" I returned home, dazed, dejected, heartbroken and confused.

But amongst everything, there was this name.

Samanth Nagar.

It beamed inside my head.

However, at home I was greeted with another drastic news.

My parents wanted me to marry Sunita.
Moreover, her parents and horribly she herself had given into the marriage proposal.

I was shocked. I never knew this was coming. Not in my distant dreams did I believe that Sunita was interested in me this way!! 

Baba grabbed my hand, and guessing the non giving expression on my face, begged me to fulfil his last wish. Of marrying the girl of his choice.

I said nothing. Because protesting aloud was never in my veins.
I retired to my room and tossing throughout the night, I decided I would let it be for the time being, find Juhi, find Soudamini, and then say a no to this marriage.

At work, Sunita seemed nothing but friendly. We talked just as we used to, apart from the fact that she asked me if I was interested in the decisions elders took for us. I readily nodded a
yes to avoid the situation.... "

Abhijeet realised, a very sharp gaze was boring through him. He slowly looked at her.

She looked very calm on the contrary. Her eyes not even sparkling. Why did he feel so, then? 

He looked away.

" Meanwhile I Googled Samanth Nagar, which showed me no such place.
I was extremely startled, and scared. Did I hear it all wrong? Did I just lose even the slightest hope, of finding Soudamini?

Days passed, and I got caught up in work. Sunita clung to me mostly, as did two people in courtship. There was nothing wrong in her part.
I somehow mustered courage and asked her as well if she knew anything of Samanth Nagar. She twisted her lips.

My only way out was to visit the hospital, if by god's grace Rajesh uncle was still admitted.

But caught up in life, in work, in an upcoming marriage that was never happening, I damned myself at my inability, cursing, that my love might have developed loopholes. Loopholes of truth....... 

The very next day I asked another almost friend at work, of Samanth Nagar.
He made strange faces and almost whispered, that Samanth Nagar was a less used name for a red light area, Remeela Chowk.
I thanked him, and he stared at me for quite a long time.

This was a week ago. "

Abhijeet looked at her again.

" I know, I am blabbering and you're thinking you could get a better customer for the night. "

She sat placing her chin on her knees.
And smirked again.
" On one hand you are horrified at this way of living, on the other hand you taunt that we find it better? "

Abhijeet looked down at this.
True enough. Satisfying customers were their liability, not pleasure..

" I am sorry. "

" You better be. Darling. " , she hissed.

Abhijeet now folded his legs. His head was hurting again. But he felt a strange lightness, ever since he began telling the story. As if he was weightless.

" I visited Remeela Chowk. But didn't get hold of Juhi. I realised, maybe she had got a new name, and I didn't know of it...

But I didn't give up on my hope. I kept visiting, once daily..

Finally,

This very morning, while like a vagabond I walked out of the Chowk after receiving several invitations and taunts from the dwellers as usual, someone tapped me from the back.

A girl in her twenties.

I didn't recognize her until she said,
'Abhijeet bhau, I'm... Juhi........ '

With tears streaming down her face, she pulled a weak me into her tiny overtly colorful room.

The beautiful woman she was , looked horrible with all the chaos she was decked up with.

She sobbed, and sobbed and...sobbed.

And ultimately, killed me.

She let me know, Soudamini......

.....Soudamini... "

Abhijeet was wailing. Uncontrollably.

She kept staring at him. Without a word, without a move, without a sigh. 

" ...........had killed herself......five....months....back..... "

Abhijeet felt, his head would burst any moment.

A pair of hands grabbed his head, and pulled it close to her chest.
Like a baby, Abhijeet gave in, sobbing terribly in her clutch. He didn't realize when she had come and stood beside him.

Her comforting hands that travelled through his hair, slowly decreased the intensity of his sob.

" I.... I came out of the....chowk...

Emotionless. My heart completely numb. I couldn't even assure Juhi that I would pull him out of the hell any sooner. Because I was myself unsure of my existence any more.

Soudamini.....was....no more.....

I lost her. Forever.

Only if I had reached five months earlier...

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't...

And then, the second devastating thing occured.

Out of the blue, before me appeared Sunita, and Raghav, the one who had let me know of Remeela Chowk.

Sunita stared at me as if she would burn me alive.

' So, Mr Would Be Husband!
You choose to often visit red light areas for physical pleasure, don't you?
How easily I trusted your innocent face! If it wasn't for Raghav who had been following your whereabouts for a week, after work, after dropping me home, I would have been married to a creep, a ....

Not only will I dump you, but will let everyone of your family, your relatives around , your neighbours, your friends know,  what you actually are, and what you have been doing all these while ..... '

When anyone in my place would have broken the sky shouting, I stared vacantly at her. Because her words hardly mattered for the time being, after what my heart had just endured.

Cursing me, swearing at me for a few more minutes, she thumped past me with Raghav.

I began walking as a ghost, and slowly, my meek self began sinking in everything.

Hell broke loose on me.

What was I supposed to do now?
How was I supposed to make them believe what I was actually trying to do?
Sunita would not take a second to crash the respect every individual held for me till date!

Soudamini....the one who could have been my destination, was no more...

My life suddenly held no meaning at all... 

I.... I even walked before a bus but someone pulled me back.

I'm done. A single day of my life, broke me to innumerable pieces, beyond recovery........ "

Abhijeet grabbed the sheets and choked, sobbed and wailed, and murmured.

She stood next to him, silently watching the delirious individual.

Who had just lost everything at a go....... 

Suddenly, lights went out completely.

As if, shaking Abhijeet out of the trance.

" What happened to the lights? " , he whispered. Talking loudly seemed prohibited in complete darkness.

" Nothing. Load shedding. Quite common here.

Wait, I'll light some candles. " , she whispered back.

With this, tinkling her anklets, she went over to the table a distance away, and began lighting candles, one after the other.

The candles slowly illuminated the utterly dark room, much more than it previously was.

Abhijeet kept staring.

Her back faced him, as she slowly lit up several previously used candles on the table, one by one.

Abhijeet next realised that the candles also lit up something on the wall against which the table was placed.

A photo. Mostly with a rotten garland on.

A photo, that slowly cleared up, and stopped Abhijeet's heart from beating.

To be continued....