KUDAIKANAL

NAVEEN

He saw his wife sulking complaining for a huge issue. Not real huge but imaginary huge. Issue was not equal to a mansion. It was just tiny...like a pebble. Issue was selection of saree...

Because this waa the last day of their second posting that too together. They were being given a farewell where Anita had to match with theme of Denim blue because Naveen had put a Denim blue shirt on.

In the end he coukd not bear much..

'Ek saree par aise ro rahi he jaise ki Iska paltu kutta kho gya ho! Jist a s8ngle saree! Colour match karo or pahan lo...Whats all this ki chiffon saree ho embroidery ho...Stone work ho....falana ho...dhimkana ho! I'll leave you...if you arent ready within twenty minuyes.'

And then.....

Huge bundle of sarees was collided with his newly polished face.

'Tum thahre mard. Tumko Saree ka abcd bhi pata nahi hoga. Look. I need a dark blue sarree not denim blue. And that too Light work on it...not like you said embroidery. I want zari work not stone work. And yes...I do not want falana dhimkana. Now come here and help me in selecting something good matching with your shirt!'

Naveen just made face...But seeing angry avatar of his only wife he had no other option than going to her and helping in selecting one good piece...which he knew very well, was nowhere.

He picked one from the heap. And showed her..

'Ye pichli month pahan li..Everybody knows how I look in it. Dusra dhundho.'

'Everybody knows ka kya matlab? Khud ki opinion matter karti he. Or Me ahaluwalia hu ambani ya Bidla nahi.. ek saree kam se kam 10 baar pahno..'

'Tum jo har dusre week me naya underwear le aate ho, do I ever complain?'

He saw her hands on hips while task of searching appropriate saree long forgotten.

'Yar..Ek 100 rupalli ke Underwear or hazaro ki saree me difference he. I never say ki tumne mera ye underwear dekh liya so ab kal dusra pahnunga!'

'Exactly. Tum dusre din dusra underwear pahnte ho...But not me. I have to wear same saree twice or thrice in a week.'

'Areee....Paanch metre ki thaan or 180 cm me fark he. How can I repeat my underwear? What If I get infection or something?'

'And what about me! I can get complexes...too. and depression and mild headache and ...and...That disorder. That particular one in which i wpuld get insomniac because of my complexes.'

And this was unbelievable...

'Really? You know what...Ek aurat se shadi karne se accha he I would have married a guy! At least wo ye daily saree nahi badalta.'

'Accha! Tabhi me sochu ki tum Anant Khurana par itna meharbaan kyu ho? You were having something with him? Right? Bolo...Bolo jara...Ek minute. Tumhara to history hi 377 he. Before our marriage you and Rajveer used to share rooms, right? Are you-'

'What Nonsense! Kaha ki baat kaha le jaa rahi ho! Your three month pregnant..is se bada koi aur suboot he? Pagal aurat. Pregnancy ne sidha dimag par asar kiya he. Tera ek fuse ud gaya he.. Aur ye kya laga kar rakha he...Now wrap this up otherwise I'l leave you here.'

And then.....the melodrama with hefty tears in her eyes began..He had no other option than her so He tried to bargain with her with his favourite ice cream...or .....a new saree?

'Nahi..I want this blue. This blue of yoir shirt. Bas. I dont want other shade.'

She sobbed..He patted her hair and kissed her cheek..

'Yar me bina shirt chalta hu. Tu koi bhi colour pahan le....Nude ke sath sab match karenge. But tu bas chal. We dont have time. Aur packing bhi mujhi ko karni he. Come on Annie.'

'Nahi...Wo Mrs Batra he na...She stalks you. Bina shirt ke dekhegi to...to she'll jump on ypu and I'll kill her.'

Naveen chuckled..

'Kya baat he annie. Dekh tere husband ki value abhi tak ni giri. Me chij hi...ai....s...i.....h....u...'

He felt his lungs clogged. Annie was choking him.

'Tharki aadmi.......'

'Leechad.'

'Gire huye insan.'

And....on and on...

She the predator gave him time out when the phone rang and she rushed to receive it.....

And soon her face lost its colour..

'What happened? Everything all right?'

Naveen asked impatiently..

'Rajveer. They are going to organise a probe against him. And He has not been informed.'

'Are you mad? Why will army try to investigate one of her finest officers? Who told you that?'

'Major Shikha. She was asked to approve this. And she could not stop it either. Sidha high command se order aya he. Some higher officer is carrying out this probe. They have set up a committee of three officers. Perhaps procedure will take time of three months. Then.....'

'Then what? He'll be demoted? Or suspended? Or be thrown out? Come on. Speak up.'

'I...I...I dont know. She just told me about the committee and proposal. And...and...she said this posting'll be his last one if....if he does not get away from this probe.'

Naveen fell on bed.. he held his head...

'We need talk him. Do you have any idea where that bastard got his posting?'

She shook her head....

'Last time Naina told us about him. He was posted with her. And it was two and half years back. Now I dont have any idea about him. Some months ago Alekh told me about his departure from Dispur base. North east. Now I dont know where he is. Not even alekh. Not even Shal. No body.'

He gritted his teeth. That man was really out of this world. He chose to go incognito when he had the chance of making amends with his only friend.

Such an idiot, Rajveer!

'Kutta kamina sala! Jab dosti thi tab bhi bp badata tha...Ab jab...Haramkhor. I still consider him as my friend. For a mistake I could not forget his need of someone close to him....Aur wo...Wo sala ullu ka pattha Mr. INDIA bankar ghum raha he. Isko me dekh lunga. You do one thing.. Alekh ko bolo uske chamche Wo cook...Wo bunty chaubey ko dhundhe. He is key for locating Rajveer. Uske bad I'll see what we need to do.'

