ORIENTATION OF LIFE

By Prabal Das

I was returning from the office. On the busy city road, I was caught in traffic. I was in hurry to reach home which was on the outskirt of the city. There my sister gave birth to a son. Suddenly red indication changed to a green signal and the nevertheless existence commenced. Unexpectedly near a mall, my eyes obtained stuck on a duo. I was stunned to see them together. Surprised and open-mouthed in way of the stride they put up with to look ahead and keep away from the reflection of what the community will say, they were relishing. It's Anurag and Abhisekh. Feeling perplexed I halted my car. They noticed me, smiled and caressed me. I gave a smile and said at 'yet it happened'. They smiled and said yes. As I was in a rush so I left the niche with a commitment to meet them again. I left the place but while riding in the car I was sweeping my memories and I don’t know when the past overshadowed my eyes and took me to my college days. Driven to those old college days when we used to be in a group and rejoice the most. In our college, we have always been the issue of exchange for our way to see the world and enjoy every moment between all those academic toppers. My self, Rituja, Ashmita, and Anurag. we used to be all together all the time dealing with each moment of life and with a dream to be in touch and go on like this life long. But yes the promise we do at some point in life for some people left us alone. But it’s ok because with time responsibility comes and forced us to left everyone with all enjoyment.

But after our semester, we thought to take a break and go on a vacation. And we decided to go to Bengal for some days. Unexpectedly Abhisekh came into our lives and everything altered. We were happy we got a new pal but who used to know with the introduction of something fresh the whole group would be in trouble? Abhisekh and Anurag were boyhood friends. They were from the same school and finished their higher secondary from the same school. So we had no dilemma with Abhisekh as Anurag knows him. But periodically their behavior used to surprise us. Their relationship was something different from the rest and this much was clear Abhisekh always tried to be with Anurag but doesn’t know why Anurag always feels uneasy and embarrassed with him in front of everyone. We all were good friends but never strived to enter such a subjective and private space but the thing was getting hard so I asked Asmita and Rituja to talk with him about this circumstance. We came here to enjoy but if everything goes against Anurag then none of us can enjoy that. We planned if Abhisekh is the trouble then we would ask him to flee. But no one was disclosing the matter. After a week we returned and took the admission for the next semester. Everything was going well but suddenly we heard that there was a huge feud between Abhisekh and Anurag. Now I took the matter seriously so I took their common address where they used to stay and from there they completed their school life. I reached Chandpur. There I got some contact with their common friends, I made an effort to reach all and tried to know about them. Rituja was also with me. At last, we got one finding from all of their friends that they used to be promising friends and something spare than companions. We were also acquainted with the identity of Aniruddha, their best friend. They used to know as the tripod in school. So we arrived at his home, and there we came to know that he was out of station due to some visionary cause. We returned but Anurag got to know all about our scrutinies. He called me to convene in a park. I entered there and he was drunk. He hit me, I fell to the ground. I tried to make him realize but all was in vain. He was not in that tone and situation to discern everything. I called Ashmita and asked for his address. Anurag had a huge crush on her and they had a good bond between them but she too had a boyfriend Subhankar. So everything was intricate between them. I took him to his room and chose to keep up there till dawn. Suddenly when I was babbling I saw one dairy on his study slab. I realized it was his diary and I decided to read some of the pages and some page was not there in the middle. I was confused but I let it be like that.

It’s been a few months and we were in our last semester Anurag was avoiding me and Rituja but we know if everything comes to be nice between them everything would be nice again between us. Don’t know why and how but suddenly Ashmita had a breakup with Subhankar. She was vexed. At the same time, Aniruddha called us to meet him so we reached there to meet him. I asked everything about them. He too uncovered everything about their affair. We understood Anurag and Abhisekh were more than friends. They had different sexual orientations but promised to stay jointly. But society changed everything. All my friends and family used to chuckle at them. Their family tried their best to prepare them to understand that they were mistaken and Anurag’s parents were triumphant on that. He started to move on and tried to make himself detached from the kind of relations they promised. He tried to make some relations with girls so that their perception about him changed but every time he failed. I understood that’s why he was telling us he had a crush on Ashmita. Suddenly after a few days, we got the news that Ashmita came out of her gloom and Anurag supported her with that and they were in a relationship. They too decided to stay together. We returned there and tried to make Anurag understand him and what he wants. But we failed. He decided to marry her after college.

I inferred not every decision is right and we should rethink the decision we take. Maybe in real life, the romantic anecdote ends like that. But I was in the chaos of how they were together. I reached my home. There I got the news that my sister gave birth to a son who had a unique sexual orientation. I smiled again and again at the orientations of life.

By Prabal Das