Shortchanged

It wasn’t a pleasant conversation over the telephone. It never is, when the person at the other end happens to be a greedy tax officer. Life isn’t simple and straightforward for me with these guys whom I have to face all the time. It is one of those occupational hazards after all. Invariably, I spend time figuring out the ways of evading these tax guys rather than tax itself.

I find a compelling need for the above prelude to what I am going to narrate. Immediately after that tele-conversation I joined the tax officer on a busy street in the city. I don’t see how we had fixed up all the things. We were heading to a wedding. As we walked, he was driving a bargain for a higher ‘cut’ in the ‘deal’, obviously a quid-pro-quo. By the time we reached the marriage hall, I was plunged deep in thought weighing the pros and cons of the offer that he had made. I was unaware of the proceedings around me.

I hadn’t even noticed that my companion was missing until I was woken up from my musings by the bride groom himself. It was just a matter of common sense for me to realize that this bubbly figure, fully decked up is the man of the day. It was hard to place him right away but the fog cleared slowly and the edgy realization dawned on me that this was the man who arrived with me. By now he was completely ready for the events that were to unfold.

I escorted him to the mandapam along with the others. As he took up his designated seat I found myself standing among the photographers who were bent upon catching every silly gesture of the bride groom in their snaps. Somehow in the confusion I was not able to see the bride while being brought to the mandapam. She was already seated next to the groom when I rushed forward to catch a glimpse of her face.

The very next moment I wanted to run away from there, but the bride had caught sight of me and beckoned to me. Can things get more revolting than this? Being the gentleman that I am, trying to make a polite face, I nudged my way up to her.

We had courted for a long time. We had promised each other a whole lot of things I guess every couple, aspiring to get married one day, make. Where were all those tender moments and memories gone? What of the great future that we had planned for ourselves? My mind was racing in all directions. There were more thoughts in it than thinking. After all what is left that she can tell me now? Her beautified face was a pool of pity for this ill-fated creature.

She whispered something that sounded like “don’t worry, you’ll find a much better girl than me”. Empty though these words were, they could neither cause me any pain nor could they be balm for any pain. Deep within me I felt my heart continue its beat. Assured though I was that it wasn’t broken as it should be expected, there remained an uneasy sense of numbness.

With the long cultivated habit of hiding the innate feelings, I managed to give a considered nod for the words that made no difference whatsoever. I forced a wry smile at the couple who waited for the matrimonial ceremonies to begin.

Who do I blame for the predicament I find myself in….? The question revolved again and again in my head as I woke up from the bed. It was a week day and a day to face the sickening taxman. The only consolation that remained was that what took place all this while was only in a dream, a bad dream at that.

P.S: The shortchanging at times I have felt is happening all the while, if not of the bride of other things of life atleast.