A Forgotten Affair

by Kanchana Banerjee

  ‘Wait … Cheeni, please tell me everything is all right.’

  ‘Nothing is all right, Akash. But I’m safe. Please reach here quickly.’

  About an hour later, Akash reached the locality mentioned on the address he had scribbled down. He didn’t like what he saw around him: the flats looked decrepit, the roads were lined with garbage. A few street vendors stood selling vegetables that looked far from fresh. The houses in the area had dirty, dust-lined windows.

  ‘What is Sagarika doing in a place like this?’ he thought as he approached the apartment mentioned in the address. He rang the bell. Almost immediately the door opened. Sagarika stood there. Akash almost broke down on seeing her.

  ‘Tell me you’re all right,’ he said, pulling her into his arms. ‘You aren’t hurt, are you … why are you here … what happened?’ That’s when he noticed the other two people in the room.

  ‘She has nothing to worry from us. My name is Jay. I’m the one who saved her life today.’

  ‘Sagarika, what’s happening? Why are you here?’ Akash looked at Jay and the woman next to him – she had bruises on her neck and face.

  ‘It’s a long story and you’d better brace yourself,’ Sagarika said, holding Akash’s hand tightly.

  ‘Jay saved me today from some people who tried to kidnap me. But for him I don’t know what would have happened…’

  ‘WHAT? You were about to be kidnapped … Who…’

  ‘Don’t look so shocked. Wait till you hear everything,’ she said.

  Sagarika could feel a headache coming on. She didn’t know where to begin. How could she narrate the shameful tale of deceit and lies that Rishab had woven? She swallowed her dismay, took a deep breath and continued.

  Pointing to Dia, Sagarika said, ‘This is the woman Rishab brought to me just after I woke up from coma and introduced as my cousin – Deepa Chowdhury.’

  Hatred shone in Sagarika’s eyes as she looked at the woman who had duped her for months. ‘Someone should give you an award for your performance, Deepa, sorry, Dia.’

  ‘I’m guessing there’s much more.’ Akash held her hand.

  Sagarika fished out the printouts and handed them to him. His expression went from surprise to horror to utter disgust.

  ‘I swear I didn’t know about this drug … this Forgetting Pill,’ Dia butted in. ‘Sagarika, believe me, Rishab never mentioned this in my presence.’

  ‘Yeah, but you knew that he was planning on getting me kidnapped. You knew that and never once thought about me. You never cared about me, Dia,’ Sagarika spat out.

  ‘Rishab had hired her,’ Sagarika continued. ‘She’s an escort. Her job was to pose as my cousin and keep telling me how wonderful my life was … how much my scheming husband loves me. He paid her and she did as instructed.’ Tears began to roll out of her eyes now.

  ‘Dia got the raw end of the deal too,’ Jay added. ‘Look at what Rishab has done to her. The marks and scars … he has physically tortured her.’

  As Akash looked on, stunned, at Dia’s scars and began to comprehend the events that had unfolded with Sagarika since morning, he realized that things had gone way out of hand.

  ‘I don’t feel any pity for you,’ Sagarika told Dia. ‘You got what you deser—’

  Akash stopped Sagarika before she could say anything further; this wasn’t the time to get into an altercation.

  ‘Cheeni,’ he said, ‘there’s no point in accusing anyone. We need to think about our next steps. Who can help us … is there anyone here who can?’

  ‘We could go to the cops,’ Jay suggested.

  ‘NO!’ Both Sagarika and Dia screamed out in unison.

  ‘You don’t know how well connected Rishab is,’ Dia said. ‘He’ll drag Sagarika home and throw you boys behind bars. And let’s not even think about what he will do with me…’

  ‘For once, I agree with her,’ Sagarika said. ‘But let me think … there’s someone who may be able to help. Someone who I think is sane in the head. Shekhar, Rishab’s best friend.’

  She had noticed how close Rishab and he were. Shekhar seemed relaxed and cool at all times, and on more than one occasion, she had seen him calm down her agitated husband.

  As Sagarika dialled his number, Akash asked, ‘Do you think it’s safe to call him? The two are best friends – why will he listen to you?’

