One of my classmates asked me why I don't write something about love...
"A love story you mean!!" I said.
" Yeah, you can put it that way." She replied.
"Like Chetan bhagat..!!" I hate Chetan bhagat.
"Yeah..like Chetan Bhagat." She loves him. I could tell by judging her face.
" Love stories are cliche and boring you Know..!!" I said.
"Haha...but still they are way better than all this bullshit you write....or you try to write!!." I had no comeback so I smiled and changed the subject.
" A love story. I had only one serious relationship and I cannot write about it because I was a jerk to her. I mean I broke up with her just because she was too nice. Who does that!!! I was such an asshole." I thought.
I have had several "flings" but those were not good enough to write about it.
" Wait, What about Muniya!!!" I got excited. Oh my god, Muniya!!! I had almost forgotten her. But I could never completely forget her and how can I, after all, She was my first love!!
" I can write about her!!." I thought.
"But that story ends up me being in 'jail'.." I told myself.
No, I cannot let my friends think I am some kind of weirdo who went to jail for a married woman. That's right, She was the wife of another man. She still is. Or not, I don't know. I stopped keeping track.
I decided not to write about that part of my life. But that couldn't stop me from thinking about it. All the memories kept rushing back to me. Turned out I remember everything, I was just very much ashamed to think about it.
I remember the first time I saw her. It was the day after her marriage. I was 14. I went to her "bahu-bhat" with my mom. Mom let me hand over the gift to her. What a day it was!! I spent my whole time there gazing at her. And why wouldn't I !! She was beautiful. She was the new bride of "Nandu" the " cycle mechanic" and also our neighbour. His previous wife " Seema" died during childbirth. He then turned into an alcoholic to bury the sorrow for his unborn child and his "beloved wife" whom he used to beat every now and then. Anyway, that's when his mom realized he needed another wife to be happy again and that's how 18-year-old Muniya ended up being married to 32-year-old Nandu.
I was in class eight then. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I was mesmerized by her presence. Suddenly I learned to see the world from a different perspective. My whole world had lightened up.
But My joy didn't last long. For a few months, everything went perfectly. I continued to find more and more excuses to go to Nandu's house. But then everything changed when she got pregnant with "Shiva". I was heartbroken. One can clearly see my sadness in my report card. But after promoting to class nine I met "Nikita" and everything went back to normal.
Nikita broke-up with me for a college boy. I was in class ten. I swear to God, to never to fall in love again and began to prepare for my board exams while Muniya was preparing to give birth to " Lali".
TWO YEARS LATER
I had just broken up with RUTH for being too caring and nice. Nagaon seemed less appealing after her. I missed home terribly. So I came home to prepare for the last two months before my 12th finals. Muniya was pregnant for the third time then. She was a whole different woman. She had started to work house-to-house as a maid as Nandu once again became an alcoholic after the death of "Nani". He stopped going to work which forced Muniya to be the main source of income for the family.
"He also beats her" mom said.
"Sometimes he uses curse words and doesn't let her in the house at night."Mom continued.
" I am not interested in all your gossip mom. Please leave me alone." I told her.
I was alone that night. There were only fifteen days left for my finals. Mom and dad had gone to visit my sick uncle and wasn't planning to come back that night. It was around 11 pm when I heard noises coming from Nandu's house.
" They have been fighting again." I thought.
Honestly, I was sick of hearing them fighting for the past one and a half months. I wanted to get out of the house and scold them but I remained still. I also felt bad for Muniya.
"That woman is working the whole day in her condition to feed his family. Showing some respect to her is the least he can do." I thought.
The noises stopped after some time. I also went to bed. Around midnight I heard a knock on our door. I got scared. But as I heard it for the second time I asked who was it.
"Babu! Open the door." I heard a woman's voice.
"Who is it?" I asked again.
"It's me Muniya, open the door." She said very softly.
I opened the door and let her come in. She was panting and also panicking at the same time. Lali was with her. She was also sobbing. I got the idea of what might have happened. She asked me about my mom. I told her where they were. She asked me if she could sleep at our place that night. I hesitated at first but then after having a long conversation with my mom I let them stay. Mom called "Bhanu" aunty to stay with us that night. Everything was sorted. But somehow Nandu got the idea that Muniya was at our house. He came and started banging on the door. Bhanu aunty went out and told him to go home. He then kicked our door. But he didn't stop there. He forcefully came inside and started dragging her by her hair. I was standing right there confused. Bhanu aunty was begging him to let her go. Lali was screaming. All of it was happening very fast. I finally figured I should do something. I grabbed his neck and started squeezing. He pushed me back.
" How dare you fucking come to my house and pushing me?" I shouted. I pushed him back.
He lent me a punch. He was very strong. I somehow managed to stay standing.
He suddenly became calm then.
"You come to the house right now or don't come at all." He said and left. Muniya went after him.
"Are you alright?" Bhanu aunty asked me.
" I think he broke my teeth." My teeth were broken. I got furious. I didn't know what happened but I lost control. I took my cricket bat and went behind them.
" Aiiiie madarchod! " I shouted.
He looked back and boom. He fell to the ground. I then punched him again and again until his nose broke. I then again hit him with the bat on his knee.
When I came to my senses it was already too late. He was badly injured. People gathered. They took him to the hospital. I was taken to the police station. I spent the night there. Mom and dad arrived the next morning to take me out on bail. We had to pay twenty thousand rupees as compensation to avoid going to court.
"That's why I can't write about it. It is too weird and I don't wanna people to Know about it." I thought.