Journeys : Episode 2

Tara

I park the car, pick my bags and start walking towards my day. I love my job and I believe I'm great at it. Well except twice. Ok thrice. Ok lets not go there, mostly I'm okay at work. I have a lot of friends at work, too many parallel conversations and amidst all of that, I manage to sneak in some work. I deposit my laptop bag at my seat, login and start walking to the adjacent building to find KP. He's at his desk, both hands holding his head, as though his head is just leaning on that. I tap at his table and he looks up. "Here, go eat, and go home, you're done for today". "I cant Tara, I cant go home, it feels empty without Shrav". Gulp, what do I say? Where is Hridhay when I need him? "Listen KP, you both agreed on this when you divorced and most importantly Shravya is happy this way. I think you need to just move on". He looks at me as though I've uttered a swear word. "Shravs has to come to me, I've practically raised her all these years, she cant just take her away from me". Breathe Tara breathe, you can do this. "KP listen, I know all this is hard on you. Just give it some time. Maybe it gets better. Eid holidays begin tomorrow, maybe you can get a break". His eyelids soften and he gets up from his desk. "Give me my breakfast, I'm starving. " and storms away. I walk back to my desk and get engulfed into another world for the next eight hours.

I shut down my laptop, wish everyone and head to daycare to pick the boys up. They must have already planned what to do the next two weeks, and no complaints here, I am glad someone is planning things for us. It seemed as though they had just sprang into adulthood while I blinked my eyelids. Kathir loves to cook and he has the eye for details. Adi plays badminton and talks endlessly, all he needs is something the shape of an ear. Both of them love to paint and our house is full of their masterpieces. Well including the walls and doors. I stop by, keep the engine running and get them, both of them are seriously discussing the future of Indian Badminton. Surprisingly it's Kathir who's doing all the talking and not Adi. "Hey Adi, whats up?". I try to look at him in the rear view mirror and he's cleverly avoiding my eyes. "Nothing Ma". Kathir grabs the opportunity, "Ma, Aarnav said he will not be coming to school after Eid. His father got transferred to Singapore". Aarnav, his best friend and most importantly his doubles partner. Their left-hand right-hand combination worked perfectly every time. Sometimes I wonder if I should try and make friends with the parents, but it never worked. If only I had, I'd have known this coming and maybe prepared Adi for this.

We reach home and the boys scrub and go out for play. I call Hridhay "hey, when are you planning to get back?" "Another hour, lets go out for dinner". Ohhhh i hate going out for dinner especially during holidays because the crowds are inhuman. "And hey, I've called KP too. He sounded terrible, we need to cheer him up". Oh yeah? It seems more to me that Ive been 'called too', not KP. I have half a mind to sulk. Why should things always be so complex? I mean cant life be the simple wake up-eat-work-eat-sleep routine? Oh and yes find love blah blah. "Hey Tara, cheer up, its KP, its okay. We have all the time to go out" and he hangs up. So I have to stress, for Hridhay, its not just "its KP" its "ITS KP" and some day during our life, probably I'l come to terms to accepting him as inevitable in our lives. Only, its not now.