Love in the rains

Biju got alert the moment he saw Ruchi entering his tea shop. He made a quick look at his wrist watch. Ruchi was late tonight. May be, the monotonous drizzling since evening killed her time.

Biju, in between his work sighted at the reddish, thickly clouded sky through the open space of his tea-shop and started feeling hopefully happy. It will definitely rain at the night and Ruchi is expected to lose out her clients. And Biju will utilize the opportunity fully to have a chat with her to expose a little more of his lover’s mind. Should he tell her today that he loves her and…? He kept his fingers crossed with a mind bubbling with emerging hopes.

He has been waiting for the moment for the last six months.

‘Hey, Lord of Rain, give me the chance today’

He hinted Niren to pass a smoking glass of tea onto Ruchi who had already occupied her seat at one of the dimly lit corners of the shop and started wiping her sweating, oily face with her handkerchief. She made a meaningfully pampering look at Biju with a slowly evaporating smile to ensure her appreciation. Biju didn’t divert his eyes from her for a second. He reciprocated with the most adoring smile of him.

Ruchi is a regular visitor of the shop. She hits the place generally by the late evening local train and spends the initial half to one hour of her time in Biju’s station-side tea shop to relax on his special tea which is often prepared exclusively for her with utmost care and doting.  She just loves the tea of his hand and feels rejuvenated before getting into her usual flesh business. Biju also keeps condoms of different kinds in his shops and sells them to the girls according to their choices and needs. But Ruchi doesn’t spend a penny for condoms. After all, she has an ardent silent lover who allows her to capitalize the situational advantage fully.

The drizzle was getting heavier and that was also escalating Ruchi’s worries. There is enough chance of complete ‘wash out’ of business today if rain doesn’t stop. The monsoon time is seldom good for the business. The flesh-eaters are hardly seen in the streets. And those bloody cops keep on patrolling even in the rain and keep constant vigil over her preferred cruising sites.

As the rain was thickening, Biju kept on preparing his script for the final moments.

‘Ruchi, you know, I have established this shop with my sweat and blood. Today I have a steady  business and a handful of money at the end of the day. This is high time I should settle down in life and start a family of my own. My parents passed away when I was a child. I have no sibling. I have no blood relation. But now I need someone of my very own in my life. And Ruchi, that person is none other than you’

Isn’t he sounding little bit melodramatic �" thought Biju. Why can’t he simply say to her, ‘I love you Ruchi. Would you please marry me?’

The shop was slowly clearing up its customers and the steady downpour outside stopped bringing new customers in.  Ruchi was looking a bit more anxious. Biju knew she does not carry umbrella when it rains, so she has to stick around his tea-shop till the rain stops.

Ruchi came to his shop for the first time nine months back with another known street-walker. Biju is familiar with these street-walkers since he started his shop here many years back. He never discriminated these ill-fated women. He is a struggler in life and he knows these women are struggler like him. They come down to the street to sell their flesh because they have no means to survive in life. And they find Biju’s tea shop perfectly safe place for them where they receive humane treatment with refreshing tea and snacks, and can also buy condoms. Many occasions, Biju protected the hiding street walkers from the vigilant cops and sheltered them inside an elusive place of his shop. The women generally carry special feeling of respect for Biju.

He fell for Ruchi at the first sight. It is not that thirty years of his life had remained without feminine touch before that. But they were just in the form of mutual likings not transformed into love. Biju never thought to share his life with any of those women. But Ruchi was different and made him simply mad. 

Biju came to know a lot about Ruchi in the last nine months. Ruchi got married when she was at her late teens but abandoned by her husband as she failed to conceive after the marriage. When back to her father’s house Ruchi found herself in an extremely difficult situation with her father battling with incurable kidney disease and quite a few school and college-going siblings who needed to be looked after. She tried for a job with her limited academic qualification, but her luck betrayed her too and finally dragged her into the flesh business as the sole source of survival.

This is a common story of most of the street walkers that Biju heard for years. But his heart completely melted for Ruchi. In course of time she became the special woman of his life. One fine day he decidedto make her his life partner. Ruchi deserves a much better life and Biju was determined to give her a life that every woman desires for �" a happy, peaceful family life with her man and children.

But he is yet to propose to her though they have become very friendly over the last couple of months. Biju believes Ruchi too has a special liking for him and she will, likely to say ‘yes’ if he ever proposes to her.

Is tonight the time for exposing his heart and surrendering his soul to Ruchi? Biju was making up his mind for the final moments.

When the last customer bid good-bye Biju accumulated all his courage and slowly approached Ruchi’s place with a nervous smile and shaking heart.

‘You like to eat something?’ he asked Ruchi.

Ruchi smiled back and said, ‘Can you prepare something fast?’ and looked worriedly at her wrist-watch.

‘I can make quick fried egg-rice. You will find it good.’ Biju replied.

‘That will be so nice’

‘It is raining so badly, isn’t it? Do you get anyone today in the street?’ Biju threw the question to her and proceeded to his cooking place. He had already made some rice in the evening. He took out some eggs and started his cooking business. It is a simple dish to cook. Fry the eggs first, make them small pieces, sprinkle them over the rice and then fry the rice with little bit of onion, ginger and green chilies. He prepared in the volume of two so that they can eat together and Biju can utilize the dining time fully to propose to Ruchi.

‘I doubt if the rain will stop tonight. I need some money so badly. My father has another round of dialysis tomorrow morning. You know the dialysis becomes so expensive these days.’ Ruchi said as she was seeing him cooking.

Biju knew her father needs dialysis off and on to keep him alive with his non-functioning kidneys.

‘Don’t worry. You can borrow money from me if you don’t get a customer tonight.’

