The Heart Break
I was born in a small village named Pingla in West Bengal India. However, I have hardly spent any time over there. My dad is a businessman and he shifted to Mumbai when I was just 8. I hardly had any memory of my native place Pingla. The only thing remember was my childhood friend Arnab. He was a cute little boy who used to study with me since preschool. After all, we just had one decent English medium school that time in the entire village.
In Mumbai I quickly forgot about Pingla, studied here to graduate school and entered college. However, Dad missed Pingla very much although my grandparents live with us; other relatives of my dad were still residing at Pingla. I had often heard Dad talking about traditional art and songs Pingla had to offer. Pingla was no more unknown by now. The rural artist managed to give their art worldwide exposure with the help of the Government and NGOs. I could feel how Dad missed his native place but boy that’s a village and I lived in a metro city so never really wanted him to go back there. Well, Dad had a different plan!
On the week before my 18th birthday, Dad and Mom called me for an urgent family meeting. I was anticipating it was about an amazing party they had planned but soon their decision dropped on me like a bomb. They handed me tickets to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport and said we were going to Kolkata and then we would go to Pingla. I almost cried as I planned so much for an amazing 18th birthday. I wanted to spend the morning with my parents at The Bay Cafe by the sea and later at night hang out at Bombay Vibes with my friends. But now I hear that I have to be in some village, far far away from Mumbai. I mean that’s not fair. I didn’t speak with my parents that night. I was mad that they didn’t even consult with me before making such a decision.
That night Mom came to my room and smiled at me. She was trying to cheer me up but I was angry and I acted up as if I couldn't even see her in the room. She sat beside me and told me “You will love it at Pingla, trust me. I have spent 10 years there. People are simple and sweet there. You also spent 8 years of your life. Have you forgotten Nita Aunty? Her son Arnab and you were inseparable. Well, Nita Aunty and Arnab are staying in Kolkata now. We are gonna pick them up before going to Pingla. Meeting Arnab will make your day for sure. Also, you have your aunts and uncles waiting there. Trust me you are gonna have a great day .”
“I have no idea how Arnab was going to make my day. I haven’t even spoken to him for 10 long years. I have moved on from life at Pingla. I am a bloody Mumbaikar”, I shouted at Mom. Mom smiled and said I know. She just smiled at me and left my room. I sulked all week thinking about how bad my birthday was gonna be. I didn’t even pack my bag. Mom did it all and chose my clothes to wear over there. To my surprise, she packed me a saree as well. She knew I hated sarees still she packed it. I had no interest in how I was gonna look at a place where there would be no malls, no clubs, no KFC, no Dominos and no hot boys so I let her pack whatever she wanted.
New City Old Friends
Two days before my birthday we left Mumbai for Kolkata. The plan was to spend a day at Saltlakle (North Kolkata) where Arnab and his parents lived the next day they would drive us to Pingla and we would spend a week at Pingla. Dad and mom are good friends with Arnab’s parents and they were in touch all the time. I never knew that until Mom talked about Arnab.
The flight hit Kolkata and my face was hung like a defeated warrior. Finally, I was in Kolkata. The city doesn’t look bad though, but it’s not Mumbai where I have my friends. They are so mad at me for ditching them on my birthday. But my best friends Kritika and Ankit said it’s ok to be with parents as well sometimes. Dad brought me a big container of Rajbhog (sweets of Kolkata) and said “My sona mama you can have some from it but the rest are for Arnab and his parents, don’t finish it up”. I mean wow first I have to spend my birthday in Kolkata against my will and then this Arnab gets a whole container full of Rajbhog. Why the hell Arnab is getting all the attention on my birthday?? I pushed the container into my mom’s hand and looked outside the window.
After 30 minutes of driving, we reached Arnab’s house. Nita Aunty and Mohan uncle hugged me and said “Tirth I never knew your daughter turned out so pretty” Then they looked at me and asked, “Sana beta do you remember us? Your best friend Arnab we are his mom and dad”. Nita Aunty added, “You have grown up so much, beautiful lady I must say”. Nita Aunty lifted my face with her hand and said “Why are not looking happy my child?” I mumbled I am fine Aunty it’s just the flight, I am kinda tired and gave her a fake smile.
