A faceless name... A nameless face...

"Shalini, I think we need to sell the old Gold that abaa had given us..."

"Why... what happened at the Bank?"

"The Loan got sanctioned, but it would just take care of Abhi's fees. What about other expenses?"

"Who?"

"Abhi, our elder son..."

"Aaah... who?"

"Abhi..." he calls out...

"Yea?" A boy sitting on a recliner in front of the TV turns around... Shalini recognizes him...

"Oh... But, Should we really sell the Gold? I mean, can't we manage the expenses from our pensions?"

"And what about his expenses? He will go out with friends, eat out some times, and who knows when we may need money for the medical treatments... We better keep some spare for safety..."

"You don't have Diabetes or Blood Pressure, Mayur, what treatment?"

"Yea, but..."

"OK, fine... so when do we sell it?"

"I have to go there again, so just give me the key to the locker, I'll check on the Gold stocks."

She goes to her wardrobe, pulls out a drawer and from within all the mess, withdraws a very old silk purse and walks to the hall... As she hands over the purse to Mayur, something pops out from one of its creases and rolls down below the sofa...

"Abhi, make her take the pills... I'll be home for Lunch..."

"Ok" she says and kneels down to find a blue button behind one of the legs of the sofa...

...

"Why can't he understand such simple things? Was it too much to expect from him to call me up and tell me he is not coming? He knew I was going to wait even if it took him a lifetime to arrive... He has changed so much from what he was when our love was in its blossoms..."

Her maskara was getting smudged in the rain but that did not bother her... She had already got drenched waiting for Rishabh at the Bus stop... They were supposed to meet at the Pizza Hut some 3 hours back... She felt peace as the raindrops slapped her face... It's science... When you are extremely angry and someone gives you one tight slap... notice that instead of getting angrier, you feel an eternal calmness...

They had declared a Curfew at 6... Bal Thakery abused the East, Raj Thakery offended the North, and Uddhav Thakery... with a feeling that he was disrespecting the family tradition... had now kicked the Southies... and they were in absolutely no mood of taking it in... Then the usual... Blames and Riots and Threats...

Here she was... cursing everything that came into her mind... including the handful of rickshawalas who refused to take her in... "If they don't want to take fares, why are they wandering at this hour..." She looked into her wristwatch... Kriti had gifted it to her on her first day at job... The small hand was a little below 8... Her legs were aching... "I deserve this... I need to be punished for loving a man like him... I need to be punished for believing in him when he said he will keep me happy for the rest of our lives... I need to be punished for not listening to my friends and rushing into the relationship... And now that I have fought with everyone who was once close to me... I have no other choice but to keep taking the crap... He has become more of a need to me..."

BANG!!! CRASH!!!

She felt a hard shake in her brain... The ground had thundered... She could see a bright yellow shade on the buildings in front of her... She turned around... Apart from the dense smoke, she was able to figure out the blazing structure located where the Pizza Hut building stood few seconds ago... She couldn't take her eyes off it...

Till the time she gulped the full impact of what was happening... She was swooped a good 10 feet into a dark slot of a wall... Her head banged on the wall... He cupped her mouth when she was about to scream and pressed her up on the wall... In spite of the suddenness of everything, she tried to think about this man...

It struck her... She had read about it in news... Having lived in 5 different localities since her childhood, she had seen a variety of people... From her girl friends at the London Business School where she used to study, to her one time maid who used to live in Dharavi... None ever had gone through this... Her worst nightmares seemed so subtle at the moment...

She was electrified... She was going to be raped... She had always thought, living a life of a rape victim was the worst... worse than even getting brutally murdered by that person... She wanted to live... She wanted to be clean and pure... She did not want to loose her dignity...

There was a siren at a distance... A new hormone of hope evolved... Sensing a weak grip, she tried with all her strength to push him away... He stumbled a bit... But not enough for her to escape... "He is so strong... I wish Rishabh..." And through her struggle, the siren passed away... She felt as if life was sucked out of her...

She waited to die... and waited... and waited... then wondered... what was this person up to??

From the time she was pushed on to the wall, he was just holding her... he did not make any sexual advancements... Nor had he tried to touch her in a wrong way... She laid still...

"He is wearing spectacles... This man is not going to fuck me...!! He is not a rapist...!!" Only Jesus knows what made her make such conclusions... She experienced the truest meaning of the word 'relief'! She wanted to kiss him... for not raping her...

There was a noise at a distance... She now was conscious about his movements... Tried to decipher his intentions...

He was anxious... or maybe afraid... His heart was thudding against her breasts... She realized him to be a Malayalee when his hair oil made way to her nostrils... He could sense her subsiding struggle to escape... He lightened his grip on her mouth so that she could breathe...

A mob passed from the nearby street... Yelling abuses at the South Indians... She could feel a stiffness in his fingers through her lips... He was so powerfully still, she wondered whether he even breathed...

Zap!!! She wanted him... She wanted to love him... She wanted to put her arms around him and kiss him passionately... She wished she were his South Indian Girlfriend... and instead of just shutting her up, he would protect her from the mob... She wanted to feel the warmth of his strength... She wanted to feel secured in his arms...

She sensed something being held in her hand, she felt it and realized it was a button... She remembered pulling it out from his shirt while struggling to break free...

He looked into her eyes through the specs... brushed down his fingers from her lips... and disappeared into the dark....