OCTOBER 2015, NEWTOWN, KOLKATA,
The worst day of my existence. It was a Saturday, and as usual, Mr. Khanna gave me a tonne of paperwork to complete. I had to work on it over time in order to finish it, which caused severe fatigue. I finished my job at 8 o’clock. I was lucky to have my own scooter.
I had finished my office duties and was going home. My scooty broke down as I was travelling. I attempted to figure out why, and when I did, I discovered that the gas tank was completely empty.
‘Nooooo……’, I screamed loudly.
Hopefully no one could hear it.
I don’t know why, but that night the motorway seemed incredibly unsettling. There weren’t any more cars passing. I was still 2kilometers away from my apartment. I parked my scooter at a nearby parking area because I didn’t think it was safe to ask for a lift, then I began to walk to my room.
86 In the Arms of a Soldier I was frightened by the blackness and silence. So I made the decision to contact Vikrant. If he is open, he will provide me with company.
After 7 or 8 rings, he answered the phone.
When he picked up the phone, he immediately inquired, ‘Hey Prano, how are you?’
I tiredly retorted, ‘Not well.’
‘What happened?’ I told him the whole tale, concluding,
‘Today is really worse.’
‘What? So, where are you now?’ he questioned.
‘Still 2 kilometers away from my apartment.’
He replied, ‘Wait there, I’ll send someone to get you,’
‘No no, there is no need,’ I declared.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes’
‘Okay then’.
I was being wounded by the piercing air. Unfortunately, I chose to wear my best black sleeveless skirt, which turned out to be the worst outfit choice of the day. However, the sky was as gorgeous as it always is. The stars were brilliant. The moon had a distinctive glamour shine.
I questioned Vikrant, ‘Hey, where are you right now?’
‘Room. Then why?’
‘Will you kindly join me on the terrace?’ I requested.
‘Okay, but why? ‘
‘Come no’, I said innocently.
‘Okay. Just a moment,’ he urged.
After a short while, he said, ‘Ok, now tell me.’
I enquired, ‘Can you see the stars?’
‘Yes, they are beautiful, but not more so than you.’
I laughed and said, ‘Ha.. ha., joke of the day.’
‘No, I’m not joking.’
‘Oh, okay. Thank you,’ I said.
‘You know what,’ he said, ‘I prefer this darkness to light.’
‘Oh, and why is that?’ I excitedly enquired.
‘You know, there is calmness and peace in it,’
‘Ya’
‘And in the dark, no one is different; everyone is the same.’
‘Correct,’ I replied.
‘You know what I do when I’m upset?’
‘What?’
‘I go to the terrace, put earbuds in my ears, play old love tunes, and look up at the stars,’ he said.
‘How lovely!’
‘Yes,’ he answered.
‘When I look at the sky, I think of my childhood,’ I said. ‘You know something, when I was a child, in our colony, we all used to play hide and seek at first,’ she said. ‘Then we used to play Antaxari after supper. After that, my grandmother would tell us scary tales that she claimed were true’ I continued with a grin.
‘What? True scary tales?’
‘Those were some really lovely days,’ I said.
From behind me, I could hear one motorbike. It became clear that it was KTM when I turned. After approaching me, it abruptly halted. This KTM guy inquired, ‘May I drop you?’ I couldn’t tell who he was because his helmet obscured his visage.
I answered him, ‘No thanks.’
He urged Pranali, ‘Come on, I’ll drop you.’ I don’t know how he knows my name.
88 In the Arms of a Soldier I enquired, ‘How do you know me?’
I overheard Vikrant on my cell phone asking, ‘What is going on, Prano?’
I told him, ‘Hold on a second.’ The KTM man took off his headgear. And he was, in fact, AKASH. Akash who? Already forgotten? He is the one who asked me out at the bus stop. He is the only individual I truly despise.
‘You recognised me?’ he enquired.
‘You?’ I snapped, ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I was simply driving by when I realised that my future bride needed my assistance. I therefore came here to assist you,’ and upon hearing that, my thoughts completely lost control. My outrage grew.
