Indian

Lalitha was unaware of the laughter around her. The call she just attended was like a ghost from the past, a ghost she thought was gone for good. It belonged to a colleague of hers from her first workplace. Five years ago, almost in another life, Lalitha had borrowed 20,000 from her. She promised to pay it back in a month, but she wouldn’t have been able. The colleague would have been good enough not to force her to repay the money immediately and the debt would have remained. A few months later, the girl’s marriage was restored in a hurry to a man who worked in the UK. The girl resigned and was caught in the middle of the crazy rush that usually accompanies an Indian wedding. In the middle of that, she called Liitha and gave her account number. She said to put the money in the account. A week later, the lady had left India with her husband. Lalitha wanted to pay the lady back. But she kept putting it off until she forgot everything. From time to time it would appear in her memory and then disappear for a long time.