Prologue

By Kartik Gupta

On the seventeenth floor of a high-rise apartment building at the end of the meandering road which started out from a once popular cinema multiplex, was the two bedroom flat where Kabir lived. The road led to a pseudo slum over which serpentine columns of cars and the occasional spirited motor bike zipped through on the freeway. For the inhabitants of the spatter of apartments lined up on this road, the entertainment began and ended at the multiplex itself.

At least for Kabir, this road – which gave the false shimmer of glamour at the onset, only to end in poverty – personified the current phase of his life.

The only saving grace was a beautiful park with a running track along the backyard of the residences, where middle-aged corporate bones found their sense of youth and forbidden lovers found their gratification. It seemed as if the park provided the perfect mist covering the union of two just as well as the solitude of one.

But like all good things in life, even this park came with restricted access. The fixed timings meant that Kabir only went there when he had the discipline to wake up early before the sun started scorching, or the motivation to make time for it in the evening. It was one of those regular Monday mornings when the sun was already high above the horizon, and Kabir knew even in the alpha state of sleep before fully waking up that he had missed that access window again today.

Spreading his left arm out, he tried to slowly free the other one from under the girl who was sleeping next to him. Kabir’s movement was clearly not slow enough. Kanika stirred and opened her eyes ever so slightly. Instinctively, Kabir’s hands moved to her face and started brushing the rheum formed at the corner of her eyelids. She smiled. Then she paused.

“Are those tears?” she asked, startled. “You are crying. What’s wrong, Kabir?” now wide awake.

“I don’t want to live like this”, mouthed Kabir.

“Then leave it. We will figure something else. Be happy instead”, she said reassuringly.

This was the final push that Kabir needed. He decided that it was time to make the hard decision. And then he smiled. He experienced a Zen that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Kabir resigned from his job the very same day.

By Kartik Gupta