Tuli was scrolling through Karthik’s old texts on her phone, when the door bell disturbed her reverie. Wiping her eyes with the flat of her palms, she went to the door. For one unchecked, crazy moment, she expected Karthik to be waiting on the other side but then she shook her head. Three years into their relationship and she still expected such gestures from a guy who’d think twice even before calling her because of the steep STD bills.
But then, who’d visit at 8 in the evening? Her frown deepened seeing a delivery person from Amazon.
‘Good evening, ma’am. Here’s your package.’
She took it from him with the question mark still hanging on her face. She hadn’t ordered anything lately. But there it was, her name and her address. The dark cloud hovering around her suddenly broke into a drizzle of hope, drenching her face with a smile. She had judged Karthik too quickly. This must be his way of making up for blocking her number on his phone for the last couple of days.
Yes, it was true that they fought more often ever since she had shifted base to Kolkata from Delhi three months back. But this time it was more intense because, for once Tuli had decided to put her foot down. He wanted her to break her friendship with her colleague Ayan, who had joined only a month back. Like her, Ayan too was a newcomer and like her, he too had spent his growing years in Delhi though they were both Bengalis.
Ayan was a refreshing change from the other colleagues whose complaints and grudges about work and life seemed to be playing on a constant loop. These people would bad mouth their bosses and then act as metaphorical puppies, licking them all over, in their presence. Tuli never believed in office politics and though these things were there in Delhi too, somehow, the atmosphere in this office seemed more intense.
However, what made Tuli instantly connect with Ayan was their common love for books. Since Ayan had joined, Tuli’s erstwhile habit of eating alone at her desk had been replaced by their animated conversation in the cafeteria about Jhumpa Lahiri or P.G. Wodehouse or their heated debates about the huge popularity of Gone Girl or Fifty Shades of Grey. It was fun taking breaks these days, giving each other book recommendations, exchanging books and in general talking about their lives and childhoods that revolved around books.
Karthik knew how lonely she felt in this city and yet he wouldn’t accept her friendship with Ayan.
‘How can you not trust me after all these years?’ She asked repeatedly. Yet, he was adamant. But for the first time Tuli stood her ground. It had got more to do than just defending her new friendship.
Karthik had wanted to break up a year back since his Malayali parents didn’t approve of a Bengali girl. On Tuli’s request he reconsidered the decision but his parents were unaware of their still ongoing relationship. There were smaller things, too. Starting from what she wore, to whom she met, Karthik kept a close tab of all her activities with the threat of breaking up if she didn’t abide by his ‘conditions’. When did she become so needy that she agreed to all his terms just so he didn’t leave her? Hence, she wanted to have her way just this once and see whether she was indeed important to him or not.
…
But it seemed like he really loved her! In her impatience, she hacked the package with a kitchen knife. A book? Wow! The same man who told her how she shouldn’t waste her time reading fiction had sent over a novel.
Her heart burst like a balloon filled with confetti when she found that it was a Tana French Novel she’d been dying to read. Broken Harbour. Ayan had lent her The Likeness by Tana French, she loved it so much that she wanted to read her other works.
Wait! How did Karthik know she wanted this book?
Her phone rang at that very moment.
‘Hey Ayan?’
‘I just received a text that you received the book. Since I couldn’t lend it to you as it was on my Kindle, I thought why not surprise you with my favourite Tana French novel?’
She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She still wasn’t sure whether she was disappointed that it was not from Karthik or touched by the gesture of a friend she had made just mere weeks ago.
‘Kire? What happened? You can buy me books in return, dude. Chill.’
‘Thanks, re. It was really sweet of you….’
‘It wasn’t that sweet that you’d start crying!’ He mimicked her tone.
‘Shut up.’ She laughed through her tears.
….
It had been four years since that day. By now, Tuli had read all of Tana French’s books and fell in love with the author’s works, but Broken Harbour still remains her favourite. She in turn made Ayan hooked to authors like James Herriot, Haruki Murakami, and Rohinton Mistry, while he made her cry buckets of tears by making her read Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief and John Greene’s The Fault in Our Stars.
There would be summer noons where the trees outside languished and the cats slept at their feet while they would be engrossed in reading lying next to each other on the bed. There’d be winter evenings of warm cuddles and hot chocolates while one of them read out Alice Munro or Chitra Banerjee’s short stories to the other.
Over the years, they got married, changed jobs and cities, and even adopted two cats. But one thing remained constant during the storms in their personal lives and the battles that they fought to finally be together… their resolute love for books and for each other.
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