‘What the hell?’ I asked furiously, ‘Who knows what you are talking about.’
‘Wait, wait, wait.’ He said shamelessly, ‘First we will go to your room, then we will talk.’
I said, ‘No way.’ Call was still ringing.
He yelled, ‘Come on, Pranali,’ and seized my right palm. That was adequate. I gave him a firm smack in the face.
I yelled, ‘Go to hell,’ and then I began to move. I hung up the phone and put my phone in my purse. He may leave now, but I was mistaken.
He put his bike aside and approached me. He gave me a backhanded smack and said, ‘How dare you.’ My head struck the ground after I fell on the sidewalk. I lost consciousness.
I don’t know what happened, but when I woke up, I was in a dark room. It was so black that I couldn’t see anything around me. My wrists and legs were tied down, and there was a piece of cloth covering my mouth. I felt really scared, and I was sweating profusely. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me or why it was happening.
‘Oh God, please save me,’ I cried out in prayer. My only chance there was in him. When we notice that all doorways are shut, we act in that manner. We pray that he will rescue us. I was forced to turn to God in prayer.
When I was crying about my fortune, I heard some noise.
Someone walked into the space. I grew more frightened. I discover that he was Akash once more when the lights were switched on. All of this was his doing. He was grinning wickedly. He approached me and took off the piece of cloth covering my lips.
‘Why are you acting in this way? I beg you. Please leave me.
What do you want from me?’ I said yelling.
He said, ‘You, I want you.’
‘Leave me alone, please.’ His smile returned.
‘You know what, if you had accepted my love, none of this would have occurred. However, you didn’t. You were courting that soldier the entire time,’ I was surprised to learn. ‘I was watching every move you made. You understand how I felt, right? I love a lady who is seeing someone else. Later, I’ll deal with him.’ He began to approach me and said, ‘First I will deal with you.’ In his gaze, I could see the devil.
‘Help, help, help!’ I screamed as loud as I could. But, I suppose, nobody paid it any attention. He brutally seized my visage. I was attempting to break free of his hold, but it was beyond my power.
Once more, I lost consciousness.
I discovered myself on the bed when I opened my eyes. I was in my room, lying on my bed. I felt stunned. Was it just a dream?
I felt stunned. I was attempting to recall what had occurred. It seemed to be a hallucination. My eyes immediately began to tear up as soon as I recalled the entire situation.
I got out of bed and glanced at myself in the mirror. I had some scratches on my torso, and my dress had some tears in it.
Not a nightmare, exactly. From the entryway, I could hear some noise. I arrived at the hall to find out what it was. When I saw one tall man sleeping on a sofa, I was terrified. Looking at him gave
90 In the Arms of a Soldier me goosebumps. He wore a cloth over his face, so I couldn’t tell who he was. Is he Akash once more? He is who? A thief?
I chose a flowerpot and decided to strike his skull. I slowly began to form a line in his direction. When he took off his handkerchief and opened his eyes, I lifted a flowerpot to strike him.
He was Vikrant.
‘Vikrant?’ I surprised myself by asking, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I tripped over a flowerpot, breaking it into a hundred fragments.
‘What exactly am I doing here? Do you not recall what transpired the previous evening?’
‘No,’ I answered.
‘All right, I’ll tell you. I’ll return after first going to my house,’
‘No, first tell me what happened last evening’
‘Settle down; I’ll be back shortly.’ He declared, ‘In reality, I have a fantastic plan for today.
‘What plan? Please make it obvious no,’ I said innocently.
‘All right I will tell you. First sit here calmly’.
I said, ‘All right,’ and sat down on the couch. He was in front of me.
‘Now inform,’ I irritably said.
‘So, last night while we were on a call, I heard a guy’s voice, and it sounded like you were arguing with him. It got me worried because I thought something might be wrong. We ended our call after I heard you shouting, and that made me even more uneasy.
