Lady in Red

“Aggarwal ji this is Monty. I will be there in fifteen minutes,” Monty droned an apology to Mahesh over the phone for running late.

After a couple of curt responses, Mahesh disconnected the call and shook his head in exasperation. His soon to be son-in-law Nitin had requested him to meet his friend Monty, an upcoming apparel designer, amidst the crazy preparations of his daughter’s wedding. Mahesh’s house was over flowing with relatives and his daughter’s wedding festivities. So, he had agreed to meet Nitin’s friend at a nearby hotel. He ordered himself a stiff whiskey at the lobby and ran his gold-ring laden fingers through his thinning hair.

Mahesh Aggarwal, the proud owner of Reshamdor Sarees was not used to waiting for anyone. He had built himself a successful business empire in the last two decades. His father had owned a small saree store in Burrabazar. He had left him, then a mere lad of twenty, to shoulder the responsibility of his failing business. Growing up with older sisters who discussed sarees every waking hour, Mahesh had developed a good eye for them from a tender age. When he married, his wife brought in a hefty dowry with her that helped him invest in a modest workshop to add threadwork and dyes to the sarees. It was not a smooth ride and he had to fight numerous battles to keep his expansion plans buoyant.

Mahesh’s hawk-like eyes scanned the lobby and came to rest on an attractive looking woman. She was wearing a shiny red saree. Her slight slant of head, and the way she rested her face on her palm, gave her a distinguished poise. She seemed to be a proper lady, not one of those easily available, yet when their eyes met, she smiled at him for no good reason. He reminded himself that reputable men like him shouldn’t smile back at unknown women, especially in hotels and forced himself to look away.

His gaze travelled out of the hotel’s broad windows and stilled on the hotel’s rectangular swimming pool. It was raining hard against the concrete parapet, making the palm trees around the pool sway like lost souls in a wild trance. Mahesh remembered his boyhood, when he would often sneak out during rains and frolic in rainwater filled puddles. He would come back home drenched and his mother would chide him for his messy adventure. The rains always had an uplifting effect on his disposition.

He finished his first drink and ordered a second one as his eyes travelled back to the lady in red. She looked young, probably in her twenties. He felt conscious about his own age and appearance. If only he was more distinguished looking, a bit taller, a tad broader. He sat up and straightened his shirt collar. In his younger days, he was a ladies’ man but now with grown-up daughters, he was more cautious about his trysts.

Mahesh’s cell chimed. “Daddy ji I am sorry Monty is late. He just called me a minute ago. There is a nasty traffic jam on the highway and it will take him another half hour to reach,” said Nitin in an anxious voice.

“My whole evening is spoilt because of this friend of yours. I have so many things to do before your wedding and now…”

“I am sorry. I will understand if you choose to leave.” Nitin sounded dreadfully apologetic.

Mahesh liked Nitin. He appreciated Nitin’s sense of dedication towards his work for he had not allowed his upcoming wedding to consume his entire attention and slight his business acumen. Mahesh sensed that Monty was important to Nitin, for Nitin had just signed him up for his enterprise. He could not let his son-in-law down by being uncooperative.

“I will wait some more. You better tell Monty that I am doing this just for you.”

________________

The woman talked into her cell phone for a while, appearing rather restless. As she disconnected she walked to the lobby bar and ordered herself a drink. She sat down on the couch next to Mahesh’s with a glass in her hand. It was filled with an amber colored liquid. She turned to face him and smiled tentatively. “It doesn’t look like the rain is going to stop anytime soon.”

It took Mahesh a few seconds to realize that she was really talking to him. He blinked his eyes consciously.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“Yes, a friend of mine. He is trapped in a big traffic jam on the by-pass.”

“The person I am waiting for might be trapped in the same traffic. You could talk to me until your friend arrives.” What am I getting myself into? Mahesh shuddered inwardly at his sudden audacity.

“I don’t want to disturb you,” she said.

“You are not disturbing me at all. I…am Mahesh. May I know your name please?”

“My name is Reema.” She sighed and continued, “I am not going to get a taxi back home easily tonight. If my friend does not show up it’s going to be difficult reaching home.”

“Don’t worry, I can help you.” The offer to help slipped out of him before he could check himself.

“Why will you help me? You don’t even know me.” She gave him a surprised stare.

“That can change. We can get to know one another.” He had a hint of smile in his eyes that he couldn’t resist.

Her face went blank for a while but a moment later her eyes narrowed as she appraised Mahesh and he felt an absurd rush of adrenaline. They sat sipping their drinks measuring their thoughts wordlessly, like strangers do.

“Have we met before?” he asked. She did look familiar.

She did not answer. Another brief silence followed, and Mahesh started to wonder if he had overstepped.

