The Station Leave

Call Me...Maybe

"Arey Puchki you barely had anything. Have a little bit more", jethima said signaling the server boy standing on our table to put more rice on my plate. "No jethima this is already my second round of-" and before I could finish, there was fresh rice served on top of my half eaten food. I smiled tightly at her. "Someone give this girl some daal" she called out. I sighed looking at the steaming rice.

It's been about three days since Mr. Dixit moved in with us. As far as I understood, Mr. Dixit knows Dev bhaiya and Preet from college. He essentially met Preet via Dev bhaiya 'cuz they were roommates. And since then they've been good friends. Chitra di obviously knows him via Preet. As to why he's staying here with us - well! He is obviously here to attend the wedding. My sister's wedding. The same one I'm attending. So he was originally planning to stay at a hotel 'cuz unlike his friends, he doesn't have a permanent residence in Kolkata. He couldn't stay at Preet's because the Chopras aka Dev bhaiya's family is staying there and the place is full. Plus with all the preparations and everything, he didn't want to cause them more trouble.

Preet found out about what he was planning to do and took great offense to it. Sadly taking offense is the only thing he could do 'cuz their house was in fact, already packed. So he asked Chitra di for a small favor. Since we had moved to our old home which was quite spacious and we didn't have that many relatives coming out of the station, maybe there would be a spare room which could accommodate his dear friend. And obviously, Chitra di said yes. So now Mr. Dixit will be staying one floor above me and Tia. Tia, poor Tia. I almost forgot how selflessly she despised this man. She has been a bit quiet since that day. Even though Mr. Dixit hasn't interacted with us that much, neither has he left his room that often. He honestly has not really gotten completely comfortable with his surroundings that much yet.

"I hope he gets so uncomfortable that he runs away from here!" Tia had said. but I honestly don't think that's going to happen.

As of right now, he wasn't home. He was at Preet's attending the Ganesh puja they held for the new couple. We don't really worship Ganesh so jethu decided to hold a Satyanarayan puja instead. The puja was over and we had to sit down to eat and my first duty after finishing was to tell jethu to hire today's cook for every single event we ever have again because the food was freaking delicious.

'' Shilpa di, it's been so long since you last visited us! I heard your son got hired in ONGC? Such a great news", jethima was on patrol duty right now. She would go from table to table and talk to the guests. "Now that Riju is settled in his job you should start looking for a suitable bride", she said.

"We'll wait for a bit right now, I mean he's just starting with his career and everything. And kids these days like to make their own decisions. So we'll see if he has someone in mind already", Shilpa aunty replied with tad awkwardness.

"Sure, but I advise you to keep a watch for it. You know how girls these days are, they don't want to work and spend their entire day scrolling on their phones and when it's time to cook they'll just get a home delivery. So it's nice that you are giving your son the liberty to choose but at the end of the day we have to make sure that they are making the right decision", jethima said. "Even our Mimi is getting married to the man she wanted, but we checked everything about the boy and after making sure that she had made an excellent choice, then only we gave our blessings. And just look at my son-in-law, what a great boy he is! Respectful and cultured. You should also try to know more about the girl your son is seeing", pride charged out of jethima as she boosted about her son-in-law.

"Well he's sitting right there. Why don't you ask him yourself?" Shilpa aunty said. Poor Riju who was sitting next to us started choking on his water. " Riju, I didn't even see you there!" jethima exclaimed.

"It was better when you didn't", Riju said in a low tone.

This went on for quite a while as jethima hopped from one table to another to have conversations and slickly talk about how great her son-in-law is, how happy her daughter is, and how great the family is.

I was sitting on our balcony with Tia and Anni just talking about random stuff after we were done. The house was still bustling with guests. We heard a taxi pull up and saw Mr. Dixit coming out of it.

"Tch", Tia made a sound. "If he's such a dear friend of Preet's, then why can't he just adjust in there. He's from the boy's side and he's staying here. We have wedding preparations too, does he not know that?" I sighed at Tia's remark.

"Wow, I know people don't get along with their bosses but you guys seem like you have some sort of beef with him", Anni said. "I talked to him a bit. Seemed like a great guy to me to be honest."

"Anni, you'll get impressed by an ant if it walked faster than a snail", I said.

"You don't have to work five days a week for him. That's why you're saying that. He only shows his true colors to us, his employees", Tia said. "I'm going to get ice-cream. Want some?"

"Yes!" I said getting down from the railing.

"Not me, I'll pass. I'm trying to put down some weight to look fit for the wedding", Anni said.

"You are sixteen. Shut the fuck up!" Tia said as we three started walking downstairs. as we got down, another two pairs of feet came up.

"Arey, where are you guys headed?" ma asked. Mr. Dixit peered at us from right behind us. "Mr. Dixit here brought back prasad for us from the Jaisingh's. Isn't that kind of him?" Neither me nor Tia said a word until ma turned to giving us the 'agree with me damnit' expression. I immediately smiled and nodded at her. Mr. Dixit fixed his glasses.

"We are heading out to get some ice-cream", Tia declared. As we were about to walk past the both of them, ma said, "Ok but before, Puchki, go and help Mr. Dixit carry this bag upstairs" she said, handing me a heavy bag filled with God-knows-what. Mr. Dixit himself was holding two similar bags in his hands. "But she's also coming with us." Tia said.

"Ok go. But after helping Mr. Dixit out", saying this ma handed the bag over to me. It was heavy and presumably full of clothes.

"Sunaina aunty has sent gifts for everyone. It's kind of a ritual for them. That's what I've been told", Mr. Dixit said to ma. Compared to his thunderstorm like personality in office here he was acting like what I would call a morning dew.

Tia and Anni took this opportunity and ran off from ma's side, leaving me, a slightly annoyed looking ma and Mr. Dixit behind. Ma gave me one look and I simply turned around and headed back upstairs to the guest room. "I'd help but the home is filled with guests I have to attend to. I hope you understand", I heard ma saying from the top of the staircase. "No ma'am, it's absolutely fine" Mr. Dixit replied and headed up behind me.

I quietly went up to the room and was about to push it open when I noticed the lock hanging from the door latch. "Wait, let me just...", Mr. Dixit said before moving in front of me and placing one bag on the floor. He pulled out a small key from hid back pocket and opened the door. We got in and kept the heavy bag on his bed.

I noticed him having trouble lifting both the bags he was carrying and was most definitely at risk of losing balance. I went ahead and grabbed one of the bags he was trying to lift from below. "Oh, thanks'', he said. This was the first time he had directly said anything to me since his arrival. "It's ok sir, '' I replied. This was the first time I had directly spoken to him since his arrival as well. After keeping the bags I turned to leave the room.

"Anindita", Mr. Dixit called. For the first time since we've been working, he called me by my first name. "Um, Mokshada aunty told me to just call you Anindita instead of Ms. Roy so-", he said in the same soft radio-host-voice. " Can I call you Anindita?"

"Sure sir. You can call me anything", I replied. His expression changed as he narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"Even...Puchki?" he asked.

"Wha- um?" I asked as my jaw dropped. That just completely caught me off-guard.

Mr. Dixit chuckled a little before saying "Don't worry. I'm just kidding", making me even more astonished than before. "And please address me informally. We're not colleagues here so you too should just call me by my name."

I simply turned around and left after saying, "maybe."