Streaky Confessions Ch. 01

There are some things in life you did that you regret. And others you don't regret. Then there are those that fall somewhere in between. This is a story about one such peccadillo in my life. Something that by now is just part of my past. I still miss it some times. But being who I am now and where I am in the journey of life, I can't go back to it. However, occasionally something happens that brings the memories flooding back.

Six months ago, we moved into a new 4-bedroom apartment in the northern suburbs of Bombay. Our two boisterous boys, 13 and 10, were growing really fast, both physically and emotionally, and it was getting difficult to keep peace between them with them sharing one room. Although Anuj and I were attached to the first home we ever bought and built our family in, the 2 bedroom apartment place in Bandra started seeming smaller with each passing week. Both our careers were now in a great place too and we could afford a bigger home. Anuj was a VP in a bank and I had just made partner in a consulting firm. So we finally bid our old apartment an emotional farewell, and moved into this big place in a fancy high security apartment complex.

The tenants association and the neighbors were very welcoming. So we had a house warming party to get to know them a week or so after everything was settled. It was at this party that I first met Ritwik Deb, our next door neighbor.

"I am telling you Mrs. Vyas, I know you from somewhere." he said for the umpteenth time.

"Maybe you just know someone who looks like her." his wife Mamta said. "All your attempts at unearthing a previous connection have failed."

"Maybe you've met her in the US. She keeps going there for her work." Anuj chimed in.

"No, I have never been to America." Mr. Deb said pensively. "Ah ha! Did you ever play chess competitively? I used to. Maybe we met at some tournament."

"Nope, sorry." I really had never met the man before in my life. And I have a pretty good memory for faces and names.

"Anyway, have you hired a maid yet, Mrs. Vyas? Ours is pretty good. I can bring her over tomorrow." Mamta changed the subject.

"Yes, that would be lovely. Thank you so much. And please call me Urja."

On a couple of other occasions that night, Ritwik tried to figure out the mystery of why I looked familiar to him. But we had no milestones from our past in common. We had grown up and lived in different cities. They had moved to Bombay from Cuttack only a year ago. We worked in different industries, had studied in different colleges, and didn't seem to have any other connections. We even checked Facebook and LinkedIn to see if we had any friends or acquaintances in common through whom we might have met. But nothing came up. And as I said, I am really good with faces and names. And I was absolutely positive I had never met him before.

Other than that mildly annoying obsession Ritwik had that night with finding out past connections, the Debs were a wonderful family. They had one son the same age as my elder one, and they became friends soon. Both boys were also interested in tennis, so they started attending coaching together. Mamta and I became friends too, and had a lot of interests and more importantly, disinterests in common. We both hated cricket, so when our husbands would sit with the boys to watch it, she and I bonded over books, movies, music, and cooking. Our families started doing a lot of things together, like eating out, going to picnics, even an IPL match that Mamta and I had to be dragged to.

Then we went on a trip together to Alibaug. The boys were busy with their own thing and the four of us were sitting on the hotel patio, drinking and chatting. I was on antibiotics so was drinking just juice. Anuj, Ritwik and Mamta were pretty buzzed though. When the waiter came to refill our drinks, Anuj stared at him.

"Hey....where do I know you from?"

"Sir?" the waiter asked, pouring soda in Anuj's glass.

"I have seen you somewhere before."

The waiter looked at Anuj. Then smiled.

"Yes sir. I used to work at the Bacchus Lounge in Juhu before this and I believe you came there quite often with your clients."

"Ah yes! What made you move here? Better pay?"

"Yes sir. Also, this is closer to my village."

The waiter left and Anuj beamed.

"I knew I had seen him before." Anuj said and took a couple of sips. "Which reminds me....Ritwik, did you ever figure out where you knew Urja from?"

Ritwik's response was a little odd. He looked at me with a very worried look on his face for a split second, then looked away and chugged down half his drink. And then said,

"No, no I didn't. Nope. I guess she just looks like someone I know."

"Who does she look like?" Mamta slurred.

"No one."

"But you said..."

"I was wrong, Mamta. By the way Anuj, I hear they might have Pollard open the batting next season."

I zoned out the cricket conversation as usual, but kept looking at Ritwik. He stole nervous glances at me a couple of times but kept talking to Anuj. Then Mamta started talking to me about a trip they were planning to Bangkok.

Fifteen minutes later, Anuj's cellphone rang. It was some client, so he went to the lobby to take the call. A few minutes later, Mamta got up to go to the bathroom. Usually I followed the worldwide women's convention of accompanying her, but this time I stayed put. When she was out of earshot, I looked at Ritwik, who was pointedly looking away from me.

"Ritwik, why did you lie?"

"What?" he laughed nervously. "I did not lie. About what?"

"About not knowing where you had seen me. Anuj and Mamta have had too much to drink to realize but I am fully sober. It is obvious that you are hiding something."

"No, Urja, trust me. I don't...."

"Come on, Ritwik. It is obvious how you avoided the questions and changed the subject." I said. "What I don't understand is, if we have met before, why don't I remember you at all?"

"You never saw me. I mean you never met me. I mean..." he said.

"How can I not have met you if you met me?"

"Listen Urja. Let's just drop this, okay?" he said, turning to make sure our spouses weren't back yet.

"I am not dropping it. I am curious now."

"Urja, it's.....please, just drop it."

"Nope!" I said triumphantly. "Now that you have admitted that you were hiding something, I have to know. I'll get Anuj and Mamta's help in convincing you."

"NO!" Ritwik put his glass down and started shaking a finger. "We cannot talk about this in front of them. Trust me about this."

"Why not in front of them? Did you meet me when you were out with some mistress?"

"What? Of course not! Just trust me. We can't go into this in front of them."

"At least tell me when. Or where."

"Will you just drop it for now and not bring it up in front of them if I tell you that?"

"Maybe." I said. "but be quick. Mamta has just stepped out of the washroom and will be back in a minute."

He turned around looked at his wife about 100 feet away and whispered.

"Some 15-20 years ago or so. Don't remember the exact date. And it was in the middle of the night somewhere around Dharwad. Off the Bombay-Bangalore Highway."

"Off the Bombay Bangalore highway in the middle.....oh........OH! OH!" I sat up in shock.

"Do you....understand? So just drop it."

I sat there, my mind in turmoil as it dawned on me. There was some chatter around me but I was lost in my own thoughts.

"Urja!" Mamta said, sitting down.

"Sorry, yeah?"

"I said that potpourri in there is very pretty looking."

"Is it?"

For the rest of the night, I avoided looking at or talking to Ritwik. A couple of hours later, we went to our respective room. Anuj fell asleep right away. But I lay there in bed, swept over by memories.