MISMATCH

Kunal lying on his bed , staring at the ceiling fan of his room was wondering about the state of affairs his life was in. He had always wanted to be an actor, but life is the ultimate director.

We are all actors , in the stage of life !

Kunal was fond of acting in his school days and would never miss a chance to perform in the school's dramatics and fine arts society. His quest for the exhibition of his acting skills was more than a hobby. Acting was in fact his first love.

Kunal's father wanted him to be an engineer and against his own wish he got admitted to an engineering college in Patiala. Kunal's widowed father was an engineer himself and Kunal relented to his father's wish much against his own will.

Kunal boarded a train from Delhi to reach Patiala. Many thoughts were flashing his mind while he was lying on the upper berth of his compartment still trying to shrug off the pain of his shattered dream of becoming an actor.

Kunal spent 4 years of his life pursuing aeronautical engineering in Patiala, whereas his father was living all alone in Delhi.

Kunal got a job with an aviation company in Bengaluru and he moved to this new city. Kunal would call his father couple of times in a week to inquire about his well being. His father was however quite happy as his dream of Kunal becoming an engineer was fulfilled.

Kunal was living in a paying guest accomodation and his room mate Inderjit was from Solan , Himachal Pradesh. Inderjit was employed as a skill development instructor with Sports Authority of India in Bengaluru. Bengaluru a bustling cosmopolitan city with an all year round pleasant climate and a major IT hub , popularly known as Silicon Valley of India failed to enchant and entice Kunal. He seemed to be quite alone in the city .The only perso he knew in the city was his room mate Inderjit.

It was almost six months since Kunal moved to Bengaluru for his job. One day while getting ready for his office Kunal got a phone call from one of his neighbour in Delhi about his father passing away in his sleep due to a massive heart failure. Kunal rushed to Delhi for performing his father's last rites. However to pick up the broken chords of life Kunal returned to Bengaluru to resume his office job.

Now Kunal was left only with his room mate Inderjit in Bengaluru.Both of them had contrasting personalities , as Kunal was an intense person whereas Inderjit was of carefree nature.Kunal was a teetotaller while Inderjit was a tippler. Both of them would share their daily routine in the evening after returning from their work.

On a fateful night while returning from his job , Kunal's motor bike was hit by a speeding car and he suffered grievous injuries on his head. He was bleeding profusely and was admitted to a government hospital by a passer by named Roselene.

As Inderjit was abroad owing to his team's participation in an international sports event, Inderjit couldn't be informed about this mishappening . Roselene however informed Kunal's office of the accident.

Roselene would visit Kunal in the hospital everyday to inquire about his condition from the doctor. Roselene also incurred the medical expenses for Kunal's treatment. Kunal remained in the hospital for about two weeks. After his discharge from the hospital Roselene took him to his paying guest room he was living in.

Kunal barely knew anything about Roselene except for the fact that Roselene not only saved his life , but also was the only person around Kunal to take care of him all through his treatment in the hospital.

Roselene came into Kunal's life because of this accident. Their chance meeting fostered into friendship. Kunal had by now recovered from the accident. Both Kunal and Roselene would now meet frequently and both were in touch regularly . Little did Kunal knew about Roselene except for that she was working as a Hair Stylist in a ladies' salon , as he would sometimes pick her up while returning from his office.

Roselene , in her mid twenties was a single child born to a Goan mother and a Portuguese father , born and brought up in Goa. She had moved to Bengaluru after both her parent's had perished in an ill-fated planecrash when she was all of twenty alone.Roselene was staying in a working women's hostel in Bengaluru after she landed a job with a salon after completing her Diploma as a hair stylist.

Kunal also started liking Roselene and they both would spend most of their time together after their working hours. Roselene would also come to Kunal's room when both of them had their day off from work. It was more than Friendship that was blossoming into Love. Love that both of them were unaware of ! Both of them were going on nicely .

Kunal , now 27 was settling in his job though his instincts about acting had not completely died out. Many a times he would converse with Roselene by using one liners from Hindi movies and also would enact on popular movie dialogue's . Roselene would laugh endlessly on Kunal's antic's.Kunal had made up his mind to propose to Roselene for marriage but was hesitant of not being sure whether Roselene had the same feelings for him as well.

Meanwhile Inderjit had returned from abroad after his overseas assignment was over. Roselene now felt uncomfortable coming to Kunal's room owing to Inderjit's presence.Kunal and Roselene now started meeting outside .

One fine evening Kunal while on an evening stroll with Roselene expressed his Love for her and proposed her for marriage ,which caught Roselene totally by surprise. She started weeping inconsolably and did not respond to Kunal's proposal of marriage. Roselene all of a sudden moved away from Kunal and left the place without uttering a word.

Kunal was unable to understand the entire episode and was perplexed on Roselene's behaviour..Kunal tried to contact her on mobile but all his calls were unanswered. Kunal unable to sleep the whole night , went to the salon next morning where Roselene was employed.Roselene had not turned up for work that morning. Kunal searching for Roselene went to her hostel and dropped a message for her as she was not there as well. Her mobile was also switched off.

Dejected and frustrated ,unable to meet or speak to Roselene ,Kunal left for his room from Roselene's hostel and while he was climbing up the stairs leading to his third floor room he heard of a commotion and he could identify Roselene shrieking and screaming for help.He banged at the room door ferociously but the door was bolted from inside but Kunal could easily understand that something was amiss. He broke the window pane and was completely aghast to see Inderjit assaulting Roselene physically.

Roselene was pinned on to the floor by Inderjit. Furious ,Kunal at the top of his voice dared Inderjit to let go of Roselene and rushed to rescue her. He fetched for a heavy object to break the room latch and while he returned back he found the door already open with Roselene lying unconscious on the floor and Inderjit not to be seen anywhere in the room.

Kunal was horrified to see Roselene in a semi- naked state. What he saw next was of utter disbelief to Kunal.He was totally aghast and unable to utter a word.

He found Roselene to be an ANDROGYNOUS.

(The condition of having both male and female reproductive organs.

Roselene was reared as a girl child by her parents since her childhood and she had kept this secret close to herself alone.)

Kunal lifted Roselene in his arms , dressed her up with her clothes and laid her on the Diwan .(single bed).Kunal sprinkled water on her face and as Roselene began to regain her consciousness,he offered her a glass of water and comforted her. Kunal kissed Roselene on her forehead and she hugged Kunal in her arms as tears flowed down her cheeks.

Kunal now understood the reason of denial by Roselene to his marriage proposal. Kunal told Roselene that he loved her as a person and this biological imbalance owing to chromosome mismatch would not dissuade him from loving her.

All of her life Roselene had carried out this unimaginable fear in her heart whether she would be worthy of Love other than her parents.

She kissed Kunal on his lips and asked him passionately if he would marry her?

Kunal's affirmative response was out of pristine love for Roselene and not out of sympathy or because of his benevolent attitude. His act was of true Love and not a mismatch for his love for Roselene.

By Myshkin Manra