‘Why,’ said Prasad at length, ‘do you want to call it quits right now? I thought we’ve met not to part again.’
‘Won’t I drag you,’ said Sathyam catching hold of Prasad’s hand, ‘all the way to my house.’
‘Then,’ Prasad pulled Sathyam into the pavilion as Roopa followed them, ‘allow me to wind up.’
‘My search has come to an end, after fifteen years,’ said Sathyam in continuation. ‘You don’t know how I missed you all these years.’
‘Same is the case with me,’ said Prasad, ‘thanks to Roopa Devi.’
‘No suffixes please,’ said Roopa as if she were withdrawing. ‘But how am I responsible for your chance meeting?’
‘If not for women,’ said Prasad, ‘would men ever venture out on their own?’
‘I agree with you,’ said Sathyam. ‘Surely we owe all this to her.’
‘Give me five minutes,’ said Prasad so as to gain time. ‘In the meantime, our manager would take you around.’
‘Oh, how she turned out to be Sathyam’s wife!’ thought Prasad in excitement as he went into his cabin. ‘What an amazing development though! But how on earth did Sathyam land up with such a dame! Maybe, owing to my destiny to have her, who knows? Whatever, won’t his friendship prove to be a thoroughfare to her favors? Just the same, won’t she need some wooing as well? I might as well dazzle Roopa straight away by flaunting my credentials right away. But won’t that drive Sathyam into a shell, hindering my endeavor? Worse still, sensing trouble, he might even erect checkpoints all the way to her bedchamber. It looks like the Formula One won’t do for her final favor, even if I were to muster Senna’s skills and Sorkar’s stealth for that for surely Sathyam would ensure that I end up in the pit on my way to the putt, won’t he? Since overt courting seems to be risky, I better sneak into her bed under the shadow of his goodwill. Won’t that be fine with me? Going by his confidence quotient, Sathyam shouldn’t have made much in his career. So, the winning strategy is to downplay my success to develop my equation with him. Then, won’t his camaraderie issue me visa to land in his wife’s embrace?’
‘But what about Roopa?’ he tried to analyze her proclivities. ‘Doesn’t she wear that disinterested look I’m so familiar with in women? Maidens embrace it when they are lovesick, and in the married, it’s proof enough that their pudding had turned all too stale. Isn’t it clear that she’s unexcited about her marriage? Won’t that make her a candidate for conquest? But that subtle awkwardness discernible in women, when attracted to men, is missing in her, is it not? All the same, she doesn’t seem to be vainglorious either. Won’t that call for a change of tactics? As it appears, it needs some effort, and a lot many seductive tactics to bring her over to bed. Well, for all that, it appears to be a conditional access, after all. Thou art so near and yet so far, oh, Roopa dear!’