Making up

Deepak looked at his beautiful wife Nidhi looking out of the plane window. The frown in between her eyebrows was barely noticeable and a third person would have assumed that she is observing the scenic display outside as the plane was preparing to land. But Deepak knew that she was mad at him. He knew that he had done something that irked Nidhi but as usual he had no idea why she was angry. But Deepak was sure of one thing…if he did not figure out the problem soon enough it would escalate to a fight.

But as always Deepak did not have the patience to unravel the cause of her angst. He did what he was best at. He apologized.

“I am sorry Nidhi.”

Nidhi looked at him.

“Why?”

Deepak felt like a second standard student whose teacher had asked him to show the calculation process after he had managed to copy the correct answer from somewhere.

“I…well I know you are hurt…and I feel bad about that,” mumbled Deepak.

“But why?”

“I don’t know Nidhi. Tell me what it is that made you sad…I will…I will undo it.”

Nidhi huffed and looked outside again.

Well you are probably thinking that Nidhi is a difficult wife but she is not. She is just a normal woman who wishes to be understood without having to explain every single detail. Women are big time lovers of magic and if you have to explain the steps to your magician then the charm of the trick is gone!

But Nidhi knew that as always she will have to walk him through it. Her husband will not be able to arrive at the solution by himself.

“You had the time to login to Facebook during our vacation. I saw you gazing at random posts while I chattered away like a monkey. If you didn’t want to talk to me then why did you take a vacation?” Nidhi said.

“I logged in once or twice only. Really sorry…I was listening to you the whole time.”

“It is disrespectful to do that. You might as well tell me to shut up.”

“Sorry.”

But Nidhi was still silent and staring out of the window.

Deepak realized that it was just the introduction that would slowly unfold to present a bigger offence.

“We still had a great time Nidhi. You are right. No internet during vacation. I will not do it again.”

“I had also logged in one day to update my cover picture but that was it.” Nidhi stated an ominous statement.

Deepak wondered if his real fault was in not updating his cover picture around the same time.

“Ok I will also put up a new picture on my cover…I just forgot,” Deepak quickly promised.

“What?” Nidhi looked at Deepak in deep annoyance. “How does you changing your cover picture help?”

Deepak kept silent. So she expected him to do something else and not change the cover picture.

“Look I saw that you found time to like and comment on other people’s pictures. When it comes to my cover picture you are strangely silent. You sure were not like this earlier. Before we got married you almost stalked my profile day and night.” Nidhi finally said what it was.

“Oh…so that’s the main reason!!!” Deepak felt as joyful as a PhD student who has defended his thesis successfully.

“Nidhi dear…before marriage I was never in your cover pictures.”

“So?”

“That’s why I could like and lavish compliments on them. Now it is a picture of you and me. I find it silly to like my own picture.” Deepak confessed. Surely this was a very reasonable argument.

Nidhi calmed down a bit and after 5 long seconds she added that it was not the real point either.

“Then what it is that is bothering you? Tell me…don’t keep it within.”

Nidhi felt an explosion of anger and sadness within her heart. This was the point that made her feel like a beggar. This having to explain what she wishes to hear. How she wished Deepak would somehow read her mind without any hint from her.

 “You never say romantic things to me anymore. You never utter a single sweet nothing. Yes it could have been a great vacation but it wasn’t. I did not feel loved at all.” Nidhi’s face looked red.

Deepak was deeply hurt too. He had planned the vacation keeping in mind Nidhi’s preferences and now she was saying that she did not feel his love.

They were now outside the airport walking towards the long queue of cabs.

“Nidhi I love you. You know I love you…” Deepak stuttered.

“My love for you is as plentiful as the stars in the sky.” Deepak made a lame attempt at showing some “romance”.

Nidhi sighed an audible sigh and gave him a sarcastic smile.

She then looked up and started to count. Though it was a clear night very few starts were visible due to the haze of the city lights.

“1 2 3…4…5…I see 5 stars in the sky. Deepak your shabby pick up line got screwed by light pollution.”

Deepak looked up and smiled as the tension started to slowly dissolve between him and his wife. At this point a high pitched female voice called out his name.

“Deepak!!!” a slightly plump but beautiful woman was smiling at Deepak with a look of happy surprise on her face.

Nidhi scanned the woman from top to bottom. Hair styled to perfection, kohl rimmed dark eyes that were not exactly beautiful, a sharp nose and a dimpled smile. Her body was full and though she was a little bit on the heavier side she still exuded a seductive vibe. Naturally Nidhi did not like her at all.

“Niharika! You have changed so much. ” Deepak was awkward.

“Oh really? Look at you…who would have known that you would have grown into this.”

This woman, Niharika was staring at Deepak’s six footer chiseled frame with open admiration.

She seemed to ignore the fact that a woman who in all probability was Deepak’s spouse was standing right next to him. Nidhi swung her head towards Deepak to observe his reaction.

