The Last Kiss

“Wake up honey! It is 7:30 already.” – Jonali uttered softly as she herself struggled to resist the temptation to prolong the pleasure of idling on their comfortable bed on a Saturday morning. It is especially hard to even think of abandoning the early morning pleasure after you have done a late night catching an hour long episode your favorite thriller from the comforts of your bed on the wide screen Apple iMac placed strategically in front of your bed with the sole purpose of indulging in digital entertainments on Friday nights.

Over the last couple of weeks, it has become a Friday night ritual for the Sakias’ to catch the latest episodes of “Twenty Four” on Hulu.com after the children have retired to bed. The week days are too hectic even to think of switching on the T.V. other than a quick news update from the CNN headlines. Ranjan has to wake up by 5:00 AM every weekday to catch the 6:00 AM NJ Transit train from Princeton Junction to New York Penn Station. He starts his day early so that he can be in time to pick up the children from after care which closes sharp at 6:00 PM. It is usually Jonali, who prepares the kids – eight year old Varun and four year old Pawan - and drops them to school by 8:00 AM before she proceeds to her work, a good 45 minutes drive. By the time she makes it back from work at 7:00 PM, Ranjan usually warms up the dinner and ensures that the kids have taken their shower. If that by itself is not hectic enough, twice a week Varun has to be driven for his soccer practice. By the time the Saikias’ are done with helping the kids with home work, dinner and the other daily chores, it is already 9:00 PM – the time you get ready for the next day and retire - a typical suburban American life for 2 working parents with young children in New York/ New Jersey area.

“But today is Saturday” – protested Ranjan as he struggled to open his eyes.

“But honey, do not forget that you are driving Varun for his soccer game at 9:00 AM and I have to drive Pawan for his first swimming lesson at the YMCA. Then in the afternoon we are going to the Stewarts’ for the barbecue party. Before that you need to cut the grass in our yard while I do the laundry for the week.”

“Well, that’s right. I almost forgot. With Pawan’s initiation to the cycle of never ending activities, gone will be the days of leisurely week-end morning” – remarked Ranjan as he struggled to prepare himself to face the beginning of a new weekend – which often prove to be more hectic than the weekdays.

Despite of having to abandon the prospect of a laid back week-end, he actually quite enjoyed playing the role of an involved dad and a supportive husband. They looked forward to their weekends which were mostly devoted to activities concerning their children – such as sports, music lessons, attending birthday parties of friends of their children or friends and the usual household works such as yard work, weekly cleaning and laundry, cooking for the whole week so that during the week they can survive on micro waved food straight out of the refrigerator. Ranjan and Jonali were also fairly active in the social circle in the tri-state area – where they maintained a large circle of close friends and involved themselves in various activities concerning the south asian scociety. Ranjan’s friends from college days expressed their pleasant surprise when they visited him - “Who could have ever imagined the wild Ranjan could ever be domesticated! Credit certainly goes to Jonali!!” – they remarked when they had a glimpse of his suburban life style - a moderately successful “perfect couple” with two very well mannered kids, a nicely maintained single family house in suburban settings of West Windsor, NJ with a well maintained yard, a BMW 350i and a Honda Odyssy – often considered as testimony that you have finally resigned to your fate as a “soccer parent” – a metaphor for over enthusiast parents whose life was centered around ferrying their kids to plethora of activities .

“Go ahead Varun. Have fun at the game and make sure to get some hard shots at the goal. ” - encouraged Ranjan as he reached the soccer field with Varun in their minivan. Jonali had taken the BMW to the YMCA with Pawan.

“Sure will dad. See ya after the game” – said Varun as he ran to join his team in the warm up with his team before the start of the game. Today they will be playing against the township of South Brunswick.

It was a good fifteen minutes before the start of the game and Ranjan decided to catch up with his personal emails while waiting for the game to start. He pulled out his latest toy – the Motorola Droid 2.2. He started scrolling through his gmail account. There were mostly the usual spam mails, bank statements, the usual emails notifications from facebook announcing updates from friends and an evite for another birthday party at the Chukee Cheese. Then he scrolled over to the next page and noticed the name of a particular sender that sent a cold shiver down his spine.

