WHITE TULIPS MADE HER SNEEZE....

All through life, there are so many things that have remained unsaid
For example, Dhritimaan still doesn't know
That Srilekha actually likes white lilies rather than white tulips
Because tulips make her sneeze


But he continues making the same mistake even now because of a
Mondegreen
And which if I remember rightly was the direct result of 'Hey Bulldog” playing too loudly
On their first date


But that's ok; Srilekha has stopped minding since 2003
Today, it makes her think he's 'show shweet'
It makes her feel grateful that he still desires her
It even makes her remember that first date;
The night music, Tito's lobster and that botched kiss on the porch


So, now whenever Dhrito gets her white tulips
She just holds her breath and smiles at him


For example, Paripriya never found out that Aunindo loved her back then
That he wrote so, under his desk, in the maths class
That he learnt French only to impress her
That he wrote her two letters; one short and one really long


The first he tore into pieces the day he saw her with Indraneel in JU's Library
The second he carried for months in his wallet
Reading it by himself, and occasionally to Dhrubo
After a martini, before Chemistry and during sleepless nights
Till it became a year old, yellowed and kind of frayed around the edges
Ultimately he tore that one too


But Dhrubo never told Paripriya any of this
Not even after the “incident”
Because by that time, he had made up his mind that PD was an arrogant bitch
She wasn't
She just didn't
Know
..


Similarly, Aniruddha isn't aware
That, moments after he left for the airport that morning
Reva had been back at his condo on the 14th Arrondisement
And that finding it locked
She had cried for hours at the stairs outside
She had contemplated hanging herself by the doorknob (and for a while, even fiddled with her scarf)
She had contemplated drowning herself in the Seine (thinking it more romantic)
She had missed him like mad that afternoon
She had missed him by thirty seconds


Further, Bahadur has not yet told Xenia
That he frequently thinks of her in the nude
That he often fantasizes about her at nights in his uncomfortable bed
The anonymous woman in Private Limited hasn't confessed to her husband
Yet;
Her inclination for threesomes and bondage


……..
Vineeta doesn't know that her real name is Pooja
She has the sexiest dark circles ever on a woman
She still lives in Mumbai and calls it Bombay
She has told me (in separate conversations, of course)
About her first memory, her recurring dream and her adolescent fantasy
She has written just one poem that only I have read
She last spoke to me last July
She is trying to fall in love with her best friend
She is beautiful and she is funny
She is a metropolitan city
She is my early twenties
She is....
She just
Is