Neelu

Neelu read the ad twice. It was quite a funny ad.

Will someone come?

I am a lonely man. I have been living alone since my wife's death. The time just won't pass. Will someone write me a couple of lines to pass the loneliness of my long days and long nights?

GPO Box Number 73

What's the point of placing an ad like this in a daily newspaper? You see this stuff in the weeklies; it's something the young lads do. This man surely isn't a young lad. He must be one of the old-timers.

“Dad, have you read this?”

Neelu shoved the paper into her father's hand.

“Dad, please read this ad!”

Her father frowned and read it twice himself. The look on his face suggested he was quite annoyed.

“Did you read it?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“What do you think, Dad?”

“What am I supposed to think? I don't think anything. This country is going into the abyss. How can these newspapers print this stuff?!"

Neelu said with a smile, “Why won't it be published?”

“This isn't Britain or America, you know? And if you read it carefully, you can tell the guy has a hidden agenda.”

“Well, I don't see any bad intentions.”

"No," Neelu's father said gravely. “Look, don't you go and write a letter.”

Neelu smiled, looking down.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Felt like it.”

“You're not thinking about writing a letter, are you?”

“Nope.”

Although Neelu said “nope” out loud, she had already decided in her mind to write a well-composed letter. Let's see what happens. Let's see what the man writes.

That night before going to sleep, she really did write a letter. It was a fairly long one.

Sir,
I read your advertisement. So, I wrote a few lines for you. Will this cure your loneliness? I'm eighteen years old. I'm a student at █████ University. I have a sister. My younger sister's name is Beelu. She studies at ████ █████ College. We are both very beautiful. Oh dear, I shouldn't have written this to you. Should I? Or will you get over your loneliness even faster if you receive a letter from a beautiful girl?

As soon as she wrote the letter, she felt that it wasn't right. There was a big lie in the letter. She wasn't beautiful. That was true for Beelu, not for her. Neelu let out a small sigh and wrote the second letter.

Sir,
My name is Neelu. I am twenty years old. I am writing to you to relieve your loneliness. But can a letter really relieve loneliness? Please let me know how old you are. 

She didn't like the second letter either. She felt like she just couldn't get the real thing down on paper. Lying in bed at night, she wondered why she had suddenly become so busy for this letter. What was the need to write a letter anyway? Was she herself very lonely? Maybe. There are only two other people in this house. Beelu and Dad. Dad always stays in his room. He only comes out a few times at the beginning of the month to collect the rent. Then he's back in his room, all alone. And Beelu has her countless friends. Not just female friends, but a lot of male friends, too.

Beelu is happy as can be. But she's going a bit too far. Yesterday, a boy came over and stayed until eight at night. This isn't good. Neelu peeked and saw the boy smoking cigarettes like a chimney. He was gesturing with his hands as he talked, and Beelu was cracking up. While they were eating, Neelu, trying not to say anything, finally asked, “Who's that guy?”

“What guy?”

''That guy you were talking to until eight o'clock?''

''Oh, him? He's Ruby's brother! A total fraud. He thinks he's so smart, but he's a complete idiot.''

Beelu giggles as she says it.

“Why did you keep him this long if he were such a big idiot?”

'What could I do? He didn't want to go.'

Saying this, Beelu laughed again. Beelu is the kind of girl you can never get angry with. Neelu can never get angry with her. Sometimes, Dad says a few harsh words. Then Beelu gets angry and stops eating. She's a real handful! Once, she got angry and sat with the door shut for a whole two days. In the end, we had to bring in her maternal uncle from █████████. Her uncle is the one person Beelu listens to. When he came and said, “If you don't open this door, dear, I won't come anymore. This is my last visit—” The door opened. Such a stubborn girl.

Neelu has no such stubbornness. Black and ugly girls never have any. They have to spend their lives alone. Neelu tried to fall asleep after turning off the light. When she was a child, sleep would come to her the moment the light went out, but not anymore. She has to toss and turn for a long time.

Beelu is on the next bed, a book held up to her eyes with a table lamp on. She'll read late into the night. At some point, she'll fall asleep while reading, without turning off the light. Neelu will have to get up and turn off the light.

'Beelu, go to sleep. Turn off the light.'

“I'll sleep in a little.”

“What are you reading?”

“A book by ██████████. It's awesome!”

“Read it during the day. The light is hurting your eyes.”

“When do I have time during the day? Just go to sleep, Neelu!”

Neelu couldn't sleep. She lay there, staring at Beelu. Beelu was getting more and more beautiful by the day! How could two girls from the same parents be so different—one so beautiful and the other so plain? Neelu let out a small sigh.

“Big sister?”

“What?”

“It's a great book; you should read it.”

“A romance?”

“Yeah. It's a very serious thing, even if it's a romance. Awesome!”

“Really?”

“Mhm, the story of a very beautiful girl.”

Someone like you?'

"Oh, come on, am I beautiful? You could say she's like our third-floor tenant's wife. Her name's Yuki; have you seen her?"

"No, is she very beautiful?"

''Oh my God, she's gorgeous! More beautiful than ████ ██████."

“Why don't you ask the girl to come over to our place sometime? I want to see her.”

“I will. You could go yourself sometime. She's a good girl. Very polite in her speech. Have you seen her husband, Mr. Anis?”

“Hmm.”

