1|Rich Class

It started on the fine evening of April 3rd, 2019:  

The day was a bit gloomy with grey clouds, the normal polluted air of the nation’s capital, and unbearable agonies of never-ending assignments piling at the side of my desk.  

‘Ugh!’ The groan was involuntary but inevitable. My eyes were bloodshot by another night’s torture and my breath reeked of caffeine from the excessive amount of coffee I had consumed throughout the night and day. It had been more than twenty hours since I had a blink of sleep. At least to say, I felt like crap. 

Sighing tiredly at the blinking screen, I glanced at the tall Indian rosewood tree that stood proudly across the street overlooking my room's window with a smug look. 

'Just press Enter and we are good to go!' The feeling of accomplishment never fails to mesmerize me. I was feeling a tingling sensation at my fingertips. 

The clock might have struck somewhere in between four or five. I didn't care. It was just a rough guess and I was happy with it. I was never a time-bound person. I'd rather got lost in whatever I was doing without fretting over the timelines. It was the time when most of the world had started wrapping things up. But for me, it was just the beginning.

My thoughts were a mess: more like a confused heap as that had become of my books, assignments, and Memorials. My body was quivering. It had been hours since I had changed my posture. My shoulder blades were throbbing, my butt was numb and my right leg was asleep. Yet it was all fine. It felt fine!

My wandering eyes landed on two small squirrels quarreling their ways to the top of the tree. It was a chase for nuts that was driving me nuts. Like a lunatic, I keenly observed their flight from branch to branch that halted at the hollow hood while I slipped in the darkest lane of my brain.   

The chase closely resembled the cat and mouse game that had become of my life. For then, almost everything around me was reverting back and forth to the man I had spotted in the Phoenix. I wish...I just wish I could erase it.  

‘No! No! No!’ A voice inside my head roared firmly. ‘I cannot let myself suffer just like that again. Sonica, remember the promise. You need to be the best version of myself and you will become stronger and invincible. You have to do something.’ I told myself, finally leaving my desk. 

'He doesn't affect me any longer. I hate him, hate him, hate him. Okay, girl! Repeat after me. We. Hate. Rudransh-fucking-Shenoy with every cell in our body including every fiber of the clothes we are wrapped in and every single atom that surround us. We can kill him in one snap, but we don't want to get our hands dirty in his baby bitch blood. HE DOES NOT DESERVE IT!' I told myself firmly in a no-excuses-or-you-are-busted tone.  

And then? 

I left my desk. I left the mess upon it as it was and hurriedly collected the essentials which wasn't much. It had been days, probably four (I wasn't counting) when I had last stepped out of my room let alone the world outside the window which seemed afar and aloof. 

It was tempting me to take another dive in the wanderlust and let go of the reins that had been pulling me back and so I decided to set my foot out of the apartment and get a life for real, not for my sake, but for the sake of my best friend who was just going through the 'biggest' heartbreak of her life. 

'Oh, Anne! Men will be men. We have to learn to get over these things.' The thoughts were both sympathetic and funny at the same time. Sympathetic for I could most closely relate to Anne, my best friend, and funny because I was just learning to get over a heartbreak myself.

  

It had been a year since my engagement with a boyfriend of two years was called off. Actually, I had broken it myself. 

Reasons? I bet you know! Shasha-fucking-Anderson. 

You can let your imagination run wild and imagine all sorts of tears, throwing the ring on the face followed by an echoing slap and the break-up melodrama, asking the jackass for reasons with unsatisfactory explanations or you can imagine me preserving my self-respect. I wouldn't mind either. The only thing is that I didn't bother throwing so many tantrums over such absurdities. 

Rudransh was clearly pulling off signals from the very beginning. He didn't keep it a mystery that he wasn't interested in the wedding and even if he was, it was not with me. Alas! I was too blind to pick the hints. The man was a free bird who could never stick to anyone. He liked the rush of adrenaline in everything he does. Marriage and commitments were never his things. I knew it. In fact, it was the same madness that had attracted me to him in the first place. 

Deep down I think, I deserved the consequences for being too easy and too reckless. Anyways, what happened has happened and I am not going to welp over it.

Instead, I chose to remember the second when I had slapped the ring on his office table and walked away. Yeah! Just like that. And no, he didn't follow. (If the check-up calls don't count. Of course!)

'You are over him, Sony. Rudra is a jackass who doesn't deserve you. Let's find another bigger cock and satisfy the itch.' Cliche! But it was the best prep talk that I could come up with. I walked my talk.

Bringing Anne out! Meet me at Phoenix in five. I texted Neha as I slipped the bag on the shoulder and walked past my father who was watching people yelling at each other making a moron out of themselves. News! (you tell me!). 

I didn't bother giving him the goodbye peck as I jogged out of the house. I knew he was in a bad mood over another silly argument with Mommy (It was inevitable) and wanted to be left alone.

The world outside wasn’t any better either (oddly resembling my mood), but it wasn't the worst either. It was drizzling outside, faintly. 

On cue, my stomach grumbled, reminding me of the lack of nutrition. 

If break-ups and heartbreaks don't do anything well. At least, they put you on involuntary diets (minus the ice-cream tubs) and if the sorrow continues, you might see yourself getting the perfect bikini body which was your gym goal at no cost. Not to forget, the stronger, better, and more stable person shit! The one those lame YouTube channels tell you about. (Gee!)

Anyways, I was starving and food being one of the countless surviving needs, I had little option but to jolt out of my semi-bungalow at number 3, Vasudev Kunj, South Delhi, and get my lazy ass moving to any food street near the residential block.  

