Chapter - 15
She stood in front of me with a shorto hand notebook and a pencil. She was wearing a saree, like a Hindu girl, it gave to think that.she belonged to the Gujarati community.
Acknowledging her smile, I asked her to sit on the chair opposite me. Without getting straight to business, I asked a routine question:
"What is your good name?"
"Flora D'Souza."
That's when I realised that she was hailing from a Catholic family.
I asked her, "Will you type the letter?"
"Why not? I am here for that account.."
I know you're a stenographer, and I should dictate to you. But I'm very poor at dictation, so you'll have to type the letter according to this format. I hope you won't have any trouble reading my handwriting. If you don't find any difficulty please just ask me.
She took the draft and went back to her seat. After a while, she came back to में.
"Excuse me, sir."
"Yes, what is it?"
"What is written here?"
I explained it to her, and she went back to her seat and came back to me with the typed letter in five minutes.
I asked her, "Why did you come yourself? You could have sent it through a peon."
"No, sir, this was my first task, so I didn't think it was appropriate to send it that way."
"Okay, don't call me sir. You can call me by my name.
She said "Okay," gave a light smile, and left.
After that, we became very close. We met and talked openly. This made some people jealous, including Raaji, Ramanna, Kishan, and the operator, Kajol. Some people had problems and doubts about our relationship. They spread their nasty rumors like this. Kajol started it. "Sister during the day, lover at night!" And Kishan supported her in the same manner: "Sister during the day, wife at night." She was in love with a boy who was South Indian. They were even engaged, and their wedding was going to take place in a few days. Her fiancé's name was Parameshwar. He used to come to the office to pick her up every third day.
I had an intitution that some catholic girl would play a role of true to word sister.
And it started working. Once at the close of office hours in the evening she complained to me :
" Desai bhaiya I am not feeling well. "
Incidently I had some work with our clearing agents office which was located close to her residence. I was going by taxi so I offered her lift and dropped close to her residence.
I had offered lift for taxi. I wanted to drop her home, but her mother wouldn't like it. She had told me this, so I dropped her at the street corner. The next day she didn't come to the office, and I was worried.
And I couldn't do anything. I just prayed to God to relieve her of whatever trouble she was in. She had joined Seth Brothers in September. Three months had passed since then. My birthday was approaching.
I asked Flora, "Will you call Parameshwar to the office on the 13th?"
She immediately asked, "What's the matter?"
"It's my birthday." Hearing this, she surprised me.
" vow what is pleasant co incidence, my birthday falls on the 16th."
I took them both to a restaurant for a small treat and ordered their favorite items:
' Masala Dosa and Tomato Omelet.'
Later, I ordered cold coffee for both of us and a mango shake for Flora. We were together for more than an hour. We had a long conversation. Parameshwar had some dreams for his future. He told me about them. He wanted to go abroad. He had already applied for a passport.
His passport was issued and received thru courier service.
They got married in January. The wedding took place according to Catholic customs., in a church. I took leave from the office and attended their wedding .
In the evening, a reception was held. They had invited us separately with a wedding card. We had given separate presents to both of them which turned every bodi' s eyes, gave ways to lot of gossips . Despite her marriage our association was intact. It brought us very close to each other.
After the wedding, we became regular commuters on the Western Railway. She had asked me: "Can we travel together to and from the office every day?
I had no problem with that. I was happy. My intuition was proving right. I readily agreed. We traveled together. Neither Aarti nor Parmeshwar had any problem with it, but some people in the office objected.
But office people were raising questions about our relationship. It all started with the telephone operator.
" Din ko sister aur raat ko wife night."
Another Sindhi boy, Kishan, supported her.
" din ko didi rat ko bivi. "
He had directly questioned :
"Does your wife know that you go together? "
I didn't think it necessary to answer him. The company's junior partner, Navneet Rai, egged him on. He considered himself a big shot. Flora had some problems with him.
Flora's arrival brought about many changes in my life. The biggest thing was that we both got the opportunity to spend maximum time together outside of the office.
One morning, on our way to the office, she complained again. "I'm not feeling well."
I immediately expressed my concern and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, I'm pregnant."
I rejoiced the news and promised to take care of her. The festival of Raksha Bandhan was coming up in two days, which could fulfill my dream. I sent a note through a peon requesting, "Raksha Bandhan is the day after tomorrow. Will you tie a rakhi on my wrist?"
She immediately accepted my proposal, but with one condition:
"This time you'll have to come to my house."
I accepted her condition and reached her house on the day of Raksha Bandhan.
But I was met with disappointment. The house was locked. A neighbor told me, "She wasn't feeling well, so her husband has taken her mother's house." And I went to her mother's house.
000000 ( to be continued)
