Prose500 2015 Longlist, Divvisha Bharati

Special Something

“Could you please arrange for a tape-recorder?” Riya asked her secretary. Riya was a career oriented and an ambitious woman who had won a lot of awards in her 15 years of service in the media industry.

“Keep the interview edited, and the storyboarding done for the evening show. After I return from the meeting, I will have a look at it.” The door of the editing room closed behind as she left.

“It seems that we have drifted apart, I no more feel the same bond as I use to before. There are manifold reasons yet no reason at all. You will never understand. You haven’t till yet. Whenever I thought of sharing things with you all these years, I had to hold myself back simply because you would not get it and I will lose you forever which I didn’t want. There was a time when I distanced myself from you for the fact of not hurting you or me because whenever we spoke we just fought. And for the matter of fact, there was no communication from you either. You never missed me or took the initiative for building the relationship.” 

Riya was a very sincere, modest and a hardworking person, always trying to solve other people’s problem. Hardly did anyone know about her personal life.

“Knowing all this will upset you because we do share something special which is inexplicable. Once in a while, you did ask where I was, what I was doing. And that you missed me. But my point was, if you missed me then why couldn’t I see your efforts. I always felt that you no more cared for me. My absence or presence just made no difference to you. All I commanded was respect and many times you failed to provide it. Not just that, you were never even ever sorry for your behaviour.”
“Clear the way. It’s an emergency case.”

“Now, it’s all messed up. Things have changed for me; I love you but that special something is not there. Things will take time between us. Your words seem meaningless now. But your presence still feels nice. Yet, it’s high time now that I break-free from the entangled web of feelings. It’s time for me to make a decision a decision to complete our incomplete story.”

Sitting in a chair, Raj listened to the entire tape till the last word. He couldn’t move an inch. He had received this tape from his special someone Riya, who he always said held a special place in his life.
Raj thought that he was just the one in her life and she would not leave her. He did realise how he had always taken Riya for granted. And, now it was too late.