It was from Priyanka Arora with just “Hi” as the subject line. He quickly opened the email which read:

“Hi Ranjan,

Glad to discover your email id and contacts. It’s been ages. How have been you? Would love to reconnect.

Love Priya”

Priya! The Priyanka Arora!! After fifteen years!!!

He vividly remembered the day when he chanced upon Gautam and Priya in the Park Street area of Calcutta. It was his second day in Calcutta after a short stint in Delhi as a trainee in Anderson Consulting. He was hired by Anderson Consulting as a management consultant from the campus of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore – where he pursued an MBA after his engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

“Abbey Saley! What on earth you doing in the middle of Park Street in Calcutta!” – he was surprised with a hard smack on his back as he was buying a packet of Gold Flake Classic.

He turned back to find Gautam – his batch mate from engineering with a young girl – in early twenties. She was in a loose fitting black and white stripped top, a black tight skin hugging seamless legging and a black studded peep toe pump hills that added a good 3 inches to her 5 feet 7 inches frame. She sported a curly weave hairstyle and her frosty pink finger nails were painted to match her lips. She appeared to be in the habit of tossing her from time to time with a deliberate attempt to create a hip image.

“What a pleasant surprise! And may I reciprocate with the same question to you?“ – retaliated Ranjan.

Gautam updated that he had been working for Tata Consultancy Services and was posted in Calcutta for last one and half years.

“And meet my girl friend Priya – Priyanka Arora.” Priya was doing her final year engineering in Jadavpur University.

“Parents are in Dubai – where my father runs a business. I am in the hostel and on wonderful evenings like this, Gautam keeps me company!” – declared Priyanka.

Well, that explains the imported wardrobes – thought Ranjan.

Gautam was known for his “skill” in charming the members of the fairer sex right from his engineering days. While most of the batch mates from Kanpur suffered from the “butterfly in stomach” syndrome when it came to making the first move towards members of the opposite sex - Gautam often exercised his superior “skill” in getting the most “kills” from the female contingents during the annual cultural festival “The Culfest” at IITK.

“And what’s your plan for the evening? If you are free, why don’t you join us over a nice dinner and a few drinks at Peter Cat, just down the Park Street.” – invited Gautam.

“Well, come on yaar. I don’t want to spoil your party. Besides I have a meet a few agents to look for an accommodation” – responded Ranjan with a half hearted manner.

“Spoiling our party - not at all! We insist. Besides I do not mind being in the company of two hunks with brains to match as well. After all how often you get to dine and wine with the IIT-IIM types, you know” – joined Priya with a flirtatious smile on her lips.

Gautam and Priya appeared to be quite a regular at Peter Cat. Ranjan knew exactly what to order. “They serve the best Chicken Irani Kebab in the whole wide world here” – declared Ranjan as he ordered the choicest Peter Cat delicacies with Kingfisher beer to wash it down.

“Well, why don’t we share the flat I am renting at Salt Lake” – suggested Gautam as he took another bite from his platter of the famed kebab. “It is a nice two room flat with the necessary amenities. The other room has been lying vacant ever since Rajesh moved out for his new assignment to Singapore. We can share the rent. It also saves you the trouble of dealing with these rental agents.”

Well, not a bad proposition – thought Ranjan. He was new to the city and the company of an old batch mate from college days would certainly help him getting a good start in a new city he was not too well familiar with. Gautam was not exactly his closest friend from IITK, but they both were in the institute soccer team and in mechanical engineering.

By the time the three had finished their evening of wine and dine, it was decided that by Saturday Ranjan will check out of his temporary accommodation at his company guest house and move into Gautam’s rented apartment at Salt Lake.

Ranjan hired a cab to proceed to his company guest house while Priya and Gautam left for Gautam’s Salt Lake apartment in 100cc Hero Honda motorbike.

“My hostel gate closes by 8:30 PM and on evenings like this I have no choice but extend my party at Gautam’s” – winked Priya with a mischievous smile.

In the next few months Ranjan remained occupied with his assignments from Anderson Consulting. He was engaged in couple of consulting assignments at Jamshedpur and had to make frequent trips to his clients. He often found Priya in Gautam’s company at their apartment, where she spent her most of her weekends and even some nights during the week days.