  ‘At this point, I think he is the only person who can help us, Akash.’ Sagarika knew Akash’s concern was valid. But she went ahead and made the call anyway. Her instincts told her it was the right thing to do.

  ‘Hello, Shekhar,’ she said once he answered the phone. ‘Something serious has happened … I need to discuss it with you … Yes, that’s right … But not in Rishab’s presence, and I need you to promise me you will not call him about this or bring him along. I need to meet you.’

  They decided to call Shekhar to the homestay where Akash was staying. Sagarika insisted that Dia accompany them, so Jay offered to drive them.

  As the four of them bundled into the car – Akash got in with Sagarika in the rear – it became apparent that Sagarika could barely conceal her disgust of Dia. He turned towards her, placed his palm over hers and looked at her.

  ‘I’m there with you,’ he whispered lovingly.

  Sagarika tried to smile, but there were too many things going on in her head. The face of the man who sat next to her still didn’t trigger any memory, but every time he held her hand, every time he hugged her, she felt safe. Something deep inside her told her that she had been in his arms many times in the past and that she could trust him. As the car made its way to the homestay, Sagarika looked outside the window and thought about the past few months and what lay ahead. Although she felt at peace with Akash, something else was gnawing in her mind.

  How did I become so gullible and needy? Was I always like this … so dependent on others? So helpless and miserable, always at the mercy of my husband, or at the mercy of a stranger in a mall … Holding on to Akash for help, hoping Shekhar would intervene and drill some sense into my maniac husband…

  Sagarika was beginning to feel disgusted with herself, and her life in general.

  43

  Shekhar sat ashen faced, unable to believe what Sagarika, Jay and Dia told him. He shook his head in disbelief.

  ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I know Rishab has been on the edge but to do what all of you are telling … this isn’t him. I’ve known him since we were in college.’ He didn’t tell Sagarika that Rishab had confessed about the drug to him but when she showed him the printouts taken from his study, he realized that the matter had gone out of hand: Rishab had had detailed discussions with scientists and had specifically asked if they could give him the drug.

  My god! Rishab. What were you thinking? Were you actually considering using it on Rika?

  ‘Shekhar, none of this is a cooked-up story,’ Sagarika said. ‘It has happened. Why would I even make up any of this? I have endured it. Dia has been used. It is time to end this. All this … it has to stop. Rishab has to be stopped. You’re his best friend. You have to help us stop him.’

  Shekhar was deep in thought. His mind went back to the anguished phone call from Rishab on the afternoon of 10 July 2006 in Mumbai, the day before the train bombings.

  ‘She wants to leave me, Shekhar! Says she’s unhappy. That I don’t understand her…’ Rishab was tripping over his words and Shekhar couldn’t fathom what was happening.

  He didn’t expect Rishab to handle the news calmly – no man could. But his level of agitation bordered on hysteria.

  ‘Rishab, just calm down, please. We’ll get a great lawyer and everything will be taken care of,’ he said. Shekhar could sense that his friend was worried that Sagarika would lay claims on his assets and wealth. But something told him that this wasn’t about money at all: it was about rejection. Rishab had been a winner all his life – his rags-to-riches story, rising up the social ladder from a small chawl in Mumbai to a dynamic business honcho had been nothing short of ex
traordinary. All of Rishab’s acquaintances thought of Rishab and Sagarika as the perfect couple. And now Sagarika was rejecting him and this fairytale picture of their life he’d so carefully put together.

  ‘What have I not given her? Everything she needs, wants and wishes for is fulfilled,’ Rishab had said. ‘And she wants to walk out of it for some penniless writer … leaving me to look like a bloody moron … a fucking fool…’

  Shekhar didn’t like the way his friend was ranting but he dismissed it as a reaction to the news of a possible separation.

  ‘Just calm down,’ he said, trying to placate Rishab. ‘I’ll talk to her. Things will sort out.’

  But Rishab was unstoppable. ‘She wants to leave me, Shekhar. Leave me! I will not let her. I will not allow her.’

  The next day, when the news came in about the bomb blasts, he accompanied Rishab to every hospital and morgue looking for Sagarika. When they found her in the battered half-dead state and she slipped into coma, he felt miserable how things were turning out for his best friend.