Nita Aunty welcomed us inside and showed us our rooms. As I was settling in my room, Nita Aunty said “Arnab will be back soon, he is at the gym right now. Maybe seeing your childhood best friend can cheer you up”. I said to myself well "never knew a village guy could also go to the gym". I was exhausted and wanted to take a bath. Nita Aunty told me the bath is right at the corner of this floor but I forgot to ask which corner was it. Did she say right or left?? I totally missed it as I was super pissed off by the whole situation.
I took my soft pink towel got into my satin bathrobe and went for a bath. I found the bathroom; it wasn’t that difficult at all. It was just that the bathroom had to be accessed through someone’s bedroom. One sight of the bathroom made me feel more relaxed now. There was a white marble bathtub and aroma candles at the corner of it. I checked out and found some aroma shower gels and bath bombs as well. I thought let’s give myself a nice relaxing bath. I lit up a lavender aroma candle used a lavender bath bomb and slid my body into the cold water of the bathtub.
The aroma of the lavender candle made me so relaxed that I just wanted to close my eyes and forget about worldly affairs for some time. I did close my eyes and got lost in deep thoughts. However, my peace did not last longer than 5 minutes. I heard someone opening the latch of the bathroom door. By the time I could have stopped the person from entering the bathroom, he was already there. A tall figure stood right in front of me. My eyes couldn't help but scan through his chiselled body before reaching his face, I was awestruck. Who is this gorgeous boy?? My brain exploded and my lips and eyes ditched me. I couldn’t utter a word nor could I stop staring at him.
He lowered his eyes and asked me “Sana right? How did you manage to find my bathroom?”. As his words hit my ears my brain said “Shoot me shoot me I am dying of embarrassment I entered the wrong bathroom for sure. Hell, wait how does he know my name? Is he Arnab?" I was asking myself. But then I remember I was naked in the bathtub and the foam had almost dissolved. My towel and my bathrobe were kinda far from my reach. I looked towards the window and mumbled “I am sorry, I think I entered the wrong bathroom and didn’t even lock it. But you need to go away now because I need to dress up”. He smiled and said “As you say princess” and walked out while locking the bathroom door.
The Embarrassing Moment
I quickly grabbed my clothes dressed up and ran from the room. I came to my room and panted thinking of the whole series of events. Then it struck my mind “Princess” that’s what Arnab used to call me when we were young. So he was indeed Arnab. I was blown away seeing him and I realized had an instant crush on him. Boy!! He was gorgeous, his tanned skin, chiselled body and mesmerizing eyes made me lose my heart at the very first sight. But I never expected to meet Arnab all naked in his bathroom for the 1st time. This was so embarrassing I didn’t know how I was going to face him next time. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard a knock on my door.
I opened the door and my worst nightmare came true. Arnab was standing right in front of me and I was so embarrassed to see him that I slammed the door on his face. I heard him saying, “hey princess I know we didn’t plan to meet this way, but it was just an accident. I understand that and I came here to return you something you left in the bathroom. You don’t need to be embarrassed. We are childhood friends and I know how careless you are”.
Wait, what?? Did he just call me careless? I opened the door angrily and yelled at him “This place is new for me, how would I know if that was your bathroom and I got losssss…”. I could hardly finish my sentence when he handed over a lacy peach bra that I left in his bathroom. I gave a smile and said, “Oh that! Thank you for bringing it back to me I was looking for it”. I don’t know what I said I was super embarrassed again but Arnab laughed at me and said "You haven’t changed princess. Hope you didn’t forget how you used to leave your crayons in my bag after drawing classes." I looked into his hypnotizing brown eyes and said I didn’t forget any of those. His eyes lit and I blushed remembering our childhood. I didn’t forget a bit I said to Arnab I said again and we exchanged a glance. He looked into my eyes and said you look like a real princess now. As his words got into my ears I realized my hands were sweaty and my cheeks warmed up I smiled and ran to the balcony.
I heard Mom calling my name. I rushed downstairs and asked her what happened. Nita Aunty said it’s time for lunch sweetie. The aroma of the food on the table was so good, that I couldn't help but compliment Nita Aunty's cooking skills. Nita Aunty looked at me and paused. She asked, “You meet Arnab already right? Your face is glowing”. She was right and I didn’t know how to stop blushing but I avoided answering her question as if I couldn’t hear her.