Then she cleared her throat and said softly, “Can we go the rooftop café? It’s much quieter there.”

Mahesh was thrilled at the unexpected directness. His heart galloped. “I have to meet someone. Can you wait for me?”

Reema’s eyes sparkled as she thought for a moment. Then she finished her drink and stood up. “Sure. Do you like living on the edge?”

Mahesh was amazed at how the conversation was turning out. “Why not?”

“In that case, I have a little game planned for you. I hope you won’t mind playing along,” she said and walked away with a lilt in her steps. She looked elegant yet tempting, respectable yet bold, a strange mix of soft and hard.

The alcohol was starting to buzz in Mahesh. He got up to wash his face in the washroom. He had just decided to meet a stranger at the rooftop café. This was beyond bizarre. He felt like he was stepping into a fast shifting time warp and losing his calm composed older self to the younger reckless one. Monty called again and this time Mahesh spoke calmly, amused at the absurdity of the situation. “Just call me when you reach, and this time you might end up waiting for me.”

________________

Reema flashed a radiant smile when she saw Mahesh walking up to her at the Rooftop Café. “Tell me, we have met before, haven’t we?”

“Perhaps we have,” she said in a low voice.

“You sound so mysterious. What do you really want from me?”

Reema narrowed her eyes. “Exactly what you want from me.”

Mahesh felt a quick flow of blood to his face. He looked away to scan the almost empty café. His eyes hurt from the low lighting. His head was growing a dull throb.

“Come on, let’s start the game I was telling you about. You tell me a secret about yourself and I will tell you one of mine. One by one we shed our layers,” said Reema slowly, caressing each word with her full lips.

Mahesh craved the company of beautiful women. It was an addiction that he had guarded over the years, but it had a tendency of showing up surreptitiously, sneaking up on him unaware at the oddest moments. The only way he could get over the strong pangs was by indulging them once in a while.

“Well, I can share some secrets if you promise that you will not be offended,” Mahesh said with open leer in his eyes.

“I am not that easily offended.” “Okay then. I love women, especially if they are as attractive as you.”

Reema gave him a steely look. “I love drinking,” she said.

“That’s not much of a secret, is it?” chuckled Mahesh.

“I have another name that my father gave me but I don’t use that always,” said Reema.

“Hmmm…my father had asked me never to drink but I didn’t listen to him,” said Mahesh.

“I like dancing in the rain,” said Reema.

“I have an empty flat in Kolkata that my family doesn’t know about,” said Mahesh.

“I love taking long relaxing bubble-baths,” said Reema.

“I like going for long drives on nights like this,” said Mahesh with a grin.

“I love expensive perfumes, it’s my big weakness.”

“I love expensive watches, my big weakness.”

“We both have expensive weaknesses, don’t we?” said Reema.

“Weaknesses are always expensive,” said Mahesh his smile widening.

“I like older men,” said Reema, her eyes burning into Mahesh’s.

“I like risk-takers,” said Mahesh.

“I like people who are direct, who can state what they want without flinching,”

“Same here,” said Mahesh.

It was heady flirting with someone like her, someone half his age. But where is this going? he wondered, growing restless after sometime. Mahesh wanted more. Much more. He was sinking deeper and deeper into Reema’s beautiful kohl-rimmed eyes and felt flattered by her attention. He found her brash, unnerving, but also exciting.

“I have a special talent,” said Reema dreamily.

“What is that?” asked Mahesh swooning under her attention.

“I can read faces,” said Reema.

“Really! Tell me what you see here.”

“You run a very successful business.”

“That is not very difficult to guess,” Mahesh said teasingly.

“No, it is not,” admitted Reema. “

You are in the saree business, right?”

“That is correct.”

“You worked hard to reach where you are.” Mahesh let out a satisfied breath.

“You had to do a lot of things to get what you wanted. Some good. Some bad,” said Reema.

“Don’t we all have to sometimes do things we are not proud of?” said Mahesh, intrigued.

“Not the kind of things you have done,” said Reema.

Mahesh felt uncomfortable about the way she said it. “You know what, I think you are taking this game a bit too seriously. Let’s just relax and enjoy each other’s company, okay?” Mahesh said.

She drawled unhurriedly, “Mahesh ji, I admire men who admit what they are capable of. That is also another secret I have just let you into. Let me tell you what I see. The great Mahesh Aggarwal, owner of a big saree empire. You have inspired a lot of young entrepreneurs. You grew your business quickly but ruthlessly, leaving a lot of people hurt.”

Mahesh knew that he should stop Reema from talking further but he seemed bewitched at how she was looking at him.