But Deepak looked completely blank.

In his mind he had shifted years back to those days in South Point High School when he used to be the geeky class topper. He was a quiet boy with almost zero social skills. Coincidentally his current wife Nidhi read in the junior section of the same school at the same point of time but owing to the huge size of the school they were blissfully unaware of each other’s existence.

Deepak was the most talked about boy in his grade...but only among the ever competitive mothers of the Pointers. Everyone wanted their child to be like Deepak. Focused deeply in studies and completely cut off from all sorts of merriment in life. But that is obviously not what a guy in his mid teens would expect from life. He failed where he wanted to be discussed. Among the girls of his class he was never a hit. They did praise him a lot but ended up showering him with unsavoury adjectives like “intelligent”, “diligent” and “Mr Scientist”.

Deepak really hated his life. His bespectacled fair face looked too pale and the haircut that his mother chose for him made him look stupid despite his high IQ. His square jaws and what could have been an enchanting smile hid behind the perpetual image of the super geek.

In the evenings when the other kids were often playing Deepak had to go to his tutor Mr Nayak to keep himself sharp and ready for the exams. Mr Nayak helped his students with some extra lessons and Deepak studied in a batch of 15 boys and girls. He was clearly the brightest in the class but Mr Nayak pointed it out too many times resulting in an obvious unpopularity of Deepak.

Life trudged on and Deepak kept fetching perfect scores and though his family was very proud of him they had no idea that Deepak was actually an unhappy soul.

And then one dull evening in the coaching class of Mr Nayak his life suddenly took a positive turn when Niharika decided to join the same batch. She went to an elitist South Kolkata school that believed in making their girls snooty and proud. Niharika used to smile in the way a celebrity acknowledges her fans. Back then she exuded the sugary sweetness of a teenaged girl. The day she joined Mr Nayak’s class, Niharika wore a red top with blue jeans that flaunted her perfect figure. Her hair was tied into a pony tail but she had let a few strands hang loosely on her forehead. It made her look like the cutest Barbie doll.

Deepak was staring at her with sheer wonder and then he watched in a slow motion of surprise as Niharika scanned the entire class and then decided to saunter upto Deepak and park herself in the seat beside him. He fell in love with her instantly.

Deepak’s days were no longer boring. Interestingly it did not affect his grades. He enjoyed his studies more now that there was the motivation of impressing Niharika with his scores.

Deepak performed well in class and when there were tests he always let Niharika copy the answers from him. In return Niharika talked to him and flirted with him. Deepak felt like a hero.

But there was a problem. He was not the only guy who liked Niharika. She was very much aware of her looks and she seemed to enjoy the attention from the boys very much. She was very friendly with most of her admirers and it was hard to make out if it was flirtation or harmless friendship from her side

Then the day came when Deepak logged in to his Orkut account to find a friend request from Niharika and he was sure that he must be special in her eyes in some ways. Girls from her school maintained the protocol that in a girl-boy friendship the boy has to send the friend request first so she is taking a big step here by adding Deepak first.

The next day Deepak asked Niharika out on a gol gappa date and to his immense joy she said yes.

Deepak was happy finally. He had the love of the most beautiful girl in the world. They went for gol gappa dates every single week and it made Deepak feel like he was Superman.

But there was one annoying doubt in the bottom of his heart that often raised its head. He had never told her about his feelings nor had Niharika confessed about hers at least not in explicit terms. So the relationship was still standing on shaky grounds.

In teenage a simple exchange of “I love you” would have made that foundation solid and cemented and Deepak started planning on those lines.

He wracked his brains and tried to sum up the courage to tell her explicitly. But he needed a hint of her approval before he actually said those almost forbidden words.

One day in the middle of a sleepless night he got a wonderful idea. Orkut provided a feature where you can add a person to your crush list. If that person adds you as well a notification mail is sent to both or else it stays hidden. He knew it was not really a foolproof method but still wanted to try it. 

Then maybe he would find a friend who could go and make Niharika aware of the feature in case she had not heard about it.

He immediately got up and logged in. He took a deep breath and promoted Niharika to a “crush” and spontaneously broke into his enchanting smile in the privacy of his room. Before going to sleep he decided to check his mail…just in case.

To his sheer delight and utter amazement there was a mail from Orkut.

“Congratulations!! Your crush loves you back!” --- A simple one liner that took his breath away. Niharika had added him as a crush way before! She felt it too!

Deepak cried out in joy and threw his arms up in the air. He had won many prizes in life but no other joy equaled the joy he felt tonight.

He went back to bed feeling super happy and could not fall asleep for a long time. Then he slipped into a beautiful dream where he was solving Niharika’s sums while she was caressing his hair.

Luckily he had a class at Mr Nayak’s the next day evening. He put on his favourite black shirt and even perfumed his hair. Then off he went to the class…today he would go down on his knees and confess his love to Niharika.

