“Good Morning..”

... He wrote and then pressed “Send”. He didn’t need to write much else. There wasn’t any “need” to write this either actually... just a bad habit he had gotten into.. He lived alone and she was alone too for the time being.. and she was a known sms-freak Prasad thought to himself.. Sometimes her replies came before his sms even left his cell.. He surfed channels and smoked another cigarette as he waited for her response…

Akash was surfing too… wondering if he should go to office and do some work.. but he was still recovering from his illness and wondered if he’d REALLY be able to accomplish anything even if he did go.. He came across Notting Hill on Star Movies.. sent an sms to her.. saying it was on. He didn’t think he needed to actually.. she was probably watching the same thing.. He settled back in his bed.. and looked around to see if his cigarettes were within reach…

Sarita walked up the stairs to the apartment and rang the bell as she wiped off sweat from her brow. It was hot today and this was her THIRD trip to the apartment. She had gotten quite accustomed to not having “madam” open the door the first couple of times Saturday mornings. But it didn’t bother her much, her quarters were just downstairs.. and “madam” overpaid her . There was hardly anything to do at her place since the other “madam” had left… She left thinking she’ll try one last time before quitting for the day. She knew “madam” hadn’t gone out.. else Kamal at the gate would have told her so…

Prasad had already sent her a couple more sms-es. It was pretty hot and he didn’t have anything to do. Thought he would go and catch a cup of tea with her. Yesterday he had decided he wouldn’t go again for a couple of days.. they seemed to have arguments more often now.. over really insignificant things. She was getting to be quite a bitch actually,. But… some company is better than no company.. and she had her moments..
It was weird that she hadn’t responded yet.. could she still be sleeping ?

Putting down his cigarette Akash picked up his cell phone again.. checked the last message he got from her. He had fallen asleep last nite, but as usual she had continued to send him sms-es. “Wannabe-philosopher” is what he called her.. The last one he had received from her was pretty late. Maybe she’s still asleep, that’s why she hasn’t responded. Or she could just as easily be out of money. Doesn’t matter. He had decided to get dressed and head out after all…

Sarita was making her last trip to the apartment. She had double-checked with Kamal this time, and thought it was very weird that madam wasn’t opening the door. She rang the bell.. thrice and knocked harder this time. She was sure madam would ATLEAST want her to do the dishes..

Prasad was just burning out his cigarette butt and paying for a piece of mint. She hated cigarette breath. Not that she had any business telling him that, or what to do, but he had gotten into the habit of popping in a mint before he went up to meet her. He was quite sure she had finished all the money on her cell.. sending out late nite sms-es. But doesn’t she have a landline too.. he tried to remember..

Sarita was just explaining everything to kamal when she saw this guy coming towards the complex. Kamal seemed to recognize him..

As he reached close to the elevator Prasad saw Kamal there without his usual smile… instead he had a worried look on his face.. he was standing with another woman.. As he started up towards her apartment, they called out to him and explained to him in their broken hindi that Madam wasn’t opening the door. Prasad told them it was probably nothing, but felt his pulse race. He knew she sometimes just didn’t want to be disturbed. But today she hadn’t even pulled in the paper…

Akash realized he wasn’t going to get any work done after all. After checking out some movie schedules and downloading some songs, he decided to head home. He was angry with himself for having left his cell phone at home. All his friends numbers were on there.. he was quite helpless without it. He slowly walked down towards his car in the parking lot… he didn’t want to hurry, he still felt quite weak.…

“Oye, where are you ?” he sent another sms. A couple of people had collected outside the house and Prasad was started to get really worried. He had banged the door and tried to call her up. They all thought they could hear her mobile ringing inside, and that worried him more. He wished she would just pick up the cell and say “Hello”..she could be so stubborn sometimes..

Akash stopped off for a coffee before going home. He had gotten into this habit after his trip to the “coffee-land”.. the U S of A. Before that he was “strictly” a tea drinker…

Prasad had finally decided that something was really wrong, he had contacted the landlord and informed him that he was going to pry open the door. It’s a good thing she had introduced him to the landlord once. Better still, that the landlord was able to place him by name… He was about 200 kms away from Bangalore today and not planning to come back until the day after. After speaking with Prasad ofcourse, he had asked to speak with Kamal, probably instructing him on what to do in case of various eventualities. Anyway, no time to think of that.

Akash finally got home and opened the door and let himself in. It was bitter-sweet living on his own. He told everyone it was great, and that wasn’t altogether a lie..but he did miss the buffoonery of his ex-roommates !!

The door wasn’t that difficult to open. She was always saying.. that if someone wanted, they could just walk into her apartment anytime..
Prasad pushed open the door..and rushed towards her room but as he looked inside..... he stood rooted to the spot..

Sarita rushed back to her children and sister-in-law. They are going to talk about this for months she thought.. She had asked madam to pay her two months salary together so that she could hide it from her drunk husband.. Madam always paid her on the fifth.…
She would have to find new work fast…

Akash found his cell phone lying on top of the tv. “1 New Message” it said. Probably from her he thought… the “Casual Intellectual” she liked to call herself... hah...

They handed over the cell phone to Prasad.. and asked him to call the “concerned parties”… his hand shook as he held her cell phone… “13 Missed calls” it said.. “ and 9 New Messages…”

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Akash was surprised to see that the message was from Prasad. It had been a while since he had heard from him.. wonder what’s up…