His arrival in my unexciting life was purely inadvertent strengthening my conviction – love just happens.

I smile recalling how I first got in touch with him…

I was very friendly with my neighbours next door; would spend evenings there as a daily pilgrimage. With periods on, I wasn't allowed into the kitchen, it being a Jain family. Sitting nonchalantly I wondered if we could've some fun. The kids suggested me a number of pranks.

I gave in finally to the stupidest one and dialled a random number not knowing of-course that the ‘random’ number was going to be the permanent ‘right’ number in my life.

The momentous evening literally changed my entire life!

‘Trin-trin…’

‘Hello! Who’s it?’ the voice demanded.

‘Hey it’s me! Don’t you recognize my voice?’ I winked at kids.

‘Yasha? See I’m busy right now. No time for kidding. Talk later.’ He cut me short.

‘Don’t pretend being busy or whatever. You actually don’t care.’

Unable to recognize the female voice yet amused at the intimate tone, the guy on the other end suddenly asked how I was and how was it that I remembered him after ages.

I was a bit mystified as the tables turned.

Not sure what to say, I disconnected.

I dialled the number again after a few days to dig up more joy out of my otherwise lacklustre life.

‘Hello! May I know who am I talking to?’ I promptly asked.

‘It’s Aditya. Er… ’?

So he was Aditya.

‘Look Aditya this is not fair...’

He grew restless. It being his peak business hour he couldn't drag the empty conversation far. The more he thought about the voice at leisure, the twitchier he got. The voice seemed so welcoming! Who could be that to eat into his mental calm and leave him fidgety?

Early morning at office, his heart ached for the call from the unspecified number. It was in the evening again that the long expected call came. 

‘Hi! Recognize me?’

In no mood to be distracted, he demanded me to unveil who I was or not to perturb him any further.

I was flabbergasted.

Even I had used up many laidback hours fancying how he looked, who he was, should I step ahead or…

‘I…look, I can’t tell you right now. I swear I’ll reveal who I am tomorrow or won't bother you again.’ I blurted out.

…

‘Hello…?’ I called the next day.

The phone was put on hold for a while.

‘Retreat!’ my mind cautioned.

‘Talk!’ my heart inflexibly acted in response.

‘Hi!’

‘Hi! I… am Mansi. Actually… I had dialled a ‘hit and miss’ number and...’

‘You actually dialled a random number AND of all the numbers available it was mine!’

‘We were kind of getting pretty bored you know, thought of some monkey business and…’

‘So grippingly theatrical!’

 ‘Hmmm...do you mind telling who you are?’ I vacillated.

‘Well … you already know my name and mind it! That’s my real name. Well, there’s nothing special about me. I'm new here and am trying to root my business.’ He stated.

‘…fine!’

‘Can we meet?’ he asked. 

‘No!

‘The ground of denial?’

‘I said my family restraint….’

He wanted a promise that I’d ring him up soon.

I did daily.

We beautifully got used to each other's voice.

Months slid by.

…

The moon flickered, vaporized. I was in love with it. Let my fantasy lover be envious. I felt an eccentrically wonderful pull towards its perpetual beauty. At moments it hid somewhere in the lump of darkness. I felt some majestic power in close association with me…had all my mortal queries sorted out.

How nature slipped into various guises! The fog cleared for a moment! A star hung beside the moon and I fancied there stood some dazzling beauty wearing a silver nose-hoop swinging from mouth to ear! Allowing me a chat with my Moon, the fog soon enveloped it again in its arms and it floated away somewhere in the liquidity of the sky.

I recalled our telephonic conversations. I felt at moments the entire wealth of the world had fallen into my lap but at others it made me feel so insecure. I thought things were perfectly under my control and I could retreat whenever required. But then the very next moment I felt events were taking on their own momentum!

I felt helpless.

A shiver of cold ran down my spine. The roof was cold enough so I spread my dupatta beneath and lay there trying to regain my lost self-possession.

Aditya was already there in my heart!

I longed to be in his.

AND I HAD NOT SEEN HIM YET!

I dialled his number.

It was providentially picked up by him.

‘It’s me.’ I whispered. I could hear the soft wheezes of my parents in the adjacent room.

‘It’s the only voice I know today. Why awake?’

‘Kind of… missing you’, I whispered again. 

‘Hmmm.’

‘Was upstairs... it was frosty yet stimulating! I want to see you’.

It had been an entire year!

We couldn’t savour the day when we didn’t talk.

‘Yeah. It’s been too much!’

‘???’

‘I should’ve kissed you by now…and here I have not even seen you, damn it!’

‘Sound sick. Why not see some doctor?’

‘…have been to one. He suggested I see you', I could hear his smile on phone. 

‘Am I supposed to… see patients?’

‘Just one, you understand?’ he was a possessive lover.

‘Great!’

‘I’m desperate. Let’s meet.’ he implored.

‘See I have an idea if that suits you. Can I see you on the way to my college?’ I asked not sure if he’d agree. I was not so stunning a girl that one would stand on road to get a glimpse of.

‘No other option? I mean…more feasible?’ I asked myself before he did.

‘Gosh! You and your childish ideas! Am I…a… Road Romeo? See, this is very irksome! Let’s hold our meeting until you feel more convinced.’

‘You don’t understand. My parents would create a hullabaloo if they sensed I was dating a guy.’

‘God! Why am I giving in? I’m trapped, right?’ he asked with put on annoyance.

‘I feel…trapped too.’ I admitted candidly.

‘How I’ll recognize you?’

