Love Untold

Rita, is a known designer for Living Spaces. She was one of the most sought-out designers for most of the prestigious projects.

Single, successful and popular, what else would anyone asks for!!! She was happy go lucky type, most of the time spending her time on new projects and with her staff to meet the deadline. Whenever she found time she used to visit Bhuvana, her close friend and classmate from NID. She used to spend most of her weekends at Bhuvana’s place… it was home for her. 

Rita was alone, with parents no more and her sibling settled in Australia, she had few relative here and there. She had a lot of friends or shall she call them acquaintance, she used to party with them, hangout with them, but if looking for an emotional support she came over to Bhuvana…Both of them got married early in life just after their college. Bhuvana married her classmate and after a few years of working and giving birth to her daughter she decided that she will be more a helping hand in her husband's business.

Rita on the other hand, married a very successful artist. His paintings were very famous, but both being very creative and moody, they couldn’t pull along the relationship beyond a couple of years. The breakup was also very messy, they don’t even interact to each other if they meet in any function, its almost 25 years now….

Bhuvana’s nephew was also qualified in design but had a huge ego to carry with him, so was unable to carry on work as an employee with any organization for a long time. Sunil, was a good photographer and nature enthusiast.

In one of Sunil’s visits to his aunt's place, he met Rita. Bhuvana without much thought asked Rita, "Why don’t you keep Sunil in your company and teach him a trick or two to be as successful as you…" Rita replied, "I would be more than happy to have his support and help, but he should join your husband's company, they are more a structured firm…" Sunil, jumped in between and asked, "Rita, what kind of work you do?" And before even she could say anything he pulled out his laptop and said, "Can you have a look at some of my work and my photographs." As each slide moved, Rita was very impressed, she was reminded of her and her husband's young days, when they have explored design and art in a new perspective….

Rita said, “I am sure boy, you won't be able to work for anyone for long, you have to start something of your own. If you are keen you may join and experiment with our company for as much time as you like.” Sunil was happy. He said, "Give me the work, however I will do it at my convenience and surely within the time frame and at my place of choice. Don’t force me to come to the office and sit on the chair and design…."

"First you come to my office and then you say whether you want to work for us or not" Rita answered. 

Next day when Sunil reached her office, he was surprised to find a very causal office with people in their causals, with couch, rocking chair, plants, ladder, paint boxes, chart paper all laying haphazardly and a huge cafeteria, it was more a coffee and book shop and less an office… He loved this work place and after getting introduced to the team, he started understanding the work. The company got a new project and was very complicated. 

They had to design a resort….

The client wanted the look and feel of old tradition of South India yet having the most modern luxury for their client. After a brain storming, the team was divided into smaller team for each different sections of the resort. Sunil was keenly listening to the entire discussion but didn’t participate. After the meeting, he grabbed a cup of coffee and took a magazine and sat in one of the beanbags. Rita was surprised with his behavior.

After a while without informing anyone, Sunil picked up his DSLR and walked out of the office. For the next two days, no one knew where he was, worried, Rita called Bhuvana and informed the whole incident… Bhuvana laughed and said, "Oh! you are not in his Instagram. He is right now somewhere in down Tamil Nadu, he has been posting some nice pictures there, maybe you should look at it…." Rita was upset, "At least he should have informed me, his bag and other materials are lying in office." Bhuvana convincingly replied, "This is his problem and that is the reason he doesn't stick on to any job…"

The very next day, Sunil came to office and he was the first one to be there and arranged the entire office, made a nice place for all the people to listen to him. As the entire team walked in and later Rita, he offered them all coffee and presented them with the concept of making the resort in the form to different temples of South India. He described every bit of his idea on resort with photographs of how restaurants and swimming pools may look like. For every room he had thought of giving an impression of bedrooms as seen in South Indian palaces …Everyone appreciates his concept and principally agree to it and the work on blue print was initiated immediately. Rita called Sunil to her chamber and started advising, "You might be good, but to achieve anything in life you have to be responsible… at least information is needed." Overall Sunil was happy with his work and the feedback. Sunil was spending most of the time in office. He was made the in-charge of the project and Rita was also spending a lot of time with him. They started going for client meeting together, coming back to office, necessary changes are made in the plans. As the project moved fast the team was kind of spending close to 18 to 20 hours in office, sometimes even spending the whole night in the office to catch up with pending work.

The project was shaping well and they were getting good reviews from the media too. It was close to one and half years that Sunil was associated with Rita’s firm and that was the longest ever with any company. In the meantime, somehow, he had developed soft corner for her. He used to get her a bunch of flowers for no reason and put on her table. When asked would reply, "For u, to me as fresh as flowers." He would buy her lunch or a coffee when they would go out for a meeting or he would ask her to come out for a walk to take a break from work. He has secretly taken a lot of photographs of her while she was working or at different locations, and all had come out very well… On her birthday, he covered her chamber wall with her photograph and all the work she has done in the last so many years. Every member of the team was so happy to see such a marvellous work. Rita was swept away with the gesture, nobody had taken so much care of her, she never felt so pampered, she felt so carefree in his company and again felt very young….