She nodded..

'For now...lets get done with party asap.'

And...the we returned where it all began..

'Lekin sareee!'

'Are bhaad me gayi teri saree. Dushashan banke sari saree phaad dunga agar paanch minute me ready nahi huyi to!'

But anita took good forty five minutes and half of his mental stability.

Rest Half was eaten away by tensions....for that friend who unknowingly broke all the ties but could not wipe memories....

Naveen still cared for him....But was not sure of him. How he would be feeling right now about his only best friend!

UDAIPUR.

NAINA

She wiped the board and wrote the word in capital letters..

DEFENCE AND ARTILLERY.

But before she could proceed, an orderly came and asked her to accompany him to Brigadier' office.

Soon Naina found herself facing Brigadier Mehra who was promoted as Principal of temporary teaching base established here.

'Good morning sir. You asked for me?'

'Good morning captain. Yes. Actually I need inform you about merging of two classes here. See. The cadets have to have knowledge of war phase but at the same time communication too. So both of your and Captain Shashank Singhal' class has been merged. I had put this proposal in yesterday meeting but you were absent. So now I am telling you at a short notice that you'll now take combined lectures with Captain singhal. And they'll be on 1500 hrs from today..'

Naina' heart sank. It was just after five hours from now. She had no experience with shashank too. His teaching method was different from hers and on top of that he was friend of Friend of Vihan. So indirectly he too had some issues stored for her. Only for her. He was holding some grudges for her because his friend of friend Vihan was in tension for weeks only because of her.

Di she drag Vihan and kicked him to fall for her?

No, right!

Idiot man.

'Ok sir. Thank you but for now I'll have to dismiss this class and reschedule it for 1500 hrs. Actually I need make notes. You approve the change in time table. I'll be there with shashank at 1500 hrs. Will it be ok sir?'

He nodded and called orderly to bring Schedule.

Naina then took his leave and left...

Teaching with someone who had some hard feelings against you was not going to be an easy task. Her so simple friendship with Vihan had caused her her professional relations with Anuj and Riya. Riya now a days were more cranky and moody around her. Now a day she would counter-question her more frequently. And anuj...He was the one who would always try to talk badly with her. It was Vihan who always made peace.

For once Naina felt gratitude for him. Amd this gratitude soon vanished when Vihan himself appeared in front of her holding one mug of coffee.

'One coffee every day..
Keeps your sloth away..'

She turned her face. Thks guy knew how to make bullshit crazy one liner.

But she took the mug and made attempt of leaving as soon as possible....

'Dinner tonight? I promise I'll never try to sing not even humm...not even mimic lyrics. Pleasee...pretty please....'

'Tomorrow. Today i am busy. Shanshank and I have to attend this class together. So...right now I am going to meet him and decide today's topic. So its tomorrow.'

And she rushed for shashank' cabin where she was somehow able to talk with him normally and....decide the topic for today.

GUNS AND CODES.

Well...wasn't it mismatched topic for a class of War phase and communication? Well...the intention was to begin with basics hence the first two most used words in both classes were picked.it was Naina' suggestion to which shashank made face and agreed.

She then came back to her room and locked it. Without changing her uniform she pulled out books and soon engaged in them..Spreading them on bed while jotting down points time to time..

Even it was for guns, She was going to begin with introduction of weapon amd use of them. Then progress and reforms and finally era of guns where British performed better and were able to knelt almost half of colonies. Becayse they used their artillery with their brain.

So from here shashank would take the charge amd would explain the role of strategy. Then he would tell cadets about codes with help of this base. Codes are not only used as a medium of communication but they are also weapon of modern time war phase where all is spread on information technology and the one with better Intelligence and coding language will perform better.

So...She had an outline. She needed to fill the gaps within hence continued with her notes along coffee which earlier was hot but now cold as ice.

****

She with notes in one of her hand entered into class. She replied back for Cadets time wish. And then searched for Shashank.

Almost two minutes passed but there was no single trace of him. He was absent..

Naina got scared.

Was she being sidelined because of her single relation on this whole batch?

Was she going to be pulled down for being unprofessional which she was not?

Was Shashank going to create a scene and spot on her teaching because she had come out of her secluded corners?

Were all the men in her life going to cost her her career? If not whole then at least the good part of it...where she had some accolades.

But her fear proved to be wrong as orderly told her to resume with her introduction because Captain sir was bit late and wpuld come directly here.

Directly? Did shashank change rout and chose moon for his station?

Whatever. She began...

'So cadets. Guns and Codes. This is the topic. They are like sand and cheese but in real they are not. Guns has been a weapon for a long time but today it is era of codes.you all will be aware with programming language? Programming language is in real a programme that makes computer understand your command. Why its called language? Because language is medium of communication. P.L. also helps in communication between you and machine i.e. computer. So will anyone tell me role of codes in Programming language?'

Two or three rose their hands.

One of them spoke

'Because codes are building blocks of P.L.'

'Yes. They are. A code is what when given a particular task could help you in forming functions. Functions that make us programme a language. So indirectly-'

Someone excused himself for disturbing her class...

'Sorry Captain Singh for getying late. Actually my......'

And the words died....both of them lost their words. They just kept staring at each other....

The time stopped for them..and with time many other things too.

Naina who could not hold herself...found her throat getting dry and held chair strongly..

While..

...

...

..

Rajveer dropped his book.

Life was indeed a highway. We miss so many things. But when we stop we have to face the people who were long lost....and somehow they managed to meet us by running parallel.