For some strange reason, she sounded like Professor Trelawney of Hogwarts.
We smiled and left the room. Once outside, DK took out his mobile phone from his pocket, like always, and got to booking a cab, in which we would sit silently on either ends of the seat and pretend like we are invisible to each other. And that’s why the whole marriage counsellor thing happened.
‘Don’t book a cab,’ I said.
DK looked at me, puzzled.
‘Can we walk home instead?’
‘That’s like an hour’s walk from here,’ he said, an eyebrow raised quizzically.
‘Can we? Please?’ I persisted.
DK didn’t say anything but placed his mobile phone back in his pocket and started walking towards the exit.
I followed him out on to the footpath.
We started walking. No holding each other’s hands or smiling at each other. We didn’t talk for what seemed like ten minutes. We just walked. Silently.
People make all kinds of new-year resolutions, don’t they? I’d made a few too. And the most important of them was to go out on a dinner date with DK and talk and smile. Like normal couples do. But four months into the new year, we were going to counselling sessions. Dinner dates? Never mind.
I glanced at DK. The frown on his face was still there.
I sighed.
‘Remember the day we first met?’ I asked him. This is what Anitha had told us to do, right? And this is what we both always avoided talking about.
DK looked at me and hesitantly said, ‘Hmm, yeah. Why?’
His brow seemed a little less furrowed.
‘Remember how scared you were?’
‘I wasn’t scared, alright?’
‘You weren’t?’ I smiled.
‘Okay! I was,’ DK agreed. ‘And who isn’t scared on their first day in a new school, eh? I was sitting alone in the canteen and . . .’
‘And that’s when I came and sat beside you,’ I said, cutting him off.
‘Yeah, I remember. You came to me with your two long plaits and this really innocent and cute expression on your face.’
‘I was scared too. I mean, boarding schools, by default, are scary. I was scared and I was hoping I would find friends, and then I saw you sitting alone, nervous, and I thought I’d found one.’
‘Well, you did,’ he said, and seeing a smile on my lips, asked, ‘You did, didn’t you?’
I smiled.
‘What happened?’ he asked.
Still smiling, I said, ‘Remember what you told me when I asked you your name?’
‘Don’t,’ DK said. ‘Don’t go there.’
I laughed and imitated him, ‘Hi. I am DK’
‘Please, yaar. You would do the same if your name was Dilkush Kulkarni.’
‘Okay, Dilkush Kulkarni. Sorry!’ I mocked.
We broke into laughter in the middle of the road. The moon was now visible in the pale orange glow of the evening sky and the traffic was now building up, along with the honking. The evening bazaar was slowly coming to life. People were crossing the road, a few with their heads bowed over their mobile screens. Some smoked a cigarette right under the no-smoking sign. And among a zillion other people going about their business were a wife and her spouse reminiscing about their good old days, as advised by their counsellor.
‘Weren’t those days beautiful?’ DK asked.
I nodded.
‘You didn’t talk to me for quite a few days after that day in the canteen,’ I reminded him.
He was silent. I looked at him questioningly.
‘Hmm . . .’
‘Ahem?’ I cleared my throat.
‘Well, okay!’ he said, avoiding my gaze. ‘You know how things work in a hostel, don’t you?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘You know, apparently one of our seniors saw us in the canteen. Later that day, in the hostel, he called me to his room and asked me to stay away from you.’
‘Really? You never told me this. Who was this senior?’
‘I would rather choose to not say the name of the senior who had a crush on my wife,’ he said teasingly.
Was he flirting? Wow!
‘Okay, Mr Husband!’ I grinned.
He shrugged.
‘So then why did you start talking to me again?’
‘Because you were persistently trying to talk to me and I felt guilty about ignoring you—and you were sweet too. So, yeah . . .’
Anitha, this is working. He called me sweet!
‘You know, Aditi?’ DK started, ‘I never said this to you and maybe I should have said this to you earlier, but I didn’t want to be called desperate or something.’
‘What is it?’
‘That first day in the canteen, when I saw you, I felt a connection between us. I mean, there were so many other newcomers, but then only you came and sat with me. I know it sounds silly, but for a nervous fifteen-year-old boy, this is a legit reason to feel special about a girl.’
‘No, it doesn’t sound silly, because, strange as it sounds,’ I sighed, ‘fifteen-year-old girls have similar feelings too.’
He stopped walking and looked at me. I looked back at him.
Okay, this was really working.
‘I am sorry, I guess,’ he said, running his fingers through his hair.
We resumed walking. He held my hand. Our fingers interlaced. Our arms touched. This was equally strange and beautiful. We had never talked this way after our marriage. This was like a romantic walk on a pilgrimage of love.
‘Do you remember when you got caught that one time?’ I asked him.
‘When?’
‘When you sneaked into the girls’ hostel?’
‘I wanted to surprise you on your birthday,’ he said, after thinking for a minute.
‘And our warden surprised you before you could surprise me!’
He laughed, and I laughed too. It is strange, isn’t it? How a couple finds certain things funny, which others would not even bat an eyelid for?
‘You know, Aditi,’ DK started, ‘I lost count of the times I did the FLAMES test with our names.’
‘Really? What did you get?’
‘I don’t remember,’ he said. ‘And, honestly, it doesn’t matter, does it? I mean, when you are doing the FLAMES test, something inside you tells you what you want the result to be. I wanted the result to be love. I wanted it to show marriage too. And friendship as well. I know it sounds silly but it made me so happy just to link our names together.’
A smile spread across my face.
‘Then why didn’t you ask me out on a date?’ I asked, trying to not show my silly smile.
‘Well, I didn’t know how you felt about me and we were fifteen-year-olds then, and I didn’t even know if fifteen-year-olds went on date.’
I laughed. Yes, he was innocent back then. He still was.
‘But you did take me out, didn’t you?’
‘Hmm . . . To the Hanuman temple near our school.’
‘DK, really? Who takes a girl he loves, or thinks he loves, to a temple? That, too, a Hanuman temple!’ I teased.
‘I told you,’ he said, ‘I didn’t know what to do. But I knew that I liked being with you and talking to you. And . . .’
He paused.