Email from Osaka - Story in the making

Malini was happy to see that there was an email from Shekhar in her inbox. He had not written over the past week. This was not like him at all. He had written daily without fail since he had gone to Osaka from Mumbai. On some days, there were 2-3 emails and several sweet nothings on WhatsApp. 

The past week had been a blank. His Facebook page was also inactive. She had called his sister and parents. They were sympathetic. As she told Seeta, his sister, it was not as if they were married or engaged to be.

Malini clicked open the email. It seemed like a long long write up. Shekar had been writing the text in parts over the past seven days. The email text had dates at various paras. 

Osaka had been very cold over the past week, he wrote. The seminar had got over in two days and he had been traveling. Being unable to explain properly in English or Japanese, he did not have net or sim connections. That was the silence part. 

Malini felt happy at the immediate confession. But, she queried herself, biting her lips and tapping impatiently with her fingers. In this modern glocal world, how can you be cut out? That, too, in Japan?

Shekar wrote that his travels near Osaka had been very eventful. The seminar participants had been good travel companions. He wrote initially about a Mr. Menon from Mumbai and a Mr. Chuck Berg from the US. They had shared a room. 

Shekar wrote that he had shared a room with a Thai Scientist called Dr. Sophon. It seems that his snoring had kept Shekar awake. So many details, thought Malini. Why was he giving so many details? Why was he not writing that he had missed her?

There was another participant, Shekar wrote. Vinita, from Goa. He seemed to be quite excited about her. She had shared her room on the tour with a lady from Mumbai. She was boring, very boring, "in CAPS", he wrote.

Vinita was also the only other vegetarian, Shekar explained. So they ended up together for all the eating n dining n drinking. "You won't believe what all the non vegs eat here in Japan", he wrote, "most of it stinks very badly. They seem to add raw eggs on fried rice all the time."

Malini was getting worried as she saw the dates on the paras and Shekar's growing fascination about Vinita. What was he going on about raw eggs and fried rice? Why did he want her to know about all that?

She had been desperately waiting for this email. She had hoped that Shekar would have written about his continuing love for her. He should have said that he was sleepless while thinking about her. Not because of some Thai Scientist.

Vinita had been very helpful, it seems. She knew some smattering of Japanese phrases and could ask for the correct veg soup or rice or noodles. He had always got the wrong dish when he tried speaking Japanese, confessed Shekar. 

"WTF!!!" thought Malini. How could that be? Wasn't Japanese food the same as the Chinese food that you get in Mumbai and all over India? All you had to do was say "VEG VEG VEG" loudly for every dish. How could you be so dumb and actually get the wrong dishes?

Then came that bit in the last para in his email. Since both of them had boring room companions, Vinita had suggested that they could spend time chatting in the 24 hour coffee shop in the hotel where they had been put up.

The last para of Shekar's email seemed to be very abrupt. The entire e-letter seemed to be more of a guilt-filled and tentative confession, she thought to herself. Was he building it up to a possible separation in the next email?

She had to think it out calmly. Her parents n her brother had accepted Shekar. Her father had been reluctant initially. He did not trust those from outside their small community. 

Shekar's parents and his sister had also accepted her. She knew that they were eager to welcome her within their family. His sister had proudly introduced Malini as "my future sister-in-law, a famous criminal lawyer."

Malini called up Shekar's sister, Seeta, and informed her that he had sent a long email from Osaka. She did not share her misgivings and she did not speak about Vinita and the chat in the all-night coffee shop.

Seeta was shouting it out to her parents that Shekar was OK and that he had written a long email. There was some silence and some long whispers. And then, Seeta asked, "Malini, did Shekar speak about some Vinita? He called and spoke to mom just now, barely five minutes back."

"Wow!!! Double Wow!!!" Malini thought. He had already spoken to his mom about Vinita. Trust a mama's boy to first confess to his mom. His parents must be shocked. What should she do? What should she do? She kept asking herself.

"Yes. Shekar has written about Vinita in his email. She is someone from Goa. He seems quite involved with her. What's up with that?" Malini replied. Seeta was silent for that very brief suspicious moment, Malini thought. Something is wrong. 

Seeta said, "Shekar spoke to mom just now. He said that he could not write to mom but had to speak. My parents are worried and my mom was crying thru some of the discussion."

This had all the makings of an impending infatuation or confession or a future separation, thought Malini. So what... So what if he fell in love with a work companion over one nights chat somewhere in a remote place outside Osaka? Why should she panic?

Seeta had been talking on the phone, Malini realised. She had not been hearing the words properly. Something about the coffee place, and, something about how attentive Vinita had been to Shekar's needs. 