So, I made a decision to come and check on you.
‘But when I came here, to this place, I found that the entrance was locked from the outside. That was a clear sign that something was definitely not right.
‘I contacted my group and asked them to help me trace your phone number. And guess where they traced your phone’s location?
You were out in the woods, far away from the city. When I got to that location, I noticed an old house. You were inside that house, as my team had informed me.
‘I tried to open the door, but it was locked from the inside.
I had no other option but to break it open. Here’s where it gets intense—my instincts told me that as soon as I entered that building, someone might try to attack me from behind. And you know what? My instincts were right.
‘When I turned around, I saw a man pointing a stick at me. I quickly grabbed that stick and, well, let’s just say he tried to fight me. But I need to tell you, I’m a Para Commando, so it was like a warm-up for me. I hit him on the forehead, and he passed out.’
‘One woman was unconscious when I spun around and found her in the corner of the room. I realised she was YOU when I got near to her. You had a terrible appearance. You had rope tied around your wrists and legs. I was done then. That was enough to bring me to a full simmer. No one can harm my friend because I am Captain Vikrant Shergil of the Para Commandos.’
I responded, ‘What? What happened then?’
‘I made that idiot aware that the human body contains 206
bones, all of which can break at once and cause excruciating pain.’
‘You did that?’
‘Of course, I brought you here after that. While you were unconscious, you were saying, “Please help me; stay with me,”
even though I had already made the decision to leave. I therefore made the decision to remain. You’re now asking me what the heck I’m doing in this place. Good, very good.’
I was stunned after listening him. My hands, knees, and feet were all shaking. My eyes began to well up with tears.
‘What happened, Prano?’ he naively questioned. I sobbed, blotting away my tears, ‘Nothing.’ He was sympathetic to what I was going through. He drew near and gently grasped my face.
‘Prano, you are a brave girl. Strong girl never tears, either.
So please cease crying,’ he said, wiping away my tears. ‘And no
92 In the Arms of a Soldier matter what happens, I will always be by your side,’ he added.
‘I’ll always be there for you. I’m always here to keep you safe. I’ll defend you till the very end. Leave it to my name.’
His words, ‘Leave it to my name,’ deeply affected me. I lost all sense of reality and gave him a tight embrace, really close. I pleaded with him to never leave me. Actually, I had no idea what I was saying or doing at the moment.
He rested his right palm on my head and said, ‘I’ll be there for you Pranali, I swear.’
Wow, what a time that was.
In that one hug, the anguish I had been holding in burst forth.
In his arms, I felt incredibly secure, content, and pleased. I had the impression that I was looking for this. He assured me that he would be there for me no matter what happened by placing his hand on my head.
I eventually regained my wits. I recoiled and took two steps back. For a brief moment, we were quiet.
‘Now, start to be fresh.’ He broke the hush by saying, ‘We’re leaving.’
‘Where?’
‘Just be prepared. I will be back in 2 hours,’ he advised before walking away. I was interested in our destination.
‘Are we going on a date? And if it’s a date, I need to make a lot more preparations,’ I told myself.
…
Our first official date had me feeling a mix of emotions
– excitement and nervousness all at once. I had those classic
"butterflies in my stomach" because, unlike most girls, I was about to go on a date with a Para Commando, Captain Vikrant.
I freshened up as per Vikrant’s orders, even though my body still ached from past wounds. But none of that mattered now because Vikrant’s embrace had a magical way of healing not just my physical wounds but also my heart and mind.
The big question was, what should I wear? It was our first date, and Vikrant and I were going out alone for the very first time. I opened my closet, filled with many beautiful exquisite, but choosing the right one was a dilemma. I found myself missing Nimrit, my friend, at that moment. I remembered Vikrant once saying that I looked stunning in pink. So, after much pondering, I decided on a long, pink Anarkali dress.
Thankfully, I had a facial just two days before, so my complexion had a natural glow. Vikrant had also mentioned his love for the beauty of nature, so I kept my makeup simple – just pink lipstick on my lips and a touch of powder on my forehead.
