Some crazy gale ........040212

Some crazy gale

Ultimately the marriage was happening. Amar still did not want to believe it.Actually, deep within himself, there was a lot of resistance to it. But in spite of his reluctance to enter into a new commitment, Amar fully realised that for the sake of his own wellbeing, both physically and mentally, he had to marry again. His reluctance to re-marry was mainly due to the consideration, somewhat misplaced, for his son Rohit who was now ten years old. He did not want to be seen as a selfish person by his son. But then , for the last four years or so, after Sneha died , he really had a tough time balancing his work, parenting Rohit and spending the lonely nights .

Passing his fingers through his hairs , he looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was thinning and he had developed a slight paunch around the waist. Otherwise, he had a well built body , once muscular but now tending towards being flabby due to less exercise. One or two grey strands of hair were winking at the temples. His thirty eight year old face was looking puffed after a disturbed night’s sleep.

He did not have a good sleep through out the night. But only he was to blame for it. He shouldn’t have indulged so much with the whiskey at Shankar’s place . But then all his friends insisted on raising a toast each to his new life. The stag party ended after midnight and he could just remember Prakash dropping him at the doorstep and his aunt Maya opening the door , with a disapproving gesture of covering her nose with the pallu of her sari and muttering something. he had just dropped on his bed and passed out. Somewhere in between, he had woken, partly due to the urge to pee and partly due to the burning sensation of the acidic feeling in his stomach trying to climb up his throat. Coming back to the bed, he had just tossed and turned around relapsing into sporadic dazed states of immobility punctuated with intermittent dreams. 

He could remember some of them, one where he saw the stern face of his late father admonishing him for his folly to marry again and reminding him of his duty towards his son, the other of his old Games teacher with a whistle in a chain around his neck but wearing only a lungi and bare chested, teaching him the need to be a celibate in life and not waste the semen , which was life itself. A smile creeped up along his lips as he remembered Sinha Sir and his beautiful young wife who was the cynosure of all students and cause of many a wet dreams.

But the worst one which still lingered with him after he woke up was the one about Sneha. He dreamt of touching her bare body , carressing her ,kissing her, making love to her on the sand beaches by a sea. They were both covered with sands and it was sunny. There were lots of people around them but nobody was looking. Both of them were oblivious about the crowd too . And then it happened, as he lunged forward in his last orgasmic spasm trying to reach her inner depths and kissed her lips, she just disintegrated into ash, black and grey. The crowd around also vanished and a crow called out ,loud . His sleep was truly broken now as he groped with the sudden jolt.

He did not lie down any further. Going to the washbasin, he splashed a lot of water on his face. The acidic burn still persisted in his throat. He needed to have lots of water, he thought. He was still wearing the trousers and shirt of yesterday evening and the belt was still on him . Coming out of his room , he went to the kitchen. Maya aunty was there. He asked for a glass of water and gulped it thirstily before asking for another.

“Rohit has left for school ? “he asked returning the glass, more of a statement than a question.
“Long back, its almost tiffin time for him”. She replied, not looking at him.
He felt guilty. Partly for the excesses of the last night and somewhat more for not being able to see off Rohit to school this morning .
“Why don’t you have some tea and then have an oil bath. And leave the clothes outside. They need to be washed properly.” Maya said.

Without replying her, Amar came to the drawing room and picked up the newspaper . He again went back to the bedroom in search of his specs and locating them came out to the balcony . It was a sunny morning and he liked the sun smiling on him on this late spring morning. Next week , it was Holi. By that time he would be married again. As he sipped the tea , brought by Maya aunty, his thoughts wandered, involuntarily to the last Holi that he spent with Sneha.

xxx

Rohit was quite excited that day right from the morning. They had gone to the market the previous evening and bought a sprinkler for the boy. It was shaped like a gun . He thought it to be ironic that the sprinkler was shaped like a gun. He remembered his childhoood when they had a common sprinkler made of tin and quite heavy too. The piston had to be oiled before a day. In spite of his misgivings he had bought the gun shaped pichkari because Rohit wanted to have it.

From the market, he had also bought two packets of Gulal, powdered dry colours and a small bottle of dark colour. While returning on his scooter with Rohit , he saw the moon . It seemed so near and close. Nearing the turn out of the market, he stopped at the flower stall and got two Gajjras for Sneha. It was unusual for him to buy this item. But the moon, round and buttery along with the light spring breeze had a magical quality that made him amorous. Sneha would be surprised , he thought, sniffing the packet in his hand . Suddenly he felt eager to go home .