  Still, he was hopeful.

  When she wakes up, everything will be fine between them. I’m sure.

  Months later, when Sagarika woke up from coma and the doctors said she had a memory wipe-out, his heart went out to Rishab. ‘I can’t imagine what he must be going through. It just seems like fate wants to crush him,’ he confided in Anahita.

  But slowly he began to notice that something was amiss. It seemed as though Rishab didn’t want to accept what had happened. His decision to keep her in the hospital even when she was fit to be released, moving her to Gurgaon and not taking her to the Mumbai flat at all, made Shekhar wonder whether all was well with his friend. He often tried to broach the topic, but Rishab always had a convincing excuse at hand: ‘No, no. It’ll much easier to care for her in the hospital. What if a convulsion struck at night? I wouldn’t know what to do. And I have to travel. Can’t leave her in the care of maids.’

  When Shekhar questioned him about the shift to Gurgaon, Rishab said confidently, ‘New city, new life and a new a beginning.’ He’d seemed so sure of his decision. Shekhar had tried to tell him what he felt, that it was a mistake to take her away from familiar Mumbai. But he chose not to.

  And then there was the explosive face-off he had with Rishab. The timeline of email printouts revealed that Rishab had gone back to discussing the drug with one of the scientists even after Shekhar had tried to drill some sense into him.

  ‘You obviously know something you aren’t telling us,’ Akash said, interrupting Shekhar’s chain of thought.

  ‘Well,’ Shekhar said, ‘I had my doubts that he was spiralling into an abyss. But honestly, I had no clue about all this.’ There wasn’t any point in telling them that Rishab had confessed to him about the drug.

  ‘There’s no point in sitting here and talking,’ Shekhar said. ‘Obviously he is in the wrong and needs to be stopped. But that can be achieved only by meeting him. Sitting here and abusing him will serve no purpose. I think Rika should come home with me. I’ll take it from here.’

  Akash moved in quickly between Shekhar and Sagarika, firmly planting himself before the latter. ‘She isn’t going anywhere. I’m not letting her go near that psycho. Get that clear,’ he said.

  ‘Is that your decision or does Rika have any say in that?’ Shekhar said, glaring back at him.

  Both men turned towards her, looking for an answer.

  44

  Sagarika sat in Akash’s room, having dinner with him. A few minutes earlier, Shekhar had taken their leave and promised to speak with Rishab immediately and ensure that he didn’t do anything further to harm Sagarika. Dia and Jay had gone back to the latter’s apartment.

  Both Akash and Sagarika knew a storm was brewing. Avoiding it wasn’t an option. It would require all the strength they had to withstand its onslaught.

  After everyone had left, Akash and Sagarika had tried to not think about the events that had unfolded over the past twenty-four hours and behave as normally as possible.

  ‘Tell me more about us,’ Sagarika said, getting comfortable on a sofa. Akash sat down beside her and put his legs on the centre table.

  ‘I told you na that day.’ He smiled at her.

  ‘Tell me more. There must be a lot more,’ she prodded.

  ‘You want the boring truth or the juicy uncensored version? I’m a writer after all … still unpublished, but a writer nevertheless.’

  ‘The truth, please. I think I’ve had enough juiced-up manufactured truth to last me a lifetime.’

  Before she could lapse into her thoughts, Akash started telling her about the various trips they took, their favourite places and what they liked to eat. As he spoke, Akash looked at her pensive face.

  Will she ever remember all of them? Each memory is so special and beautiful.

  For Sagarika it felt like walking down memory lane blindfolded. He sighed and fell silent as did she.

  ‘You mentioned you are a writer,’ Sagarika said by way of changing the topic.

  ‘Yes, I’m writing my first novel.’

  ‘Wow! What’s it about?’

  ‘A man and a woman. The man has lost the love of his life and he sets out to find her.’

  ‘Does he find her?’

  Akash kept quiet and walked to the nearby window. Spring was in the air and the trees were in full bloom after months of winter. He took a deep breath. The air felt clean and fresh; dusty summer was still sometime away.

  Sagarika decided not to press on and asked him something else. ‘How much of the novel is done?’

  ‘About eighty thousand words.’