“You had brought a group of skilled Rabari women from Rajasthan, to train your workers. You overworked them so much that two of the women fell ill during their stay and you refused to pay them their due wages. Your manager in those days was disturbed by this and requested you to reconsider how you treat your workers but you chose to… ignore him.”

“The very next year you transported a group of Chikankari craftswomen from Lucknow and got even bolder with them. You demanded sexual favors just so that they got their full pays.”

Beads of sweat lined Mahesh’s face. His throat felt unusually scratchy. “Who are you?” he asked in a gravelly voice.

Reema continued without answering his question. “That is not the end of your heinous deeds. You knew that the chemicals used in your workshop emitted fumes that was a health hazard. Workers developed a bad cough and your manager asked you to look into the matter, but you did not do anything until one of them died.”

Mahesh could feel hot blood whooshing in his ears. His manager Alok’s face came to his dreams often, even after so many years. After the death of the worker at his workshop Alok wanted to resign. Mahesh used to drink himself silly back in those days. He had got drunk and felt unreasonably furious with Alok.

“You are a nobody. Don’t you threaten me!”

“I am not threatening you Mahesh ji. I am just saying that your ways are very different from mine. So, it is better that I quit,” Alok had said and resigned formally.

Mahesh had still felt threatened for Alok knew too many of his dark secrets. His upright personality made Mahesh uncomfortable. He spent an entire night worrying about what Alok might tell others. A few light slaps and blows were all that he had asked his men to deliver just so that Alok would not open his mouth against Mahesh, but the goons had gone overboard. Alok had died just after a day in the hospital. Mahesh remembered visiting his family to offer help. Alok’s wife was young.

Suddenly he remembered her unique face and a shot of fear ran through his body. He stumbled out to the terrace. It had stopped raining but the air was still wet from the rain. How is that possible? That was such a long time ago.

Mahesh asked again in a quivering voice, “Who are you?”

“I am Alok’s wife.” “But…but…” stammered Mahesh wide eyed. “I had heard that his wife had died a year or so after him…”

Reema’s eyes had a queer shine in them. “You are right.”

She set free a low menacing laugh. “That is my last secret.”

His breathing began turning erratic and he felt a numbness spread through his arm. His words slurred. “I didn’t want Alok to die, believe me…”

The wet wind whipped her hair wildly around her face. “But, you did kill him.”

The wind started howling in his ears. Her piercing gaze squeezed Mahesh’s breath out of his lungs.

“I am going to… finish you.” He tried to reach for her neck.

“I am already gone.” She took a step away from him. “Now it’s your turn.”

She held out her slim hands that had looked so attractive a while ago. Now they seemed to grow towards him like a serpent, lethal and unforgiving.

“Come with me. It’s time for you to leave as well.” That was the last thing he heard before the whooshing sound took over his hearing and he lost consciousness.

________________

Monty watched his friend nervously. “What you did was dangerous Brishti!”

Mahesh had suffered a severe heart attack and was ordered bed rest for a month. Monty was afraid that he would harm Brishti if he found out about her. But Brishti did not care. The nightmares that had chased her for years, had finally stopped. She was fifteen when her father, Alok, died because of Mahesh’s callousness. Her mother died of a broken heart a year later. Bristi’s grandparents had made her promise never to go near Mahesh but Brishti knew in her heart that she would not be able to move forward in her life until she avenged the untimely death of her parents.

As she grew up she was the spitting image of her mother, but had none of her mother’s softness. The pent-up anger had corroded her insides and made her hard. Fortunately, she made a few good friends in college who introduced her to theatre acting. Her theatre troupe became her close family and saved her from her bitter self. Brishti had met Monty there. They acted in several productions together and became good friends. She opened up to his caring, empathetic temperament and told him about her painful past.

Monty transformed into a successful designer in a few years-time and bumped into Nitin, his old school-friend who wanted to commission him for his line of apparel. Monty learnt from Nitin that he was getting married to Mahesh’s daughter.

When Brishti found out about it, a plot crystallized in her mind. It took her a while to convince Monty to help her. He had been skeptical about luring Mahesh into a meeting through Nitin. “I will be hurting Nitin indirectly through this.”

“No one will ever figure out that you could have any connection with my father,” Brishti had convinced him. “You said Nitin is a good man. He will take care of that horrible man’s family if there arises a need.”

Brishti had used her uncanny resemblance to her mother to teach Mahesh Aggarwal, a much-deserved lesson.

“What if Mahesh Aggarwal finds out about you once he recovers?” Monty asked, his eyebrows raised in concern.

A crooked smile curled around Brishti’s lips. “Don’t worry, Mahesh ji will never have the courage to look for the lady in red, not even in his dreams now!”

XXXXXXX