I Donot You & You Donot Me

Time travels , so does Love.

Chaya was a lady of her dreams. A ' North Ki Kuri', as she likes to say sometimes, she was born in Shimla ,a land  amidst the snow and pine trees. At times, she wanted to believe , her grandpa must have thought of her name , while sitting in the shadow of the pine trees. Thanks to her convent education, her English was like running water as was her Hindi which was none the less the purest.
When her offer letter came from Tech Solutions, she was on cloud nine. She was the first from her gang to join a MNC. All her uncles and aunties were worried of her moving to a city which was far east. But for Chaya, it was a new challenge and moreover a city known for her joy and warmth would never disheartened her, she liked to think that way.

Jyoti Lingamurthy Adiga or fondly called JLA by his colleagues was the quietest person who could ever be born of this planet earth. It took real effort to make him speak in gatherings. Whatever words came out from his mouth was practically work related. It was like he was happy of being the silent type. Actually he was shy to the core. Hailing from a village Achattipura in southern Karnataka, he always acquired the first position in class. Debates and girls were two things he was really scared of. Debate because it needed talking to argue  and girls because it needed talking to socialize with them.
As it had to be and expected, he got a job offer after college in one of the reputed MNC of Chennai.
With his minimal talking but helping nature, he was able to make a mark to whoever knew him closely.His free time went to cricket and football and rest to his work.

It was Monday, mid of May, 4 years after he joined his company, when Jyoti was handed over a critical project in work. And was also briefed that he had to conduct a call everyday with the required stakeholders for this. Went away all the zeal and excitement about the work, Jyoti had nightmares of hosting calls all by himself. And when Vijay, his friend at work, told him that there is this girl called Chaya from the component team, he was almost on the verge of leaving the work. He heard this lady was a very good public speaker and her flow of questions in every minute in the call were equivalent to police questionings.  Even the always talkative Senoy was half scared of her, if she ever came to the call.

Chaya has arrived late in the office that day, thanks to the water leakage issue at her P.G. She was in a grumpy mood already and she had no preparation of the 2 pm call for the new project. But a good debater she always had been she had faith and confidence in herself. This was the very confidence which brought her an award in every single quarter.

And the much talked about call had started. Having no other options to run or quit, Jyoti with all his might joined the call. He was almost sure , questions were already fired from the other end and were just to reach him over the telephone line. Chaya on the other hand, shouted her name over the conference preparing to listen the details with apt attention. Jytoi started ' Good Afternoon All, welcome to this call.'. A plethora of welcome greetings came back making Jyoti to wait for the next turn. Jyoti continued ' We are here to discuss on this new project on a website on Woman Health Organization For Rural Areas. The project will have go live on 1st week of December. As already briefed by client, the details with the requirements have already been passed to the Project Manager. After the call, I will be sharing a draft details of the design plan from design team .And I am  Jyoti Lingamurthy Adiga, who would be in charge of this project from Development.'.Jyoti muted his phone in anticipation of the series of questions that are were in queue.
Chaya thought to herself , '  What a clear and concrete way of addressing a new project. I could never be able to put the details in so few words. Nobody came with a question, even when 5 minutes past. Jyoti thought in desperation ' Was I disconnected from the call? Do I had to repeat once again?'. He asked ' Hi all, let me know if you have any questions?'. And then the lady replied 'This is Chaya from Fusion Team. Is their any specification about how many requests would hit this website per day?'. 'Hi Chaya, expected volume is very low , as very few people  have the knowledge of  using the computer there.'. 'This should have come to me before I had asked such a question' Chaya thought but replied 'Ok. Thanks for answering the query'. 'My pleasure' came the reply from the other side.

The first meeting didn't create any out of the box scenario. It was a natural scene from any corporate house meeting. But what it did was it introduced two people who were meant to be together years after.

Days went by, Jyoti and Chaya now work together for long hours in conference room on either side , the only connection being an IP phone. First it started with strictly professional relation, welcome greetings and an end of the day goodnight. It was on a night sift day that this strictly professional behavior molded it to a lesser one. Chaya was travelling in office car, when she saw a call from an unknown number on her phone. As was her work nature, this was usual as she dealt with many people everyday. As she answered her call, it was Jyoti who spoke. 'Hi sorry for calling you late , tomorrow's call is cancelled. Since you have to join out of office hours , I thought better to inform you.'. Chaya giggled 'Yipee. I can leave early in the morning from office'.  'You in office now.'.'No I am just reaching.'. 'Ok happy working. And do keep the security informed'. 'Its the ghost I am still scared about'. 'Do ask the ghosts few questions'. 'What?'. 'Goodnight'.

Things became a little less strictly professional. Informal discussions started on the communicator about movies, places and people. Chaya from the very childhood was keen about knowing what someone from an entirely different background did. So she now fired these sets of non-technical questions to Jyoti along with her usual technical ones. Jyoti on the other hand were in awe of this girl who was so straightforward with all she did.

December was approaching. Chaya was asked to go to the Chennai counterpart of her office to deliver the project along with the Development and Delivery Team. She was glad she could finally see a new place. Meeting Jyoti was still not the prime thing. It was the sea which was more important. Being born in a hill station , the warmth of the sea always made Chaya happier.

Delivery was done all in perfect fashion. Client was happy. Chaya was due with her next award and Jyoti with his long dream. Jyoti had always dreamt of higher education. Now he was to join a foreign university for his Master Degree in London. He had already given his resignation and was waiting for this project to get delivered. Even to Chaya, he never told, thinking this would have little importance to her. But in all these months of working together, he had started liking this girl who was pole apart from him. To whom work meant life, to whom night was day and day was night. She always told him that she wanted to become a photographer and would quit her job in next few years to become one.She was always open up about everything about herself. And best part was it was she who knew many facts about Jyoti, which even Vijay didn't. Be it his passion to collect all cricketers' autograph or that he writes a diary every night.

Tomorrow Chaya would head to Kolkata to join back her office. She had convinced Jyoti to accompany her for shopping tomorrow. She had just come to know, Jyoti would leave his job in few weeks time to do Masters. She had congratulated him. She was not that sad but somehow not having a communicator conversation with Jyoti from now on about southern foods and festivals, she would probably missed that a lot. She could not phantom why she was sad about this. She works with new people every now and then but never had this kind of emotion growing inside her heart.

Chaya had already finalized sarees for her mother and aunties. She was not much of a saree kind. But that red with gold border kanjivaram saree had caught her attention. She had just put the saree on herself, when the shopkeeper told in perfect English ' Madam , it will look good on you in your wedding day'. Chaya  turned around to clarify when she heard 'Yes. That would definitely. But may be she will wear it in reception. In wedding, we will have a lehenga'. Chaya was dumbfounded and as she looked to the speaker, all her debating skills vanished and she could see Jyoti speaking.

It was winter in the hills as well in the sea. A lady sat knitting sweaters on an armchair and a man was walking with a stick in the front garden. The man replied, 'Do you know how to make Nalagree'. Replied Chaya, 'Are you kidding me. I have been married to a South Indian for 25 years and I will not know how to cook it'. Jyoti knew her wife's debating tone very well. He replied 'Had not my lead handed me the healthcare project, I would never get to eat Nalagree cooked by a North Indian chef.'.