DATING and MATING
[Short Fiction – A Love Story]
By
VIKRAM KARVE
(Earlier I had posted this story in parts. Here is the full story. If you’ve read the parts, do enjoy the full story once more.)
I am busy working in my office on the morning of the First of April when my cell phone rings. It is Sudha, my next door neighbour, so I take the call.
“Vijay, you lucky dog, your life is made,” Sudha says excitedly.
“Lucky Dog? Please, Sudha, I am busy,” I say, a trifle irritated.
“Don’t switch off your cell phone,” Sudha says, “you are going to get a very important phone call.”
“Important call?”
“From the hottest and most eligible woman in town,” Sudha says with exuberance, “She’s fallen head over heels for you, Vijay. She wants to date you.”
“Date me? Who’s this?”
“My boss.”
“Your boss?”
“Come on, Vijay, I told you, didn’t I, about the chic Miss Hoity Toity who joined last week…”
Suddenly it dawns on me and I say to Sudha, “Happy April Fools Day…”
“Hey, seriously, I swear it is not an April Fools’ Day prank. She is really going to ring you up…she desperately wants to meet you…”
“Desperately wants to meet me? I don’t even know her…haven’t even seen her…”
“But she’s seen you…”
“Seen me…where…?”
“Jogging around the Oval Maidan…I think she is stalking you…”
“Stalking me…?”
“She knows everything…your routine…where you stay…that you are my neighbour…so she called me to her office and asked for your mobile number.”
“I’ve told you not to give my number to anyone…”
“I told her…but she said it was very urgent…I think she wants to come over in the evening…”
“This evening…?… I am switching off my mobile…”
“No you don’t…You’ll like her…she is your type…”
“My Type?… What do you mean?…Sudha please…”
“Bye, Vijay…I don’t want to keep your mobile busy…She’ll be calling any time now…Remember, her name is Nisha…All the Best…” Sudha cuts off the phone.
As I wait for the mysterious lady’s call, let me tell you’re a bit about Sudha.
Ever since she dumped me and married that suave, slimy, effeminate, ingratiating sissy Suhas, Sudha probably felt so guilt ridden that she had taken upon herself the responsibility for getting me married.
Sudha was my neighbour, the girl next door; my childhood friend, playmate, classmate, soul-mate, confidante and constant companion. I assumed we would get married but she suddenly fell for Suhas who she met at a training seminar.
I hated Suhas – he was one of those glib, smooth-talking, street-smart, slick characters that adorn the corporate world – a clean-shaven, soft-spoken, genteel, elegantly groomed metrosexual type with an almost feminine voice and carefully cultivated mannerisms as if he had been trained in a finishing school.
At first, I was devastated and could not understand why Sudha had betrayed me, but when Sudha gently explained to me that she always saw me as a friend and never as a husband, I understood and maintained cordial relations with her, though I loathed her husband who had shamelessly moved into her spacious apartment after relocating from Delhi to Mumbai.
Probably Sudha thought I had remained unmarried because of her (which may have been true to an extent) so in order to allay her guilt conscience she kept on setting up dates for me hoping for the best.
The ring of my cell-phone interrupts my train of thoughts.
“Mr. Vijay…?” asks a sweet mellifluous feminine voice.
“Yes,” I say my heartbeat slightly increasing.
“Nisha here,” she says, “Is it a good time to talk.”
“Of course,” I say.
“I want to meet you…Is it okay if I come over to your place this evening…”
My My My! She comes to the point pretty fast isn’t it?
“Today evening…?” I blurt out a bit incredulous.
“It’s a bit urgent,” she says.
“Sure. You are most welcome,” I stammer recovering my wits.
“Six-thirty…before you go for your jog…or later after you return…or maybe we can meet up at the Oval…”
I am truly stunned… this Nisha is indeed stalking me…meet up at the Oval…as brazen as that… I have never experienced such blatant propositioning…Tocsins sound in my brain…
“Mr. Vijay…” I hear Nisha’s soft voice in the cell-phone earpiece.
“Yes, Yes, six-thirty is absolutely fine…I’ll wait for you in my house…you know the place…” I stutter recovering my wits.
“Yes, I know your place,” Nisha says, “I’ll be there at six-thirty,” and she disconnects.
I go home early, shower, deodorize, groom, titivate, put on my best shirt and wait in eager anticipation for this mysterious woman who is coming onto me so heavily.
Precisely at six-fifteen the bell rings.
I open the door.
“Hi, I’m Nisha,” the stunningly attractive woman in front of me says.
Sudha was right…Nisha is certainly very hot… oh yes, Nisha is indeed my type of woman.
“I’m sorry I’m a bit early, but I noticed you were in, saw your car below…”she says.
‘Noticed I was in’… My, My…She knows my car…about my daily jogs on the Oval…my routine…everything…she’s really hot on my trail…isn’t she?
I look at her. She comes closer towards me.
