Introduction

Annie arrived in Kolkata early morning on 14th Feb. It was not very cold, yet just the thought of being all alone for the first time in life, that too in a city where she had never been earlier made her shiver a bit. she took her bags and walked out of kolkata station. actually it was Howrah station as kolkata is the only metro city in the world which doesnt have a railway station of its own it was 5 am in the morning and she waited for Bips to come and pick her up. Bips or Bipasha was her school mate who had shifted to kolkata with her parents 3 years back. now 20 years old, they were very close buds.

all around her she could hear people talking. but she could barely understand the language as she was not familiar with Bengali, the language of kolkata. the clock with roman dials, place just above the Elephant (mascot of Indian Railways) showed 5:30 am. just then like a hurricane, came Bips. she was a girl of average height, slim with typical big bengali eyes and lusturous hair, though she loved to keep it very short. she hugged Annie from behind and said "Heeeeeeeeeelo". Annie felt so releived and happy.

it is really surprising, when we are alone we tend to look for anything that is familiar and when we see it finally, it gives us such a rush of warmth.

"you have lost so much weight" was the first sentence that came out of Bips’s mouth. Annie stood and looked at her. Bips was a girl of all 5 feet, but every inch of that was full of life and fun. Short curly hair, beautiful in texture as nearly all Bengali girls have and big eyes who oozed with trust and friendship. She was wearing a kurti and jeans. Her car keays were dangling from her hand as she rattled on all the questions. “how is uncle, how is aunty, how is priya”. Of did I forget to tell you who is priya. Well priya was annie’s little sister. 6 years younger to her she was the baby of the family.

Annie and Bips walked out of Howrah station and moved in the direction of the car. Annie was going to stay with Bips till she got a decent place to live. But if Bips had her way, Annie would stay with her always. Bips stayed with her parents at her dumdum house. She had just completed her Grads in political science and was in mood to spend next 1 – 2 years just having fun. Her father was a businessman and had plenty of mpney and only one child. Bips was a spoilt brat in truest sense. Annie didn’t have this luxury. She had always been a hard worker and wanted to do something for her family by getting a decent job.

Bips has a cute and pink (like nearly everything she had) Santro. They got inside and bips turned on the engine as well as the Fm. The song coming was one of Annie’s Favorite from C21 – the words of the song came like a warm cup of tea…..

“what a mushy song yaar… will we ever find someone who will love us like this???” said Bips..

“I don’t think you will find him if you keep cribbing all the time about all the boys.. whatever happened to Rahul??? Where is he these days?” asked Annie. Rahul was Bips’s on-off boyfriend for past 2 years. They used to patch up when either he came from Blore or she went there. He was a nice guy, but they were as different as chalk and cheese… Rahul a studious Guy and Bips… well we all know Bips. She would rather read Cosmopolitan for 12 hour straight than read a book for 12 minutes. She always passed in exams with the constant pushing from Annie.

It was around 30 minutes of drive from the station till Bips's home. Listening to songs on FM and to her, Annie felt comfortable and braced herself for the first day in a new city away from her family for the first time. As Bips’s home was coming near, she asked her about her dad (bips’s maa had passed away the previous year). He was okay bips told her.

They reached home by 7 am. Bips ran to the gate and rang the doorbell, Annie in tow bringing in her small assortment of luggage. She nearly dropped it when she saw a handsome man, with close cut military style hair opened the door in his pajamas, still rubbing the eyes and saying something rhymed with ‘chuck’.. He had broad shoulders and a fair complexion, not very tall yet had a look in his eyes that can win a battle unarmed…

“Meet Sumit da”, chirped Bips.