RAKHEE

It  was 9:30pm, time for the last bus to the nearest suburban area  to the Metro. Many IT professionals working in the city who can’t afford the expenditure of the city life live in these suburban areas. The same bus which used to be full of passengers in the morning is now inviting the passengers  with vacant seats .

A beautiful girl boarded the bus among few others ,sat in a seat and breathed a sigh of relief and said “last top” to the conductor handing him money. Everything is different from morning except for the traffic, she slipped out of this world into music through her ear phones.

Stop by stop people where getting down. Ting phone ringed, screen was blinking low battery. She removed her headset  and looked around, it was two more stops to her place. There were only two people with her in the bus.

One was in deep sleep  and the other was staring at her. She felt a bit uncomfortable and looked for the conductor, he went to the sleeping guy woke him up and said “your stop has come”, and he got down from the bus .

The other guy is still staring at her, now she was a bit afraid. ”last stop” shouted the conductor. She got off the bus and started walking , the guy was walking behind her.

She started walking fast ,he too increased his pace. She became nervous all the rape headlines  were getting into her mind now. She wanted  to use her womensafety app, but her mobile was dead.

He reached her and was about to extend his hand and she used her pepper spray. He shouted in pain and she ran off.

The girl’s name is Priya and the guy’s name is Prasad and  this is the story about them.

 

THE NEXT DAY:

Once again it was a busy day for Priya, HR Executive wanted all the new employee details  and she was busy making the list.

“Who is Koooneeeru Lingaaa Prasad?”,she enquired.

“It’s me”, a voice came from behind. When she turned back her heart came into her mouth. He is the same guy who was attacked by pepper spray last night.

She closed her eyes in embarrassment.

“you can open your eyes, if any damage has happened it was to my eyes please don’t feel ashamed of your brave deed “ he said.

Priya: I am really sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you but I was afraid at that time.

Prasad: hey I was just kidding, I can understand any girl would have done the same thing. I just wanted to give this thing I don’t know what it is, it fell from your bag yesterday.

Priya : ah you should have ignored it, this is just a hairclip.

Prasad: I thought it was costly and was just trying to be generous, but I will never do such a thing to any woman again, if it leads to what happened  yesterday.

Both of them laughed.

Days passed and intimacy grew between them. Both boarded the same bus and walked together home, but nothing much happened between them . They just exchanged smiles and pleasantries just like to people who work at same place nothing more and nothing less.

One fine day , in the morning, bus was packed and Prasad was standing. As soon as the lady beside Priya got up she placed her kerchief on the seat and signaled Prasad to sit.

he said “ Thank you”. she said  “Give me your hand”.

“For what?” he asked with a surprised face.

” Offo” she said and took his hand and tied a band.

“what is this?” he asked.

“It is a friendship band, you see friendship day is Sunday and both of us will not be meeting on that day, so I am tying it today”.

There a friendship was born, but  for a 26 year old guy who was never in a relationship, a beautiful girl is more than a friend and the same happened to Prasad.

Days passed and they started liking each other. They had very common interactions in public, but were always together 24×7 in virtual world  by chatting using all apps. They thought this way no would know about them, but gossips about them flew like wind. Everybody can feel it but nobody can show it.

Prasad was typing sincerely in office. Not in computer but in his mobile. Looking  at this his colleague Prithvi advised him “ see Prasad don’t waste your time with these things, you are a brilliant employee these girls neither confess their love nor will they stay friends forever they will just waste your time, and we finally become fools”.

Those words didn’t go much into his ear and how could they affect him, he was in a bliss called love.

Prasad was typing at 11pm “are we just friends?”.

“ May be not” Priya replied .

“ Then what are we?” he typed with enthusiasm.

“I want you to meet someone, come and meet me at park by 4pm”she replied and logged out.

Prasad was on cloud nine, he thought his life has settled at last. With a lot of excitement he went to park  the next day.

She was sitting on the bench and signaled him to sit down.

He said “Thank you”. She said “give me your hand”.

“for what” he asked with excitement this time.”Offo”,she said and took his hand and tied a band.

This time he did not ask what was it , as he knew it was a rakhee. A boy broke a glass behind but it was not just the glass which broke it was Prasad’s  heart too.

A guy came out of an SUV and Priya introduced him “meet my boyfriend, vishal”.

Days passed , Prasad was typing seriously ,this time in the computer. His colleague Prithvi watched this and said “ what a change, what happened boy?”

Prasad said “just understood your advise yesterday , now nothing is more than work to me and I stopped everything that I used to do.”

Months passed , it was new year. Prithvi continued  to mock Prasad by giving him updates of priya and Prasad used to give the same reply,”I am not concerned about her anymore.”

Prithvi said “ I heard that Vishal proposed her on new year eve in park?”

Prasad replied his same statement and said “it’s not park it’s at a hotel.”

“So, you are still concerned about her “ Prithvi said. Prasad did not say anything.

Once again time passed and it was around valentine’s day and gossip broke out that Priya broke up with Vishal.

Prithvi said” Prasad that vishal is a scum it seems and………..”,before he could complete Prasad stopped him and he went on with his work. This time he was really not concerned about her.

It was valentine’s  day , Prasad was feeling uncomfortable with the environment around and he left home early.

It was night and Priya was in the bus. She looked out of the window and an SUV was tailing the bus, it was Vishal’s. She was afraid.

She got off the bus and started walking. The SUV was moving beside her.”Get in the car you bi**h”, vishal shouted .

She started walking fast. Vishal got out of his car and was following her blabbering something. Priya took her phone and activated her Women safety app.

This app sends alert to the nearest contact an Prasad  got the message and he rushed towards the location.

Vishal was strangling her. Prasad thrashed him and took Priya away. Both walked silently Priya’s hostel came.

“I ………. I’mmmmm sorry”, she said with a shriveling voice.  ”for what?” he asked.

“I  knew you liked me, but I broke your heart tying that rakhee and here I am suffering for that mistake”, she started crying.

“ it was not a mistake, not one bit. You know why I came to you its because of that rakhee. You what does that mean rakhee means raksha, a person tying it wishes for the others protection prosperity and well being and expects Protection and love from them as person. For you it may be a way to ditch a guy calling him indirectly brother, but its not for me.”

“tying a friendship band an friend ship day , proposing on valentine’s day and ditching them by tying rakhee these things are not meant for it , stop seeing them like that world is filled with scums like that vishal ,don’t do such things to people like me” Prasad said trying to control his emotions and walked away.

                           The end

Note: All the characters and situations are fictitious and unreal and this story is not meant to portray women in any bad way. It is just an attempt to showcase approach of teenagers towards friendship,love and situations around world.

My sincere apologies to people if they felt anyway offended by any part in story.

Your feedbacks always support improvised story writing.

***