THE ENCOUNTER

The breeze as it entered his clothes he felt the chilling ocean, the moon was bright n he was gazing towards the stars which twinkled, and like a crawling Scorpio she crawled her hand to hold his hand, this was the first time she touched him. A feeling of sudden gratification flowed all over his body as though a stream of water, which makes way through a hot desert; it was this that he had been craving for so many years.

Now things got warmer for him, the breeze was still, there was no movement; even the trees were no longer swaying. He turned towards her to look into her eyes, the sight was not clear, her hair were covering his side of view. ‘Shinning Black’ in the moon light, he wanted to hold them and tug it into the back of her ear. But was unable to pull that much strength, suddenly the breeze came to his rescue, her fair flipped and through the gap he saw her eyes blinking, her eyelashes as though not able to withstand the force of wind, “so delicate” he thought to himself, he wanted to protect them by covering them with his hand.

Before he could do anything he found her staring at him, she was looking beautiful than usual, she understood his impediment, with a smirk she asked him “is this the first time that a girl is holding your hand”?? Well though she knew the answer, she wanted his form of answer. She knew Akash since childhood, shy, reticent but hardworking, moderate in looks, mediocre sense of clothing and early death of his father had left him with an un-promising financial background. His personality evaluation was not a difficult comprehension practice for anybody; all the above attributes combined meant Akash was poor prospect for any girl. Therefore, this must have been the first time for him, but still she wanted to know what more had changed in Akash as she was meeting him after 3 years.

Nisha observed that comprehending Akash was becoming interesting after 3 years. He was more confident now, more organized in his thinking, he had gained good knowledge of various subjects, was more outgoing, certainly had evolved to brawny physique , his ill-fitting attire of clothes were missing too. Her attitude of sympathy towards him was getting translated into Respect; she was enjoying his company more than ever and was now more confident with him. She never revealed to Akash the crush that she had on him, Coz than Later on she thought that perhaps she was more deserving, and was way ‘hot’ for him. However, she found all her feelings about him resurfacing that night; she thought that the atmosphere was perhaps responsible for this. She wanted a day of school, where she had studied with Akash.

She had left Karwar after her schooling and completed her B.E. from IIT (Powai).Her father who was working with one of the mines in Karwar had retired and the family returned back to their native in Kerala. Nisha when last visited Karwar it was for helping the family for shifting, it was then that she last met Akash, who helped the family for the shifting. After that, they corresponded once or twice; Akash also didn’t have a social networking account.

This was the most unexpected event that was happening; Akash never thought that he would ever spend an evening with Nisha again. He thought that her question had provided the aisle for him to walk, “now or never”; he wanted to capitalize on this opportunity.

Looking into her eyes he began to speak ”yes this is the first time that a beautiful   lady other than my mother has held my hand ” he continued ” though it happened a bit late  for me but if the holding hand is so special than I must say that  the wait has been worth”.

There was a silence, she had never expected this, something in her was jubilant. Even Rajeev never spoke to her in such manner. Most of the talk was done by texting or calling. Even his propose was very conventional, where he  proposed her at Café Coffee Day wearing a glittering purple shirt, usually he not seen wearing with a rose in his right hand and kind of absurd smile on his face, in that position if clicked the snap would look as a print advertisement of CCD. Kind of artificial setting, she thought. Whereas now the setting was ideal, everything was naturally in synchronization, the breeze, the trees, the tides they were in tandem with Akash’s talk. She was falling into the magical bound, which sent memories of her boyfriend Rajeev into oblivion.

Suddenly her phone rang, she dropped her eyes on phone and was surprised on seeing the name, and the screen was splashing “jaanu” in blinking manner. It was after five days that Rajeev called her. A bit lethargically, she got up and took the phone to answer. On her hello, he started “I am really sorry Nishu for what I did, this won’t happen to you again, please don’t do this to me, m here in Karwar to take you back. you will never be left alone please come to me, only now have I realized what you mean to me, please come back m waiting for you at the hotel”

She was not able to resist his insistence, as the person she was talking to was Rajeev, her boyfriend, she agreed. She went back to Akash where he was sitting, the air brushing his hair; she called him “Akash we need to go”. Akash stood up ‘Any Problem’ he enquired her , ‘no’ she replied and brought an artificial smile on her face, ‘it’s just that my boyfriend is here’, she had not told to Akash about Rajeev. He wants to meet me she told him.   