I gave myself one final look in the mirror, and felt satisfied with my choice.
My inner voice proclaimed, ‘Vikrant is going to die.’
‘Thank you,’ I replied.
I came off as foolish. My phone began to vibrate. Vikrant made the call.
‘Ready?’ he questioned.
‘Yes’
‘Then hurry up. I’m waiting by the parking lot.’
‘Just a moment,’ I retorted.
Even though it was rainy season, the day was bright. The breeze was warm. I left my apartment sometime around 11am. In the parking lot, where Vikrant was waiting for me, I went. He was staring in the opposite direction as I was. His huge bums, if you’ll pardon the expression, were all I could see of him. Surprisingly, he matched my frock with a pink full-sleeved shirt.
What an amazing chance, huh?
Certainly, here’s a more elaborate version: I began, drawing near to him. I gently placed my hand on his shoulders, prompting him to swivel around to face me. There was a momentary pause as he seemed taken aback.
94 In the Arms of a Soldier He swivelled around. He paused before saying, ‘Okay,’ and then he began gazing at me with his eyes wide open. His jaw was also open.
My inner voice said, ‘I told you, he’s going to die.’
I said, ‘Vikrant.’
‘You, Aa..a.,’ he stammered, his eyes widened, and his jaw hung slightly open.
Puzzled, I inquired, ‘What?’
Despite his initial struggle with words, he managed to say,
‘You are looking really beautiful, Prana.’
I graciously accepted the compliment, responding with a simple, ‘Thank you.’
We embarked on our journey on my scooter, as per Vikrant’s request. He took the driver’s seat, and I settled into the back. My right palm rested on his shoulder as we made our way.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I couldn’t resist asking,
‘Where are we going?’
Vikrant, with a hint of excitement, replied, ‘To a theatre.’ The anticipation of our destination filled the air as we drove along, ready to enjoy an evening together.
“Pixels” was the movie.
After that we queued towards hotel “Royal Bengal” for lunch. We both craved spicy cuisine, so we both placed an order for “Chicken Kolhapuri”. If you enjoy spicy food and are not a vegetarian, you must taste it.
As the sun slowly descended, we decided to visit the "Victoria Memorial," an impressive marble structure nestled in the heart of Kolkata, dedicated to Queen Victoria. It was a remarkable experience. The Victoria Memorial Museum housed an impressive array of 25 rooms, each with its unique treasures.
Among the highlights were the central hall, the sculpture gallery, the arms and armoury gallery, the Kolkata museum, the
royal gallery, the national leader’s gallery, the portrait gallery, and the gallery of portraits. Additionally, the museum boasted a collection of rare and antiquarian books, including volumes on Thumri music, illustrated writings of William Shakespeare, and tales from the Arabian Nights. We also admired various portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
After exploring the museum, we ventured into the courtyard area. There, we discovered statues, a graceful bridge, and a majestic statue of Queen Victoria seated on her throne. We took our time to soak in the ambience before finding a comfortable spot to rest.
Our gaze turned westward, where the sun was preparing to set.
The evening, often considered the most enchanting time of day, unfolded before us. As the sun dipped lower, the sky transformed into a mesmerising canvas, painted with hues ranging from vibrant orange to vivid pink. The golden disc of the sun gradually faded, leaving behind its final rays. It was a spectacle that held the power to alleviate any tension, made even more soothing by the gentle breeze that rustled through the air.
As the stars began to twinkle and the moon had already emerged, we found ourselves pondering the calming effect of twilight. It’s a time that offers respite for the mind, allowing it to momentarily escape the worries of the past and the anxieties of the future.
And so, in that tranquil moment, we both sat there, peacefully immersed in the beauty of the fading sun and the soothing embrace of twilight.
Breaking the silence, Vikrant inquired, ‘Enjoyed?’
I responded with enthusiasm, ‘A lot.’
