#100WordsOrLess “Rum on the rocks, please.” Alumni meets gave him headaches. It wasn’t that he didn’t like his college mates, but he could barely remember any of them. He thanked them for their politely for their congratulations – he had been named as one of the “Forty under 40” to watch out for by Business Week and would be featured in their magazine shortly. He had half a mind to skip this and drink his way through the night in the bar. He would wake up mid morning tomorrow and be just in time to catch the flight. Sounded perfect. “Still drinking Old Monk?” He had his back turned, but that was one voice that made his heart race even after 14 years. He slowly turned around and drew his breath sharply. Her hair was still unmanageable and fell over her face the same way, the dimples were all the more endearing and the twinkle in her eyes was unmistakable. “Shruti?” “You have to ask??! Tch. I’m offended.” Suddenly, the crowd and the commotion seemed to fade away. He had eyes only for her. And her eyes didn’t leave him either. -- Soon it was time for the batch photographs. There were only 14 of his batchmates present. He couldn’t care less. He was with the one that mattered. They posed arm in arm and smiled broadly for the photo. Her head was almost on his shoulder. Memories of college, classes and their not-so-discreet affair came to mind. -- “It’s late, we’ll go?” “Where are you booked? I’m staying at the Radisson.” “I’m at Leela. You could perhaps…”. His trailing voice left open for so many possibilities. “Don’t be silly, I am off. Will we get a cab at this hour?” “I’m serious. Maybe, you could. You know.” “I’m married with two kids and so are you. It’s just the rum talking. Don’t be silly and you’ll be fine in the morning.” “You could’ve married me. We would have been so happy. It didn’t have to be so difficult.” His rum soaked tongue voiced his sober thoughts. “Shut up and don’t dig these things up. We had a good time here and when we walk out, we are going back to our families.” -- He landed back to his room and his mobile beeped. He was tagged in his Alumni Committee’s photos. He swiped through them glad that only his colleagues were on his friends list. He zoomed in until he could see only them. They looked like a couple – he was happy, laughing and handsome even. She was resplendent with his arms around her. A fat tear rolled down his cheeks and he poured out another round for himself. It was four hours of steady drinking before he slept off staring at the photo. When he woke up two hours after his flight had departed, he had 8 missed calls, 14 messages and a dozen e-mails. He ignored all of them and zoomed in on the photo again. Random people ranging from his secretary to his boss had “liked” the photo. He didn’t care. He had eyes only for her face. And for their memories. Six hours later he got out of bed and enquired about the next flight. It was almost noon on Monday when he reached. Having ignored every phone call and mail on the way over there was a deluge waiting for him. He sighed and got back to work. The BusinessWeek digital edition had come out. The hardcopy would be out by evening. The page was still loading when his secretary walked in. “Sir I was trying to reach you.” “I know. What is the matter?” “It is resolved now Sir”, she said smiling. “Good. But what was the issue?” “The BusinessWeek people had called. They wanted a picture of you and your wife to go along with your professional click.” “Oh great. You can send them..” “No Sir, I sent them that photo. You looked good and madam also looked so bright.” “Which photo?” “The one on Facebook? Some alumni meeting photo?”
Posted on: Sat, 17 May 2014 12:44:29 +0000
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