Akash was standing awestruck, there was no existing reaction, which he could had brought to his face to hide, is disillusionment. Romance had faded; it had given way to tragedy. He never thought it was going to turn around this way, the best evening of his life so far and a ‘revelation’ completely shattered it. She might be kidding he thought for a moment, but he just wanted to add no more embarrassment to his credit so he dare not ask about it.

The ride from beach to hotel, with Akash initiating the conversation and discussing social topics related to pollution of the oceans in recent years, and the way naval base was coming up at Karwar coast, normalized things, Akash showed no concern about her boyfriend. It went fine, with Nisha, she was comfortable. This was also a knack, which Akash had developed, and she had noticed it.

They reached hotel, Rajeev was sitting at the reception, closely watching everyone at the entrance, as soon as he saw Nisha he stood up and ran towards her to hug her, even Nisha was not able to control her urge, she ran towards him and they hugged each other near the entrance itself. ’Never leave me alone’, she said to Rajeev, she continued ‘otherwise’, ‘I will have to play the super substitute’ Akash completed the sentence in his mind. There will be no need for ‘otherwise’ henceforth Rajeev assured Nisha. It was a more of a passionate hug, this was not a very common sight for Karwaris, and the bystanders had now discontinued their conversations and were hoping for further display of passion. ‘Not here’ Akash was about to yell, Nisha withdrew herself before that, she was hesitant, she had realized that this was not the right place for it. Akash was relieved.

For some seconds silence prevailed. She gestured Akash to come near them, and introduced Rajeev to Akash. The cross-introduction was a bit long, Rajeev really had a lengthy profile and that of Akash took just one-fifth of the time.

At dinner in a restaurant Akash was mostly at the receiving end, Rajeev spoke endlessly about their relationship. The only thing, which made Akash sit there was the presence of Nisha, she is the most beautiful women in world he thought. Nisha had checked-out, they were departing that night itself, Akash started to realize a void since then, and he had spent 3 beautiful days with Nisha. He did not even bother to ask himself why Nisha had not told him about Rajeev. Akash also thought of suggesting Rajeev a topic that was of common interest for discussion i.e. ‘Nisha’, but controlled it. He just spoke when required. Nisha was quiet; she was watching Akash, as if she wanted to talk to him, but she did not open up there.

Outside the restaurant, when they were about to bid a final adieu to Akash, Rajeev asked Nisha for his spectacles, she had forgotten those in the hotel so he got out of the safari and proceeded towards the hotel. Nisha looked towards Akash and said ‘this is the place where I want to live forever, there is so much peace here, people here are very good and you are a true gentleman Akash’. Well though the sentence sounded ill sequenced and a bit ill-timed, but she had called him a gentleman. He was more than happy, ‘Thanks Nisha’ he responded in a humble manner. They maintained eye contact until Rajeev was back.

Rajeev switched the ignition and the engine roared, Akash waved his hand and so did Nisha, the wheels rolled, the vehicle moved, slowly and gradually diminishing, and the vehicle vanish. ‘Gentleman’ and ‘live forever’ were the words resonating in his mind. There were no ‘voids’ for him now, it was only ‘vaccum’.

The safari navigated through the streets of karwar until it reached NH-17, the board showed Mumbai 700 km. Nisha was looking outside. There was silence; last 3 days had been completely trance for her, now as though she was brought back to her senses. It dawned to her dat Akash was left far behind in dark. She felt the void now, the thoughts of Akash played in her mind, and she was enjoying thinking about Akash. She had felt immensely safe with him, in that dark night at the beach, his aura had captivated her. He will certainly occupy a space for long in her heart, she knew it. Everything was fine till Rajeev had come that night, was his timing wrong? Should she have waited for Akash to confess before leaving the beach? She dreaded that she left him abruptly that night. It was Akash over her mind.

These kind of feelings she had experienced when she had meet rajeev at IIT, but this time it was different, now she found herself in higher spirits, Akash had made her feel important and necessary.

