From across the track, she glared at him, a thousand questions in her eyes.
He swallowed hard, struggling to hold her gaze.
She fiddled with a wet shirt, unable to do anything other than attempting to discourage him with a hard, deadly stare. To say that she was petrified would be an understatement. The phone in his hand freaked her out. Clearly, he was shooting her; just like the many perverts she had seen and heard of. Eyes deadlocked on him; she wrapped her pallu around her bare waist.
Gingerly, he turned off the cam and lowered his phone, feeling sheepish.
The battle of the stares was cut short when the local train slapped past from the opposite direction with a loud bellow of its horn.
He fought to see through the blur, but he could see nothing.
When the train passed, she was gone, and they were moving.
Over his shoulder, he noticed a fellow passenger staring at him with a silly smirk on his face. The guy had seen everything, from the beginning to the end.
Red-faced, Dev clutched the hand straps and looked away.
***
When Dev finally made it to work, he was late. Very late! He felt awful. It simply wasn’t him to turn up late anywhere. He was always on the dot in everything that he did.
***
That evening, Dev wasn’t in the best of spirits. He’d just got off the phone after a small chat with his mother. “Yep, your profile IS on several matrimonial sites,” she had admitted. “How else do you get proposals?”
Dev hated it that he was being pressurized to get married. Not that he loathed the prospect of it, but there was a lot more he wanted to accomplish before getting bogged down with a task he wasn’t interested to shoulder at the moment. But something his mother disclosed troubled him very much. “The astrologer has foreseen turbulent times ahead, so, be wary on the job front and otherwise.”
“It’s a clear sign that I shouldn’t get married anytime sooner,” Dev had refuted, to which his mother chuckled. “Don’t be silly, Dev. It has nothing to do with marriage. Just be careful while traveling, moving around, or dealing with people, especially with strangers.”
Dealing with people. That reminded him of the mysterious girl he’d been watching over the past few days. He’d even gone to the extent of filming her. Somehow, that deed made him feel like a pervert. Why the hell did I even do that? He feared that this clip would get him into trouble, especially since she caught him filming her.
***
When Dev’s usual train pulled up at the crossing the following day, Bhoomika was in the backyard spreading wet laundry on the line. She peeked out from behind one of the sarees fluttering before her and eyed the door of the train, but he wasn’t there. Heart racing a little, she craned her neck further and scanned the windows, but he wasn’t there either. She stood there, waiting, hoping to get a glimpse of him and alleviate the fears that had been building inside her since last evening. But alas, despite the express train whipping past, and this train slowly chugging out, he was nowhere to be seen.With a sinking feeling, she retreated from view. There was a storm brewing in her mind. How come he never turned up today, could he be ill? Or, is he avoiding me on purpose?She was dead sure that he’d seen her getting hit by Anand last evening. Anand was one who never wasted an opportunity at that. He always made sure he put up an act before oth
That evening, dinner was exceptionally silent for Anand and Bhoomika. Not that they shared any conversation otherwise. They hardly spoke to each other. And even when they did, it was barely a handful of words, only because it was absolutely essential. When in close quarters, there was always an air of unrest, of uncertainty.Anand was unpredictable. One could never figure out when he’d snap and for what. As of now, it was so quiet that one could even hear their fingers touching their dinner plates.Anand tore out a piece of the roti, dipped it in the sabzi and stuffed it into his mouth. Visibly, it looked appealing to anyone, but he never appreciated it. “The curry is good,” he said out of the blue, surprising Bhoomika enough to make her steal a glance at him before returning her gaze to her plate.He studied her fiddling with her food, rolling it several times in the curry before putting it back on the plate
As Dev’s train pulled into the crossroad that evening, the beautiful mouth-watering aroma of a delicious curry floated in through the bars, one that immediately reminded him of home and of his mother’s cooking. His taste buds tingled as it strongly brought to mind that divine, crispy, goldenbhatureand tangy chole masala he had two weeks ago when he had visited his mom. There were many households in that area and it was hard to pinpoint where exactly it was coming from, that is, until, the train stopped right across Bhoomika’s house.The white lights from her kitchen’s veranda shone like crystal specks in his eyes as he caught sight of her in the garden, picking on fresh curry leaves and cherry red tomatoes.He wondered what she could be cooking as he lingered on how the setting sun cast its orange hue on her hair, making it look like smooth, polished sheets of burnt copper.He noticed that s
Bhoomika felt terrible. It was a common emotion post their never-so-pleasant sessions in bed. For one, no matter how hard she tried, she could never respond in the way he wanted.Anand was always rough. And he expected her to be as wild. Being sore and hurt in places after an episode of ‘making love’ wasn’t something that was new to her. At times, she felt that he wanted to prove something. She just couldn’t figure out what.As of today, Anand was being a sourpuss like always. Their session didn’t last long. He did what he wanted and slipped out of bed without a word. Wearing the worst scowl humanly possible, he cleaned himself up, put on a shirt and stormed out of the house without a spot of breakfast. He didn’t really like her food anyway.It stung her every single time. Did I do something wrong, she always wondered? Yes, she concluded. They’ve been together for seven long years, and it’s entire
“What? What is it?” asked Kamal curiously and followed his gaze to the backyard of the house across.Standing on the kitchen veranda and checking herself out in the mirror was Bhoomika. She looked beyond ravishing in that jet-black salwar she was in. The fabric hugged and defined the curls and curves of her elegant frame. Flowing down her shoulder was a crisp red dupatta with a generously printed border.Flashing his pearly white teeth, Kamal turned back to Dev who looked completely lost.Bhoomika tossed her luscious mane, allowing the sun to comb through her rich, copper strands.How can anyone be this beautiful,crossed a thought in Dev’s head. It took him a moment to realize that her amber orbs were already locked with his chocolate brown ones.Through the noise, there was an air of dead silence as they searched the depths of each other’s soul through their eye
Bhoomika raked her wet hair before the mirror in the kitchen veranda. She’d just finished her morning shower. It was a routine that she stuck to religiously. In a way, it helped her to relax.Despite the mirror being smaller to the one inside, she preferred it over the other, mainly because there was plenty of light outside compared to the dark and dingy room. She also felt more secure. Her creepy husband, Anand, had the bad habit of sneaking up on her almost all the time. She loathed him for that besides a lot of other things. The very thought of him led her eyes to rest on the purplish bruises around her neck, that of fingers. The night before, he had strangulated her to the point of death.***Flashback***Bhoomika struggled hard, fighting to pry open Anand’s iron clutches around her neck, wheezing through the tiny gap that was left in her throat. The pressure built to dangerous levels so much that her