I am dropping by. We can go together. I'll be there in a minute! My phone chimed with a reply. I answered it with a thumbs up and put it back in the backpack. 

Involuntary, my eyes rolled to the side where the small cottage stood erected with all of its lights off. The 'apartment' which was more like a storeroom designed to keep the trash off was located at the very edge of the decent-sized lawn that adored the colossal structure of my magnificently beautiful house. 

The ' Vinayaka Villa’ was constructed during the Pre-independence era by British Architects for their living and still stood the same with negligible modifications. It was ‘their’ colony that had become ‘ours’ when my great grandfather retired from his civil service of twenty-five years, chasing those 'vamps' out of the nation. (For my non-Indian buddies: It was sometime before 1947.)  

Anne was accommodating the piece of property for more than a year then. A lonely, tired, frustrated student of the Companies Secretary, she had bumped into me in the university campus which was the second hell I despised the most after my office at PWC. (Which was responsible for the dark circles, curved spine, and a numb butt.) 

I was pursuing a degree in Law from the National Law University and immediately struck the chord of friendship with the girl I have mentioned.   

Anne and I had a lot in common, including but not limited to our career options. Anne loved what I loved and despised most of my subjects of hatred. With law running in the veins alongside blood, we were destined to become ‘the gals’. She was there when I needed a shoulder to blow my nose on. Invariably, it was my duty to be there for her. We had everything in our life except...the ugly love. 

Shaking myself out of the self-induced self-pity, I locked the door after me and jogged on the concrete driveway, cherishing the pricking sensation of rain.   

‘Good evening, Princess! Or is it a good morning? You look as if you have just awoken. It has been a while. Did you go somewhere?’ I hadn’t had to turn around to figure who it was. After more than twenty-three years of accommodation at Vasudev Kunj, the voice had become friendly, too friendly and familiar. 

‘Good evening, Mrs. Vohra. You are right, I have just left my desk. It is going hard, real hard in fact. But not as hard as Priyanka of course. Where is she? I hope she is fine. The last time I heard, she has filed for a divorce. Is it true?’ I asked, chewing the inside of my mouth. The next minute, I regretted putting the conversation at an awkward turn.   

Mrs. Vohra was a neighbor. 'The friendly' one! Who was always more interested in peeking into other's life than handling her own. She was the chairwoman of the gossip club in the society and part-time worked as a CCTV camera for all her neighbors. (The epitome of ideal Indian aunty)

The aged face of Mrs. Vohra fell. She looked tired. Very tired; and for a minute, I regretted bringing her daughter's failed marriage in between. But then, I was reminded of the time when she had blatantly humiliated my mother after my unsuccessful attempt at settlement. And poof! The regret vanished. (HA! It's payback time.)

‘I am sorry, Mrs. Vohra. I just—’ I tried to apologize when the lady cut me off. 

‘She is like what she has been. Still not ready to step out of her room. Doesn’t want to meet anyone, talk to anyone. Hell, she isn’t even ready to talk to her mother. I am just so worried about her. The court is going harsh on her. With each proceeding, she is getting more humiliated. My hope lies on you girls now. Get her to talk! I am afraid of her making stupid decisions in isolation. What if she...please, Sonica. Do something! After all, she is your friend. Isn't she?’ Mrs. Vohra pleaded.  

I wished I was standing a bit far from her so I wouldn’t have to see the moist ocean in her eyes. The black-coated grey hairs and wrinkled face had never been that sad that it had become in the past six months. Just for the moment! I decided to let go of my grudges against the unfair world.

‘Rest assured, Mrs. Vohra! I will do something. You go and get your date out for the night. Let Priyanka be with us! I am going out with my friends tonight. Hope she will come!’ I chirped enthusiastically. (at least I tried.) 

'Of course! Of course! Why not? I will just go and get her ready. Wait for sometime, okay? If you see a handsome guy, try to hook them up. My daughter is sex deprived for months. The idiot couldn't even keep her in bed. Some orgasms may bring her sanity back. Thank you! Thank you so much, Sonica. I am so happy that she has got a friend like you.' Mrs. Vohra nodded. Her lips curved upwards in a half-smile and her eyes seemed relaxed.  

After knowing Mrs. Vohra for almost two decades, nothing about her astonished me anymore. Mrs. Vohra was a divorce herself. Her husband had left her after he had caught her doing nasty things with the driver. Priyanka told me she was six then and couldn't understand half of the arguments, but her father was done with her and the mother. 

Mr. Vohra was her second husband. A rich hotshot with few crores in his bank account but barely any life left in his body. It was obvious that Mrs. Vohra had to rely on outsiders for her primal needs.

‘She is retarded!’ The voice in my head sighed, making guilt fill up my heart. I knew Priyanka was a tough shell to break and whatever had been happening with her recently was ugly and plain-ass unbearable, but it doesn't mean that she wasn't hurt. If one would ask me, I'll say that the woman needed more emotional support than the sexual one Mrs. Vohra was counting on.  

'Your daughter needs you, Horny woman. For once, forget your vagina and focus on your daughter instead. Lend her a ear so she could yell it all out.' My brain screamed. It took everything in me to keep my lips sealed. 

‘You got it? Right?’ Mrs. Vohra blinked relieved as she shuffled towards the sleek MG Hector, taking up space in her garage, and disappeared out of my sight.  

'Sure to!' I heard myself yelling at no one, finally rolling my eyes at her expense. 'Ladies! The hideous rich society' I said to no one as I waited for Neha to arrive.