Although Rajeev was the perfect, he was rich, Handsome, Influential, wild. He was the eye candy of every girl at IIT at now also at his workplace, but today Akash simply overpowered him. Perhaps Rajeev was her choice, a practical decision for leading a stable life. But she realized that Life would surely be much more beautiful with Akash.

‘Stop’. She said to herself. 

She looked towards Rajeev he was driving. She still adored him; then she felt that this must be a crush, ‘it’s healthy to have a crush, this means one is alive’ Rajeev always joked. Akash was just a passing crush, she thought, but he was the strongest crush, she had to admit.

She also knew that Rajeev loved her a lot and dats y he was here, undertaking a 700 km journey just to see her. The road was silent n Nisha was still struggling with her thoughts when suddenly she saw Rajeev looking at her and coming towards her, she felt her lips wet, Rajeev was sucking them, they were in the middle of smooch and without comprehending Nisha decided to release herself, but it was not easy, she could not release, she simply was forcing herself. She realized that the next few days were going to be difficult for her.

Smooch went on until d lights of arriving vehicle pierced through d glass and fell on their eyes, Nisha immediately Pushed Rajeev and yelled ‘Be carefuullllll’…

‘Relax’. Rajeev retorted, ‘we have done this before and you know I can easily drive even without looking at the road’

He was right they had kissed before on a lot of occasions while driving and had even enjoyed it.

‘I’m sorry, I thought dat d vehicle was close’. Nisha said feeling embarrassed.

Rajeev looked at her n then on the road, ‘Ok … dats fine dear’. He said

In d same state of confusion Nisha went to sleep only to get up next morning in her own room in Mumbai. ‘Rajeev must have dropped me here’ she thought. She felt the sunlight and a great energy from it. She was happy.

About a week ago, after the fight with Rajeev Nisha had taken a leave and had headed to Karwar, to meet her aunty, who used to take care of her in childhood in absence of her mother. But she could not find her, and accidently had found Akash. It was surprising but the best surprise that had happened to her. Everything changed in last 5 days, after the fight the unconfident n upset Nisha who had left Mumbai was bubbling with energy n was very happy now.

With this new found energy nisha decided to start fresh, even her relation with Rajeev she decided to give a new dimension. If it can beautiful with Akash, then it can be even more beautiful with Rajeev, she pacified herself.

Nisha and went for shopping that afternoon, and Nisha was back again, embracing each and every aspect o the city.

For next month, office and work occupied Nisha’s mind for larger part of her life. Weekends used to be party time with friends and Rajeev. On one such evening when Nisha was shopping, she saw people they were ‘alone’ walking in the mall or else calling their partner, that very moment she felt happy that Rajeev was there for her, and immediately she fell in love with him again. That night they had the most intense intercourse, she had found herself releasing easily, she felt blood reaching her every nerve, her every fantasy being catered, so involved she got in to the act that she forget everything and went on moaning in pleasure.

But Thoughts of Akash always haunted her, she tried to call him, but always found it unreachable ‘Is he not bothered about me’, he hadn’t called her since that encounter. Now that she was with her love, ‘Rajeev’, why did she want to know whether he even cared or not, she was unable to answer. She often prayed to god to guide her to show her, her Man.

Nisha’s liveliness and confidence was soon noticed by her seniors and she was given the responsibility of making the most important presentation to the most vital clients. The presentation was scheduled in one of the most elite hotels of Mumbai. Nisha was preparing rigourously for that presentation.

The presentation was few days away, when Nisha felt nervous. She always used to turn to Rajeev to seek encouragement. But now, the only person she wanted to speak to was Akash. She called him, it was still unreachable. She tried again with d same result. She felt disappointed.

The day before the presentation Nisha along with her seniors went to the hotel to check the arrangements, she was quite satisfied. She was standing near the counter n her seniors were discussing with the hotel authorities when suddenly she heard a gun shots and before she could understand she saw her boss and a hotel staff fall down, stains of blood were all over their clothes. She ran towards the rooms and found one open and entered it, the room was completely dark. She was breathing fast. She had no idea of what happened outside, was it a dream, could not be, her bosses were lying outside in pool of blood, gun shots continued, she felt lucky to be alive. But then there she sat down and started sobbing for loss of her friends. Fear gripped her feet to hair, she was scared, also cursed herself to have come here. Went to the window and saw that the crowd outside had gone berserk. Something pretty unusual was happening outside. Should she go outside to help her colleagues, a thought come to her mind, but suddenly she heard a second round of gunshots, that was deafening, she heard shrills of men n women, fear went down her spine , motionless she stood there for some time, ’lost’ and suddenly she ran and hid herself behind the curtains. She knew the only possibility of staying alive was by staying inside the room.

