This left Maliha, to get up and fend for herself in Kit’s apartment. She got up and fixed herself some breakfast and decided to venture out to buy herself some canvas. She could not carry this along with her where ever she went so that meant she would go and buy what was available in the city she was in.

She was not too far from an area that sold all sorts of things like this. She took the umbrella that Kit had left outside her room, before she left and set out into the city for the first time since she had arrived. She had been here before and had lived in another area, but she could manage her way around the city. She walked on the wet pavement; her bright yellow top was the only spot of colour on that road, gloomy from the shadows cast by the sky, heavy with rain clouds. She walked with a little bounce in her step as though there was a song playing and she was moving to the beat. But there was a song playing...it was in her head. She then took a deep breath and thought about her dad. This happened often, she would be totally engaged in everyday life but her mind would suddenly feel the force of a ton of bricks, sending a part of her back to the time she had just lost her parents, and she felt like she could not breathe. The moment would pass, leaving her with the exercise of getting back to her usual energetic self, but no one ever noticed her go through this.

This was her reality, and no one could understand, they would never feel her pain, that crushing sense of loss, that hit her when she was just catching herself feeling happy… no one had known what to say to her, a month after the loss. The consolations and empathy came with a shelf life. Some listened to her if she spoke but never reacted, while others changed the subject, disguising their discomfort in listening any further with their insensitive conversation switch as if doing her the favour of avoiding a painful topic. At some point Maliha had made her peace with all these people in her world, she had to appreciate them for being there at least, she had started to tell herself. No one ever said that life would be easy; a loss is a loss is a loss…

She had come so far since. She had learned to restrict these small intervals from normal ‘Mali’ behaviour, restrict it for her own sake. She did do it with a little help from her artistic expressiveness. Her paintings, sculptures and any other medium she chose to use were all her way of channelling her energy into something constructive. She had healed herself with art. And now she was leading a life where she had ‘family’ members far and wide and spent her time doing what gave her life meaning, she thought.

She was walking on auto pilot, lost in thoughts and not really there, she bumped right into a man on his cycle and laughed out loud as she apologized to him! She then decided to be alert and find this shop she was looking for. In her head she remembered what it looked like, and before long she had reached.

The shop was crowded with students and some ‘grown-ups’ in their overused khadi kurtas, but she could already see the things she needed stacked on a shelf on the left corner behind the counter. She called out to one of the shopkeepers, whose attention she got right as she walked through the door. Normal for Maliha. What she did not notice is as she had walked in her bag had knocked over an open can of paint, that had now fallen on the almost bare feet of a not-so-happy fellow shopper. “Excuse me! But do you think you could leave your luggage outside when you get into shop like this, there’s hardly enough room for us in here, let alone your bag!” said a bald, green footed man in his late twenties. Maliha burst into laughter and the man had no choice but let his irritation dissolve in it and join in. “well maybe this colour is not so bad, it covers my very pale feet!”. “I think we got off on the wrong ‘foot’, I’m Jagan!.. and you?”, said Jagan. “Maliha, and I’m really sorry about the paint, I guess I do carry around a lot of baggage!! Let me make it up to you, how about a nice bottle of paint thinner!” she said with a little twinkle in her eye, part flirty part trying to be funny.

“Well as amazing as that offer sounds...NOT! My director will kill me if I’m late. I am designing the sets for a play that shows in two days and if I delay even a minute longer we may not be ready for the opening!” said Jagan.

“ Ah well, invite me for the opening , I will make it up to you then? Unless of course you’re scared my big bag will do more damage?” said Mali with a laugh. “Ok, consider yourself invited! Here’s the flyer!” bring a friend or three!” he said as he was rushing out the door, “See you there Maliha, hopefully without that bag. And my number’s on the back of the flyer, ummm.. Just in case!”

“Will do, and yes I’ll get someone or maybe even two along, that play better blow my mind” she winked. She went on to buy the supplies she needed.

She was going to paint a large canvas this time. And work on it at Kirtana’s home. Kit was going to be her inspiration for this one.

She walked back home, and made it in just before it started to rain heavily.

*******

Kirtana was stuck in traffic. Yes she had left early, not early enough. What was worse was that she was stuck with the client’s new assistant and was forced to make small talk. And how Kirtana hated small talk. The topics were restricted to the weather, how bad the traffic was and how the city was getting too expensive to live in anymore. And worse still there were these awkward silences and pauses that were only disturbed by the ringing of one of their cell phones.

Kit had had almost enough by the time they reached the office site. Cranky and little hungry from having eaten too little, her head ached slightly. This was going to be a great day, she thought sarcastically. Well you win some you lose some, she added to herself.

She made her way up to the office building. ‘He’ was going to join her there. She had not thought about him since the railway station, but now she could feel her heart racing as she approached the building. Knowing already that he would be there, she caught her reflection in the glass door on her way in...Not too bad she thought, could be better, way better. She entered and straightened up, took bigger strides , but before she knew if she was falling face first onto the dust covered work-in-progress office floor!!! She had been so worried about the way she looked and thinking about seeing him, she did not see the wooden beam near the entrance, and was taking a great big dive...about to bite into some serious floor dust, all in front of him and the clients! This day was getting better by the minute! Kirtana heard something rip as he fell... just what she needed!!