"Needs?? What needs??" Malini screamed silently. Better to confront this nastiness, she thought, and asked, "Seeta, what did Shekar want to say? Is he in love or something with this Goa workmate?"

"Did the two of them have an affair in that coffee shop? I have a right to know if he said anything like that to your mom," Malini said angrily. The irritation must have been jarring, for Seeta spoke to her father, "you talk to Malini. This is unfair that you are pushing me to upset her. He is your son. You make amends."

Shekar's father came on the phone and said, "Malini, my dear, I am sorry. Please forgive me. My son is an idiot. He spoke to his mother just now and told her that he has fallen in love with this girl from Goa. We were wondering about how to inform you and what to tell you. And you called, almost at the same time."

Malini asked, "Uncle, did Shekar ask you to tell me that he has fallen in love with this Vinita lady? Because he did not write in so many words in his email. What did he tell his mother? That he wants to break up with me and get married to Vinita?"

"No... No... No... not at all like that," replied Shekar's father, "He actually asked his mother that we should not tell you about it. He did not want you to know that he has fallen in love with this lady at Osaka. His mother asked him very clearly, and also scolded him. She told him that this is not a game. But, Shekar did not want you to know."

"What does it mean? What does it mean, Uncle?" Malini asked, "He tells his mother that he has fallen in love with another woman and he does not want you to tell me. How can I trust him in the future? What should I do? How can I tell my parents? They are so fond of Shekar. They were looking forward to planning the engagement ceremony on his return from Japan."

"I understand, Malini, my dear, I am very depressed right now. I did not think that Shekar would do something like this," said Shekar's father. He continued, "I spoke to his mother and we think that you should not waste your time or love over him. What he has done is very bad, and what he intends to in the future is despicable. I think, to put it bluntly, he hopes to come back to you if his love with this Vinita lady ends in a flop."

Malini was stunned at the clarity in the advice from Shekar's father. How could he be so definitely against his own son, she wondered. His words gave her courage, and she thought to herself, 'to hell with this situation. I am not going to be defeated. Go ahead, Shekar, go ahead and have your affair. I am not going to hang around waiting for your affair to become a dud."

Malini cut off the phone connection with Shekar's father. What else could she speak about? Was she some sort of a stopgap arrangement? Like her brother used to frequently say, most flirtations are like stepneys, or, the extra tyre in a vehicle. You never know when you will need one. It was amusing to hear her own brother speak like that. She had laughed when he said that. But, it was courageous of Shekhar's sister to rebel in her family and support Malini. Kudos to her, for sure. 

What could she do actually? Shekar was away in Japan, and with his new found lady love. How could she fight the situation? Did she want him to return to her? That was out of the question. She had seen many failed relationships in her legal career, and several that ended up as criminal cases. So, there was no option but to break off the relationship. Her mind seemed to disagree.

After all, Shekhar had not written to her about being in love with Vinita. He had spoken to his mother. What if the old lady had misunderstood the entire conversation? What if he was joking with her? Should she wait it out until the next email at least? Or, could she instigate a faster confession by cleverly replying to this email? Yes. She could do that. After all, she was a criminal lawyer.

Better to start replying to the email, she told herself. Malini returned to her computer and opened the email and started reading it all over again. Did she make any mistake in understanding or decoding the email? Was Shekhar just joking with her? He usually did that when they would go about together, having coffee, or fighting and arguing with rickshaw drivers. Perhaps this was one of his pranks. Better to be careful before dumping a good relationship. 

Malini wrote back, joking about Vinita, and about her being from Goa. How could there be a vegetarian from Goa, and how could he discover her, far away in Osaka? Yes. She knew that there were many vegetarians in Goa, and she had nothing against Goa, she wrote. Vinita seems like a nice person, and it was great that she was there to help him in a remote place and at a crucial time. But, was it so difficult to ask for vegetarian food in Japan? 

Weren't there many Buddhists in Japan? Did they eat vegetarian food or non-vegetarian food? Ouch, she said to herself and winced. She was also writing a boring letter. Would Shekhar want to question her or would he want to know more about what was happening with her, in her work and in her life? Perhaps she could write about the monsoon in Mumbai. That would be a good topic to divert attention from the distress that was taking over her heart and brain. 

She wrote about the heavy rains and the flooding that took over the city as usual. She wrote, and as she wrote, she began to get imaginative. She wrote about being trapped in a traffic jam, on a double decker from the Museum Chowk near Regal Cinema enroute to Chembur on an assignment. The suburban trains had got jammed, and there was news about some trains halting inbetween stations. Shekhar would know all about that. He had got stuck in the previous monsoon, in a suburban train near Cotton Green and he hated that experience.