She sat there sobbing, thousand thoughts crossed her mind, who were they? Terrorists or lunatics? Why were they killing people? The innocent people. She could conclude nothing; will she get out of this? Will she be alive to see the sunrise tomorrow? All these questions one by one came and went and she felt that perhaps god wanted her to be alive, or was it really a matter of time. Then came the most dreadful thought, ‘I may die tonight’.

Will Rajeev rescue me from here? Like every hero who rescues his girl, will he come here to rescue? She knew thinking it was naïve, he was not a Hero, just a commoner. He would not be able to come, even if he wanted to. The killers outside will kill him too, if he dared to come here. She knew she will die.

Now she wanted to talk to her family, they should know I am here, they should know I will die, she wanted to confess to them, how much she loved them and missed them. Every small childhood memory came to her mind like someone was projecting it to her, her childhood was greatest, and she had everybody ‘mom, dad, bro, friends’ and… ‘and Akash’ she thought. He was always there for her then.

‘Will Akash ever know that I died here, will he bother to even know about me? Will he come here for me? Will he make me feel safe tonight the way he had made me feel safe that night at beach? Will he crave for me, the way I am craving for him…wait what…I am craving for him’ yes I am craving, she allowed herself to confess the truth, all she wanted now was to feel Akash. His front was her ultimate desire. She wanted to hold him that night a make love to him, she knew he was raw would give her the ultimate. She started feeling the pleasure of being with Akash,

She had forgotten that she may die, she was enjoying thinking about him, this is what akash’s thoughts had given her, she used to forget everything, and it gave her energy, confidence and the most important thing, the feeling of Love.

Will she ever be able to make love to Akash she thought, she wanted to desperately. She knew god in the midst of this chaos had guided her as she had always asked his guidance, only when you are about to die you understand what you desperately want, she thought. God had brought her in this situation for her to evaluate who her MAN was, and surely it was easy for her now, the only thing she wanted was to sleep in this dark night on couch with Akash to feel him, to love, to make him her soul mate. She realized that the only thing which matters when one is about to die is, was he/she right in her decisions taken in life, materialistic things matter no more. Her decision to go with Rajeev was wrong.

With Akash in her thoughts she went to sleep. Only to wake to the sound of someone heavily pounding the door. She got up, the pounding continued. Akash was still her thoughts, once the door is open, I am dead she thought, ‘but I ll meet Akash in the heaven, I ll wait for him the way he waited for me, surely then he ll be mine’.

She felt weak, but happy that she will meet Akash again in the heavens. The latch broke, the door opened the man standing at the door, raised his gun to aim at Nisha. She was about to die she felt close to Akash, She smiled, released herself.

‘I am dead’, Was the last thought. ‘Boom’… came the sound of Gunshot she fell and everything went darkkk….

AFTER FEW HOURS

Slowly she opened her eyes to the sunlight

‘Heavens are just like earth’. She thought

‘Don’t get up’. A voice said the voice was familiar to her; she opened her eyes more she could see a blur image, she knew it was Rajeev.

‘Rajeev died too?’ she thought. She took time to get conscious. She looked at Rajeev he was perfectly fine, she looked around; she saw nurse’s n a doctor. She was in a hospital.

She immediately checked her body for the mark of bullet, she found none.

‘You are perfectly fine now, you have not been shot, you had fainted out of fear, in that hotel, the doctor said.

‘The NSG commandos saved you, it was a terrorist attack, all major Hotels were attacked’ Rajeev said.  

It then dawned to her that the man who had aimed at her was a commando who had come to rescue her and not a terrorist. She felt very thankful to the commando and to the gods.

