the questions. And in his quick assessment, she had answered them correctly. It was all in a horrible handwriting. She must have been eager to get over with it. But it was correct nevertheless. He turned back to the first page of the answer sheet and ran his hand over her name. Paridhi Chauhan. He finally knew her name. A small, mostly indiscernible, smile formed on his lips!

—

Paridhi knocked on Subrato’s office door and opened it when she heard “Yes?” from inside. Another senior faculty member was in the office with him.

“I… just wanted to submit the assignment. TA was not in his office,” she explained her presence hesitantly.

“Come in,” he invited her in, “You might be interested in what Dr. Gupta and I are discussing here. Dr. Gupta – she is the one who came up with the idea that Imambada’s story is very Keynesian.”

“That’s great,” Dr. Gupta replied, “If you are interested Paridhi, you could check out the research we are planning and join it for your independent study project in the next trimester.”

“Sure. I will check it out, Sir,” she told him courteously.

“I will take your leave now,” Dr. Gupta turned to Subrato and left after parting pleasantries.

“What was it about?” she asked Subrato.

“You remember the Imambada story and its resemblance to Keynesian theories, right?”

“Yes?”

“So, I have been thinking about it. While I am in Lucknow, I would like to take up a research project where I get an advantage by being in this city and zeroed on the idea of studying economic policies of Nawabs of Oudh. We might get more interesting insights like the Imambada one.”

“That would be some real Indian Economics research. Very good idea.”

“So yeah – like Dr. Gupta suggested, if you are taking up independent study in the next trimester and are interested in the idea, let me know.”

“I will think about it.”

“And you did very well on the surprise test. Congratulations.”

“You have graded the papers?”

“Mostly. Unless someone else throws a surprise at me, you have scored the highest. What do you guys call it. A batch-max?”

“It’s just a test.”

Subrato smiled and shook his head at her attempt of dismissing her performance, despite having achieved it under distress. And it wasn’t just a test. She was the batch topper based on cumulative performance as of now. If her Economics aptitude was anything to go by, Subrato had no doubts that she will graduate at the top of her class.

“I had to submit the assignment…”

“The deadline is until the midnight. You are already done with it?”

“I have to go out of the campus for some work. So…”

“Lonely trip to Chowk and Imambada?”

She laughed, although it looked like a sad laugh to Subrato, “No. Thankfully or unfortunately not lonely.”

“Paridhi. Is everything all right?” he suddenly asked. His question came out of nowhere as far as she was concerned. She hesitated for a moment. Something else was odd apart from his question. The way he called her name. There was a slight accent, a combination of Bengali and American accent, which was difficult to miss. How come she had not noticed it earlier? Was it the first time he was calling her by her name?

“Yes… Why do you ask?” she brought herself out of her confused thoughts and replied hesitantly.

“Nothing… Just… Sometimes you look distressed,” he became conscious of his sudden intrusion and withdrew with a vague explanation of his question.

“We all do. We all are distressed some times.”

“Right. All the best with whatever is taking you to the city today.”

“Thanks. I need it. Good night.”

“Good night,” he replied though could not help wondering about why she said ‘I need it’.

—

To be Continued