Gautam and Priya often teased Ranjan about his lack of a love life and questioned whether he intended on breaking his celibacy any time soon. Priya often asked if Ranjan would be interested exploring relationship with some of her friends. Ranjan was introduced to couple of Priya’s friends and on a number of occasions the four did venture out to the popular hangout joints the city had to offer on double dates. But for some reason or other, Ranjan did not feel the desire to pursue any of the relations beyond first one or two double dates initiated by Gautam and Priya.

“So when do you plan on getting married to Priya?” – Ranjan asked Gautam one day.

“Marriage? Now? Come on! We are just getting to know each other. I want to have some fun and explore the world before I settle down. ” – replied Gautam.

Gautam’s answer did not utterly surprise Ranjan. Ranjan always doubted whether the either of them were really for a long term commitment at that stage of their life.

“I hope you guys are being careful. After all you do not want to make someone pregnant unless you are committed.” – replied Ranjan.

“Do not worry. We both are quite careful and do take the necessary precautions. What would you know anyways?”

Ranjan flashed a faint dry smile – a smile of amusement in disagreement. It was not that it was his resolve to maintain celibacy until the floral night following the nuptial tie in the best traditions of Indian culture – but he believed in reserving the act of first love making for someone he was absolutely sure to commit for a long term relationship – preferably a lifelong. He cherished for a partner who would treasure each and every moment of their first union and would enjoy recalling those moments at the twilight years of their life – the same way you enjoy opening the pages of an old album with someone who shared the same nostalgic moments which is captured in those pages of the album.

Couple of months rolled by and it was April – the season when Assam celebrates New Year through festivities of mesmerizing bihu dances and cultural functions. Ranjan decided to visit Guwahati to be with his family to join them in the Rongali Bihu festivities. When he returned to Calcutta after 2 weeks of vacation, he found a note in his apartment in which Gautam announced that he was leaving his job in TCS and was proceeding to the US on H1B through another company. “Everything happened very suddenly and I had to join the client within a week. So bye for now. Will send my contacts later.”

The next day was very hectic at work. While coming back to office after attending a meeting with his client, the office receptionist remarked with an inquisitive smile – “So Ranjan, what’s going on? There were five calls from some Priyanka Arora. She insisted that it was very important that you meet her after work.”

“Poor girl. Must be feeling sad and depressed after Gautam’s sudden departure to the US” – thought Ranjan.

After his work his work, Ranjan proceeded to Jadavpur University girls’ hostel to meet Priya.

Ranjan observed Priya as she started walking from the hostel corridor towards the visitors’ room beyond which male visitors are not allowed. With disheveled hair and a plain light green salwar kameez and a very little make up, Priya presented a very different look from the usual hip look she likes to portray.

“Can we go out for a coffee or something? I need to talk to you about something very serious.” – Priya requested.

“Sure. Of course.” – responded Ranjan wondering what could the graviy of the seriousness be.

Over a cup of coffee, Priya declared that Gautam had never contacted her before he left the town.

Ranjan was surprised. He had stopped holding Gautam in high esteem after having lived as an apartment mate in the last couple of months, but this was beyond what he had expected out of Gautom.

“So how did you find out?”

“Well, when he did not call me at the hostel and did not drop by for his usual visits, I went down to his office and learnt that he has resigned from his work and left the town. Then I went to the apartment and gathered from your landlord that he has left for the US. I was wondering if you have his contacts.”

“Relax. I know you are missing him terribly. But I am sure he will contact you soon. He really had to leave and join his new assignment in a hurry.” – Ranjan tried to console Priya although he doubted his own word regarding Gautam’s anticipated action.

“Actually I am six weeks pregnant.” – declared Priya.

“Did Gautam know about your pregnancy?”

“He did. I had informed him over the phone. He said he would come down to the hostel and discuss what can be done. But he never came and now I learn he has left the city even without contacting me. Such a scoundrel! What would I do now? How would my parents react if they ever found out?” – Priya’s voice cracked as she uttered those words.

Ranjan genuinely felt sorry for Priya. A poor and helpless girl – dumped by her boy friend who happened to be his batch mate from college and an ex apartment mate.

