I stood under the stairway patiently. Every footstep made my heart skip a beat. As per her Assistant’s instruction we sat down on one of those plush sofas. The cold lemonade she offered did not cool down the excitement and anxiety I was feeling but it sure did help me to rehearse my lines and check my appearance once again. After an hour of sitting and waiting, I got to see a glimpse of an off white saree’s pallu trailing down the stairs.The clicks of high heels which would make any sane person’s heart flutter like a butterfly followed. She alighted from the staircase making it look like an air plane.  The smile of calm she offered me cordially was  fake or real? I wondered. But she looked like she was at peace with herself.

Soon the questions I have prepared so charily in my mind vanished into thin air, leaving me at a loss. I hardly collected my wits together by the time she asked “shall we start?”. “Yes shall we?” I replied acting enthused. Over the years we have developed a familiarity between each other, however it never went beyond the border of cordiality and touched friendship. There was mutual respect of course. Since I have diverted my field to hardcore journalism, reporting war and sometimes peace after my small stint in the entertainment industry, we rarely met. But then this story is hardcore or there’s nothing more hardcore than this. All I needed was her to tell me the truth about that night. But as far as I knew her she was not going to give me anything. She knew to play the field very well. Even during her early years in the industry she knew how to tackle press.

In that plain but elegant sari she was a vision in white. The crow’s feet that appeared on each side of her eyes painted an attractive but mature picture. Oh she aged beautifully.

“Prameela this is not the time to feel discouraged, be confident, shoot those brilliant questions you prepared at her. If at all the assumed role of Meghna in those happenings were true, you are sitting in front of a criminal not the talented soft spoken lady you always thought she is” I reminded myself.

She showed her discomfort in being recorded. “Pramila I thought it’s a one-on-one chat. The police have specifically asked me to not give any interviews so please do not record. I agreed for this chat only because I need to tell you something”.

→ To be continued