Mish' Fiction

Mukundo waved the placard he was dramatically holding for her. She looked incredulous for a moment; then almost ran around the railing to reach to him quickly, pushing her baggage trolley with her. He met her mid-way and took the trolley from her.

“You came yourself?” she asked, pushing the trolley away so that it didn’t come between them.

“Well… welcoming you home after like what? Ten years? I could do that much. How was the flight?”

“Fine,” her answer was barely audible as she looked away. She was controlling her emotions with difficulty. What was it? Mukundo got worried.

“What happened, Piyali?” he asked.

Instead of replying she hugged him and started sobbing.

“Hey. Pihu Rani,” he addressed her with one of his several nicknames for her, “What happened? What’s wrong, Shona?”

“Nothing,” she broke the hug and wiped her tears, “I just got overwhelmed. Happy to be back after so long.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded rubbing her face with her hands to wipe off any tears and other signs of crying. It was hardly successful. Her nose, as usual, had swollen and red even with slightest crying. He did not point that out though.

“Let’s go,” he said and pushed the trolley ahead. She followed him.

She was unusually quiet during the ride from the airport, and that raised Mukundo’s suspicion.

“You weren’t just overwhelmed, were you?” he asked.

She looked straight ahead and didn’t reply.

“Is it about Ahwaan?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Troubles between you?”

She nodded again and bit her lips.

“Have you guys… broken up or something?”

She hesitated, but then nodded yet again.

Ah! So that was it. Although it was no happy news, it put Mukundo at ease. It was a solvable issue. Piyali being Piyali, had probably starting thinking this was the end of the world. Like she had thought on discovering that she had missed out on a 2-mark question in board exams. Always hyper, always super sensitive. That was his Piyali. He would know how to cheer her up and help her move on. It was a good thing she was back in Kolkata. In his care.

“Mukundo Babu,” she spoke after another long pause, “Can we go to your home first? I hope you don’t have any guests there?”

“Sure,” he replied immediately. That was a sound suggestion. They needed to have a chat.

—

“Why did you break up?” he asked straight away. The housekeeper had brought tea for them. He handed a cup to her.

“He couldn’t talk to his parents.”

“Couldn’t?”

“He said they won’t listen to him and he did not want to go against his family. My guess is the he never talked.”

“Didn’t you guys discuss it earlier?”

“We had. At least I thought so… He used to say we’ll cross the bridge when it comes. I assumed he meant that he would talk when time comes. I guess he just meant to…”

She kept the teacup on the table and started crying silently.

“Hey!” He also kept his cup away and went to sit beside her on the sofa. “I know Pihu Rani that it seems like the end of the world, but it isn’t. You will move on. You are back home, you have a job to start… In couple of months it will all go away.”

“It won’t Mukundo Babu.”

“Believe me it will. You always think like this don’t you? At even the slightest of the disappointments. But things have been all right till now. Remember your board exams…”

“I am pregnant,” she blurted.

He jerked back in shock. “What? What did you say?”

“I’m pregnant,” she wouldn’t meet her eyes and he could not figure out if there was any mischief in them.

“If it’s a joke, it’s a bad one!” he said somewhat sternly, although the feeling quickly sank into him that it wasn’t a joke.

She cried silently in reply.

“Damn it, Piyali. How could you… Does Ahwaan know?”

“He does,” she replied through her tears.

“And?”

“He wants me to abort it.”

“And you don’t?”

“I have been an idiot, Mukundo Babu, but what is the baby’s fault?”

Mukundo looked at her disconcerted. What had happened? The spirited girl he had known all these years, too intelligent and too naïve for her age, had suddenly grown up and was sitting in front of him with her head bowed, her eyes tearful, but concern and pride of motherhood in her heart. Should he lament her immaturity that it had come to this? Or should he celebrate her growing up that, however feebly, she was trying to face the music?

“Kaka doesn’t know, I guess?” he asked about her father.

She shook her head, “That’s why I came away to Kolkata.”

“I can try talking to Ahwaan…”

“You have already stuck your neck out once for him, for us, Mukundo Babu. And it’s going to be of no use. He is least interested.”

“What do you want to do, Piyali?”

“I don’t know, Mukundo Babu. I have thought about a thousand things… And yet… One of them is…”

“What?”

“Will you… adopt my baby, Mukundo Babu? You had always said that you’d adopt a baby, if you didn’t get married… I don’t know if you were serious… But if you would then… I can watch it growing before me and be assured that it will get everything it deserves… I am saying bizarre things, am I not? I have just thought to so many things I can no longer figure out what is workable and what is not. I will probably just tell Baba and beg him to let me have the child. It’s not like we don’t have money or anything…”

“So, you have seriously considered giving it up for adoption?”

“No!” she looked panic-stricken, “Not giving up. Just like that for anyone to… That was only if you… Oh God! I am sorry. I am so sorry, Mukundo Babu. All my life I have bugged you with my problems. But this wasn’t something even you would have signed up for. I think I will go home and figure out what to do after my brain is functioning again,” she got up, “Please don’t tell anything to Baba yet, Mukundo Babu. Please! He would be heart-broken; and angry. I don’t even know how he would react…”

“Calm down, Guddi,” he also got up and interrupted her. Quite unconsciously, he used another nickname for her, which only the two of them knew about. He didn’t know how it would sound under the circumstances, and whether his intention would not be completely misconstrued. But if there was a time when it should be said, and he hadn’t thought that any such time would come, it was this, “You have another option.”

“What?” she looked up hopefully. Mukundo was his friend, philosopher and guide, since her childhood. He had a solution for all her problems. Fights with her BFF, preparation for exams, running out of geometry pencils at the last moment, attention from boys in school and college, preparing for debates, adjusting to life in Mumbai, and finally even convincing her Baba about Ahwaan. If someone could bring her out of the soup today too, it would be Mukundo.

—

To be continued