Mamta and Nitin ...A Short Story

She waited there for him pretty much everyday... Never quite admitting it obviously. The balcony where she stood over looked the busy market street of Mahatma Nagar. A narrow swirling path just about enough for a car to find its way in the crowds... It was about 6 in the evening. The bazaar jostle had just begun and so had Mamta's wait.

Her son sleeping inside, would wake up anytime now. For once she wished, that Jeetu got to see his papa as soon as he woke up. She was worried that he was growing up too fast. It's been only 7 years since she knew Nitin, she thinks. At the same street underneath, he had spotted her from the crowd below and she was standing on a similar balcony, waiting to get noticed by someone like him, not quite the Prince Charming of her dreams. But when he looked at her, all she knew that this chap was good enough for now... She was young, but had seen enough men in her life to judge this one from a distance. Was it love at first sight??? May be it was... Just meant to be like this.

7 years on... Mahatma Nagar was a changed place, after all the activity by the law makers and the so called right thinking elite of the city. The old businesses ran out of steam, some got lost in time, some just shifted base to somewhere more appropriate. But she stayed there... only moved a few blocks away from where she used to be. From where she met him.

Eventful day it had been, the night of which these two met. Nitin was promoted to become the manager of the bank, where he worked. He had worked really hard for years before that, sacrificed family, friends and fun for this day. He knew he had earned this... It made him feel euphoric. And she?? What was her story? Well... she had come to the city about 5 years back a 14 year old girl in search of work, from some village in the far east, no one really knew the name. She never said and none cared. Though she was only 19, she looked much older... he saw her, and liked her instantly. He wasn't thinking too far ahead..not 7 years into the future for sure. But who knew...?

She hears the sound of the bike from far away... She recognizes the very sound of the bike on which she had had one of the best 6 months of her life. She knew its his Bullet. She cant stop smiling. Goes and wakes up Jeet, switches on all the lights of her small 1 bed room apartment. The bike sound stops right under the balcony where she stood before. The kid is confused, still dreary eyed. The door bell rings in a while... Jeet runs to open it. And as soon as he does, Nitin lifts him up in his arms. Kisses his forehead... Still holding his office bag over the shoulder. She sees them and almost begins to cry. He reaches out to her and hugs her. They stay there like that, the three of them for sometime... This moment was gonna come only a month later. She prayed everyday that it came sooner... She waited everyday for him.

But he couldn't help her... His first love ever, he could not make her his wife. The society and the world would not have let him make a 19 year old tart his wife. She and this boy Jeet, shall always remain a night's mistake for him.

His wife was waiting for him at his house in the upmarket Lekha Nagar, they were to go shopping for the month's supplies. It was pay day after all. His real life was waiting for him.

This affection for his first love and his love child could only make him do this much..bring them money on the 1st of every month. Help them survive in their bathroom less apartment, in an area famous for its brothels till only a few years back. Where he had been brought by his friends to celebrate his promotion... Where he had fallen in love, with the girl who had been paid to make him feel good. Mamta and Nitin... This is their story.