Life hasn’t exactly been easy for Rishi. Staying away from his family, working his ass off to get a decent living in this crazy city. This apartment that he is currently living in, had been vacant for a long time and the landlord was looking for a tenant. So the moment Rishi came asking about the rent, he was so cordially welcomed that it almost felt uncanny. But nothing beats a spacious apartment in the heart of the city on such a negligible rent. Besides if there was any problem (like the ones Rishi heard rumours about), he never faced anything. Mostly because he would be spending much of his 24 hours outside, coming back tired at night, only to fill his belly and crash on his bed. Office work took over so much of his life.
And other than that, there was Akansha. His girlfriend…then girlfriend, who had claimed the right to spend atleast 2 hours with him every day.
Such a lifestyle did not leave him much time to either explore the apartment or pay heed to the rumours that went about the building. But once the whole country went on lockdown things changed, drastically. Akansha and Rishi had been having problems like any other couple, atleast that’s what Rishi thought. But then one fateful night Akansha walked away, stomping on his poor heart.
One night, sitting alone in the balcony, staring out at the dark sky, Rishi was wondering where his life had lead him to, when he heard a faint murmur behind him.
“Hey”
Rishi jerked his head back, eyes wide when he saw a woman, almost his age, standing there, smiling sheepishly. Where the hell did she come from? Who is she? WHAT IS SHE?
So many questions formed in his head, but the couldn’t get them out of his mouth. Noticing his flabbergasted state, the woman said, “Whoa whoa. Don’t get scared. I’m not gonna harm you. Calm down. I’m Kalpana and ….I …I used to live here…before you.”
“Then what are you doing here now?”, Rishi asked, his voice squeaky.
“I’m not sure. I know I’ve died. I mean getting in that big of a car accident would obviously kill me. But I don’t know, I think I’m stuck here. Are you chanting Hanuman chalisa?”
Rishi stopped. He was listening anything Kalpana was saying past the small fun fact she mentioned : I’ve died. He stared at her and stuttered, “Well, what do you …want then?”
“Oh nothing. I just saw you were pretty lonely so I thought I should give you company. Is that beer you are drinking? Man, I so wish I could drink, but you know, being a ghost doesn’t come with a lot of advantages as you humans think.”
And that’s where it all began. It took Rishi a LOT OF TIME to get comfortable with the fact that he was living with a ghost now. But Kalpana was always sweet, never scared him or harmed him ( or killed him, yet, although Rishi was always on high alert with his Hanuman chalisa, at the tip of his tongue) and pretty soon they became friends. Chatting all along, Kalpana guiding Rishi with his cooking, forcing him to try a few new recipes, making him sing and all that. No matter what, Rishi liked spending his lonely hours with her.