After an extended, somewhat uneasy pause, Vikrant gathered his thoughts and asked, ‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Of course,’ I replied, welcoming the conversation.
He ventured further, ‘Are you dating anyone?’
96 In the Arms of a Soldier Without hesitation, I replied, ‘No.’
For reasons known only to him, he heaved a sigh and responded with a resigned, ‘Okay.’
Curiosity aroused, he delved deeper, asking, ‘So, any ex?’
I acknowledged, ‘Yes, I did have one.’
Vikrant’s interest was piqued, and he probed, ‘Oh, what happened?’
I began recounting the story of my past relationship.
‘I agreed to his proposal when I was 16 years old. His name is Shiv. He is eight years my senior. However, I believed that he truly loved me and would never abandon me. And when you genuinely love someone, age differences don’t matter. I was devoted to him.
He was obviously my first love, so I had to ask,’
‘Then?’
‘Our relationship lasted three years. The situation was excellent. We were both content. But eventually, disagreements emerged. First, we used to talk nonstop. Then we agreed to have a set time for speaking. Then once every two days. Next, once per week. Then, he totally stopped paying attention to me. Yes. I was mistaken when I initially assumed that it was because of his education.
‘I made the decision to surprise him one day by going to his house. But it was me who was taken by surprise. Shiv and his new girlfriend opened the door just as I was about to ring the doorbell.
She held his hand as they both grinned without acknowledging my presence. That’s when I realised the reality.’
‘Then?’
‘Nothing; this concludes our tale. They are now happily married and leading fulfilling lives,’ I said.
‘Okay,’ he responded.
I added, ‘But you know what, I really loved him.’
He merely retorted, ‘Hmm.’
I asked myself, ‘Idiot, was there any need to say that?’
Suddenly, I continued to hold onto his shoulders. I accidentally said, ‘Hey, don’t worry, I am still a virgin.’
‘What are you saying, idiot?’ Once more, my inner voice asks,
‘Do you have any idea of it?’
Vikrant’s blue irises were protruding. He did not anticipate hearing that from me.
Oh, dear.
He gave me a startled glance for a short while. Then, though, hilarity broke out in full force. I followed him in.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I couldn’t resist asking,
‘Do you have any girlfriends?’ Inwardly, I hoped for a "no."
My heart leaped with joy when Vikrant answered in the affirmative, ‘No.’
I sighed in relief.
I couldn’t help but probe further, ‘Any ex?’
To my surprise, Vikrant responded, ‘I had one,’ and at that moment, it felt like my heart shattered into a million pieces.
Desiring to know more, I asked, ‘What happened then?’
Vikrant began to share his past, ‘Kriti is her name. She didn’t want me to enlist in the Indian Army.’
‘What?’ I was taken aback by this revelation.
Vikrant continued, ‘Yes. She gave me an ultimatum. It was either the Army or her. Love or my dream.’
‘And you chose your dream, right?’ I inquired.
With a thoughtful ‘Hmm,’ Vikrant confirmed his choice.
‘I’m still a virgin, though,’ he continued. Now, it was my irises that bulged. Another fit of laughter broke out, but this time it was coming from me.
‘And could you please do me a favour?’ he enquired.
‘What?’
‘Stop constantly focusing on my butts. You know, it is pretty humiliating.’
Oh shit, he noticed it.
I was so humiliated that I said, ‘Aaa.. sorry.’
He exclaimed, ‘Ha ha ha.’ I followed suit.
I had many of questions swirling in my mind. What was it that made Vikrant and me different? Why did he rush to my aid when I was in danger? Why did he always come to rescue me? Was he just a good guy, or was there something more? And why did I feel so comfortable when we talked? Was it just a friendship, or was it something deeper?
After that day, life had kept us both busy. I had a mountain of tasks to tackle, which meant I had to put in extra hours at work.
When I finally got back to my apartment, I’d collapse into bed, sometimes even skipping dinner. But the moment I talked to Vikrant, all my fatigue seemed to vanish.
