I remember my first meeting with her. It was at a bookshop in Connaught Place. I was  gazing at  the titles in the philosophy section as  I wanted to buy a book for my sister-in-law whose birthday it was the next Sunday. It was then that I heard the sound of books falling. I turned back and saw a girl looking horrified as a large number of books fell to the ground. There was something about her which made me go and help her. She was apologising profusely. An assistant from the shop also joined us and within a few minutes we were able to put the books back. “Thank you very much,” she said in a sweet voice. I was totally bowled over. “Not at all,” I said, “it is the duty of one book lover to help another.”  She smiled. And my heart skipped a beat. “I might sound impertinent but would you like to join me for a cup of coffee?” I asked her. Surprisingly she said yes. And that is how it all started.

While we were having coffee she told me that she was doing her masters in political science as a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her name was Ambika. "What is your name?” she asked. “Ravi,” I replied. She was living in a hostel  as her parents were in Bangalore. Her father was a Brigadier in the Army and was posted in Delhi till a year ago. When I heard that she was an army officer’s daughter I told her that I was a major posted at  Army Headquarters. “Oh, really?” she said gleefully, “you don’t look like an  Army officer at all.” “Now, should I take that as a compliment or as an insult?” I asked with a smile. “That is for you to decide,” she replied with a wink. We exchanged telephone numbers, promised to keep in touch and left.

Over the next few weeks we met many times. I was totally hypnotized by  her charm. Manish, my room mate in the bachelor’s quarters of the Officer’s Mess asked me one day, “This Ambika of yours, are you planning to marry-sharry?”  I smiled and replied, “No Manish no marriage-sharriage. It is an affair, or at least it looks like it will become one.” “Be careful Ravi puttar I don’t like these JNU types,” said Manish. “Oh, come on Manish she is  an officer’s daughter,” I protested. “So what?” replied Manish “that doesn’t mean anything.”  “Maybe not to you,” I told him, “but as far as I am concerned that makes her safe to interact with. I am a bit scared of interacting with a pure civilian.”  “You  really are  a scared shitless type,” Manish teased me. I threw a pillow at him. “So you are the hunter and she is the hunted,” Manish teased me. “Looks like it,” I replied with a smile. “Be careful the tables don’t turn. Kahin shikari shikar na ban jaye,” Manish said with a loud laugh.

I remember taking her to the officer’s club one Sunday. Many of the senior officers there seemed to know her. I remember my boss Brigadier Taneja telling her “Hi Ambika, nice to see you. You are becoming prettier with each passing day. What news of papa?”  She answered with a false note of protest in her voice “Oh, Uncle! You are still flirting with me. I must tell Aunty. Daddy and Mummy are fine. They were remembering you the last time I spoke to them”.  We had a nice lunch and we succeeded in making  the whole of Delhi Cantonment jealous of us. We left after lunch. “Let us go to my hostel,” she said, “ I want you to meet some of my friends.” “Sure,” I said, “good idea.”

I met most of her friends at the hostel that day.  All of them knew about me. Ambika had told them a lot about me. My achievements in the sports field, the medals I had won fighting insurgents in Kashmir, everything. I spent a nice evening with all of them. One of her friends’ made some coffee and we had it with biscuits.  One of them had a guitar and he strummed it and all of us sang songs. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. College life was something I had completely missed as I had joined the National Defence Academy in Pune after finishing  school. Soon it was dark and I told them I had to go. Ambika accompanied me to the gate. I stopped an autorickshaw and got in. As I leant out to say goodbye to her she kissed me on my lips. I was in seventh heaven.

The next evening Ambika and I met at one of her friends'  flat. Her friend and her family had gone on holiday. We spent some time going through the books on their bookshelf. Then Ambika went into the kitchen to make some coffee. As she stood near the gas waiting for the water to boil I came from behind and held her warm body in my arms. She turned back and kissed me on my lips. I switched off the gas. We went into the bedroom. We were both in a hurry. We fell upon each other with passion. It was  as if we were fighting. I have never made love with as much intensity as I did that day.  Afterwards,  we lay in each other’s arms.  It was past midnight when we left for our rooms.

The next morning I received a manila envelope when I was in my office. Inside it I found some very explicit photographs of the previous night’s  lovemaking session with Ambika. I also found a small note. It was in Ambika’s handwriting, “There is a file in Brigadier Taneja’s right hand drawer. Please scan its contents and email them to me. See you in the evening.”  It was then that I started shivering. The hunter had indeed become the hunted.
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My earlier story:  A Meeting in Mhow  (Meeting an old classmate in the army town of Mhow and reminiscing about old times)