He And She

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

He and She lived in the same street. Neighbours, well almost, just three narrow straight houses apart. Both were poor, that is above the BPL but not very affluent. Both were in the same school She one class lower. Both walked up to the school at 9 am. She was with her widowed mother and He in  a nuclear family. She drew water from the well at nightfall and He sang songs on his terrace at the selfsame time. She mumbled her happiness to the rising moon and He made mouths at her. One morning He saw Rangoli at Her doorsteps and rubbed his feet on the blooming lotus. She threw a mouthful of water at Him and He asked her to visit the Devi Mela in the evening. she was 12 and He was 13, together they were a quarter century. They visited the Devi Pandals, ate ice sticks yellow and red and promised to each other never to part in life. Returning in handholding joy they went to their respective  homes.

Time flew as they walked on. He matriculated and went to College. She failed in English and was married off to a widower, about twenty years her senior. He wanted to shoot the Sun with his brother's catapult and kick the earth with his first time full shoes but fell sick for a day and rested sobbingly in his room. Father was transferred to  another city. He moved to a hostel . Time attained speed he graduated with distinction and was sent on a scholarship to another city bigger, holier and older. She became pregnant and her husband fell down somewhere and died, the news never appeared anywhere. She wrote a long letter which she did not post. He always thought of her but never could visualize her fading features. He was invited to a Christmas Carols by a classmate. A She of charming smile and quickfire articulation. She was rich, He was on a scholarship. Both jointly topped the exams. She prepared for competitive examinations, He prepared for life. He expected her to write to him, She expected him to write to her. Expectations clashed and communication was exploded into silence.

Life is to be lived. No plan, faith, attempt, effort, blessing is outside life. Some habits like going to the temple in the morning or taking black ( green etc) tea are formed while living. He got a job, a managerial position with good salary, a furnished house, car etc to which he became habituated in a week. Parents wanted him to marry, he did, that is, he sat on the altar listening to the Sanskrit verses recited by a priest. All his childhood friends, schoolmates and some prominent men and women of the society attended the marriage reception party. He saw the well parloured women by her side and introduced her as his wife. The night he spent with his wife gave him his first experience of sex which he repeated in life. The children were born, a he and she, healthy and handsome. His wife was a good cook. The dining table never disappointed him.

He had promotions, became the chief, owned a palatial building in Mumbai, his Harvard educated children settled in America marrying native beauties, his wife had her own world of parties and celebrations: And He retired into silence. One day at about midnight, three days after his retirement, he got a call, surprisingly a video call from an unfamiliar number. The face smiling on the screen raised a whisky glass- cheers! Do you recognise me? He recognised her, Yes, said he, why didn't you write or speak to me? She laughed. She was almost the same after so many years, the same vivacity, the lips luscious and hands shapely. Only her hairstyle was different, short and flowing, coloured naturally. She said , 'speaking now, yes may be after a long pause of unsighted blankness. I kept all accounts of your professional rise. I applauded many a time your celebrity status, watched your TV interviews with pride, read your innovative ideas, often tempted to  contradicting them publicly but mostly I agreed and enjoyed. O' you want to know about me? Sure, got into bureaucracy joined the Rajasthan Cadre, rose to the level of Secretary and took voluntary retirement five years before my sixtieth year.  You too look healthy and young, good for you. O' why didn't I marry and raise a family?  May be I waited for an ethereal word too long and the desire for the worldly things dried up. I served my stand  and now I teach and educate a few orphans. Now tell me, are you happy?' It was His turn to laugh - what's that? Happiness ? Life I have lived as culture and society ordained. I never waited for ethereal words. Life is life, you have to be at it every moment, where's time to bother about happiness and fulfilment? True, She said taking a sip, as you go on  many feeling- cocktails you drink. At times neat, at times with other liquids. But your feelings shine only in your private , personal world. By the by I will be at Hotel Marriot tomorrow, suite 477, would you come for a drink with me to celebrate our having lived separate lives although ..... I will, I shall, 7.30 sharp.

Next morning I received an envelope from my childhood She who had parted ways early. The letter was long poorly written in bad Odia. She had  listed out her pain, sorrow, humiliation and suffering. Strange! It was written twenty five years  ago but posted last week. He sent 10 Lakh to the address given and dressed up for the first and last dinner with his sophisticated   bureaucrat. How will the evening go He  wondered! Well as life has gone in hours and years. Don't think like mortals in time and space.