11
The projector placed in the hall was part of Taluk’s work and recreation. With Taluk being so good at the work that he does, one can hardly tell the difference. A cup of tea was placed on the table on the right side of the couch; while outside, it was raining heavily, as seen from the window. Taluk was keenly looking at the presentation of the ‘sparkling’ faces on the year of his company. The first guy who appeared on the screen was facing the camera.
“You mean what I like? I like sports in which I am passive. It’s the right way of investment. Sit back and relax.” There was a smirk on his face out of immense confidence that he had in his work.
Taluk took a sip from the cup of tea while looking at the presentation. Another guy sitting on the desk, desktop behind his back, wearing balling gloves, playing catches with himself, said, “I like sky sports as there’s plenty of skies.”
The visual of the third guy started as he started to shout from the office’s first floor, “Well, All you mofos shouting so that Janine two blocks away can hear you, I am sport. Period.”
The third guy then throws the mike on his colleagues.
Taluk got tired of watching all this, and he had no idea when he felt sleepy and dozed off on the couch while looking at the presentations.
He started to dream something weird. In his dream, he was standing in a pitch-dark room. There was nothing around him. He had no idea what he had to do and what he was doing there. He kept looking for a cue, but nothing happened, and then…
Then he heard a voice. Slow, heavy blurry voice.
‘I don’t love you anymore. I don’t love….”
Taluk woke up from the dream to the sound of the window creaking. He looked at the window and found Waikeit standing there teasing him by sticking her tongue out, and then she jumped off the window. Taluk was about to rush to grab her, but then he understood the reality. He caught his breath, and while doing so, he searched for the last cigarette in the box on the table. He stumbled to find it and then lit it up to feel relaxed again.
‘It was just a dream. It was just a dream.’ He said to himself while he smoked and resumed watching the presentations.
*****
The next day when the alarm went off mechanically, Taluk left his bed. He didn’t give a second thought to reflecting on his life because it was getting tiresome. He simply wanted to move on with the flow. He woke up, left the bed, took a shower, and then moved to the prayer room. While leaving the prayer room, his eyes fell on the window, and he stopped midway.
He could see two children running uphill from their house. One girl and the other was a boy. They both now were lying on their stomach on the grass. Taluk smiled on watching all this. He knew what to comprehend from all this and was excited about the future.
*****
Taluk hit a long shot. He watched it go far away towards the target. He then quickly grabbed his cart and moved to the ball. Golf was his favorite game, and he was happy to have some time out of his monotonous schedule to play the game. He wasted no time pampering himself. He was all about action. As he was driving, he saw Waikeit sitting behind and eating popcorn.
“How long since we have been living together, right?” Waikeit seemed excited.
“We won’t live together for long.” Taluk replied coldly.
“Should I come with you as well to see?”
Taluk looked to his left. It was the same house where he saw the two children the last day. Waikeit took some more popcorn in her hands. Both came down from the cart and moved towards the hill that led to the house. Waikeit was eating like a baby who was famished for days.
“Why are you following me?” Taluk asked.
“Wherever you go, I follow.” She replied with a smile.
They both reached the top of the hill. The grass was long near the fences, which meant that the house had been abandoned for a long. Taluk rubbed the nameplate to read the owner’s name. It was Nishan Chopra.
Taluk smiled and said to himself, ‘Even he has a better name.’
He turned to finish the game.
*****
Taluk was standing near the window while holding a cigarette in his hand and watching a presentation on the projector. A guy was talking on his phone and angrily barking at someone.
‘We are predicting your investment, whereas we should have focussed on the returns… stay tuned is all we have to say for ourselves….’
Taluk was getting frustrated. He took a long drag and puffed it out of the window.
*****
Taluk was sitting on the chair in the verandah. The light breeze of the evening was soothing for him. He was taking the last cigarette of the day and looking at the stable where the bulb was hardly illuminating the horses. It was dark and breezy with little dust. He took a long drag and then looked at the person who appeared to be sitting next to him on the chair in the verandah itself.
“Who are you?” Taluk asked the most obvious question to the stranger.
“Hi… I am Nishan Chopra.”
He paused for a moment and started talking without looking particularly at anything.
“Wife told me we should introduce our business to our children.”
Taluk was listening to him thoughtlessly.
“In some years, we started to connect … connect… but staying apart. I called them to this place, then.”
Taluk was now getting more into the conversation.
“When they were kids, they thought we used to come to this place out of happiness.” Nishan laughed at his own words.
“I told them we won’t be working in some places from now.”
Taluk laughed. Nishan continued to point his finger at him and continued, “I am not at any loss. I have my family with me. See, the thing with marriage is that you need to keep rolling.”
The breeze took away Nishan in the same manner as the sand of time. Taluk watched him getting vanish in thin air. Taluk didn’t give any more thought to what he saw and heard. It was all a process that was changing him. He knew it.
Taluk watched Tamam doing his chores in the stable under the bulb’s light.
Taluk got up slowly from his chair as he took the last puff and threw it away. He then moved inside; he needed sleep. He had never seen Nishan. He simply made an image of him, and the conversation with him was just his realization that he never wished or wanted to lose Waikeit under any circumstance. Taluk sensed the change in him. He was a changed man who was ready to manifest his emotions. Taluk scanned the living area from left to right and said to himself, “Was the home small, or was there something that was lacking inside it.’
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