The signal turned green for the pedestrians and she rushed in with the others to make it to the road that took her to the beach. On walking she thought of the changes life had been through. Often she had felt amused by the pace at which the city altered its face, but her life had altered its course even more drastically! Though she started off her career as a small executive in a big MNC, two years back, she now boasts of one of the top positions in the firm; of which she had been so proud of. For that envious growth she had to compromise on her relations, quite a lot, for she had much less time to spend on those, which had made her devoid of any friends and barely any relations back home, except for her parents.
The busy beach had started to attract its evening guests as usual. Before it got further crowded she made herself into one of those empty seats meant for the sunset viewers. For almost the last two years, ever since she got settled in this job, she had been devoting her Friday evenings to this beach and its sunset. She got into this habit to relax her mind after the tiring, week’s long work, and to step afresh into the two holidays she had every weekend. Though the weekend now means nothing more than sleeping out to her she still visits the beach to do away the feeling of loneliness she gets at those weekends. Working days were never a problem as she had no time to think over anything other than the company, but as the holidays comes; she becomes lonely in her flat for two days with no friends or relatives. It was so tiring and boring to be all alone in there with no where to go also, so she imbibes the evening crowd at the beach into her as she goes into her flat to help her out of the lonely feeling that she often gets.
The crowd slowly increased in the beach, and with almost all benches occupied, most of them began to wander through the beach waiting to see the sun die out in the sea in front. Electric lights had begun to shine so as to sweep away the darkness before it could settle in the streets. As she looked at them, she felt as if the city was staring at her with a thousand eyes. She shifted her eyes; feeling disturbed, and looked back at the calm waters in front. Back home, her parents were trying hard to find a match for their daughter. Till now, all those attempts have ended nowhere and she still remains a single. In fact it has turned out to be a funny thing where nothing ever comes together, when status matches age wont, when age matches job wont, and when all these matches horoscopes wont! But she often feels that she tends to have some escapism when marriage proposals come through…
She still remembers how Praveen came to see her with his hazy eyes and slack hair for one last time in college. He had come after hearing about the news of her making into that company. As he shared his fear of losing her, when she moves into the city for her job she shouted at him, “So?? You want me to loose this job for you?? Let me make it clear in one word, impossible!! And know this; this job is now important for me more than anything... Anything... “
“No… I dint mean ...” As he tried to explain she interrupted saying, “enough... you are crammed with complex… Now there is nothing between us to talk about, we’ll part from here and never ever come to me again…” “But...” as he tried to explain she just walked away, not only from the scene but also from his life. Late now she used to think that it was too harsh and wild to say so much for so little then. May be as people say it was her “pride” of getting that job, made her say so, then. If Praveen was able to get at least a small job then, may be now life must have been a lot different… As that thought crept into mind to disturb her, as usual she bean to think of her great career achievements which usually smoothed her mind. But today they din’t help her to calm down.
The sun had sunk into the deep seas leaving behind the reddish tinge in the skies to remind people of its existence there, at least for a short while more. But, in life things…
The giggling of the couples sitting next to her woke her back into the world and as she looked at them in the twilight she felt disturbed. Feeling as if their smiles and hushed up talks were aimed at her, she rose from the benches and started to walk aimlessly through the beaches. The crowd was yet there, made further busy with the vender's and the cops meant for safety.
As she looked into the waving sea, her eyes stuck upon a familiar figure walking into the waters. As water kissed his feet he turned back and looked at the crowd as if looking for someone. Despite the faint light and changes in these years she could make out that person as her Praveen!
“One day, if it becomes sure to me that you’ll never be mine, I will walk into the deep seas to wait for you till the next birth!” She remembered those touching words of Praveen, way back in college life. As she looked at him she saw an unknown glee brightening up his face and with that he turned back to start walking further into the sea. It all came to her mind all of a sudden and regaining her senses she ran through the people in between them to stop him.
“Praveen!!...”, the Girl clad in the light blue sari called out as she pulled him back. The sindoor in the forehead of that girl fastened up her blooming mind again as she stood there cold footed. Looking at those couples playing around and walking away she wished, “If there were no weekends!!”