“Does any one else know about your pregnancy?”

“No you are the only one.”

“Why don’t you come down to my apartment tonight? We can discuss and see what can be done. Besides right now you must be feeling pretty miserable and you should be staying with someone with whom you can at least talk.”

Priya readily agreed and Ranjan hired a cab to take Priya to the Salt Lake apartment.

They decided it was there was absolutely no point trying to contact Gautam since he has already shown his true colors. Becoming a single parent at that stage in life and in India at that time was out of question and so the only option left was to terminate the pregnancy through an abortion.

The next day Ranjan fixed an appointment with Marie Stopes Abortion Clinic. The appointment was for next Friday at 9:30 AM. It was decided that Ranjan would take a day off and Priya would rest at the Salt Lake apartment after the procedure.

The abortion day came and went by. And days rolled by.

Gradually Ranjan and Priya started spending more and more time together. Slowly Ranjan started discovering some dimensions of Priya that was shadowed under the hip aura she liked to paint for herself. The first was the mutual interest for fine works of English literature. It turned out that Priya was an avid reader – much like Ranjan. They would often discuss the works of Shelly, Hemingway and Nobokov. And the 1933 classic novel “The Lost Horizon” by James Hilton happened to be the childhood favorite book for both of them.

The other one was empathy for the people who needed to be helped. Priya, it turned out, often volunteered her service at Mother Teresa’s Orphanage.

Ranjan felt - beneath the hip and glamorous exterior, perhaps there is another Priya that seemed likeable and worth exploring.

One day while at work, Ranjan received a phone call from Priya. She wanted some help with Fluid Dynamics to prepare for her mid term exams. Ranjan offered to pick her up over the weekend and help her with whatever concepts of Fluid Dynamics he still remembered from his mechanical engineering course work at the IIT. After all, he had earned an honorable A in Fluid Dynamics.

As they were working on the Fluid Dynamics concepts, Ranjan noticed that Priya was not really focusing on the dynamics of fluid, but her mind seemed to ride the dynamics of a more biological kind.

“What would it be if one could read aloud what the other is thinking?” – suddenly asked Priya – almost in a deep whisper.

Ranjan knew exactly what Priya was hinting at. Her rapid breath, flickering eye lids and restless legs did little to hide what she could be desiring for – definitely not a lesson on Fluid Dynamics of the Mechanical Engineering kind.

“It would be really embarrassing” – he responded.

There was an uneasy calm that only seemed to arouse the burning desire of two souls who were no more interested in solving the differential equations of Fluid Mechanics. The stillness of the Saturday afternoon on that Autumn day was only disturbed by the echoing beats of distant drums for the forthcoming Durga puja and the resonating hum of the rapid breath produced by two souls at the prime of their youth. Ranjan did not recollect how long the solitude in proximity continued but did not resist when he found Priya made the first move with the aggression of a wild cat that succumbed to the basic instinct of desire that could no longer be contained by the thin curtain of self control.

Ranjan felt his heart racing faster than the NASCAR. A part of him wanted to give in to the desire – after all Priya was endowed with all the bounties of woman hood that a man could ask for. The other part of him was not so sure whether she is the one whom he wanted to bestow with the gift of his celibacy that he had resolved to reserve for someone he was sure commit for a long term relationship. There was a raging battle between his desire and his self imposed resolve. And ultimately it was his resolve that prevailed over his desire.

After that day Priya started drifting away. She would not return Ranjan’s phone calls. When Ranjan went to meet Priya at the hostel, the messenger would come back saying Priya is not in the hostel – which Ranjan had good reason to doubt.

And one day when he arrived at her hostel unannounced, he spotted Priya walking hand in hand with another man.

A few days later Ranjan received a short note from Priya which read:

"Dear Ranjan,

I have come to realize we are not compatible – chemistry wise. I consider biological compatibility as the corner stone of any relationship involving me. You have been almost like an angel to me. An angel too good to be a human. But I want a human with vices – not all virtues.

Priya"


GOOAAALLLLL !!!!!!!!
The reverie was suddenly broken when the West Windsor parents erupted with a loud applaud as the first goal of the match was scored.

