I saw her the moment she entered the office. She was looking so pretty. “Hi Aradhana,” I almost shouted. She smiled as she acknowledged my greeting. It was that smile of hers which made my heart go aflutter. She looked so beautiful when she smiled like that. But she was looking disturbed. "Maybe she isn’t well," I told myself. During the lunch break she and a couple of the girls were sitting together and discussing some issue very seriously. They looked disturbed. Then they called  Biswajeet to join them. Lucky son-of-a-bitch. The girls trusted him. I don’t know what they saw in him. “Oh, come on yaar,” said Daljit when I shared my feelings of jealousy towards Biswajeet. “Just look at him,” said Daljit, “so chikna, he could pass for a girl. I am sure he is gay. The girls must also be knowing it, hence they trust him.” Anyway, the news soon spread to all sections of the office that somebody was stalking Aradhana. He had started by ringing her on her landline. But when she complained to the police and installed a caller identification system he stopped and started sending her obscene mail by the post.

Everybody in the office was shocked. With each passing day she looked more tired and haggard. The pretty Aradhana we knew was no more to be seen. Her dress sense also became rather shabby. It was as if she didn’t want any male to see her. This was so sad. A charming, effervescent girl seemed to be caught in a whirlpool of paranoia and depression. It was around this time that I got close to her. We had all been invited to a party at a five star hotel by a grateful client. As the party ended Shobha Nair the HR Manager came upto me and told me that she was ordering me to drop Aradhana at the gate of the multi-storeyed building where she lived. I felt honoured that I was chosen for this assignment. Aradhana sat in silence in the car. I did not disturb her. When we reached the gate of her building she got down and thanked me so sincerely that I felt like crying. She entered the building with her shoulders drooping. I felt sad for her but I had orders not to go inside.

The next day Aradhana came to my cubicle and thanked me profusely. I felt embarrassed. “I think I have found a good friend,” she said. "In that case please do not thank me any more. Remember the saying Anything for a friend? Well, that’s my philosophy,” I said.   “Well,” she said, “this is one friend who will never let you down.” I was in seventh heaven. But my happiness was short lived. A day later I saw her crying profusely. Shobha Nair was trying to pacify her but she didn’t seem to be succeeding. Aradhana looked scared. The guy who was stalking her had posted a threat to her. The cops were called. A young female IPS officer was specially assigned to the case. Everybody in the office called her Kiran, because she reminded us of Kiran Bedi.  

Kiran, the lady cop, started visiting the office every day. She would spend some time with Aradhana alone on every visit. She was busy taking notes all the time. I wondered whether the notes would help her to catch the stalker. Aradhana seemed to cheer up the moment Kiran entered the office. And she wilted when Kiran left. Soon after, I had another chance to drop Aradhana home. This time it was at 6 p.m. Her car had been sent for servicing and she refused to take a bus or taxi. Shobha Nair was in the car with us. We were invited up for a cup of coffee by Aradhana. Shobha accepted gracefully. We went up to Aradhana’s flat on the fifth floor. It was decorated very tastefully. She had a good collection of books, music and plants. By the time she brought us the coffee, I and Shobha had spent a delightful ten minutes looking at the titles on her book shelf. We left after spending a quarter of an hour with her. Our visit seemed to have made a huge difference. Aradhana was smiling when we left. I was happy. I was seeing her full smile after almost a fortnight.

One day Kiran took handwriting samples from all of us. That was quiet a shock to everyone in the office. Kiran was surprised when Aradhana protested. Kiran told us that she wasn’t forcing any one of us to give a handwriting sample. But the men in the office did not object. Since none of us got arrested  a week after giving the samples we were fairly sure that none of us was the psycho whom Kiran was searching. I was dropping Aradhana home almost twice a week. Due to tiredness she had stopped driving her car and we used to take it in turns to take her from home to office and back.She even took me inside her flat on a couple of occasions. It was nice sitting with her and drinking coffee or tea or the lovely nimbupani she used to make.

After a month she invited me to have lunch with her. I was ecstatic when she did so. The stalker had not yet been caught. Kiran, the super-cop, had stopped coming to the office on a daily basis. But Aradhana had improved. She seemed to be in much better health. That day, after I reached home I did two important things. I rang up my mother and told her that she may soon be getting the daughter-in-law she was dying to see. And then I burnt the letters I was going to post the next day. I didn’t  need them anymore.
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My previous short story: On the road to Aizawl....  A father and daughter travel towards Aizawl. A journey they had undertaken on the same road many years ago.