For sometime, we both just stood there transfixed, staring at each other. Siddhart seemed to have recognised me as well, evident from the sudden halt in his steps. There was that same dumbstruck expression of awe in both our faces as we stood bewildered in each other's presence.
Fate seemed to have a very grave sense of humour as it played its tricks upon me. After all that had happned between us, after all those years, we were destined to meet once again.
It was Sid who broke the silence. "Dhruv? Is it you?"
I had suddenly realised how silent the world was around me. My throat seemed to have gone dry and I couldn't even spare a meek reply of acknowledgement. All I could do was nod. The tempest of emotions that was stirring up inside me as a result of this uprecedented encounter made it difficult for me to set my thoughts straight. Just as I was beginning to get the hang of the excitement after coming to terms with the reality of the situation, dark thoughts began to foreshadow and I started feeling ashamed slightly, even guilty. Is he still angry with me? Does he really want to talk to me? Should I leave? Such unanswerable questions began piling up in my mind and it took me a second too long to reply. He had already come forward with an outstretched hand.
"It IS you, Dhruv. Wow. It is so nice to meet you," he said.
"Yes. It is," I took his hand into mine, finally getting a hang over my vocabulary. His touch seemed as uncanny as it was physically cold.
"Let's sit down for a bit. Do you mind?" he said, retreating back towards the bench from which he had just departed.
"Yeah. Lets do that," I said following him.
We sat there gazing out at the falling darkness. An unsettling silence fell once again between us. I was too busy collecting my thoughts than to pay any attention to his features or even his reactions. For long, I had thought of this moment, even dreaded it at times, wondering as to what I would do, or even say, when I finally met him. There were some rudimentary plans, some form of feeble attempts at conversation was all I had in mind planned for this moment, but, right then, at that instant, all of it seemed worthless and inapproprite. How could one possibly compensate for decades worth of unacquaintance? But inspite of all my apprehension, the silence had to be broken somehow.
"So, what brings you to these parts?" I asked, risking a casual glance towards him.
"Definitely not the same reason as yours I presume," came his reply. I was taken aback by his curtness and it took me a while to figure out that he was trying to be funny.
"Your sense of humour has degraded considerably," I answered, feeling suddenly lighter at heart than I was moments before.
This made him laugh. "Cut me some slack, would you. I am an old man now."
This made look at him properly for the first time that evening. It was evident that the years had not been too kind upon him, but his appearance made him look much older. The gray in his hair was more prominent than in mine. The skin below his eyes had sagged and that along with the unkept beard made him look a decade older than his age.
"How have you been Dhruv?" he asked. There was a sudden and genuine calmness in his voice as he looked at me with those old eyes.
With some hesitation, I answered. "I am fine." When he inquired more, I told him about my publishing house and my reason for coming to Delhi. He in turn told me about his job at a Software MNC and that he had been living in Delhi for the past couple of decades. We talked some more and gradually the evening began to grow darker.
About half an hour later, we both got up to leave. As we were making our way slowly towards the exit of the park, mustering up all my courage, I asked, "So, how is Kavya?"
I felt estranged at hearing her name spoken aloud after so long and even the sound of uttering it felt strangely alien to my mouth.
Sid just smiled in return. "Why don't you see for yourself?" he said at last.
For the second time that evening I found myself dumbstruck and at a loss for words. "You mean, she is here?" I asked, fearing his answer, and desparately fixing my gaze upon him, afraid of seeing yet another recognizable figure approach out of the darkness to confront me.
"Yes." He answered and pointed his finger towards the other end of the street where stood a gateway to a nice little colony of buildings hid behind dark brances of trees growing all along the boundary wall. "We live there. Block C. 3rd Floor. Apartment to the right."
I looked at the buildings that stood against the dark sky. There were ligts that were streaming out through the windows of the apartments and I couldn't help myself but imagine her backdrop against one of their sources. Sid's voice brought me back to the park. "Where are you staying?"
"There," I said, pointing at my lodge.
"Good." He said. "Saved me the trouble of driving to come fetch you. The driver's on leave you see."
Noticing the perplexed look on my face, he continued on. "You are coming to dinner at our place." And before I could even begin to form the notion of protest, he concluded by saying, "TONIGHT." The definitive tone in his voice was such that I could not bring myself to argue.
We both exited the park and stood under the streetlight at the gate.
"I'll be expecting you by Nine. Be late and I'll leave you to face her fury on your own."
I nodded in approval. And smiling we each went our separate ways.
