Maya was back from her flashback. It was two in the night; she woke up Shiv and reminded that he has a flight at four. Maya was getting dressed to see off Shiv at the airport. Shiv entered the room and said, “I don’t want to leave you.” Maya looked at him through the mirror and said, “Don’t go then.” Shiv smiled and turned back and said, “I can’t. You know it is a hectic time at work.” Maya smiled and tied her hair in an untidy bun and took her wallet and stood at the door of her house waiting for Shiv to bring his bag. Maya followed Shiv closing the door behind. They had a cab waiting at the society building.
Airports and see offs always made Maya emotional. Shiv hugged her tightly and she pushed away her tears. She smiled and hugged him back. They said their goodbyes and promised to be in touch. Maya took the same cab back home. She kicked her sandals off when she reached home. Took out a bottle of beer and laid on the couch in the living room. Maya was going to be hectic as she will get her fifteen articles for the week. It was almost 12 in the afternoon when Maya woke up with the buzzing of her blackberry. There were three calls from Ganesh, some texts and some mails. She checked the mails first. She got a list of her fifteen articles. She got back on her feet and the headache almost killed her. She heard the water flowing from the kitchen; she peeked and found Shubhro making Maggi Noodles. She smiled at him and asked, “When did you come?” Shubhro tuned and said, “When you were sleeping like a baby… Listen did you read your mails?” Maya went back to bring her Blackberry. She checked her mails and found there was a mail from Shubhro. He sent her the details of a Writing Seminar in Mumbai for seven days. Shubhro said, “Take your clothes, laptop, camera, wallet and let’s get going. The seminar starts tomorrow… We will be staying at the hotel booked by the Institution.” Maya argued as she had work to do. Shubhro told her that she can do it on her laptop. The seminar would be just 4 hours a day and then the entire day is theirs.
Maya rummaged through her wardrobe and took out clothes and other essentials and threw them in the bag pack. Maya always loved the spontaneous trips planned by Shubhro. Maya had the Maggi made by Shubhro and rushed for a quick shower. It was a 5 hours journey to Mumbai. Maya decided to wear a pair of white shorts and mint colored t-shirt. She tied her hair up and was set to leave. Shubhro had his car all fueled up and set to go to Mumbai.
Maya loved Shubhro’s company than any other persons. He was the only one who remained friends with her even after leaving Joydeep’s work. Maya always loved Mumbai as that is where she started off her independent life from. It made her who she was.
Driving through Western Express Highway, Maya and Shubhro reached the boundaries of Mumbai. Maya felt like she was backing home. Mumbai was always the closest to Maya. Not only because she started off her journey from Mumbai but also because it reminded her of all the good and bad things. This city had accepted her in her good and bad times. She went through a lot after the entire Vishal Singh’s episode, but this city never judged her.
Maya asked Shubhro to halt the car at some drug store. She needed some disprin as the last night’s beer was still in her head swirling and increasing the headache every moment. They stopped by a drug store got some disprin and some chocolates to calm the hunger in their tummies. Maya and Shubhro could survive on chocolates for days. After an hour of journey from the drug store, they reached the Hotel where the seminar and their stay were organized by the institute. They had two individual rooms. It was a posh hotel with a separate bar in every room. Maya loved such luxury.
A luxury hotel room with a bath tub and different body scrubs and shower gels, what else could have Maya asked for, for a week! Maya had the water on in the bath tub and immersed herself for a relaxing bath. She knew how much she needed Shiv at that moment in the bath. She was back into the moment with Shiv in her apartment back in Pune. She missed him already. Though they decided on a No Strings Attached Relationship but Maya knew that she wanted much more.
She stepped out of the bath and felt much better. She covered herself with the bath robe and sat at the edge of the bed with a glass of water and disprin. She let the water pass through her throat at one go and closed her eyes once it was all over. She then called up Shubhro and asked what the plan of action is for that day. Shubhro said, “We have an introduction meet with the institutes top writers tomorrow in the morning at eleven in the conference room.” Maya asked, “So we have today’s entire day to ourselves. What are you planning to do?” Shubhro said, “I am going to sleep and utilize the most of this hotel room” He chuckled at his own imagination of sleeping in the room. Maya told him that she will go around a while and see more of this hotel. Maya put her hand in her bag pack and removed a pair of pajama and a t-shirt. She wore them and locked the room and waited for the lift. She wanted to take the stairs but walking thirteen floors down wasn’t in her agenda.
The lift reached her floor and she got in the lift which was already packed. Closed lift always gave Maya a bad feeling. She felt uneasy and this was thirteen floors. It almost stopped at all the floors. It was the third floor when a lady entered and the remaining people in the lift were staff and they greeted her. She nodded her head once and that was it. She was tall with short hair and a stern looking face. She looked at Maya and gave a pathetic look after looking at her attire. Maya looked back at the lady’s attire; she was wearing a formal red shirt with a grey skirt that just reached her knees. Maya raised her brows and looked in the front showing the perfect attitude even in the pajama. They reached the ground floor and the lady walked like a lion wearing a heels. Maya went on with her journey in the hotel and inquired about the conference room and the other details of the 7 days program.
Maya reached the pool side area and the thought of writing by the poolside struck her. She rushed through the lift once again and reached her room, grabbed her laptop and back to the pool side area. She sat on a chair by the pool and checked her mails. She went to the mail sent by Ganesh and started writing her first article of the fifteen. She knew this writing program will improve her writing skills for sure. While she was at the end of her first article she checked the time and it was already nine in the night. She reached the hotel almost by six and the pool side area by seven in the evening. She didn’t realize that it was almost two hours. She called up Shubhro, and as expected he didn’t respond. Maya decided to have her dinner in the room and packed her laptop and put her blackberry in her pocket and walked towards the lift. After reaching her room she felt a bit tired. She looked through the menu and ordered Chinese. The room service was amazing just as the food quality. After a filling dinner and a glass of red wine Maya slept on the bed like there is no tomorrow.
She felt a buzz under her pillow and woke up. It was the alarm set by her. She switched off the alarm. Checked her messages and was happy to find texts from Shiv. She called Shiv and spoke to him and informed him that she’ll be in Mumbai for the next seven days. After the brief chat with Shiv she called Shubhro and asked him what time they are meeting?
The day was yet to begin and Maya was more than excited.
The Chaotic Soul 