Short Story: Geet | Part 4

Short Story: Geet | Part 4

Naina: I promised her that I will always be beside her no matter what. But that day I broke my promise. At that time, I told her that I accepted how she was and nothing was ever going to change between us. But things did change between us Rajat. Things did change.

Naina sobbed for some time, the weight of the memories was too much for her.

Naina: I started to get afraid of her. And somehow I automatically started to get away from her. I was in some way heart broken, that she had kept such a big secret from me. And other times, I felt very angry that she had disclosed that thing to me. I wished she had kept it a secret and let our lives move in a smooth manner without disruptions.

All the moments that we had spent together, I started to look at them from a different perspective and started to doubt her for ill intentions, but now that I think of her, I think she was very earnest in her feelings towards me. She was very respectful and she never crossed any sort of line.

I wish I had this sort of clarity at that time. Instead I basically dumped her just for telling something about herself. After college got over, I came here to Mumbai with you and I left Geet behind like a dream.

We stayed in touch through occasional letters and telephone calls, but slowly everything died down. The calls got less and less frequent and letters got too far and apart. And after a few years there was no contact at all. And I wouldn’t say I was particularly sad about it at that time. But now I wished I

had taken more initiative to stay in touch with her. After all I had my family with me, she was alone.

Rajat was silently listening to his wife. He simply nodded his head at that last sentence.

Rajat: Then what happened?

Naina took a deep breath, put her head down as if lacking the strength to go on but she did.

Naina: In the last few months I had been looking for her everywhere, Facebook, insta, but she was nowhere, it’s as if she had disappeared. I talked with some of our mutual connections but unsurprisingly everyone said that they also hadn’t talked with her in a long time. And in fact they were surprised that I was asking for her contact, everybody thought at least we would be in touch considering our friendship.

Someone even told me that she had gone into depression after college. Imagine Rajat, she went into depression and she never mentioned it while we were talking over the phone. I guess she had stopped expecting from me, trusting me enough to talk about her distresses. I really failed as a friend. Naina started to sob again.

Rajat patted Naina for some time. After regaining her composure somewhat Naina resumed with an intense hoarse voice.

Naina: After a lot of effort, I got her mother’s contact. I talked to her on the phone the day before yesterday.

She told me that Geet had stayed at home after college for 3 years doing a regular clerk job in a company. And then suddenly she decided to go to Punjab. She told her parents that she was going to do an MBA. And after MBA, she started to live there only. They asked her to come back but she kept sending her family a good amount of money and instead told them that it’s a good job and she didn’t want to come back. Her parents being poor, obliged with her.

They told me that she was sharing a flat with a female friend. During the talk, I realised that Geet hadn’t told her “secret” even to her parents. Imagine Rajat, she trusted me more than her parents(New tears started to form in her eyes).

The girl, whom she was living with, her name was Roli. Everything was going great with Geet. She would call her parents often and tell them about her life. She had even visited her home once with Roli and introduced them to her. Her mother told me that Geet was actually happy for a very long time. She was making good strides in her life, and her parents were getting timely money from her to support themselves.

But it seemed, God didn’t like Geet’s happiness for too long.

Aunty told me that while travelling on Shimla-Chandigarh highway, Geet had died in an accident 2 years ago.

(After a pause) She had died 2 years ago and I didn’t even know about it. Her best friend, living her life. What a shame! (She cried in spite)

Naina cried a lot. Rajat supported her by patting her on the back and hugging her.

Rajat was also really sad to hear such a tragic end to this story.

Rajat: So Naina, What now?

Naina: I’ll find my Geet.

Naina was standing on the balcony, staring at Roli’s number in her phone.

Feeling slightly anxious whether she should call her or not.

She eventually called Roli after much deliberation. Naina introduced herself and they talked about Geet. Roli burst into tears, Naina couldn’t stop herself as well. Both the girls cried.

Roli at some point said ‘Naina!! Geet had told me a lot about you. It’s so great to finally talk to you.’

The two girls chatted on and on about the wonderful person who had touched their lives and now had gone away, Geet.