09 September, 2011

His Daughter


“No, that’s Aarathy. With two ‘a’s and a ‘y’ at the end. No. Yes. And I most definitely need it by tomorrow or I will have to cancel the order and hire someone else to do it on TIME, Mr. Rao.” I took a deep breath before turning to the mountain of work.

‘And what can I do for you, Sir?’ I asked without looking up. I let Mr. Polished-Woodlands talk to the top of my head while I filed all the pending papers. I was buried in work up to my nose and I just didn’t have the time to be my usual effervescent self. Let the guests deal with a grumpy Guest Relations Head this time, I thought.

While I was filing away to glory, I realized that the guy in front of me hadn’t spoken yet. My head snapped up, “Sir, do you…”

I froze.

‘Adarsh’
He stood frozen too. Grey eyes stormy with some unknown emotion, his lips seemed to struggle to form words.


I tried to unchoke myself and failed. It was as if somebody had vacuumed all the words out of my head.

‘Hey, Aarathy,’ he managed.
‘How’s it going?’ In what I hoped was a nonchalant voice. But I had a strong suspicion that it sounded like a strangled chicken fighting for survival.
‘Good, good,’ he sounding a little lost himself.

And all the conversation makers in the world bid adieu and went on vacation.

‘So… ummm… what…’
‘Hey hon, did you find out?’ chirped in the woman in green linking her arm in his and looking enquiringly at me. I stared at him blankly for more reasons than one.

‘Erm… yeah. I was just asking… saying… about…’ he seemed uncomfortable.
With everything. The arm linking, the query he had, me…

‘Uffoo Addu, stop being embarrassed, it’s not that big a deal’ She turned to me and said conspiratorially, ‘Listen, the thing is, we were wondering if there’s any kind of activity that you can provide for our daughter while we, you know, spend some quality time together’ and winked. Adarsh shifted from one foot to another.

Now I just wished I’d been run over by the Dubai metro.

Addu. It’d been 8 years. Long ones. Since I last heard or said that name.
My memory had blocked out the part where his mother had flung the wedding invitation at me face and gone on to enumerate why I’d never ever be anywhere near good enough for her precious son.


Ah well, any guy who can’t stand up for the girl he loved wasn't worth spending time and tears over, I reasoned with myself. It had been my constant mantra, one that gotten me through the darkest days of my life.

But nonetheless, the pang that went through the very depths of my insides let me know that I was far from healed. The fact that jealousy shot through my stomach when she linked her arm with his again, flipped her pretty, long hair and looked at me enquiringly with a perfectly plucked eyebrow, only reaffirmed that my long lost love was anything but lost. A sense of hopeless loss spread through me and I struggled to regain control.

I looked at him; he hadn’t stopped looking at me, almost like he was drinking in the sight of me… like he had a hundred thousand questions to ask. I held his gaze for a second. And looked away.
He was married now.

‘Are you on your honeymoon, Madam?’ I sputtered out. And then kicked myself in the head.
‘Oh no, no’. She laughed. ‘Just a vacation of sorts. We are in room 122 booked under Mr. and Mrs. Unny. So… is there anything you can do?

‘There is the child care service, M’am. It’s complimentary actually. I’m surprised Sada didn’t tell you. Just register for it and leave your child with us.’

I was curious. His daughter.


I took out the forms with slightly shaky hands and started writing..

‘The child’s name, M’am?’
‘Aarathy. That’s with a double ‘a’ and a ‘y’ at the end.’
I raised my face to hers.
‘It’s his favorite name, you know.’ She smiled.

He looked away.
I stood there. Just stood there.

40 comments:

  1. dat has serious ethical implications :P
    cute story.
    tho wat i really want to ask is, y d obsession wid d pet name 'adu' or 'addu'?
    i vividly remembr it on sum previous story u wrote as wel. bolo bolo, tel tel!

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  2. Wow... great story.
    You bought out the emotions really well. :)

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  3. Take a bow, you've awesomely articulated the emotion around the whole premise. Kudos :)

    And how's it going with the Immortals of Meluha? Are you Done yet?

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  4. Awwww that was beautiful.

    And the guy in the first pic, Yummm :)

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  5. Lovely post Peevee:)
    Aarathy:with two 'a's n a 'y' .. :)

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  6. Short and crisp..loooved it..made me go AWWWWW
    nd the guy is soo handsome!

