Kadambari.
The tale of unfinished love.
I will steal the show!" I whispered cocking the eyebrow in the mirror.
One last stroke of nude peach lip paint, and I saturated my lips for the evening.
And why not? This was the day after 10 years of longitudinal wait.
This was a reunion where all of my classmates would come.
Shubha and Mohit also!
It was my sleeping mind that fashioned all the strategies to daze them with my glory.
The burning lava, deep in my stomach has perpetually kept me awake all this years. The pain of betrayal.
While finishing college, Mohit and Shubha tied a nuptial knot, and I went abroad to do masters in baking and patisserie.
Though the intention was to leave the place to erase some haunting memories, I did really well as a chocolatier in the city and online, creating one of the best company in the chocolate and baking.
My friends call me, a hot chocolatier.
Barring me, all the other classmates were to accompany me at the reunion with their spouses.
If not Shubha, I would've been with him today.
But aren't heart breaks part of growing up, and so were mine!
Ours was mushy baby love since seventh grade. Me and Mohit.
After tuitions in the evenings, we'd go to cafes. Sit close to each other, that our knees touched and fingers brushed sending sharp electric currents in our hearts.
We were a couple by 10th grade. Roses and ice creams and squishy stuffed bears and magnetic attraction comprised our days.
It was hard to keep our baby love story a secret anymore, and one outcast day were torn apart.
It was painful and unexplained.
The reason was different cultural backgrounds.
Convenient!
It was my first heartbreak.
House arrested for months, the new academic year gave me new hope.
My eyes scanned his presence, afar I saw his white shirt motioning towards me.
And in a spur of a moment, with Mohit stood with a damsel at his toe, Shubha. New girl to our school.
His girlfriend.
My knees trembled in betrayal. Perhaps my friends might've heard the loud clank of my heartbreak, and they helped me send straight.
Shubha and Mohit then were seen together since then like love birds, at basket ball courts and dance class.
It was in my teenage I learnt,
Love can be a storm or a sunshine,
it can be a desert oasis or chameleon on the tree.
The hatred in my heart grew so fiery, that I left the school, went abroad, returned as a successful chocolatier.
And today my old friend told me that Mohit and Shubha were coming with their 3 years old to the reunion.
Past for me has been a very dangerous place.
So many decision now remained undone.
Do many humiliations remained unexercised.
Why didn't I collar Mohit for bloody betrayal?
I hated Shubha because Mohit loved her.
I lived in a foolish desire to humiliate them someday, as they'd to me.
It was trespassing I could never forgive. And for that I remained single, never married.
While I was young and desirable, my other friends showed the signs of ageing.
I allowed my neckline to plunge a little down than usual, I had the power to draw men towards me.
Putting up a stiletto with a high slit pencil skirt, I counted the moments to show off my rivals that I wasn't someone to be forgotten.
Not sure about the strategy of humiliation, I stepped out of the car, and headed to the restaurant.
Awed by my snazzy presence, few old friends whistled in amazement, and girls hugged.
But it was a little nudge, that crumbled my defenses.
"Hi, Cuckoo!"
I was no more Cuckoo. Pricking memories, I feel are better cremated.
"Hey! baby. I am Kadambari. Not Cuckoo. Your parents might've given you the wrong information girl" I chuckled giving a cursory glance at Mohit and Shubha. Age had worked it's magic on them too.
"Kadam-what? It's weird. I'll call you Cuckoo because my dad called you so." she chimed happily.
Hijacked with a sudden encounter, I stooped to her height, caressed her soft cheeks and whispered "And what does your daddy calls you, honey?"
"Of course! Cuckoo", Her eyes radiated pride.
Stripped off something essential, I hunkered down, placed little Cuckoo beside me, and placed my ego far away.
After all it was our reunion, not a battleground.
And the air once again was filled with jokes and guffaw from childhood.