She looks and smells natural. No attempt to camouflage her raw steamy physical self behind a synthetic mask of make-up and artificial deodorants.
Her persona is tantalizingly inviting and temptingly desirable; her tight-fitting pink T-shirt tucked into hip hugging dark blue jeans accentuate the curves of her exquisite body and she radiates a captivating aura, an extraordinary magnetic attraction, I have never experienced before.
I cannot take my eyes off her, her gorgeous face, her beautiful eyes, her lush skin, so I feast my eyes on her, let my eyes travel all over her shapely body.
The frank admiration in my eyes wins a smile. She lets her eyes hold mine.
“Aren’t you going to ask me to come in?” she smiles as if reading my mind.
“Oh, yes, sorry, please come in,” I say, embarrassed at having eyed her so openly.
I guide her to the sofa and sit as near her as politely possible.
We sit on the sofa. She looks terribly attractive, very very desirable.
Our closeness envelops us in a stimulating kind of intimacy.
Overwhelmed by passion I inch towards her.
She too comes closer.
I sense the beginnings of an experience I have dreamt about in my fantasies.
“Actually, I have come for mating,” she says.
“Mating…?” I exclaim instinctively, totally shocked, stunned beyond belief.
I look at her tremendously excited, yet frightened, baffled, perplexed, wondering what to do, how to make my move, as the improbability of the situation makes me slightly incredulous and bewildered
I notice her eyes search the drawing room, then she looks at the bedroom door, and asks, “Where is your daughter?”
“Daughter? I’m not married,” I say, completely taken aback.
“I know,” she says, “I’m talking about your lovely dog…or rather, bitch…” she laughs tongue-in-cheek.
“I’ve locked her inside. She is not very friendly.”
“I know. Hounds do not like strangers…but don’t worry…soon I won’t be a stranger…” Nisha says, gets up and begins walking towards the closed bedroom door.
“Please,” I say anxiously, “Angel is very ferocious and aggressive.”
“Angel…what a lovely name,” Nisha says, “I have been seeing you two jogging and playing at the Oval. That’s why I have come here…to see your beautiful hound Angel…” and then she opens the door.
Angel looks suspiciously as Nisha enters the bedroom and as she extends her hand towards her to pat her on the head, Angel growls at Nisha menacingly, her tail becomes stiff, and the hackles on her back stiffen, since, like most Caravan Hounds, she does not like to be touched or handled by anyone other than me, her master.
“Please…please…” I plead to Nisha, but she moves ahead undaunted and caresses Angel’s neck and suddenly there is a noticeable metamorphosis in the hound’s body language as the dog recognizes the true dog lover. All of a sudden Angel licks Nisha’s hand, wags her tail and jumps lovingly at Nisha who embraces her.
I am really surprised at the way Nisha is hugging and caressing Angel as not even the most ardent of dog lovers would dare to fondle and take liberties with a ferocious Caravan Hound.
“She’s ideal for Bruno. They’ll love each other,” Nisha says cuddling Angel.
“Bruno?”
“My handsome boy… I was desperately looking for a mate for Bruno…and then I saw her…they’re ideally suited…a perfect made for each other couple.”
“You’ve got a hound?”
“A Mudhol.”
“Mudhol?”
“Exactly like her.”
“But Angel is a Caravan Hound.”
“It’s the same…a Caravan Hound is the same as a Mudhol Hound …in fact, the actual name is Mudhol…”
“I don’t think so.”
“Bet?”
“Okay.”
“Dinner at the place of my choice.”
“Done.”
“Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“To my place.”
“To your place?”
“To meet Bruno…doesn’t Angel want to see him?”
“Of course… me too.”
And so, the three of us, Nisha, Angel and I, drove down to Nisha’s home on Malabar Hill. The moment we opened the door Bruno rushed to welcome Nisha…then gave Angel a tentative look…for an instant both the hounds stared menacingly at each other…Bruno gave a low growl…then extended his nose to scent…Angel melted…it was love at first sight.
Nisha won the bet…we surfed the internet…cross checked in libraries…she was right… Mudhol Hound is the same as Caravan Hound…but not the same as a Rampur, Rajapalyam or Chippiparai Hound.
But that’s another story.
Here is what happened to our “Dating and Mating Story”.
Angel and Bruno had a successful mating and Nisha and Bruno would visit my pregnant girl every day, and then, on D-Day, Nisha stayed through the night to egg on Angel in her whelping.
Angel gave birth to four cute little puppies, and every day the “doggie” parents and “human” grandparents would spend hours doting on the little ones.
Since Nisha and I could not agree as to who should take which puppy we solved the problem by getting married – strictly a marriage of convenience – but Sudha, her aim achieved, tells me that Nisha and I are the most rocking couple madly in love.
And so now we all live together as one big happy family – ours, theirs, mine and hers.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2009
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
FICTION by VIKRAM KARVE 