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  7. Nice one PeeVee...enjoyed it! :)

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  8. @ pistaboy, cricketfreak, Bikramjit, Janhvi, Soumya, ~Serendipity~, Kavitha, Red and PB, thank y'all:) glad you liked it.

    @ Sadiya, oh jee nathing like that and all, you see:P Just a cute guy in college :P

    @ Spaceman Spiff, meaning the story made you ishmile?:)

    @ Atrocious Scribblings, *bows* thank you so much Sire:)
    I'm the fool who forgets to pack the book she's reading right now, so I have to wait till I get back to the hostel to read the last five pages-_-

    @ Soumya and Red, he's one of the main reasons why you should watch Grey's Anatomy, if you don't already:P
    Google Dr. Avery or Jesse Williams and be ready to enjoy the visual treat:P

    @ HijiBijBij, uh huh uh huh:P

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  9. it reminded me of something very similar that happened with a friend of mine, me being the witness in that case

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  10. cute...even things left unsaid..have a story of their own :)

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  11. :)
    (that's one of those subtle smiles that takes over words, when you are speechless)

    aJ

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  12. But that was SO sad!

    WHY is everyone writing sad stories?????

    Awesomely written, by the way.

    But so, so, so sad...

    The part where it said "I was curious. His daughter" was the BEST. Loved it.

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  13. Priyanka, <3 <3

    just to let you know that I gave a long sigh after reading it.. its lovely! I get out of words when I like something too deeply. so thats all I wanted to say.

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  14. :)

    That's all.
    (I know you'd understand)
    P.S.: I have been using too much of smileys lately, so now I am putting them in locker and using them like a miser. This one was imminent.

    Cheers,
    Blasphemous Aesthete

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  15. Life never ending desire to puzzle us..

    Weakest LINK

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  16. aww! :)
    A good one! :D It was a pretty obvious for the ending ( or i've read too many of 'similar' stories )...
    Well written babe ( of course you know that already! ;) ) ...
    Mwah!

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  17. hey.............this one is too sweet, too authentic, if you get what i mean.................. [hand clapping]

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  18. Long, long time after I read the story I put finger to keyboard. Awesome post - a story well said, and except for the ending, one that is like a page out of my book (including the hotel industry reference!) Damn!!!

    Loved it!

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  19. @ the.orchestra.of.life, ouch.. hopefully there was a good ending for the girl as well?

    @ Saheer Kumble, Kunal, aJ, Divya Kamath Hundi, Prateek, Viya, Madhuri, thank you so much:)

    @ Ovais, most fiction that comes to my head and gets written down is sad:| I wonder why, I'm otherwise a happy person..Thank you:) And that line got to me too after I finished writing...

    @ Ananya, aww, I know the feeling:) And so glad that I'm the cause of something like that, thank you so much:)

    @ BA, thank you.. *zipping mouth up*:D

    @ Rachit, what so puzzling about this?

    @ Nirvana, coincidence much?:) Thank you!

    @ Barbie face, I know, right?! Cutest thing I have ever seen in a long time:)

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  20. Love it!! :):) Beautifully written :)

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  21. Right. One of the best pieces I've ever come across, and possibly the best in your blog. I kid you not.

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  22. OMG!!! I nearly died with the unspoken emotions... :') Aarathy... This was beautiful! :) :)

    PS: Sorry for being late. Got my laptop today! Yayyy :D :D :D

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  23. wait do these names remind me of my friends ? :P

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  24. This is most adorable ! profound indeed

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  25. @ Srinidhi, AShwini, Sushmit, the butterfly effect, MSM and Cяystal, thank you so much guys:)

    @ anjLi, SHOOSH:D They just go so well together, you know:))

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  26. wow, i just loved the way u've ended the story.. unspoken emotions magnifies to the heights!!

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  27. I was so into the story and then came *Aarathy*! Wow! This is so freaking awesome! :)

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  28. :')

    Love your style of writing, and this story <3

    PS: Jackson Avery *_*
    He,Shep and Sloan are the reasons I totally love Grey's ;)

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  29. I was wondering how you were going to finish it, with him being married, kid and all and there you did, tied the starting and ending so well. How do you do it ? And with such aplomb ?

    Kudos

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