Bare skies

3rd cigarette.. Abhay was totally enjoying that weather.. He was just sitting peacefully n smokin as if he was the king of this world!

It was raining cats n dogs..Abhay's tag heuer showed the time of 1:17am.. He had stopped at some closed roadside dhaaba shed in Ambenali ghaat which runs for about 39 kms from Poladpur to Mahabaleshwar.. He had not seen a single vehicle after leaving Poladpur at 11:50pm..

For half an hour, he was standing still in the rain n enjoyin the refreshin smell of the soil.. Then, to have a fag, he had come inside the shed.. He was feeling good & peaceful.. Even his Tata Safari was liking that break after running continuously on the road for more than 9 hours.. He had started from Panjim at around 3pm..

Suddenly he saw hazard indicator towards Mahabaleshwar side in the ghaat.. He was wondering who'd that be.. He smiled.. He was happy to see that there are some more crazy people like him in this world who would take their cars in such kinda rains!

He raced his Safari towards Mahabaleshwar.. Within 5 minutes he reached the car with hazard indicator on.. It was a black colored Honda Civic.. Abhay got down from his car and walked towards that Civic.. He didnt see anyone around.. He wasnt able to see anything inside the car as it had dark tinted glasses n it was simply pouring by then.. He was completely drenched..

He knocked on the glass..

She was beautiful! Actually speaking, she was stunning.. She stepped out of the car.. Abhay asked whether she'd need any help.. She didnt speak for quite some time.. Abhay was mesmorised by her beauty.. Glorious skin - lookin better in that rain, beautiful face with a very little makeup, Height of about 5' 7", perfect figure in that black dress for evening parties, slightly colored n neatly cut hair, n eyes - full of expressions!

She was hesitant to speak but she didnt have any other option either for gettin any kinda help.. She requested Abhay to check the engine.. Seemed like her car wiring had picked some problem in that excessive rain.. Abhay opened the bonnet only to see that there was some serious problem with the wiring.. Such that Civic couldn't have moved even by an inch..

"I'm going upto Aurangabad via Mahabaleshwar n Pune.. Lemme know if I can drop you somewhere.. Seems like the wiring of the car is in big mess n I dont think you'll get any other car here atleast for next 5-6 hrs.." He said..

She wanted to goto Mumbai n actually needed the lift in the opposite direction - towards Poladpur.. But she didnt have a choice.. She was stranded there for more than 2 n half hours.. No cellular networks.. No cars coming from either side.. Heavy rains.. She had seen headlights of Abhay's car from far n so had put on hazard for getting some help..

"Can you please drop me somewhere near Pune wherein I can get a cab for Mumbai?" Her voice was soft n as beautiful as she was.. "Sure, lets go", Abhay responded..

She felt like heaven when Abhay offered her a sandwich n can of cola.. Abhay was a big foodie n used to keep hell lotta food stuff in the car everytime.. "Thanks a lot; I really needed that!", smilingly she said.. "Name's Sanchita.." She continued.. "Abhay.. Abhay Sheshadri.. Nice to meet you!", he responded..

After initial awkward moments, Sanchita felt safe n sooner found very comfortable in Abhay's company.. He offered her lift till Mumbai as he was in no mood to end that meeting with Sanchita n she was also quite happy to take that lift.. He dropped Sanchita in Bandra at around 8:30 in the morning..

But was that a start of all new journey ??

Maybe the gentle kiss that Sanchita planted on Abhay's cheek while getting down from the car can answer that...............

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"Hey Abz, missing you dear! I'm very tired actually now but gotta attend this show. Where are you? …. Can’t hear you properly… a lot of noise. …. Hey hey, the show is starting in a minute. I'll have to get in. I'll talk to you after that. Bye hero!"

And Sanchita rushed to the Fashion One’s studio. She was there in Geneva to attend a couple of fashion shows and to discuss possible business with Rolex. Sanchita’s dad, Mr. H. V. Rai, was a businessman in Mumbai and had opened 2 big malls in last couple of years. His agency was Mont Blanc’s biggest franchise in India. Sanchita had joined lately to her dad’s business. “Elegance” – an exotic, royal, classy fashion boutique in Bandra, was her brainchild. Her designs were quite popular among Indian powerladies. She was the one who had suggested considering to do business with Rolex to her dad. Mr. Rai was quite excited about it and decided to hand over the complete responsibility to Sanchita for this venture.

