Chapter 11 Old Friend

“My old friend from School” she responded. And then she told to me come in. I shaked hands with her husband Jaghdheer Mehta. By seeing his face, I got an instantly recognized him, he was a MLA of some party who were fighting in the upcoming elections. I saw him yesterday on Television.

“How are you, sir? My name is Avinash Sampath” I greeted him with great zeal.

“I am Jaghdheer Mehta, convener of Lokshakti Party.”, “Oh! Yes, I have seen you on the Television, nice to meet

you, Sir” I told him.

“Me too” he replied and asked to sit.

“So you are Chhavi’s old friend from her time in school or,” he asked me as to confirm my identity.

“Yes, both in school and later in college “ I told him. He asked Chhavi to get some juice for us. I was a bit irritated by all the unjust persecution about him that I received from Utkarsh and Dad. Jaghdheer had welcomed me with great enthusiasm. He introduced me to his father, Mr. Jagbir Mehta, who joined us.

“You are the founder of LokShakti party?”, I asked him. “No, the party was formed by my father two years back with a motive to fight back the corruption, and improve the needs of the common man. The party is lead by people who are young and dynamic, unlike those who just wanted to ransack and deprive people of their rights” he told me in a detailed explanation.

“Yes I heard about that and my sister Aparna is also a big fan of yours, you are doing a great job sir” I appreciated his deed.

“There is nothing great about this country anymore, we are trying to help the people of this country understand that there are people who are there to help them and giving their best to fight off the corruption plaguing this country and get this country on the path of great development. The good news is, A new project has been approved by the government of India, which was brought up by my father, “he said smiling and looked towards his dad.

“What kind of project?” I asked him

“We are going to have make our country’s very own bullet train,” he told with excitement. After hearing this, I was convinced that his person was no only a good man but he was also a great one.

“So man, tell me about yourself, about your family,” Uncle asked.

“In my family, there’s me, my younger sister who is now married and my ad. My mom died six years back.”

“Great, what is your current profession?”

“I am currently unemployed; I was imprisoned for six years. I just came back yesterday.” I told them confidently. Jaghdheer was in deep thoughts now. He looked somewhat strange, trying to remember something. I don’t know what was going on in his mind.

“Was Chhavi was somehow involved in it?” he asked me suddenly.

“Yes, but how did you know?” I got curious

“She told me once,” he said in a grim and loud voice, and suddenly threw the table upside down and called Chhavi from the kitchen, and started screaming. ‘Get out’. Get out you sick man’, then I finally understood the warning given by Utkarsh and dad. I would have never come here knowing something like this could happen it destroyed all of my feelings and respect for him and his family. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

“You called him here” said Jaghdheer.

“Why did you call him here”, Jaghdheer screamed and looked rough now. Chhavi didn’t utter a word to him. I was standing there silently without saying anything. The again he said angrily,

“Why did you call him here? Filthy animal”

“Hey, who are you calling a filthy animal” I said, pointing my fingers towards him, and almost grabbed his collar but I stopped myself. I slowly regained my composure and left the condo.

From back I could see Jaghdheer’s dad was also stunned to see his son’s behavior.

“Why are you suddenly screaming at this innocent fellow, he did nothing wrong,” he asked.

“Dad, you don’t need to get into this. You won’t like him, he Chhavi’s Ex,” Jaghdheer said, his voice seemed rougher.

I wanted to stop this and fight back, but something stopped me from doing that. I immediately left the place.

...

The next morning had a sour taste to it. That incident kept creeping back in my mind, with Chhavi’s unusual attitude and her husband’s unusually rude behavior However, I moved forward with my head held high, I came back home. I heard the doorbell ringing, Utkarsh had opened it, he smiled and spoke.

“ Avi, guess who came?” “Who?” I asked.

“C’mon bhai guess, you already know her.” “Chhavi?” I asked curiously.

“No, but you are getting close,” Utkarsh smirked. “C’mon Bhai, I don’t know who it is,” I exclaimed. “Its Ishita from your college, remember her, “

I looked inside the waiting room and saw her sitting on the sofa wearing a maroon flare dress with floral prints on it. I entered the room and greeted her, Aparna was sitting beside her.

“Hello, Avinash, how are you?” Ishita came said as she came towards me and gave me a hug. She was looking so gorgeous, totally unrecognizable from her college days.

“I am good Ishita, how are you doing these days?” “Wonderful”, she said, it was such a sweet voice that

it almost melted my heart. . She was having coffee, but she looked so graceful having it, it just made me compliment her on her etiquette.

“Ishita I must say, you have become so graceful,” a beautiful smile came up on her face as she heard me complimenting her.

“That’s so sweet of you, Avinash thank you so much, “ her eyes were sparkling as she replied.

Then, Aparna told me about Ishita’s Job. She said that Ishita was working as the Manager in Chief of the NewsNet Channel. I got pretty surprised to know that and it felt good to know that she was succeeding in life. I remembered that she had a deep interest in journalism and wanted to pursue a career in it. She was living her dream life. I kept praising her for her achievement.

“Bhai, coming back to the main point I called Ishita to about you. I requested something from her, and she didn’t say no to me.” Aparna told me but I was still unware of their conversation.

“Okay, I am getting confused now you called her, but for what?” I questioned.

“Ishita is here to offer you a job in the NewsNet channel”, Utkarsh said from the back.

I didn’t expect it, a job offer. I wanted it, but I also wanted to achieve something through my own deed. I explained it to them, and they listened to it and told me.

“Avi, I understand your point but with the fact that you were in prison it doesn’t seem like you’ll be able to get a job soon. I know you, and I know you’ll be able to get one but not at the moment, till then you can do this, just think about it, I know you don’t want to take this job for yourself but you could do it for us, what do you say bro? In our opinion, you should go for it.” I thought about it. At first, I wasn’t convinced about it but then I thought if I took the offer my family would feel so relieved and proud of me, I made up my mind and took the offer.

“Okay, I will do it”, I said with determination. Everyone were overjoyed to her my reply.

“That’s amazing, well then report in my office at nine a.m. sharp, I will send you the address via text”, Ishita said like a boss.