  ‘Wow! That sounds like a lot. You must be quite inspired to write so much.’

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Since the day you disappeared without a word, every time I missed you and thought of you, I wrote.’ He continued staring out of the window. It was difficult to see her, sit next to her and know that she remembered nothing. Rika could feel his distress, but didn’t know how to console him.

  ‘Do you know how miserable I felt … how much it hurt? Every single day, every waking minute to wait for a message, a call, some news. To pass each day in silence. Do you know how much that hurt, Cheeni? I missed you so much, baby. I missed you so much.’

  Unable to control himself any more, he rushed to her, knelt down, put his head on her lap and hugged her, trying to stop the sobs that shook his body.

  Sagarika hugged him back. He looked so broken. As he sat with his head buried on her lap, she ran her fingers gently through his hair.

  ‘I’m glad you’re in my life, Akash,’ she said.

  ‘I can’t be without you any more,’ he replied. ‘You’re mine. Cheeni … you are mine.’

  The touch of her fingers, the comfortable familiarity of her embrace, and a confirmation that her husband was indeed a psycho – Akash felt as if the wind was finally blowing in his direction.

  ‘I’m going to take you home, Cheeni. Don’t you worry, I’m going to take you home,’ Akash told himself.

  Just at that moment, his cellphone rang. It was a Mumbai number. With half a mind to disconnect, he answered it.

  ‘Akash?’ a woman asked in a clear and crisp voice. ‘This is Roohi. I’m Sagarika’s friend.’

  Akash almost jumped on hearing her name.

  ‘Oh hi! Thank you for calling me back, Roohi. Yes, she’s with me,’ he said. ‘She’s fine. No … her memory isn’t back yet. Roohi, listen, you have to come to Gurgaon now. It can’t wait. Too many things have happened. And can you get Rika’s mother too? It’s urgent.’

  When Akash hung up, he was barely able to contain his excitement. ‘Today has truly been an amazing day! That was Roohi, your best friend. The two of you are soulmates,’ he said.

  As he proceeded to tell her about her deep friendship with Roohi, Sagarika began thinking.

  Rishab got someone and said she’s my cousin. I believed him. Now Akash is saying that Roohi is my best friend. Am I supposed to believe him? When
will my memory return? When will I stop depending on others to tell me about my life? WHEN?

  ‘Sagarika?’ Akash shook her elbow, gently surprised by the look on her face. ‘Is everything okay?’

  ‘It’s just … it’s just that I’m tired of hearing about myself and my life from other people,’ she sighed. ‘I feel so helpless! I know you mean well, but I trusted Rishab about Deepa – I did treat her as my cousin. I’d grown to enjoy her company, I even looked forward to her company. And today, after all this time, I learn…’ Sagarika started sobbing.

  Although momentarily offended, Akash understood her point of view. She had been fed so many lies, she had become hesitant about trusting anyone blindly.

  An idea struck him. He fetched his laptop. ‘Login to your Facebook page,’ he told her. ‘I hope you remember your password.’

  ‘That’s something I can never forget. Even when I forgot everything else, that word continued to haunt me and so did the memory of your perfume, Essenza Di Wills Mikkel. Isn’t that the name of your perfume?’ Wiping away her tears, she typed the word ‘cheeni’.

  ‘That’s your password? Cheeni?’ He pulled her head closer and kissed her temple. ‘My silly, sweet, gorgeous Cheeni,’ he murmured.

  As her page loaded, Akash helped her navigate to Roohi’s page and the albums featuring photos of the two women. He also pointed out her comments on Roohi’s posts, and vice versa.

  ‘This one is your friend, baby. Your true friend. I know people have lied, schemed and plotted against you in the past. People you trusted have betrayed and hurt you. But Roohi – don’t ever doubt her. Trust me, she’s your rock.’

  ‘And you?’ she asked impulsively and then looked sheepish.

  Akash looked long and deep into her eyes, grazed her fingers with his, stroking her hand with his thumb and then lifted it to kiss her open palm. He balled her palm into a fist, cupped it with both his hands and looked at her, his gaze steady and unwavering.

  Without even a hint of hesitation in his voice he said, ‘You are the love of my life. My reason to be.’