The meeting, in Geneva, with VP – Marketing & Sales of Rolex had gone well and Sanchita was expecting a positive decision from their side in a couple of days. Fashion One was one of her favorite fashion houses and she promoted Fashion One’s collection also in her boutique in Mumbai. Fashion One had given her special invite to attend the Celebrity Fashion Show that was organized in Geneva in 2007. The Rolex meeting was scheduled between 2 to 3:30 pm while the show was supposed to start by 5pm on the same day.

She had quickly given a call to Abhay before entering into the show.

As expected, Fashion One’s show was spectacular. After greeting the designers and some celebrities, it Sanchita stepped out of the studio. It was close to 1 hour past midnight by then. N voilaa!

Sanchita couldn’t believe her eyes. Abhay was waiting there for her in the lobby of Fashion One house. He smiled ‘n winked at her. She rushed towards him and hugged him. “Abz, how come you’re here? You were in New York na? You never told me you were gonna come to Swiss.”

“Aye chic, was missing you rey” Abhay said. “Let’s go to the hotel. You wouldn’t mind na if I stay with you in your room?” He again winked at her.

She just smiled!

“Let’s go dear!” Abhay said n they got into the car. Abhay had rented a sparkling maroon BMW 325i convertible from Geneva airport.

Abhay was a brilliant chap. After completing his masters in architecture from UIAM, he got picked by Randall & Co. After initial foundation years in Randall, Abhay had joined Hudson & Mitchell, the most innovative architecture firm in the U.S. and probably in the world. Abhay’s specialty was airport terminal designing. His designs used to be radical and 100% original. His imagination was something out of this world. Within 4 years of joining he had become H & M’s top resource for terminal designing. Budapest’s terminal 3, Istanbul’s SBH airport terminal, Perth’s terminal 3 were completely designed by Abhay. He had a special contract with H & M which enabled him to work on maximum of 2 projects a year. H & M were more than happy to pay him a very fat salary plus the benefits to keep him with them. He had travelled around 45 countries in the world. He was fluent in many foreign languages. German, French, Spanish, Italian to name a few. He also understood Russian but he couldn’t speak with ease.

Abhay’s father, Mr. Rajkiran Sheshadri had 5 dealerships of Skoda motors in the state of Maharashtra and Goa. Abhay’s father and mother lived in Aurangabad in their family property. After initial schooling, Abhay had hardly lived with his parents ‘coz of education and then job; but whenever he could get some time out, he used to come n spend time with them.

Almost 2 years had passed since Abhay had met Sanchita for the first time. Abhay was on vacation for 2 months and had come home that time. They had met a few times in Mumbai before Abhay had to go back to Detroit where his next project was waiting for him. Abhay’s head office was in New York but he hardly went there as his work was spread all across the globe.

‘N today they were meeting after a gap of about 7 months. Sanchita was delighted to see him. Abhay had to do a feasibility study in Milan. He had scheduled his survey according to her dates in Europe ‘n there he was! In Geneva … With Sanchita … His chic!

They raced to Intercontinental where Sanchita was put up. As they entered her room, Abhay ordered for red wine, fried fish & fondue. They freshened up and then were ready for a lovely dinner. Sanchita was looking even hotter in her nightie. Abhay was gonna find it difficult to control himself for long. He knew it.

“Babez, let’s have some fun!” Abhay was full fidaa on her and she also knew it. He pulled her towards him on the bed. Her silky hair were kissing his face. It was maddening for Abhay. She responded him with a passionate kiss. Love was at its purest state. Their souls were meeting.

The next day morning, Abhay asked Sanchita to take a break for a week from Elegance and other work so that they could stay in Europe and spend some time together. It was October ’06 when they had met briskly in Singapore. Abhay had about 9 days in hand before his survey project at Milan would start up. Sanchita just had to do a few phone calls and she was through!

9 days with Abhay … In the most picturesque areas of Europe!

She was excited.

Abhay looked lost for a while. Maybe something was running in his mind. Sanchita noticed that but Abhay immediately returned back to his own self with jokes n pranks.