If I wasn’t wrong I saw Mom and Nita Aunty exchanging glances and smiling at each other. I didn’t know what was going on between them but I chose to ignore and dug into the food. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Arnab in a white kurta walking down the stairs. His hair was perfectly brushed and a bracelet of black beads handing on his wrist. His perfume filled the room and almost intoxicated me. He looked at me and said “As always right princess you have started eating without me, even after we met after 10 long years. You aren’t ashamed of yourself ha!” I almost choked with the water I was drinking when I heard him telling me that. Nita Aunty came and patted me on my back and scolded Arnab for teasing me.
Budding Emotions
Arnab apologized but to my surprise, he sat right beside me to have his lunch. Nita Aunty looked at us and smiled, “Just like old times right Sarita” and she looked at my mom. They both smiled and nodded their head. I didn’t know what was going on between my mom and Nita Aunty all the time but I was super conscious about eating anything as my crush was sitting right next to me. Arnab doesn’t seem to be bothered at all. He ate his lunch and said to me lets hang out in my room I have your favourite board game Ludo. Damn! He remembers everything. I didn’t know why but all my complaints about not being in Mumbai on my birthday were replaced by a surge of adrenalin. My mom said to me Sana go and enjoy, you have met your friend after 10 years you must have so much to share. I wanted to say yes and no at the same time. Yes because I wanted to be with Arnab badly and no cause my 1st meeting was damn embarrassing. Somehow I managed to nod my head like an obedient child as If I were just catching up with Arnab because my mom wanted me to do so!
After having lunch I went to his room but couldn’t find him. I stepped in called him a name and he came from behind me and pressed my eyes with his palm. His warm hands over my face gave me shudders. He came close to me and whispered in my ears “Happy Birth Day in advance princess”. His warm breath on my shoulder gave me goosebumps. He released my eyes and I saw a box right in front of me. I looked at him and asked him, that’s for me? He said open it, princess. I opened it and found a pink teddy bear holding a brand-new mobile phone. I had been begging Mom so that I could get that phone. I turned to Arnab and asked How did you know about it? I picked it up in disbelief and then he came close to me again and said “I picked this up for you so that we never lose contact with each other from now on”. I got so emotional I cried and hugged him right away and said sorry to him for not keeping in touch. Then I looked around in disbelief his room was filled with cards and pictures of us. He also collected pictures of me of all the ten years I had not seen him. I was so overwhelmed that I cried like a baby.
Arnab held me tight in his arms and said stop crying you will ruin my shirt princess. I gave him a soft punch and asked him why he didn’t speak with me. He said he wanted to give me space as I was too busy in my Mumbai life. I got to know Mom and Arnab spoke all these 10 years I have spent in Mumbai. He missed me and Mom sent him my pictures. I told him he didn’t need to give me such an expensive phone he said it's all fine for you princess. He knew I wanted that phone and he worked at his father's company to earn that money to get me that gift. It was indeed a special gift for me. We played fought and spoke for hours and not for a single minute regretted not being in Mumbai.
Before I could leave his room he kissed me softly on my cheek and told me “You are so beautiful I can’t take my eyes off you princess”. I blushed and ran to my room. I didn’t know what was happening. Was it love or just friendship? I wanted to tell Arnab I had already fallen for him. But sadness crept in as I remembered I had to return to Mumbai after a week. Do I have to stay away from him again? Why is this happening to me? I was asking myself weird questions that I had never thought I would ever think of.
The next day I woke up and made sure I went to the right bathroom. Took my bath and came back to my room to get ready for the long drive to Pingla. I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself. My wet hair was dripping water over my shoulder and crawling down the curves of my body. Arnab’s words “You are so beautiful I can’t take my eyes off you princess” struck my head and I dropped my bathrobe to look at my bare skin. I adored myself as if I realized how beautiful I was for the first time. I took some photos of my barely dressed body with my new phone to look at them later. Right then I heard my mom calling me so I got dressed and came downstairs. I saw everyone was already waiting for me. I smiled and apologized for the delay.
In the car, Nita Aunty and Manoj uncle took the front seat and Mom and Dad took the middle seat. I asked where am I supposed to sit. Dad pointed at the little back seat only good enough for two people. Hell! I will die suffocating I was about to yell but then Arnab joined me. I didn’t utter a single word just sat with him happily. On the drive, I received a call from Kritika on my old phone and I asked Arnab to hold the new phone he gave me. I had no idea his fingerprints could unlock it. I was ranting my heart out when I noticed Arnab had already unlocked my phone and went through my selfies. He smiled and locked the phone. He put the phone back in my purse and whispered be a careful princess. Heck! Not again!! How much embarrassment could I cause myself? What would he think about me? Damn, I hate myself.
