It was the third reminder from press. The magazine was pursuing Avik for the last three months for a write up on his life. But Avik could not come up with the good. He was stranded at the beginning only. No, the materials were not short in supply. As a first generation industrialist, Avik had an inspiring life. From a humble beginning of an assistant engineer, he had established himself as a leading software expert of India; then migrated to Australia to establish a company that had grown phenomenally in the span of ten years. It was natural for people to be interested in his success story. The magazine insisted that his biography would inspire others. But he had doubts.

“Is a personality developed out of hatred worthy of any praise?” His was a career driven by the desire to avenge rather than ambition.

The telephone bell broke Avik’s cycle of thought. It sounded like a long distant call. To attend it, Avik had to leave his chair.

“Hello, Rakhi?,”   asked the caller.

The voice  set an involuntary shivering. Though it was twenty year since he had heard that voice, Avik recognized it at once. An emotion that he thought was already dead resurfaced suddenly. He kept the caller waiting just to hear her voice some more time. Finally, when she was about to hang up, he responded,

“Avik here, Rakhi is out of town”.

“Avik, please don’t put the receiver down” entreated Mohini from thousands of miles away. “

You remember Monika? My daughter Monika is getting married. See, this is my last social duty. Please, please allow Rakhi to come”, she made her appeal and paused.

Holding the receiver Avik kept standing; what seemed to be an eternity.

Then he replied,”O.K. I will try” and disconnected the line.

Slowly realization dawned on him. Mohini –the proud woman had pleaded. She had finally made his victory complete!

Strangely, the realization did not give him any satisfaction. Instead of enjoying his victory, he started searching the causes that made his   opponent weak and vulnerable.

 “Is it aging effect? Or an attempt to gain some extra importance by the display of influential connections?” He dismissed the second possibility even before it settled in his head.

That night Avik started writing his biography. It went like this…

“Sometimes in the early eighties a fresh graduate from a second grade engineering college had received an interview call from an established software company. The board consisted of five members, one of them was a woman –later who would become his immediate boss in office, --Mohini.”

Rakhi broke his concentration.

“What’s this Avik? You are still working?”

Avik kept his diary away and instructed Rakhi to put off the light. Rakhi switched it off and left the room.  But she failed to put off the memories that clouded Avik’s thinking.

“Mohini—the enchantress- had driven him crazy with passion only to dump him later. Or did he seek an excuse for his intrinsic vulnerability in her action?”

Mohini was a remarkable woman. In office she was senior and in age she was elder to Avik; She was a single woman of extraordinary talents.  In addition to her project manager’s work, she also had the responsibility of raising her only daughter, a child of 5 years. A first generation workingwoman, she cared for her parent’s family with a son’s dutifulness. And all these she did with a finesse that left no mark of tension in either her behavior or in her appearance.

On working days she used to be the first one in office and the last one to leave. Anybody who approached her with a problem came out with a happy smile. Soft as she was, she always saw to that her subordinates were up-to-date with office works. She was the lovable enigmatic woman of’ ‘Zenith Engineering.’

Avik loved to pose as a modern man. Unlike the traditional Indian male, he did not hesitate to accept an elder woman   as friend philosopher and lover. In fact, Mohini had captivated Avik right from the moment of their first meeting. But for her divorced status Avik could have proposed her on second meeting itself. Mohini also found him good company and responded to his overtures. But an intelligent person—she had assessed the situation accurately and was aware of its short shelf life and frivolous nature. She had taken every protection to guard against an emotional development.

Initially it was fun. Avik pretended to worship her. Mohini pretended to be moved by her compliments. Avik highlighted her. Mohini promoted him. Initially it went like a game where both parties won. Mohini was so confident in controlling the relationship that she never reckoned that one day it might blow out of proportion and disturb the equilibrium of her life. Lonely and emancipated, she had allowed Avik to touch her exterior but not the soul. That she considered a crime. Her emotional world revolved round her only daughter and her baby sister, Rakhi, whom she loved with a mother’s intensity. She protected both of them with infinite tenderness. Avik had her exterior but his entry was restricted to that point only.

A less sensitive man would not have noticed; a less egoistic man would not have bothered,   but not Avik. He had grown used to her company and his male ego wanted her unconditional submission—of all; mind body and soul. He impatiently waited for Mohini’s emotional surrender. When she shied from the issue of marriage, he interpreted it as the intrinsic timidity of a divorced woman So, battling against an inborn prejudice , he groomed himself for the role of a benevolent rescuer and offered to uplift her from the ignominy of her divorce-hood.

Avik had carefully prepared for the occasion. He had chosen the quite wilderness of a reserve forest to discuss their future.  Mohini, then thirty-five was at her glamorous peak

 Standing together on the Bandipur watchtower they were enjoying the quite forest evening. The coppery glow of setting sun had fallen on her cheeks and she looked almost divine.  At that moment looking straight into her eyes Avik had asked romantically, “Mohini, isn’t it time, we give our love a name?”

“Are you sure that it is love and not something else?” Mohini had answered lightly.

“Even if it falls short of love doesn’t it deserve a name? Avik was irritated.

“No, never. I would never repeat the mistake of lust an official place in my life.” Mohini was firm and arrogant.

“What about me? Do you expect me to beg at your door for a monthly pittance of lust for the rest of my life?” The male in Avik had revolted.

“I never kept you bound. The door is open”. Avik’s destiny had spoken through Mohini’s voice.

Avik had left. He had left-leaving her alone in that lonely forest; carrying inside a burning hatred kindled with the energy of thwarted benevolence. He had never forgiven Mohini and in every female he had tried to avenge Mohini and Mohini only.  From then onwards, the one point program of his life was Mohini; to   strip her emotionally.

The next events were lengthy in time span but little in significance.

He had seduced Rakhi—Mohini’s baby sister and made her marry him. Mohini suffered silently as she saw her beloved little doll   trapped in a love-less marriage. Once married, he arranged publicity for his earlier relationship with Mohini and successfully separated the sisters. When social embarrassment had reached the peak and Rahki also started doubting her husband’s role in the affair, he had migrated to Australia to separate them physically. All these years, he had grudgingly clung to his marriage for only a simple reason—to keep her away from Mohini. When his Australia based software company registered a phenomenal growth and entered the Indian market, he had only one agenda in mind. To capture the market of Zenith Engineering, the company headed by Mohini.

Suddenly, Mohini’s surrender had robbed him of his life’s goal. As if to deny him the joy of winning, the woman had left the turf giving him a walk over.  Empty and bewildered, Avik decided to visit India once again- to take a first hand account of his most hated adversary.

Monika’s marriage was a spectacular affair. Industrial dignitaries and political heavyweights attended it. But an uninvited guest played the most significant role; Avik had arrived early enough to take control of the ceremony as well as its expenses. Mohini silently shifted away and gave him space to perform.

Ceremony over. Mohini watched Monika leave her maternal home in passive silence. She was also mute when Avik and Rakhi had taken leave for their return journey. After seeing everybody off, the lonely woman of 55 years had started her own long awaited journey. Carrying a small suitcase of essential commodities, she boarded a second-class compartment of Rishikesh bound train.

Somebody intervened. A man had stopped the train by pulling emergency chain. He listened to none of her excuses. To protect Monini from her lonely self-exile, Avik had used the only strategy, where he had decided superiority over her. He dragged Mohini physically out of the compartment and forced her back to Rakhi’s care.

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