She was alive now. Back in her world, but now the only man she wanted to see was Akash, she thanked the doctors, and after their departure, she confessed to Rajeev whatever experience she had last night, Rajeev listened to her patiently , he knew this was coming. The night when they had intense sex, nisha had moaned Akash’s name during the intercourse a number of times but she was unaware what she was saying, coz she was completely lost in it. She had felt Akash as her partner in that intercourse. Rajeev had not mentioned it to her, he knew it would embarrass her and he didn’t want to embarrass her by bringing up the topic. Now Rajeev knew she was in love with Akash and it was time for him to get aside. Anyhow his happiness lied in seeing her happy. ‘Had she never been to Karawar she would have not met Akash, she would have never felt for Akash and she would have always remained mine. ‘He thought. But he realized it was too late now. She was somebody else’s love.

He held her and with tears in his eyes he said, ‘Akash is your true love go to him, but you have to go alone, I ll not accompany you’

She felt tremendous respect and admiration for Rajeev. She knew it was difficult for Rajeev but he had helped her even then.

After some days Nisha left for Karwar, SHE HAD TO CONFESS IT TO HIM. ‘Akash might have found someone else, or maybe he does not even love me’, all these thoughts crossed her mind, but she had to go, only confessing to him will weather the storm in her mind. She had no assurance that Akash will be there, and to her dismay he was not there, she visited all his neighbors, and one of them told her that ‘Akash does not stays in Karwar, but comes sometimes, he was going to come to Karwar in 3 days’. She felt her heart beats increase, ‘he was comin in 3 days’ she thought. She waited for him in a hotel in front of his house, she knew she had to. She used to get up every morning to see whether he had arrived or not, she used to call Rajeev to feel good. One day when she got up, she felt him, she ran to the window and there she saw him. Akash looked fabulous to her. She was mesmerized. ‘Terrific’, she mumbled

A feeling of sudden gratification flowed all over her body as though a stream of water, which makes way through a hot desert; she was grateful to herself that she had waited for him, the wait was worth. She prepared herself properly and went to him.

He was about to enter his house when she called him, instantly before turning Akash realized that the voice was of Nisha. He turned and saw, there stood Nisha, his childhood hottie, and she looked vulnerable but beautifullll.

‘How come, you here, Nisha’. He asked surprisingly

Without caring for the Karwaris this time, she hugged Akash tightly, and said ‘I love you Akash, I know I am not worthy but still I love you, I know you may not love me or maybe you love some other girl, but still I wanted to confess, you can deny me n I ll go and never come back to your life, butI love you’ while saying this she knew if Akash denied, then she would not be able to leave him,  but still she said it.

She didn’t know what Akash was thinking, she had hugged him tightly, was he happy? Was he embarrassed? Anything…   She stopped thinking and started feeling Akash.

Akash was jubiliant, he never had thought he would ever see Nisha again let alone being with her, he too without bothering for Karwaris hugged her back and confessed his love to her.

Nisha heard it, and went into trance again; her joyousness knew no limits today.

That night they sat beside each other at the same beach, Nisha told Akash everything, and how she 

was saved by the commando, ‘the commando was sent by god to save me so that I could meet you again, or perhaps listening my prayers God himself came as a commando, to save me.’ She said in a childish manner. ‘I had felt close to you that night’ she told Akash.

‘You felt me close that night, because I was’, Akash said to himself. Akash's identity was not known to her.

Akash’s full name was Major Akash Agrawal (NSG) national security guard, special unit, he was one of the best officers of Indian Army (brave yet humble) real eye candy of many women, And that day it was he who was pounding the door, it was he who broke open the door and aimed at her, thinking that there must be terrorist whereas to his surprise he saw a vulnerable Nisha, before she had fainted, she could never see who it was so didn’t recognize him. It was Akash who had saved her life; it was 26 november 2008, Hotel Taj. He was commanding his men that Day to save his countrymen.

So at this night at the beach Nisha was with her god, but she as oblivious to the fact. She had never asked where Akash worked. She never had felt the need to and now Akash didn’t want to tell her, what he was. He knew she would come to know someday about it but ‘not tonight’, he thought. The night was full of love so he didn’t want to dilute it.

He held her hand, she felt aroused with just the touch, that very moment she realized that, tonight she was going to feel blood being fetched to every nerve of her body, this would the best night of her life, and she loved it. She was with her God now n she felt safe.