Crossing the Mirage:Passing Through Youth

Turn for the Worse

When they returned after relieving themselves, Sathya resumed the saga of his intriguing relationship with Kala.

“The next day however, she came to the office ashen and I was shaken to see her thus,” said Sathya, seemingly confused as Chandra lit his Berkeley for exhilaration. “What followed gave an unexpected twist to my own destiny and perhaps to hers as well. She said that she hadn't had a wink the whole night unnerved by my tentative move to leave her and that made her realize that no one loved her more than me. When she tried to visualize her life without me she said that she found it would be but a void. She said she knew how badly she needed me.”

“Oh what twists and turns!” exclaimed Chandra.

“When I reiterated my offer to marry her, she said she needed time to make up her mind,” said Sathya with a sense of resignation. “I agreed to wait and she said she couldn't promise at that stage and even warned me that I might even end up with the wrong end of the stick. I told her I would take a chance, for I wanted nothing more than her hand.”

“This twist in our tale gave me hope and caused despair like never before,” he continued, filling his glass all again while Chandra was yet to drink the previous dose. “I tried in every way to influence her decision and suffered all the more for that. Believe me, the devotion I showed in espousing her cause bordered on tapasya. I sought the blessings of every deity to help me become her man to make a difference to her troubled life. Oh, can I ever portray my suffering as I prayed for her happiness and how stupid had I turned in my mission to rescue her? Imagine my going to a tantrik for guidance in making her my wife! Oh, how I became insane and smart that she is, she once said the kumkum I gave her could be a talisman! But still she applied it on her forehead saying such things won't affect her. What a shame I brought it upon myself.”

“Oh. God! What suffering!” said Chandra truly affected, and as if to lighten the pain he felt for Sathya, he emptied his glass at one go.

“Well, suffering seems to be the bane of unrequited love,” continued Sathya dejectedly. “But still I wonder how I endured the countless humiliations she meted out to me rather unremittingly. Came a holiday, for hours on end I used to stay rooted near her house just to have a glimpse of her at the balcony, and she knew that. But what to say, every time I used to return without seeing her, though I used to hang on there till my legs could hold no longer. Why, after that memorable evening, she seldom invited me to her house, leave alone going out with me for a treat. That was even when her uncle was out of town.”