“Did you see how Varun dribbled past 2 defenders to score the goal? Go Varun! Go!” – Mr. Anderson shouted with excitement. He was the coach of the West Windsor team.

“Yes of course! Wasn’t that a beauty! That’s my boy! Great goal Varun!” – joined Ranjan. Ranjan obviously lied. He was lost in thought and was not paying much attention to the proceedings of the game – which was very unlike him on other days.

He wondered what made Priya attempt to contact him after so many years. In all these years he had no clue about her whereabouts.

“Where on earth could she find my email id?” – he wondered – “but then – with little bit of googling it is not difficult to find anybody’s email id these days. But why on she wants to contact me now?”

Ranjan decided to delete the email from Priya without responding to it. He did not want Jonali to get any clue about this email from Priya.

Jonali was a perfect lover, very supportive wife and a wonderful mother to his children. She was definitely the kind of woman he had always cherished for – the kind of lady he with whom he would indulge in his first act of love, raise a family and would go old watching over the fruits love. There was only one thing he was afraid about Jonali – which was her extreme sensitivity and possessiveness about him.

Theirs was an arranged marriage. Soon after the note from Priya, he consented to his parents’ insistence on scouting an alliance for him through matrimonial network.

Jonali was the daughter of one of their mutual family friend. Their meeting was arranged during the next Rongali bihu festivities. Jonali had just finished her masters in chemistry from Delhi University and aspired to pursue a career in bio-chemistry. She also was a fine bihu dancer and was to present a solo bihu dance at the Latasil bihu function.

Ranjan came to know about Jonali’s program and decided to catch a glimpse of her performance before he went down to meet her formally at her residence along with his family members – which is how the first meeting of a prospective matrimonial alliance is supposed to happen.

At the bihutoli, pretty and petite Jonali was adorned in the finest muga mekhela chador (the Assamese sari) with matching traditional ornaments. Her graceful and lucid movements to the rapid beats of melodious bihu songs enthralled Ranjan and excited him to look forward to their formal meeting. Already impressed by her gracefulness at the bihu performance, Ranjan decided that unless there was some inexcusable reason as not to proceed with the alliance, he would offer his consent.

After their formal meet, Ranjan was equally charmed by the freshness of her innocence and her pleasant mannerism towards his parents and offered his full consent.

Jonali liked Ranjan as well, the families liked each other and soon they were engaged and tied the nuptial knot.

And soon they discovered love – which has only blossomed over the years.

But their relationship was not without its share of initial hurdles. Couple of months after their wedding, Jonali chanced upon a copy of the paperwork which he had to undergo when Priya was admitted to Marie Stopes for the abortion procedure. And quite naturally, Jonali suspected the most obvious.

Ranjan had not mentioned about the Priya episode to Jonali as he thought their relationship was too complicated to explain. It took a while before Jonali could take Ranjan into confidence and believe in Ranjan’s version of what actually had happened. But those days of uneasiness was not exactly what could be termed as the ideal “happy beginning”. Those fateful months of agony always remained as a dark spot in their otherwise fourteen years of a wonderful time together.

And that’s what drove a cold chill down Ranjan’s spine when he received Priya’s email. He dreaded even the tiniest prospect of reoccurrence of those unpleasant days.

“I will just ignore the email and she will stop trying to reconnect. Jonali will never get to know about it. May be she is half way across the world.”- Ranjan thought.

He tried to push the email incident out of his mind and proceeded with the rest of weekend activities as planned.

The next few days passed by without any incidents other the usual work-office-kid cycle.

Exactly eight days after the first email from Priya, Ranjan received the second email.

Ranjan was in the NJ transit train on his way to work at New York City when he received the email notification sound from his Droid. It was from Priya and it read:

"Dear Ranjan,

So you have decided to ignore my email. I am in NJ as well and I do have your complete contact address and phone numbers. It is very important that we meet at a convenient place. May I suggest Market Fair Mall at Lawrenceville this coming Friday at 12:00 PM. Unless of course you want me to drop by at your West Windsor residence uninvited. You know I can and I bet I will if we do not meet this Friday.

I need to know by today whether you are coming down to the suggested venue and at the suggested time.

