Today and Ever After

The day was turning out to be like any other. It was five in the evening, and the work was showing no sign of getting over. Shaaswat knew he was going to miss opening night again. He looked out of the window - the sun beating down on the limp leaves was winning the battle for a scorching summer. Everybody had already left the office. Yesterday. It was a Saturday after all. Officially, the office was closed. He, however, had to finish the project appraisal report today. He stared at the computer screen. The wallpaper was a mad rush of colours. Shikha had made that. "She must be at the auditorium now," he thought. He had missed the opening nights of her last two plays. She had been angry. More disappointed perhaps.

He started on the next section of his report. "She will surely leave this time." It was not just the plays. It was their lives. "This report will never get done. How did I get stuck again? " They were living together for a year now. Inhabiting the same corner of space. The old fan overhead was making a screeching sound. The sound of worn-out machinery. "I'll make it up to her. Somehow."

Shaaswat had been smitten the first time he saw her act. Crash! The open windowpane banged hard against the metal frame. A sudden squall had turned the sky ashen gray. He fastened the latch, to keep the window open, firmly. "It will probably rain. At least then it will not be so hot." He had stalked her for weeks before she agreed to their first date. The keyboard was suddenly covered by a layer of dust, blown in by an intruding gust of wind. He could feel the grains of dirt on his fingertips as he typed in the project schedule chart. "I've become so used to her now. Maybe that is the problem. We have become too used to each other." A bolt of lightning lit up the room suddenly, followed by rumbling thunder. "Ah! Rain." The air filled up with the smell of earth, washed by the sudden downpour. Another bolt of light, a blinding flash, and then darkness. "Not a power cut! Not now, please!" The UPS started making a loud buzz. "That will not last another ten minutes. How do I finish this report now?" In the eerie glow of the monitor, he could see the play tickets lying on the table. "Should I? But the rain..."

Shaaswat looked out of the window. The rain was getting stronger, washing over the concrete of a parched cityscape. He reached down to switch his computer off.

Disclaimer: All portrayed events and characters are completely fictional and any similarity to real events and people, living or dead, is unintended and purely coincidental.