Forgetting eklavya (a story)

Pratistha woke up and looked at her watch. After a moment she looked at the watch again to notice the date. It was eklavya's birthday. She sighed. Eklavya was her past, a past which she had left behind. That's what she told herself. She shrugged off her lethargy, had a bath and put on her clothes.

While she was walking to her office , a guy whistled. This was exactly the kind of thing that would drive eklavya crazy, driven him into a tirade of expletives and a morning of bad mood. She also smiled to herself about her clothes, eklavya would have never let her wear this. Although he put on a "woodstock"-ish spirit, eklavya was very conservative.

She had tried to keep eklavya in her life, but he was stubborn and overly possessive. And he was a grim reminder of the choices she had made, which included him. Those choices which had changed her, the choices which had driven her to a spiral of self loathing. It was very difficult to see him without recalling the tears that she had shed at nights when sleep eluded her and crushed dreams filled her conscious state.It was impossible to see in him a reflection of what she had almost become.

A whiff of smoke hit her.It nauseated her with the memories of eklavya smoking in her room and going on and on about something. She hated cigarettes- another reminder of him and his screwed up view of the world and love. She had told him once "the closest you have ever come to loving something is a cigarette". He had smiled and told her , he feared that was true.

The day was boring and she wasnt able to concentrate, she felt irritated and angry. She went home and ate her dinner in silence. She opened her laptop and started listening to songs. A ghazal started playing - "aaj jaane ki zid na karo". It brought back another memory of eklavya.

It was late and she wanted to go home, but eklavya had insisted she stay. Having work to do she had wanted to leave, when eklavya quietly went and put this song on his room-mate's computer. She smiled and whispered to herself - "Happy birthday , eklavya". Then she shed a tear.

Photo by zara