Love Priya"

Ranjan was duly surprised at the tone and the content of the email. Certainly it was not going any easier. He was alarmed that Priya was in NJ and even more alarmed at her announcement that she had the knowledge about his whereabouts. He almost panicked at the thought of Priya landing up at his West Windsor residence. Jonali would certainly not welcome the situation and might turn into an ugly mess. He was concerned about a repeat of their early marital discord that revolved around the same Priya and he certainly was not ready to sacrifice the marital bliss he worked so hard to establish.

Will he be better of apprising Jonali about the unwanted intrusion of Priya? Surely Jonali knew him much better now than when she chanced upon the copy of the Marie Stopes paperwork at the dawn of their marital life.

“But let me find out what she wants from me now first” – he thought.

“What do you want from me?”

Ranjan sent a quick reply from his Droid.

“Do not worry. I am not going to eat you up. Just one meeting and I will never bother you again. I promise. Are you coming or not?” - the reply came almost instantly.

Obviously she was using a smart phone on the other side as well – deduced Ranjan.

Ranjan was very sure that Priya meant nothing to him anymore. Yes, there was perhaps a time when he intended on exploring her to decide whether they are compatible enough for a long term commitment. But that had fizzled out after the “Fluid Mechanics” incident when he discovered her with another man and soon after Jonali entered into his life.

So if a single meeting can seal this chapter from his past, why not go for it?

Ranjan typed a quick reply:

“Ok. I will see you at 12:00 PM on Friday at the Market Fair. Let me know where exactly.”

Within a minute the reply came from Priya:

“Park in front of PF Chang and wait for my call. Isn’t your mobile number 609-716-8647? And do carry some family pictures.”

“Boy, Isn’t she dangerous? She even knows my cell phone number”- thought Ranjan.

As Friday approached Ranjan started feeling tormented with a ton of questions in his mind – “How did she get all my information? What does she really want from me now? Is just an urge to say hi and nothing else? Will she really stop bothering me after the meeting as she promised? Is she married and does have a family now?”

“Honey, you look worried and tensed. You tossed around the whole night and did not seem to have a sound sleep that you usually do. Is everything alright?” – enquired Jonali as she planted her soft kiss on his cheek as Ranjan was about to leave his residence at the usual time on Friday morning.

“Just a little stress from work and the usual running around. I think we do need a vacation. BTW, I will be attending a conference today and will not be available at my desk. You can reach me on my cell phone and I will be back at the usual time.” – replied Ranjan as he proceeded to the car with his usual office attire – the business casual and the carry bag where he carried his work laptop.

But in reality, he had taken the Friday off. He had planned to catch some breakfast at the Dunkin Donut and spend some time in the Barnes & Nobles in Market Fair till 12:00PM when it will be the time to encounter Priya.

At 11:55 AM he parked his car in front of PF Chang and waited for Priya’s call. His cell phone rang sharp at 12:00 PM. And the phone number was a Princeton number with a 609 area code.

“Hi this is Priya. Are you driving a black BMW 350i? I can see you.”

Priya’s voice sounded the same as it did 15 years back. “Where are you?”

“Right in front of you – in the green acura SUV. I want you to follow me. Don’t worry about lunch. I got some cooked lunch for two.”

And Priya slowly started her SUV. Ranjan started following her. The green acura did have a New Jersey number plate and was fairly well maintained. Ranjan tried to catch a glimpse of Priya from behind the car, but all she could make out was that her hairstyle has definitely changed, she no more sported a curly weave but seemed to wear bun instead.

“Oh Man! Now this is like a spy thriller. What is she upto? Where is she taking me?” –wondered Ranjan.

After about ten minutes drive, Priya’s car closely followed by Ranjan’s, entered the parking lot at Mercer County Park. Mercer County Park is perhaps one of the largest and best maintained park in central Jersey with an idyllic setting and a pretty lake. In the summer the Saikias’ often visited the park for a leisurely stroll or enjoy a nice little picnic.

