The Cocoon - Season 1 Episode 3

Vijay introduced me to his friend, Meera . She got down from the car and hugged me like we were long lost friends. I looked at her closely ….. nah I didn’t know her ………maybe she’s too friendly.

I took the back seat of the car. The usual Mumbai rains , traffic , work , weekends conversation started.

Meera was Vijay’s college friend and they kept referring to incidents like how one day on a friend’s birthday they drove to Lonavla and how once at a club a friend was drunk and he had made a fool of himself and how they cheated during the college exams and how she likes fish and he hates it etc etc.

I was bored to death. To add to it they started conversing in Tamil. Wow …that’s what I needed.

I rolled down the window. Drops of water dashed on my face. The breeze caressed my hair… Oh I didn’t want anyone now.

We stopped at a dhaba on the roadside because Meera wanted to have tea.

“I don’t drink tea ……….or coffee”

“Whatttttttt ………bournvita then? “ Meera asked with a smirk.

I sat in the car while they enjoyed the tea outside.

I wanted to get down take a taxi and go back home. But that would’ve been rude I thought and stopped.

The rains had subsided .We halted at a beach.

Meera was too tired and wanted to speak on phone so she stayed back in the car.

Vijay asked me to get down .I wanted to get down and run away. He wouldn’t have noticed anyways. Meera was with him. Why would he care about my presence?

We walked towards the sea…. The crimson sky, the grey scattered clouds and the sun peeping from them made me forget my boredom. If I were a painter I would’ve loved to splash these colors on my canvas but since I wasn’t I thought of taking out my phone and capturing the moment. Vijay walked behind me with hands in his pockets.

“Hey wait let me click from my phone”

I looked at his iphone and my Moto G. “Show off” I wanted to say.

“Go Ahead” I said.

He started clicking and showed me the pictures…. Oh I looked good………maybe it was the phone.

I offered to click his too.

“Wait let’s take a selfie “

He put his arms around me and we looked into the phone screen.

Oh boy ….he has his girlfriend in the car and he’s posing with me…..why did I even agree to come along.

“Let’s call Meera too “

“No she doesn’t like being clicked”

“Which girl doesn’t like being clicked?” I said in a condescending tone.

“The girl who tore photographs of her wedding ceremony last night”

“Oh……” I wanted to take my words back. For all this while I was being hostile towards her. I looked at her with sympathy now.

He went on to narrate how she was married to a guy in US , they had differences and what followed was a bitter divorce , a month of depression in the US and her arrival in India last week which has been full of ugly stares and dejection by her relatives and society.

I wanted to go to her and hug her tight.

I kept looking at Vijay with sad eyes. He was gazing into the sea, sky and beyond.

“She is my very close friend….One of the bests I have…..She was with me when you messaged. When she saw your message she wanted me to go with you. I insisted her to come along. She was reluctant because she knew my feelings for you and wanted us to spend some time together. Maybe that’s why she didn’t come down here”

He didn’t realize what he had uttered in a whiff of emotion.

I was still at Meera’s story.

A few seconds later it dawned upon both of us. We looked into each other’s eyes and smiled.