Akshay's perspective -
These are my best days of life, I thought with philosophical certainty. Living in the present is a diktat that a lot of people preach. But when the present is screwed up, all you can do is be nostalgic about the past, or dream about the future. That wasn't the case with me. Though I had fond memories of the past, and was not dreading the future, I had to admit my present was bloody good.
I had just had sex with Shruti, my girlfriend... She was an air-hostess. Sexy as hell, willing to give me space and not too hung up on where our relationship was headed. She had left... She was working on a flight from Bangalore to USA that night. It would be a week before she returned. She had given me a good dose of loving, but I couldn't help crave for more. I was sprawled on my bed naked, and saw my dick go from flaccid to rock hard in a matter of seconds as I thought of Shruti. "You hungry bastard," I muttered under my breath as I got up to get a beer. I put on a shirt and a pair of shorts. I didn't have problem with being nude, but it was nippy that winter evening. I got that beer, and went to my bedroom again. It was a fairly large bedroom, by Bangalore standards. It even had a set of full length French windows in one corner. Sitting in a corner there, with a cold beer, and a cigarette was my way of looking at the metaphorical daffodils.
I should explain at this point that my windows didn't open out to some glorious garden overflowing with fragrant flowers. Right in front of my house, across a small 10-feet wide by-lane was another 2 storied house; my bedroom window facing the kitchen window of that house. That's how independent houses are made in Bangalore... Wall to wall and window to window.... Such that you needed efforts to keep out eavesdroppers and peeping toms. That was the last house in that lane, and I did have a view of an empty field behind the row of houses. That field was set to go under bulldozers to build a new apartment complex. I frowned at the thought of all the noise and dust that would find its way into my home, and made a rueful note to myself to think of moving to a new place.
That would be later though. For now, I was content sipping my beer. At that point the lady next door came into the kitchen. It was her cooking time. I waved a hi. She waved back a hi, shyly. It was a lot more lively than usual. Her waves were usually very secret. She didn't want her family to see her getting friendly with the next door dude.
The family next door had moved in three months back. The girl, Preethi, her 3 year old kid, her husband and mother-in-law. I had gathered they had moved in from Chennai, a metropolis further down south of Bangalore. They were a conservative lot. In the three months, I had exchanged a couple of words with her husband and that was about it. Preethi was a beautiful girl. If I had to guess, she was about 27 or 28 years old. Her face, though was much younger. Her cheeks were full, but not in a droopy kind of a way. Her lips were to match and looked deliciously succulent. Her large eyes completed the adorable young-girl face. She had a petite frame, with breasts that were a handful. She had a lovely body, but mostly kept it draped in a modest saree. Her hair was usually rolled in a bun, and she never wore any makeup.
Preethi was also a friendly girl. Though she was tied down with social norms and never ever talked to any guys unless she had some work, she always gave a coy smile when we crossed paths on the road. She was very chatty with her girlfriends when they got together in our lane. And she always waved a hi when we stood across in our homes -- she in her kitchen and me in my bedroom.
From her more-than-usual animated gestures, I could make out that she was alone at home. I asked with hand gestures where her husband was. She showed me a plane taking off. That probably meant that he was travelling to US or London or somewhere for some work. I enquired about the mother-in-law and she had gone to Chennai. Her son was apparently asleep. With this charades, my beer was over as well. I felt like taking a shower. I mimed that to Preethi. She scowled in return and mouthed out her displeasure on me leaving her alone. I smiled at the flirting, and asked for 5 minutes. She signaled back that I'd better be back soon, or she'd hit me with belan -- a rolling pin used in cooking.