In a
wintry afternoon Sayak decided to drop by there. The place which use to haunt
him like hell. He hadn't gone there since Ritika left him. He was so paranoid
about this place then that he also used to avoid the road, leading in front of
that flat. The flat where so many of his memories crammed up in 840 sqft. Too
many memories for his 27 years of life probably.
The
mid December Sun is about to set out by coloring the skyline with dash of
bright orange. The wintry afternoon always makes Sayak gloomy so he has on lean
on the best memories. The watchman smiled at him. Gosh! He still remembers me.
He waved his hand in reply. He parks the car and came out and straight headed
to the Lift. The slight craggy corridor beckoned him. He opened the door of his
flat slowly. He has to vacate it within this month. The flat where he and
Ritika saw many dreams together. As he approached towards Bedroom a familiar
smell began to hit his sense. The smell is so familiar to him. One night when
he and Ritika were making out Ritika told him that she can sense his smell
within a distance.
Sayak
came to the terrace. This is the place which is closest to his heart. They both
went loggers head with each other for this open balcony as he was so much
reluctant to take this flat because of the open balcony. He is little
acrophobic but finally he gave in and took the flat in rent. Later on he
realized if he hadn’t rent out this flat, he would have missed some beautiful
memories from his life. Once they spent the entire night of in the couch in
their open terrace, counting stars. Another day Ritika made Sayak to skip his
office just to watch Rain-swept Kolkata from their 12th floor
terrace. The bougainvillea tree looked deserted & dusty. May be he is also
got tired like Sayak. Tired of silence. Tired of its own existence. Once these
flowers used to adorn in someone’s bun but now they too felt deserted, getting
accustomed to the silence of the room.
Sayak
went to the bedroom. The three door cub board is still open. Much of their
precious and important things they both took away with them. What left back
were little pieces of Sayak and Ritika which someday needed to be trashed, somewhere.
Sayak opened the cupboard. Ritika’s sunglasses are lying and so is
her blue colour scarf which Sayak bought during their Goa Trip. A blue envelope
with full of dust is resting in the farthest corner. Sayak opened the envelope.
Some black & white random photographs came out. He remembered once during
his random photo session he clicked some beautiful photographs of Ritika and
printed them out from the studio just to woo Ritika. Memories such a thing you
love to linger on. Every damn thing in this 840 sqft has its own story, has its
own reason to stay here without the one person Sayak love the most. The packet
beside the envelope contains a wallet which Ritika gave her in the last Valentine’s
Day.
Sayak’s
heart ached profusely when, in a distracted moment, in that room, Sayak realized
that he is going to miss someone for rest of his life and to his surprise in
that unsettled moment he discovered the depth of their attachment at that
abandoned place. At that particular moment, in midst of awkward silence, he
probably reinvents the Love for Ritika once again.
