Home ?!

He glanced at his windows impatiently. His boss, the baldly IIT fellow was blabbering him about his new Ferrari. The evening rush was cruelest. He glanced at his watch piqued, not wanting to reach home late. He remembered the fight previous evening. His wife would be waiting.

She was dressed in his favorite strapless gown with little touché of makeup and ready, when he reached the door. A quick shower and they were off. He had booked the tickets in advance to the latest Shahrukh Khan flick. More than the movie it was the memory of the old college times together, they wanted to relish. Somehow the seats seemed to be smaller than they used to be just a few years earlier. Funny, she thought, how time comes to settle around the waist, like a tree’s girth around the trunk would tell the age. Then he took her hand in his and she forgot all about trees and girth.

She had wanted to go to the road-side eatery they used to frequently eat. He would be constantly fighting with his mom over the phone and she would be there feeding him the pav and wiping off his mouth. She cherished those teas and pav bhajjis. But he thought they had outgrown that stuff. He booked a table for two in the new restaurant that had come up in the vicinity of their old college campus. 

They went for a walk afterwards. A passing police-man recognized him and saluted smartly. He looked embarrassed. She smiled to herself, perhaps from memories of another time. Different memories. !

A mild breeze blew from across the lake. Her smell still sent a chill down his spine after all these years. She slipped on the pavement, having worn heels after a while now. He caught her. She held on to his arm for one moment longer.

It began to drizzle. The evening was past. He called for his driver. They went back.

Then he dropped her and went home to his wife and children.