‘Mmm... I’ll be wearing a multi-coloured dupatta with white churidaar.

‘Perfect then.’

I saw him in the college parking not sure if it was him until confirmed later on phone.

Gosh! He had blue eyes too!

***

Ah! The lovely labyrinth of dreams!

I was badly trapped! An unyielding grip indeed! I felt the willowy manacles of love invisibly all-encompassing. What a feeling! I felt as if my heart had wrenched itself apart and was bent upon moving in the opposite direction to the one laid out by my family discipline.

Could I withdraw now with no bruises on my soul?

Meetings grew; love too.

…

We met in Ajmer next where I stayed at my brother’s and Aditya…well…it was his hometown.

‘Where am I to see you? I don’t know many places here.’

‘Good! You wouldn’t escape my grab as you do.’ he laughed.

The next morning I was waiting for him at the spot he promised to pick me up from.

He came as if from nowhere!

‘Hi!’

‘Hi!’ I nervously responded.

‘Sit.’ he said, pointing towards his bike.

We couldn’t linger on that awkward way.

‘Hold me closely.’… too excited to notice my mental state.

‘Yeah!’ I assembled the loose ends of my dupatta.

‘Where’re we going?’

‘Pushkar.’

‘As my common sense gathers people bathe in the holy river to absolve of their sins; have Moksha.’

‘Sound knowledge, I must say!’

‘Actually I’ve been there once. I was too young at the time. I just remember the name of the place.’

‘You’re going to remember this place and the meeting for the rest of your life. That’s a promise,’ he beamed kissing my hand as the traffic dispersed.

The air was biting yet we loved it!

The mountains welcomed the lovers with open arms. There were lush green stretches of low land replenishing us with sudden joy. Most of the trees on the hillside however wore a deserted look due to the cold. Nonetheless the backdrop looked gigantic. The zig zag road made me go woozy.

‘Aditya please, don’t look back. The road is quite hazardous!’ I panicked. One moment’s slip and it could be an end to our dream.

‘Afraid to die?’

‘… because I want to live my life with you.’

‘Trust me…’

The previous track was followed by a desolate path. Not many vehicles passed that way at the moment.

He suddenly pressed the brakes.

I was flabbergasted.

How foolish to trust him so blindly!

Hadn’t I gone out of the way to please a ‘wrong number guy’?

My mind ran on the highway of questions.

Wild guesses made me shiver.

‘Hey! Why do you look so tense?’

‘I suppose there’s no problem with the bike?’

‘I need a hot kiss to do away with this cold. As simple as that!’

‘What!’ my blood froze.

‘What, what?’ he innocently asked.

‘I mean, a kiss..here?’

‘A kiss…here.’ 

 ‘Forget the stupid stuff.’ I was firm.

‘See, what a place! Don’t spoil the mood, please.’

‘I…’ I stammered.

My heart longed for his touch.

But the heart is always wrong.

He took me by my arm and we sat upon a small rock. The rows of cars below floated serpentine. The mountain ridge served as a canopy hiding us from view…two little hearts dancing to the tune of love.

‘Let me feel your heart beat. Why so scared?’ he rested his hand near my heart feeling its thump.

‘Don’t trust me?’ his voice damp with desire.

‘I do trust you but…’ I evaded the thirst in his eyes.

‘But what?’ he read my expressions closely.

‘I don’t trust such moments.’

‘Just a kiss I asked for! I’ve been craving for this moment for ages! We’re here to enjoy; right?’

‘I’m a middle class girl. These forbidden pleasures...’ my mind and heart combated.

‘But I need something to live upon! I’m a man. I’ve always kept my desire in check, right? I… never asked… did I… ever…?’

‘You didn’t and that’s why I am all yours.’ I pressed his hand, smiling.

He played with my hair, rolling and unrolling it upon his finger. I was enjoying it. His hand touched my neck, softly…very softly. A sigh escaped my lips. He fed upon my eyes. We longed to grab each other. I was, as if under the spell of the blissful moments. 

I wondered if the moments were real or I was leafing through the feverish romantic tales by Mills and Boon that I was so fond of reading behind closed doors.

We were riding again. It was a small but beautiful place with foreigners scattered all around in glamorous costumes and manners free. Women walked bare feet with jeans curled to thighs. Males with tattoed arms rode motorcycles bare chested.

Sitting behind him on a bike was the most pleasant experience I ever had in his company. We relished it almost like the ‘Last Ride Together’. We needed not keep pace with the world. Scenes went past us. It was a nonexistent world we passed by. The mild perfume he used made me crazy!

The period of uncertainty was over when we would ask ourselves hundred times a day if we were really in love.

…

Our love story was proceeding fast.

As in the movies, after the exotic love scenes the affair is discovered by parents of both the parties involved…

…that was the scene we were in for.

Our case was perhaps more indigestible the origin of love being a wrong call!

Frankly speaking, I couldn’t enjoy quixotic songs just before the climax. I dreaded the moment when fathers stormed and mothers threw fits; when lovers were unglued and sad songs replaced the happy ones; when it was a period of pledges, allegations, emotional blackmails and suicide threats on one hand and betrayals, daring on the other.

‘If she marries the guy, she’ll have to walk over by my dead body!’

‘First strangle us to death then marry the boy for whom you have abandoned all sense of decency and family sankaras.’

Having undergone all such cataclysmic scenes we were granted our dream.

There is no harm in trying 'sama, dama, dand, bheda' if you are, by God’s grace, stung by the bug called love.

Few are blessed enough.