Ruchi smiled, ‘You already lent me a lot of money. I have no idea if I can ever pay them back to you’.

‘You never have to pay them back to me’ Biju brought two plates of fuming fried egg-rice and put one plate carefully in front of her. ‘I thought I will also take my food with you.’ He pulled out the chair to sit face to face with her.

‘I am going to open up my heart to her now’, Biju spoke to himself.

‘You should never miss this chance Biju’.

‘Why did you say you don’t want the money back from me’ Ruchi asked in a low voice as if she didn’t want anyone to hear what she spoke. Biju felt his heart beating faster. He suddenly realized it is difficult, very difficult, to propose the girl he loves.

‘Why don’t you start eating? You are already looking hungry’ Biju tried to divert her attention to the food.

They ate silently for some time. Biju felt he put no salt in the rice.

‘Sorry I forget to add salt’ He got up from his place, ‘let me bring some salt’

‘It’s alright’ Ruchi responded quietly.

‘How does it taste? Must be horrible without salt?’

‘No, no, I am liking it’ Ruchi replied. ‘You don’t have to bring loose salt’

After some more silent moments Ruchi submitted her previous question once again to him, ‘You didn’t tell why you don’t want the money back that I borrowed from you.’

‘There are few things that can’t be expressed by words, they need to be understood.’ Biju made the reply spontaneously. Oh, no, these words were not there in my script.

Ruchi looked at him straight and her next question made him completely speechless and breathless.

‘Do you love me?’

Should he say ‘yes’? But his script was prepared differently where he was supposed to tell her ‘I love you Ruch’. Biju was feeling crazy and sweating like hell.

His fumbling moments got prolong when he saw a silverish Wagnor stopped outside his tea-shop and a man’s face was gradually visible inside after the car’s one of the rear glasses was slowly dropped down. Mihir Babu, a local businessman, Biju recognized the man immediately. The car must be a new one as he saw it for the first time. Mihir babu visited his shop several times before to pick up the girls at the late night.

Oh God, has he come to take my Ruchi away from me for the night?

Mihir babu gave them a mysterious smile and pointed at Ruchi to tell her to come inside his car. Ruchi was still looking at Biju and waiting for his reply.

Biju was not able to utter a word. He never even thought in his dreams that Mihirbabu can hit his shop at this time to find his bed-partner for the night.

Ruchi stood up from the chair, took out a hundred rupee note from her purse, placed that under the glass on the table and left the shop without speaking a single word. Biju didn’t know what to do now. He saw Ruchi slowing getting inside the car, the glass pan was lifted up and the car started to move.

‘Come on Biju, don’t let her go like this and repent for the rest of your life. For God’s sake please do something’

He jumped off his chair, rushed to the moving car and banged on its rear door with all his power to finally make it stop. Mihir babu came out of the car from the other side with anger erupting over his face.

‘How dare you kick on my car, you dirty swine?’ He screamed at him.

Biju ignored him completely. He opened the rear door of the car on his side and saw Ruchi looking at him with sheer astonishment.

‘Come out of the car Ruchi, don’t go with him’ he said with one of his coolest voices.

‘You bloody bustard’ Mihirbabu moved to his side and grasped his collar tight. ‘She is my girl. She will go with me. Who are you to stop him?’

‘Leave my collar’ Biju told him firmed.

‘You motherfucking tea-vendor, you eye on my girls, I will scoop your eyes out’ Mihirbabu was fuming

The next moment Biju saw Mihirbabu lying on the ground and moaning in pain as Biju’s right knee hit him hard on his crotch. He kicked on his face several times before his driver grabbed him from behind. But Biju felt he is irresistible tonight. Nobody on earth can take Ruchi away from him.

Soon the driver took the ground after receiving a solid punch from Biju’s raging fist. Ruchi was already out of the car then. She was constantly dragging Biju inside the shop to take him away from the fight. ‘What are you doing? Please stop fighting, he is my regular client damn it’ she was telling him repeatedly.

‘You don’t have any client. You have no other man in your life except me you understand. If I see you again going with this man I will simply kill him in front of you’ Biju shouted at her as if he had gone completely out of his senses.

Ruchi never saw the calm, quiet and peaceful Biju like this before. A ferocious, desperate and unyielding man who is ready to tear apart any resistance in life to protect his woman �" she found a completely different Biju in front of her.

Mihirbabu somehow managed to get into his car.

‘I will see you bustard’ he yelled at Biju, ‘I will see how you will run this shop from tomorrow.’ The car vanished into the raining dark.

Silently they stood eyeing at each other till the rain drenched them completely. At one point of time Ruchi held Biju’s hands tight and took him gently inside the shop. They sat quietly on the chairs they sat before. The unfinished food was still waiting for them.

‘Go and get some salt, the rice tastes awful without salt’ Ruchi told him with a broad smile in her face.

‘Listen, tomorrow morning the first thing we will do is going to the temple and …..’ Biju still sounded restless and agitated.

‘Ok, but don’t show me all your anger tonight’ Ruchi stopped him in the middle. She was continuously giggling.

‘I would love to see them throughout my life stupid’ she murmured in her most sensual voice that Biju ever had heard before.

 

 

Reviews

[Allie]

Such passion and emotion fills your stories. I love your writing because it is all so raw and vulgar in such perfect ways. I'm not sure where you are from but I'm pretty sure you are not from america. your writing seems to take me on adventures in places I will probably never see in real life.

[Manpreet]

Beautiful story, I hope it becomes reality for many of them out there!

[Suditi]

Wow.
An interesting read.
The Indian essence is eminent.
You have crafted the story really well.
The character of Biju has the much needed depth.
A nice story.

[SUGATA M]

A different love-story written in the context of some people of the low socio-economic class in India. You may not like it as well. Good night.