I was so embarrassed I could hardly speak with Arnab and he wasn’t talking to me as well. This made me nervous and wondered what was going on in his mind. I was careless that he could have found those pictures. I was so sad to see him silent that I almost cried hiding my face. I didn’t want to lose him at any cost, we reunited after 10 years and I realized I was totally in love with him. We reached Pingla and I saw at least 50 of my distant relatives whom I don’t even remember. They warmly welcomed us and their love melted me like an ice cream. Pingla was not that bad after all. I never knew I had such a big family here. That day passed in a jiffy getting to know people at my dad’s ancestral house. Arnab and his family were neighbours so they settled into their house right beside ours. I was trying to find one chance to speak with Arnab but nobody ever let me be alone.
That night I was tossing and turning on my bed but couldn’t sleep. I looked outside the window and saw the garden was flooded with the white light of the full moon. I never saw something like this in Mumbai for sure.
I thought of dropping a text to Arnab to know if he was sleeping. I texted him:
Sana- Hi, Are you awake?
Arnab- (after 10mins) Yes.
Sana- Did you see the moon? I am watching it from my window.
Arnab- I haven’t seen the moon the whole day.
Sana- Whole day? Moon is supposed to be visible only at night. Isn’t it?
Arnab- Ummm my moon is pretty much visible all day.
Sana- Why couldn’t you see your moon then?
Arnab- She was busy being loved by relatives.
Sana- Lol who are you talking about?
Arnab- You want to know?
Sana- Yes.
Arnab- Ok…….
Sana- ?????
Arnab- …….
After 5 minutes of waiting when he didn’t text me back, I thought he slept off so I was headed to bed as well. Right then, I saw a black figure crawling up my window. I have heard a lot of ghost stories of rural India and I was about to scream in fear. But the figure came and covered my mouth so that I couldn’t shout. I was sure by then it was a thief so I bit on his palm. Then a familiar voice cried and said stop it’s me Arnab. I flashed my mobile light on his face and damn it was him.
I said I am so sorry I panicked you didn’t even tell me you were coming. He said, “It’s ok but I am still mad at you. You bit me like a wild cat. Also since I have seen you in the skin I am convinced you are a wild cat”. We broke into laughter but then he reminded me it was night and everyone was sleeping and he had risked his life to come and meet me at that hour of the night in a house full of relatives. I lowered my voice and asked him “So am I the moon who you wanted to see?”. He looked into my eyes lifted a lock of hair from my face and said “Don’t you know”. I stood still looking at his mesmerizing pair of eyes and felt the warmth of his body pressing against mine. We noticed our breath getting warmer and heavier. He sat on the bed lifted me on his lap and we kissed crazily for the next two or three minutes I guess.
When we stopped, and panted looking at each other. He pinned me to the bed and whispered in my ears why did stay away from me Princess don't you miss me. I mumbled I don't want to stay away from you any more and I am sorry. The taste of 1st love was so intense and mad and crazy, I never imagined I would be in Arnab’s arms just a week ago. Arnab held me in his arms and said "promise me we won't part this time". I nodded my head and kissed on my forehead gently and told me “The saree aunty packed you was a gift for the woman I want as my life partner. I want to see you in that tomorrow” and he left.
The Confession
The next morning as I dressed up for my birthday celebration I checked out tutorials on YouTube on how to wear a saree in Bengali style. To my surprise, I did manage to pull through that Bengali look and my cousin sister Brinda helped me to get an authentic Bengali woman look. I walked down the stairs to join the celebration I saw Arnab standing watching me with teary eyes. I felt like the happiest woman in this world. My 18th birthday was not at all bad after all. Away from Mumbai, I found the love of my life.
It's been 5 years since then, I never returned to Mumbai. I and Arnab studied in Kolkata. I graduated from law college while Arnab completed an MBA. I later realized that Mom and Dad already knew how much Arnab loved me and conspired to put us together. Dad always loved Arnab and Nita Aunty loved me as a daughter. So they knew it would be the best match if we fell in love and we did. I never thought of going back to Mumbai and planning to get married soon. I never realized how and when a Mumbaikar turned into a Bong Baby just for love.
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