Monday, February 02, 2009

Rajan


He was late for their early dinner. Had it been any other day, she wouldn’t have made a big deal out of it. But today, it was testing her patience.


She sat restlessly on the wooden chair of her office cafeteria, shifting her weight from one side to the other. The thick jute threads that made the seat of the chair weren’t as comfortable as they were meant to be. Tiny threads stuck out of the thicker ones, like short loose ends of unmanageable hair sticking out of her braids every morning. Sagging down an inch due to the weight of its occupant, the chair made her look shorter than she would have liked. Hence, she had her left hand tucked beneath her left thigh, in an attempt to look taller and also pull out one of those tiny threads that was poking her.


She felt irritated. Frustrated, at how she had hurried to make it on time for their dinner for which he was now running late.


Maybe, he was not to be blamed. He could be stuck in the traffic, a last minute meeting or an unexpected discussion with his manager. She was the one at fault. She was to be blamed for assuming his earlier displays of punctuality to be an excuse for not carrying her huge novel to the cafeteria.


The restlessness of being alone, devoid of a book in her hand made her feel miserable. The idea of watching people walking casually around the café, ordering, exchanging pleasantries with the café manager while waiting for the order, eating, drinking, discussing projects over sheets of paper scattered over the café table – were not what she was particularly fond of. For, this was just a world she dwelled in because she was expected to - a hectic world that kept her far from the crisp pages of books, their places, their beautiful details, their characters and their emotions.


To her fiction was real and the real, far from fiction.


She lived in a world of her own, that was hidden in the books she read. She knew that the places described in the books existed, but she never desired to visit them, for she was content picturing their beauty in text.


Over time, she even began to sketch the character of people based on the books in which she had come across their names. She was madly in love with some characters in the books, so much so that her heart skipped a beat whenever she read their names in others. She hated the way the character with that name was portrayed in total contrast by another author. There were characters she detested. Some pitied. Some envied. Some, she wished could be her.


It troubled her, confused her, to live in one world and merely exist in the other.


The restlessness of the wait grew on her, forcing her to finally get off the chair and quickly walk up to her office cabin to fetch the book. As she swiftly traced her steps back to the café, her wrists were already aching of bearing the thick leather bound novel.


Placing her purse on top of the book and holding them both against her chest, she walked faster. Having just a few more steps left to reach the café, she noticed that he was sitting in the chair she had occupied a few minutes back.


to be continued..


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7 comments:

G3 said...

:)) Supera poitirundha storyla gabaalnu ippadi brk pottu thodarum pottuteengalae :( next part plz :)

Subramanian Ramachandran said...

ghost story ah.......

just as i thought that prithz style of story writing is getting kind of repetitive and monotonous (in the first few para), subsequent lines were refreshingly cool :)

Dimplicious said...

Oh no..yet another "to be continued" story...U r testing my patience nw!!I'm really curious as to how the story moves from now..And yes,I could relate to the girl in this story!!Eagerly waiting to read more..Desperate Actually!!

Ramya Shankar said...

Mavale, mega serial madiri izhuthu suspense create panna tension aagiduven.

I love the way you portray your women.

Anonymous said...

"To her fiction was real and the real, far from fiction."

Awesome Pritz!!! Also I feel a great amount of maturity in this post than the previous in terms of capturing the moment. I could picture everything so well. i loved the description of her sitting in the cafeteria.

Loved it. Waiting for the next installment :)

Harish said...

Oh oh. You too Brutus!!!!!!

You have an amazing sense of observation and it clearly reflects in your words. And as everyone knows, you are blessed with a language eloquence that is enviable.

Infact I am tired of even pulling something from what you have written and quoting you out.

Btw...a curious title I must add :)

prithz said...

@ G3:
Posted :)

@ rsubras:
Not a ghost story :)

@ dimplicous:
Here you go...

@ ramya:
Unaku bayanthu ore shot la mudichuten thaaye :P

@ nivi:
Thanks nivi. Really glad you liked it. :)

@ harish:
Chill :)

Yours compliments raise my bar even higher :( Hope you enjoy the rest of the story. :)