Jab we met

The rain is coming down in sheets and here I am waiting for Rion to pick me up after work. This has become our routine ever since we relocated to Pune. People around me under the bus shade are also waiting for the rain to subside before they can scurry off to complete their chores. A radio somewhere is belting out Bollywood golden oldies - as if to keep our spirits high in spite of the damp cold weather. But hang on... what's that again? The song, I mean. Isn't it the same number that was playing the very first time Rion had come to pick me up after work?

Cut to July 31, 2005. Mumbai. Andheri station, Harbour line. The city had witnessed its worst flood in a 100 years, only 5 days back. The trains had just started plying after the deluge. My fifth floor Navi Mumbai apartment was totally washed out with the water seeping in through the door connecting the bedroom with the balcony. So I had taken refuge at a friend's cousin's place that was comparatively dry. It was at Nilakshi's that I met Rion - another of their cousins. He had seemed a bit of a flirt right away, but charming at the same time. I was curious about him, but not really interested in anything long term. He simply didn't look the type.

On the second day of my stay, I had come home to clean up my flat. Rion had offered to help but all he did on reaching my place was sleep and snore, just to make up for being out all night, most probably partying. Later that day we discovered each other and after a heart-to-heart, Rion insisted I go back to his cousin's place with him. So, there I was in Andheri again, returning from work the next day.

The rain hadn't stopped and was particularly heavy at the time I got off the train. Slowly I was walking towards the exit, wondering if I should wait for a while or just make a dash to catch the nearest rickshaw. And this very song - a popular Bollywood number on romance in the rain - was blaring off somebody's mobile radio. And then, I saw him. He was standing near the exit, holding on to a dripping brolly and feeding a wet hungry dog a packet of glucose biscuits. That was the moment I fell in love.

He had wanted to surprise me by coming to pick me up from the train station, and what a pleasant surprise it was! He is man of surprises. He loves to take you by surprise - and revels at your pleasure!

Rion was actually looking for an accommodation and so had put up with his cousin. So, instead, he moved in with me. In about two weeks, we went on a trip to Goa and that's when he proposed marriage. But I asked for time, not knowing that I had already conceived our daughter! When I did discover a few weeks later, my life turned on its head. I wanted to get married the next day or go for a termination, but Rion backed out thinking I had agreed to marry him only for the baby. Neither did he support my abortion. After a series of messy situations, we agreed on a business proposal: we will be married till the child is born and then we go our separate ways. Getting the marriage legalised involved some serious manipulation; finally, we got our respective families to accept our marriage.

But the biggest surprise of all is the fact that our marriage clicked. Through all these upheavals, we learned to bond somewhere, somehow. People go through a lot of speculations and logical analyses - not just them but their parents and their parents too - before plunging into a marriage. Even then, at times they end up in divorces or non-functional marriages. But destiny seemed to push us into ours, with little time to think or analyse. So far it's been good. No regrets. The future's not ours to see...

I snap back to the present as Rion halts in front of me and jump into the car. The song is still playing on the car stereo. "Remember this song?," I ask him.