“That guy is kind of a fool. Talks like a fool. He calls me ‘madam’.”

“You are in college, right? He's not supposed to call you ‘madam’?”

"Why would an old man like that call me ‘madam’?”

“Old, huh?”

“He must be over 40.”

“How old is the girl?”

"Very young. About 19-20."

Beelu turned off the light and fell asleep in an instant. Neelu stayed awake until late into the night. She just couldn't fall asleep. Lately, her sleep has become very light. Every night, she doesn't fall asleep until after midnight.

Yuki put rice on the stove and came into the living room to find the landlord's eldest daughter inside the room.

"I came in without asking. My name is Neelu."

"Come in, come in. I know who you are. You're the landlord's eldest daughter. Didn't you go to university today?"

"Nope. I don't have class today. I came to talk with you. What were you doing?"

"I was cooking rice."

“Come on, let's go sit in the kitchen. I hear great things about you from Beelu.”

Beelu thinks, “You are more beautiful than ████ ██████.”

Yuki said, surprised, “Who's ████ ██████?”

“There's an actress. Everyone says she's very beautiful. I don't think she's pretty. She has an arrogant face.”

Yuki smirked and said, “Beautiful girls are always arrogant.”

“Are you arrogant, too?”

Yuki laughed and said, “Yes.”

Neelu noticed the girl was quite thin but truly beautiful. It was a look not often seen. Her eyes slanted upwards towards her forehead, giving them the appearance of a goddess statue. There was a very subtle, yet unmistakable, statuesque quality to her entire face.

'What are you looking at?'

“I'm looking at you. You have a statuesque look to your face.”

Yuki's face fell.

Neelu said, surprised, “Oh no! Did I offend you?”

“No, why would I be offended?”

“But why did you make that face? I was just giving you a compliment. I haven't seen many girls as beautiful as you. Though, I did see a Bihari girl once. At my younger uncle's wedding. Of course, that girl wasn't as thin as you. She was quite well-built.”

“Would you like some tea?”

“Why are you being so formal with me? Do you think I'm that much older?”

“No, I don't think so.”

“You don't have to be formal with me. And if you don't mind, I'll come by from time to time.”

Yuki said in a soft voice as she arranged the teacups, “Why did you say I look like a statue?”

Neelu said, surprised, “I just said it! Because of your almond-shaped eyes. You're really mad, aren't you?”

''There's a reason for that, Neelu. I'll tell you everything one day, and then you'll understand. How much sugar do you take in your tea?''

“Three spoons.”

Neelu sat for a long time, but the conversation didn't really pick up. Yuki seemed distracted. She couldn't focus at all. She couldn't seem to relax. Neelu tried several times to change the subject. Yuki gave vague answers. And after a while, she said in a light tone, “I have an illness, Neelu.”

“What's the illness?”

“Sometimes I get scared.”

''What do you mean, you get scared?''

Yuki lowered her head and said, "It started after I went swimming in the river once when I was a kid."

''What happened?''

Yuki didn't answer.

"Tell me, what happened?"

"I'll tell you another day. Today, you tell me about yourself."

“I don't have anything to say.”

“Tell me about your friends.”

“I don't really have any friends. I mostly stay by myself. Ugly girls don't have friends.”

“A person isn't ugly just because they're dark-skinned, Neelu.”

“I know very well who I am.”

Neelu got up. Yuki said, “Will you come again?”

“I will. You'll tell me about that fear of yours.”

''I will.''

Against her better judgment, Neelu sent the letter, but immediately afterward, her anxiety knew no bounds. Who knows, that old man might one day show up at her house. That would be terribly embarrassing. It was a completely childish thing to do. For the next four or five days, Neelu had a terrible time. She was extremely anxious. She would jump every time she saw an old man approaching, wondering if it was him. If someone actually showed up, she had decided she would say, “This letter isn't from me. Someone else must have played a prank and used this address. I don't write to strangers like this.”

No one came, of course. A week went by in the blink of an eye. There was no answer to the letter either. Maybe the man didn't receive it. Thanks to the postal service, most letters these days don't even reach their recipients. Or maybe it was that the man received countless letters and answered the ones he liked. He didn't like Neelu's three-line letter. He probably received long, wonderful letters, with all sorts of things written in flowery detail.

Ten days later, a letter arrived for Neelu. It was in a very expensive envelope on fine stationery. The handwriting was neat and blocky, the ink a deep black. On the butter-colored paper, the words stood out like pearls. People can have such beautiful handwriting! The letter was very brief.

Yours sincerely,
I read your wonderful letter with great interest. Thank you for responding to the appeal of a suffering person. I have sent a very small gift. Please accept it.

Neelu wondered, had this man sent such a gift to everyone? Had only those who replied to the letter received one? But was that even possible? Or had only Neelu replied? Neelu became very embarrassed. She hid the perfume bottle and tried very hard to forget the whole matter. She tore the letter into pieces and threw it out the window. Why did she get involved in such a messy situation?

But about a week later, Neelu wrote another letter. A rather long one. Towards the end, it read, "You haven't told me who you are or what you do—I don't even see your advertisement. Does this mean your loneliness has now ended?”

Neelu waited for a few days for a reply, but none came. For some reason, Neelu felt quite upset. She started to feel like writing another letter, but how could she? Write letters all by herself? What was she so desperate for?