Coming back , Rohit immediately filled his water gun with water and ran downstairs to test it on the street dog . Maya ran after him . Amar entered the bathroom to have a wash. As he came out wearing a lungi, rubbing his bare body with a towel, he found Sneha carrying his cup of tea with a plateful of pakoras . She placed them on the bedsiide table and turned towards Amar , smiling “ Why did you buy the Gajra for me ” she said in a teasing manner. She was wearing a cotton sari and had already pinned the Gajra on her hair braided into a long tail reaching her round hips.

Amar did not answer immediately. He came near her and held her with his arms circling her bare midriff. She seemed to be waiting for this as involuntarily she placed her head on his bare chest and kissed it murmuring  “ Leave me now, I have to cook for dinner” .

As Amar put his hands on her hips and pressed it slightly , he could feel her hands encircling him and the nails scratching his back.He was aroused now with his muscles taut but Sneha was going limp in his arms. Bending slightly he kissed her lips. Sneha just brushed her lips slightly with his and shaking herself, released her arms around him.

“ Won't you like to have dinner tonight” she laughed as she slipped away from him.

“Yes , I would like to have you for dinner , honey” he replied sitting on the bed and picking a pakora.

“ I seem to have been marooned with a cannibal” she said lightly while going out of the room.

The pakoras were really delicious. Sneha really took care of him. He was not allowed to eat much of fried foods or sweets , but once in a while, she made amends by treating him to such delicacies like Pakora or kheer prepared at home. He had a simple but desi palate and not fussy. But these pakoras were heavenly. He munched another and sipped his tea

Slipping on a t-shirt, he came to the living room and clicked the TV on while picking up the newspaper. He ogled at the female anchoring a debate on a channel. She was really looking sexy today with a sleeveless dress.But after a few minutes he got bored with the debate and started flipping the channels . He stuck to the one showing a song on Holi and turned to the sports page of the newspaper.

He had roti with baingan ka bhartha and chana daal for dinner. Maya aunty hovered around him during dinner and insisted on adding another roti on his plate . She had a low opinion of Sneha's dietary restrictions and firmly believed that the man of the house should be fed much more. Amar winked slyly at a petulant Sneha and dipped his roti into the daal. Rohit was not making any fuss tonight over food and was hurrying through his meal.He would definitely sleep with his new toy by his side tonight, Amar thought , looking at him with an amused smile. With a deep sense of well being , he washed his hands at the washbasin before proceeding to have a smoke at the mooonlit balcony. He watched some people burning the Holika , a collection of twigs,branches and straw on the small open plot of land across the road. Strains of dholak beats with raucous singing punctuated with shouts of Shara ra ra ra ......filled the air. People all around seemed to be fully in the Holi mood and tomorrow promised to be fun.

But he would definitely have his fun tonight. Now a days Rohit was sleeping with Maya aunty in her room . Sneha had made this arrangement about six months back much to the surprise and delight of Amar. She was planning for the second baby. Brushing his teeth elaborately , he went to the bed and randomly flipped the pages of the female magazine lying there. It was a pregnancy issue, he noted. Sneha was very particular and methodical about things and liked to maintain order all around. This sometimes created trouble as it clashed with the remnants of his disorganised and bohemian ideas of life. He had changed a lot under her influence .

There was no hurry tonight. Tomorrow was a holiday for both him and Rohit. No mad rushing around in the morning, he thought as Sneha entered the bedroom after half an hour. She brought out a nightie and proceeded to change, putting off the light. In the faint darkness , he could see her silhoutte as she removed her clothes before slipping on the nightie. Sneha never changed her clothes in front of him with lights on. She always maintained that touch of mystery around herself.

“ Why do you need to change ?” he asked as she put the light on again.

“ Don't be a junglee, you perverted silly goat ” she teased him lightly, rubbing a cream on her face.

“I still have some chores to finish. Not like you . Why are you still awake ?” she continued.

“ I am hungry , madam”

“ Then , wait . Let me bring some milk for you”

“I need something stronger and heavier”

Sneha went out to put the lights off and bring the jug of water. He could hear her voice , speaking to Maya . Then she entered . He could hear the clink of her bangles and the tinkle of her silver anklets as eager anticipation aroused him . As she climbed the bed in the dark , he reached for her.

Later, as they lay exhausted, he spooned up from behind her and carressed her , sniffing in the heady smell of of her body, post coitus. In the pleasure of the afterglow , he drifted to sleep . He could faintly hear Sneha whispering “ We will have a girl next. Rohit needs a sister. ”

xxx