As he entered the class he saw Niharika already inside. She was surrounded by a group of giggly boys and girls. It was obvious that she had already shared the story with others. Deepak felt a slight tinge of annoyance. He had wanted to talk to her first and she expected the same of her. But she seemed very happy so Deepak just brushed off the feeling.

He went ahead and took his place beside Niharika. Mr Nayak entered the class at this point and for the next one hour Deepak got all his sums wrong. Finally the class was dissolved and Niharika pretended to leave.

“Hey Niharika…wait a minute” Deepak was bold today.

Niharika smiled her typical coquettish smile.

“Do you want to tell me something?” she asked sweetly.

Some boys and girls gathered around them. They looked like excited cheerleaders.

Deepak felt blood rushing to his cheeks. He had planned a private affair but Niharika was obviously expecting him to make it bigger.

He looked at the beaming faces around and gathered some confidence. “They are her good friends who want to be happy for us,” he told himself.

And he went down on his knee and sang out the most perfect rendition of “If had to live my life without you need me...”

And when he was done he looked up in expectation. Everyone was suppressing a giggle like they were waiting for the punch line of the joke.

Deepak felt so nervous. He looked at Niharika sheepishly and sure enough he got some courage from her sweet smile.

“I love you Niharika” Deepak heard himself say the hallowed words.

It was Niharika’s turn to say it back. Deepak felt relieved. His job was done.

“Thank you Deepak but I am sorry…I don’t love you back.

I add everyone to my crush list. This allows me to find out which jerk is crushing on me currently under the pretext of friendship. And I avoid them from then on.”

Niharika’s face was sporting the most sadistic smile that could ever be.

Everyone erupted in a cruel laughter.

They had gotten their punch line.

The humiliation had made Deepak physically ill. He could not eat or get out of bed for 3 straight days. The word spread quickly and two boys from his school came to visit him home.

“Let go of it Deepak. You are our star…you deserve much better. This is for you.” They handed him a hand crafted card from his class which said, “Deepak…the light of our class…get well soon.”

It was not exactly classy but that simple line of cheer gave him a lot of strength. With passing time he put the incident behind and just as his childhood had shown he went on to become into an exemplary student. College life transformed him magically. His singing skills made him a hero on the campus and he found the encouragement to work out regularly and take care of his looks as well. Overnight he transformed into a hunk who sang romantic songs and scored straight A’s with equal élan.

Then life presented love to him in the form of Nidhi, his somewhat crazy but otherwise wonderful wife who loved him intensely. He was happy and settled in life. The teenaged geeky Deepak was a far cry from today’s successful and self assured Deepak.

And today after so many years life made him stand face to face with Niharika.

Deepak looked at the woman standing in front of him and felt a pang through his heart. The humiliation still felt real even after so many years and Deepak felt a cold rage towards Niharika.

Sure she had not grown into the beauty that others had expected her to but she still seemed to have that snobby air of over-confidence.

“Good to see you.” Deepak curtly said and kept walking tugging at his wife.

Niharika was a bit stunned at the snub but Deepak was in no mood to be polite to her. He simply walked past her.

“Who’s she? Why didn’t you introduce me to her?” Nidhi immediately asked as she hurried along with Deepak after taking another look at Niharika.

“She went to the same coaching class with me years ago.” Deepak simply replied.

“Why did you behave so rudely with her?” Nidhi kept on asking.

“Because I liked her a lot in those days and she had turned me down in a very humiliating way.” 

Deepak briefly explained in a somewhat snappy voice.

The look of hurt in Nidhi’s face was visible.

“Please don’t feel hurt...I didn’t want to hurt you. She is not an ex girlfriend,” said Deepak.

Nidhi came closer to Deepak as if seeking a reaffirmation of their bond as she said, “No it’s ok…I’m glad that you told the truth. It’s way back in the past…it shouldn’t affect me now.”

It was not clear if Nidhi was talking to Deepak or to herself.

“Come on…now don’t feel sad. I never loved her. I am all yours Nidhi. I love you,” Deepak tried to assure his wife.

Nidhi still looked a bit unsettled and glanced back once more at the receding the figure of Niharika.

“You felt bad even after seeing her?” Deepak said. “I had no idea that you would feel insecure after seeing that fatso…you clearly are way hotter than that evil witch…I mean did you see...”

Suddenly Nidhi threw her arms around Deepak and hugged him, “I love you.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Nidhi simply smiled.

Deepak had finally uttered the right words and this time he did it with conviction and without any prodding… but it was pointless telling him so.

Deepak did not quite understand what made his wife angry in the first place and why she suddenly became happy again but he was really glad about the joy that they felt together at that instant and hugged her back tightly. Life is good with her…he happily thought.

They smiled at each other and headed home quickly...the mood had been set for a wonderful night ahead.