After the entire team had left the office, he asked Rita, "If she was okay to have dinner with him." 

"I am very tired, can we do it some other time?" she replied politely. However, he insisted and so she agrees. When she turns to go to the parking lot to get the car, he asked, "Why don’t you come on my bike." After many years, she is excited to get a chance to ride, she agrees instantly. He zooms past the city and started driving to outskirts. She was feeling so good, she releases her hair from the bondage of her hairbands and extends her arms wide and shouts loudly, "I am lovvvving this.........." She is suddenly neither a head of the organization nor the 45-year-old disciplined lady. She has transformed again to the carefree collage girl. They reached a villa, a little far away from the town. As she enters, the entire place is lit with candles and lanterns. He takes her straight to the pond where a beautiful laid table with two chairs are placed. All arrangement for a wonderful dinner is made and to her surprise, she finds a birthday cake as well…. It's her birthday...It was a full moon night with candle lit and as she blows the candle hesitantly, a team of musicians render song for her. She is zapped!!, She enquired surprisingly, "Did you plan all this?

She loves ghazal and the singer sang her favorite ghazals and dedicated for her…It was a long time she celebrated her birthday, rather never in her life she had a birthday like this…. They sat under the moonlight and enjoyed the music till wee hours. Sunil was capturing every moment in his camera…She was like a butterfly in garden, she had pull down her guard completely. Travelling back at that time of night with cold breeze flowing and music in her heart. It was an experience she had, not had for a long time, when he dropped her back to her house, the rest of night she was not able to sleep, tossing and turning in her bed, remembering every moment she has cherished. 

The behaviour of both of them was evident, that they had a special place for each other. After going for a late-night show, they stopped by an ice cream vendor, licking and enjoying the ice cream. All of a sudden Sunil went down his knees and proposed to Rita. Rita was completely shocked but she was happy. The next moment she remembered he is my close friend's nephew. She couldn't accept this, reacted, "What are you doing?" Saying so she got down from the bike and took a cab and returned home.

For the next two days, her mobile was switched off. She didn’t go to the office either. She was not at home instead she went to an Ashram and was doing meditation. She was having a guilt that she was somehow responsible for Sunil's actions. She felt as she had given enough space for him to take the liberty. Sunil was 18 years younger than her…But after a lot of thought she decided not to encourage Sunil. In the meantime, Sunil informed his family and his aunt Bhuvana about his feeling for Rita and everyone in the family was upset and shocked and blamed Rita for her childish behaviour… Everyone from Sunil’s family was cursing her. 

"If she was looking for a partner, can’t she look at someone of her age…" such were their reactions.

Bhuvana was silent the whole time, then she said, "I would like to talk to Rita before I say anything. Why are we even blaming her, maybe she has nothing to do? It might be Sunil who is keen…"

Rita was not aware that Sunil has made this public. When she returned from ashram, she called Bhuvana to share her agony.

"There is an important matter and I would like to speak to you, can we meet??"

"Why don’t you come over to my place?"

"No, not home, I want to speak to you in private."

"Ok, then I will come over to your place" Bhuvana said.

When Bhuvana came over, Rita hugged her and started crying inconsolably. 

"What's the matter?" 

Rita explained in detail the whole development to her… 

After hearing to her story, Bhuvana said calmly, "We all know about it, Sunil has informed us and he is keen that you say "Yes!"

“Have you gone mad, did you see his age, he is the age of our daughter or may be a year or two older" she reacted. 

"If female is young and male is older than her, do we ask any such question.... then why are you asking this??? Just tell me are you keen or not??? 

"I surely have a special feeling for him however I am not sure, never thought what it was…"

Bhuvana had brought a beautiful album made by Sunil and a few lines written on each page of the photograph. The photographs of her birthday and he had requested his aunt to handover to her, whatsoever was her decision. 

Both of them took time to go through each page, each line and each word… 

Holding a cup of coffee in her hand Bhuvana gave one to Rita and asked, "What do you feel, should I call Sunil here, would you like to talk, I am cool to be your mother-in-law" and she started laughing aloud…Rita also laughed out loud and said, "I surely will call you “SaasuMaa” … then there was silence. 

Rita thoughtfully said, “I know for sure that I like him too. Over some years, he may lose interest in me and probably look for younger girls of his age…and he has to…I would be less active in a few years from now and would need more emotional and physical support, wherein he would look for more active life… Logically it is not making sense but emotionally I would like to. It is more than tempting to resist....” and turned towards Bhuvana and asked "What do you feel?” 

They both looked into each other's eyes and the answer was clear to them…