Priya emerged out of the car with a wide yet strange smile that he wasn’t sure whether can be attributed to her victory at having succeeded in forcing Ranjan for the meeting or to a genuine happiness resulting from meeting some one close after a gap of fifteen long years. As for Ranjan, it was a strange feeling – a strange mix of curiosity about her motive for the insisted reunion, a flashback of the raging feeling of betrayal and deceive that tormented him fifteen years back and at the same time, strangely - he could not help admitting to himself, the joy of meeting someone whom he had started to like.

With a couple of extra pounds, very little makeup, a blue jeans and a loose white top - Priya looked very much like a matured woman of mid thirties – a stark contrast to how she attempted at portraying herself in her early twenties.

“You have maintained yourself very well. Your marriage and children seem to have done wonders to you.” – remarked Priya.

“Thanks. But may I demand to know why you insisted on our meeting? What do you want from me?”- demanded Ranjan.

“Relax, my dear! I will explain everything. But let’s start with your update. How about you tell me about your wedding, your wife and the children.” – replied Priya as she led Ranjan towards a convenient bench by the lake where they could chit-chat and share the home cook meal she had carried.

“You really have nice and blessed family. Very nice looking wife who I bet loves you a lot and two very adorable kids! I am very happy for you. You deserve these. I bet you really love her as well. ” – Priya sounded really genuine as she remarked after going through Ranjan’s family album on his phone.

Ranjan nodded softly in acknowledgement and asked – “So what about you? What about your family? How did you get to know about my complete whereabouts?”

Priya mentioned that she had been in and out of various relationships after their last enounter. One year back, she divorced from from an Indian software engineer in Seattle with whom she was married for six years.

Then she decided to try a fresh beginning and moved to New Jersey – where she joined as a technical recruiter in a placement services firm that dealt with software professionals. She had no idea about Ranjan’s whereabouts when she moved to New Jersey. But then she discovered Ranjan’s curriculum-vitae in the company’s database. And it had all contact details regarding Ranjan. That’s how she gathered all contacts about him.

“I live in the Quailridge apartment complex in Plainsboro – your neighboring township. I have driven past your residence several times wishing to catcha a glimpse of your life. Many a times, I strongly resisted the urge to just appear at your door step and ring the bell just to say a hi.” – Priya continued.

“You always remained in my sub conscious as the epitome of an ideal gentleman, an epitome of kindness and love. In each of my relationships, I would invariably start comparing you with my partner and they always fell miles short. You, Mr. Ranjan Saikia, is the sole reason why none of my relationships ever lasted. Remember once I said I do not want an angel – but a flesh and blood with vices. But once you experience the cherubic touch of an angel, it is difficult to ever let go. But do not worry. I am not here to proclaim you.”


“Sorry to hear about your failed relationships. Sorry to hear that my ghost continues to dwell inside you to cause all these misery. But what can I do now? And what made you almost threaten me into meeting you today?”

Then Priya revealed something that he was not prepared for at all.

“Well, I have been diagnosed with a terminal brain cancer with only four more months to live. Tomorrow I am leaving the US for good. I want to spend my last few days at my native place in Chandigarh. But I could not leave until I express my sincere apology to you. Now that I have expressed by apology and true feeling for you – it will be much easier for me to enjoy my last days as a with heart as light as feather with no burden.”

“I am sorry to hear. I will pray for you.” – Ranjan was not sure how to react.

“Please don’t feel sorry. Just kiss me good bye.”

And they kissed. A long and passionate kiss. A kiss in which Ranjan participated without the inhibition that controlled his actions on that autumn afternoon in Calcutta fifteen years back.

Ranjan did not realize how long their the kiss continued.

“Well, I guess I was wrong about you on the chemistry part” – remarked Priya as she pulled out and turned around to walk towards her green acura.

And then she was gone. Just then Ranjan’s cell phone rang and it was Jonali.

As Priya was driving her SUV away - she picked up the phone and dialed a number and asked "Did you get clean shots?".

"Sure I did. I am gonna send them into your mailbox right away" - replied a male voice from the other side.

Soon there was a beep on her iPhone that signalled incoming email. She opened the email and opened the attachment. She flashed a smile of victory as she looked at the attached phtographs. The photographs were taken 15 minutes ago and caught Ranjan and Priya passionately engaged in the last kiss.

<<< To be continued >>>