But … But … What was running in Abhay’s mind?

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Abhay could read those questions on Sanchita’s face.

“Too much of travelling dear! Exhausted a bit coz of this jet lag; that’s it!” He replied. Sanchita knew about Abhay’s busy and hectic schedules, so there were no further questions left in her mind.

After having breakfast, they started for Milan. Abhay said, “Lets go via Bern and Luzerne.” Sanchita had a broad smile on her face as she didn’t bother whether Abz gonna drive via Bern or Zurich or Luzerne or any other place for that matter. She just gave him a tight hug.

Highway 18 of Swiss was as beautiful as Sanchita. Abhay took many detours ‘en route as he knew the places in that area really well. Sanchita had been to Swiss before but she was experiencing the real Swiss with Abhay.

1 day stay in Bern, 2 days in Zurich, 1 day in Luzerne, 2 days in Lugano and finally 3 days in Milan………With Abhay….

Sanchita was having the best time of her life!

Sanchita came back to Mumbai from Milan ‘n Abhay got started with his project in Milan. When they were in Swiss, Sanchita had asked about their engagement. Abhay had replied that he’s ready for it but it’d be great if the engagement happens when he completes Milan project. That project was timed for 23 weeks but Sanchita didn’t have any problem with that.

As expected, Sanchita got a deal from Rolex and her life in Mumbai got even busier. Elegance was now spread across 4 metros and she had big plans to take it to even more places in India. Even Abhay was under tremendous pressure as 2 of his team members from Milan project team had resigned and there were no resources available with necessary skillsets. So Abhay was handling their parts of work also. Burning midnight oil had become a routine for him. He had almost forgotten what a weekend feels like. Thrice a day calls had reduced to a call in 2-3 days.

5 months had elapsed since they had met in Europe.

Their communication got reduced to a text message in a day. Sanchita had started getting a feeling that Abhay is going away from her. Sanchita tried twice reaching Abhay over phone. Abhay couldn’t take her calls as he was in a long meeting with Milan International Airport Company’s Director. Abhay returned the call after the meeting and Sanchita felt even strongly that there’s some problem at Abhay’s end. But she couldn’t gather anything specific from their conversation. She thought about giving a call on coming Sunday as Abhay would be working from home and wouldn’t have any meetings in the office.

“Abz.. Abz dear.. Please tell me what’s the matter.. Please dear.. Please dear..” Sanchita was worried.

Sanchita gave a call to Abhay’s parents also. Sanchita was in regular touch with Abhay’s parents. She had a normal, casual conversation with them. No traces of tension at all at their side!

“Sanch, I’m under tremendous stress. I need you. Can you come down here? Please…..” Abhay had called Sanchita on Sunday morning at 4 o’clock IST.

Sanchita understood there’s something seriously wrong with Abhay and Abhay needed her badly. But she had to wait for 5 days to get a new visa stamped on her passport. In between, Abhay had called again and had asked Sanchita to fly down to New York as he had wrapped up the Milan project and he was flying to New York on the same day.

It took 5 more days for Sanchita to get her documents in place for a new visa for US; and a day more to delegate the responsibilities for Elegance. She landed at JFK on a bare skied morning. Abhay was supposed to pick her up but she didn’t find him at the airport. His cell was also switched off. She decided to wait for him for a while. While she sat in one of the lounges, she picked a daily from one of the stands.

A small news item on page 5 caught her eye.

Indian professional found dead in his apartment… “Abhay Sheshadri, 33, working with Hudson & Mitchell as Senior Consultant in Terminal Design team was found dead in his apartment in Clayton Towers yesterday night. Garreth Smith, his colleague at H&M, informed police about it immediately when he entered Abhay’s apartment at 9:30pm to meet him. Police have found traces of cocaine in Abhay’s apartment and they suspect drug overdose to be the cause of death. Mr. Smith has also confirmed Abhay’s drug consumption habit of last 5-6 months. He also informed police that Abhay was about to join rehabilitation center in a day or two after his fianceé who was about to fly to US from India. The body is been sent to forensic department for further investigations.”

New York’s bare skies seemed nothing as compared to Sanchita’s eyes.