5. Rewind...Back to when they met

A week before this incident at the restaurant, Maliha had arrived at Kirtana’s. Kirtana, or Kit as she would come to be called, showed Mali around her beautiful two bedroom apartment. The home was furnished with many antique pieces of furniture, pieces that Kit had got from her grandfather, others that she bought from shops she happened to find when she travelled on work. Her home was neat and organized but not to the extent that it was perfect. All the walls were a light yellow colour and between the antiques and colourful rugs in her house, she had little bursts of modern art and chrome fixtures that gave her home an eclectic vibe.

Maliha was definitely impressed by her house. She was going to enjoy her stay here she thought, and would make sure that Kit enjoyed herself too. The two decided to have a cup of coffee, just as it began to rain. Mali took the opportunity to get out her camera; she loved taking pictures of cities in the rain.

Kit and Mali sat down on a big blue couch, the upholstery was a light blue and the cushions were shades of green and purple. “I feel at home here already! Thanks a lot Kirtana. So I will take the room on the right? The one with the green painting over the bed, correct?” said Mali. “Yes, do you like the room? I recently finished decorating it, and that painting was done by a friend of mine, I’m sure she will be famous some day, so I bought it from her while I could still afford it!” said Kirtana with a little laugh. “Oh! It’s a really interesting piece; you must introduce me to your friend! And yes, the room looks great, but then again anything would be an improvement from where I spent the last few months!... but I love the room! So tell me about what you do, you only briefly mentioned it, I would really love to hear more.” Maliha sounded quite excited to hear more.

Kirtana began about how she designed office spaces for living. She was an architect and series of decisions and job moves after she graduated from college, brought her to the firm she worked for now, that designed office spaces for large corporates across the country and few across the world. Her company’s main claim to success was the sophisticated and clean finish they gave to offices while maintaining certain environmentally friendly elements, that was a huge hit with their clientele. Kirtana, handled some key projects now and did them very well, her knack for organizing served her well in this sort of environment, which is probably why she had never moved on to any other types of spaces or design. She made herself a good living, but she was not always happy about her job.

Some where she was a little bored, with the feeling that she had not quite found what she was looking for! So now Mali was up to speed about Kirtana’s job. Now it was Kit’s turn to ask the questions, “So, I’m sure you get this all the time, but why do you do it... Why this kind of life? I don’t mean to pry though, please feel free not to answer the question, at least not right away!”

“Oh no! This is probably the part of the ‘introductions routine’ with every new roommate I really look forward to! I will definitely answer your questions, it’s only fair that I do, I’m living in your house!” said Mali with a smile. Mali began a story, that she had clearly told many times. She had grown up in a small very happy family. She and her parents. Her parents were both business people, they had owned and run a cement factory, and had been well off for the time. They however met a tragic end to their beautiful life, the tale of which Mali would save for some other time. Mali had been 18, when she lost them and had inherited her parents business and wealth. At that age, she decided that she would take care of herself the way she knew her parents would have looked after her, which was met with a lot of resistance by her uncle, but eventually she won! She sold the business, at a profit and put herself through art school. She moved out of her parent’s big home, and bought a small apartment. She had enough to lead a very comfortable life, but she deeply missed the sense of having a family. Her parents had been free spirited, happy people and Mali had learnt from their example. She was simple at heart and uncomplicated in her approach to life and took time to appreciate everything she had even when she had lost so much!

Once on a trip from art school, she had stayed with a friend’s old aunt, and had finally got back that feeling, like she used to, of having a family. And this is how her slightly nomadic existence came to be! She had been brave and positive in the light of her great loss, but she would not deny herself the experience of feeling like she belonged to someone, that her life could be touched in a way that could only be done by being with people, like a family. And so she moved from place to place, person to people, learning and living like them and teaching them something about life through her eyes as well. Mali felt herself choke up a bit every time said that story. She had been so tough and been such an inspiration to people she met and at some level to herself. She had lived the last 10 years the way most people did not live in a lifetime...

Kirtana had gotten the chills when she heard that story. She sat quietly, cushion on her lap, the coffee in her hand gone cold from having stopped doing everything to listen to Mali intently. She was already so swept away by Mali, but this gave her a whole new dimension. “I.... I hardly have the words, you have done so much for yourself, I’m sure your parents would be proud...”she said. “So... do you think you will ever have a family of your own someday?”

“Someday..” said Mali, sounding as though that was just about how much she wanted to talk about this anymore. “So now you know... why I do this...live like this!” She asked Kirtana to help her unpack a bit. She wanted to set up some of her art supplies, and wanted to make sure Kit was comfortable with where everything went. Soon they were on the floor of the spare bedroom, laughing and swapping stories about college. They were getting along better that Kirtana had planned! Yes Kit did plan everything! She pulled out an orange box from Mali’s suitcase, and it slipped from her hand, landing on the ground the lid rolling off... from the box, several little objects fell out. Among the objects, were photographs, some small and big. There was one that landed, below Kit’s foot. A picture of a boy, he had on sunglasses, and had a dog sitting by his side, as he smiled warmly. The back drop for this picture looked like a beach. Mali saw that photograph and immediately sprung up! “oh I totally forgot to ask you, would it be all right if I had someone join us to stay?”...she said excitedly..Kirtana looked at her and knew it was the boy in the photograph who would be their ‘visitor' soon.