Chapter - 36 (A Guest Comes To Mr. Arnab's) 

Jishnu pulled the shutters down, checked the lock to make sure that the garage was locked and entered the lane beside the bus stand, towards his house. The day so far had been like a dream. Of course, Akanksha would never know the trouble he had to face while picking her up from near the Marble Palace. He pressed the calling bell and heard Sneha, his sister, call out "Coming," from the drawing room inside. He gently tapped his sister, dressed in a T-shirt over a palaju, on her shoulder, and proceeded up to his room. 

He got into a half-sleeved, chocolate colored punjabi after a refreshing shower and a pair of trousers, ran his comb quickly through his hair and plunged into bed.

The street lights outside were slowly coming to life as Jishnu closed his eyes.

The scenes from the day started replaying in his mind. Him picking up Akanksha in his Volvo - how stunning she looked in that sari; lunch at the Hogwarts - the expressions on Akanksha's face as she looked around at some of the stuff that adorned the restaurant with great wonder, (lucky he came to know of her fondness for Harry Potter from that creep Mayank Agarwal just before the Debate); Jishnu and Akanksha sitting side by side at the premiere of that epic love story, holding hands; and finally dropping her at the entrance of the gulli to her house - all these scenes started rewinding in his mind. 

As that last scene took precedence over the other ones, Jishnu sleepily tried to drive it away from his mind. There she was standing in front of his car at the entrance of the bylane. She had bent down possibly to wave him 'good bye" through the open car door as Jishnu was trying to roll the glass up. He was literally fighting with the remote, when he decided to use his hand to get the glass rolling up, thinking that it got stuck somewhere somehow. He had stretched his hand to get hold of the glass but placed it over Akanksha's instead. The split second touch made him want to capture the moment in his heart for ever. Her mere touch acted like a balm against his tired limbs. He felt both alive again and wanted to fly… 

He found himself lying on a bench in a place of exotic beauty, with his head in her lap. She was wearing a blue sari that matched with the blue of the overhead sky and the water of the lake behind. He had never seen a lake with cleaner, bluer water.There was a freshness in the air that suggested the advent of spring. The trees all around the grassy land, were beginning to bud and bloom. Jishnu looked up at the face of the woman covering his own, her traces falling around his ears. She was the woman, who had come to mean so much to him in the last few years. 

He looked at the face bent over his once more, the face that was the sole reason for his existence in this world. The face that drove him crazy and gave a new meaning to his life. Slowly, he lifted his hands from the sides to hold her face tenderly in his hands. There was a slight tremor in the eyes before, what looked like a smile took shape in them and spread over the entire face.

Jishnu pulled it closer to his own gently and brushed his lips softly against hers. He pressed his hungry mouth against hers then, and could sense the reciprocal hunger. He forgot himself momentarily and sought her mouth with an energy that he never knew, existed in the depths of his being till then. Akanksha cried out : 

"Oh, yes, please. JishnuDA.". 

"DA," He heard her, trying to shake him out while he tried to press her closer towards him. 

"Da, please let go off that side pillow now. It's dinner time." The voice cried. 

Jishnu turned over and shielded his eyes against the glaring light of his room. She was still standing there, smiling! The mere thought of her playing a game with him, filled Jishnu with rage. 

"Da, get up, please. Baba is waiting down there for you with a guest. Get up fast." The voice pleaded.

Jishnu rubbed his eyes and saw Sneha standing near his bed undecidedly and smiled. 

He was at the dining table in five minutes and delighted at the prospect of eating at home with his family after long No sooner had Jishnu pulled out a chair and sat down when he caught the eyes of a man on him and he heard his father say :

"Meet Ronit, my childhood friend, Jishnu. We studied together till college. He's been working as the Director of a company called GM in Pune, post retirement."

Jishnu looked across at the man sitting on the chair next to his dad. In his early fifties, extremely charming, the man had gold-rimmed glasses on, shielding his intensely scrutinizing eyes. His mass of jet black hair didn't seem to have even a single shade of gray in it. With his pointed nose and double chin, he looked like a man of authority. The guest kept eying Jishnu for a while before breaking into a smile. 

Jishnu heard his father continue:"Ron is here in connection with a recruitment drive in Kol on behalf of his company. He is leaving by the 11 O'clock flight for Mumbai from the NSB International Airport tomorrow." His father informed him further. Then turning to his friend, he said invitingly, "What are you waiting for, Ron? Start gorging if you don't want to miss your morning flight."

Mr. Ronit picked up a small piece of paratha with the mator paneer and put it into his mouth. He started speaking then," You're a child when your father and I had worked together for a year before I left Kolkata. It's hard to believe that you are the same boy. I'm really amazed at how you have changed into a handsome young man!"

"You may not remember it, my son, but Ron's only child, Sulagna and you were childhood friends before they shifted to Mumbai. Sulagna is now an airhostess working for the Indian Airlines." Mr.Arnab stopped in the middle of speaking and glanced at his son. 

Jishnu began to wonder why his father was talking about a girl that he had no memory of when his father poked into his thoughts by speaking again. 

"This is another reason for Ron's Kolkata trip. Inspite of her liberal upbringing, he wants his daughter married to a Bengalee from Kolkata…"

Hardly did Mr. Arnab mention the reason when Jishnu, putting two and two together, began to understand the purpose of Mr. Ronit's visit to theirs. That's why the man had been looking him up and down since he had taken his seat! Strangely at around the same time, the picture of a small, adorable girl running behind him across the school courtyard, crying over the tiffin Jishnu had stolen from her bag, glimpsed through his mind.

Mr. Ronit, on the chair across him, shot at Jishnu again in a booming voice:

" I learnt from your dad that you are a full-fleged doctor now, Jishnu, working at the Chittaranjan Medical College and Hospital. I'm very proud of you, son." His voice conveyed his pleasure but he took Jishnu aback the next moment by asking him,  "Arnab's telling me of your brilliant performance in the MBBS. Why didn't you go for the M.D then? You could have landed up with a very lucrative offer in Delhi itself?"

"I could have gone for M.D but that would've taken another two years. And if you add one more year of internship to that, I'd have been held up in the Capital for at least the next three years." Jishnu took a long breath and continued, 

"With dad not getting any younger and Sneha growing up fast, I thought it best to come back." He said. 

"Who's Sneha?" Mr. Ronit asked him. "Isn't the name of your daughter, Snigdha?" He asked the question to his friend next. 

"You're right, Ron. Her maiden name is indeed Snigdha. But we call her by her nick name, Sneha. She was named such by her grandma."

Jishnu cut in then by remarkjng, " I'd try to discharge my duties to them, as the elder child, you know, uncle."

It was a spontaneous reply that left the other three at the table touched to the heart. A visibly impressed Ronit nodded and praised Jishnu by exclaiming:

"I'm glad to hear you say so, Jishnu. Both your father and sister must be very proud of you. "

Mr. Arnab then picked up from where he had left and quipped,"As Sulagna's coming down to Kol by the end of this month. Ron was wondering, he even asked me about it, if you'd mind showing her around during her visit to the city? She'll be here for a couple of days during the weekend, son."

"I can't tell you right now, Dad..." Jishnu was about to turn down the request when he remembered that at that time, he might have his days off! "I'll be happy to show around unless Peerless burdens me with extra work at that time."

"Oh,I forgot to tell you, Ron. Jishnu's done rather well since his return from Delhi. Besides his job at the Chittaranjan, he's bee a Visiting Doc at the Peerless as well." 

The immense pride in Arnab's voice made Mr. Ronit take a closer look at the handsome doctor sitting opposite.