A Game of Love

‘You know, I don’t like Vicky’, tells Roshni to Joydip over the phone.

‘You don’t have to talk to him. You will talk to me’, says Joydip.

‘But for what reasons he wants to come with you’, Roshni keeps on asking questions to Joydip.

‘He has some works with me’, replies Joydip.

‘What works’, Roshni’s asks in a slightly sarcastic tone.

‘You’ll get to know everything. Meet me at 2 p.m. at the bookstore. Bye’, Joydip hangs up the call.

Roshni and Joydip are in a relationship. Roshni is doing her graduation and Joydip runs his own business. Roshni is popular in college. Though she hasn’t achieved much with her studies she is popular for her extra-curricular activities in college. College fests are incomplete without Roshni’s performance. Roshni is a bit attention-seeker but very few can question her ability as a performer. She dances, debates, organizes events; her curriculum vita is really attractive. Roshni is an outgoing and outspoken person. Many of her friends get confused about her outspokenness as her aggressiveness.

Joydip and Roshni met at a wedding party. The moment they started talking, they liked each other. Within a week after their first meet, they meet again and Joydip proposed to her. Joydip liked Roshni’s outspoken attitude. Roshni found her desired man in Joydip. Joydip was already established in a financial sense when he proposed. So Roshni agreed. Roshni thought if she marries Joydip, she can pursue her career as an actress. She did some acting at college plays but she dreams big. She wants to act in movies.

Their relationship is now 1 year old. They don’t have any major problems in their relationship. But, according to Roshni, Joydip spends more time with her friends. Joydip always brings his friends when he meets Roshni. This irritates Roshni. She wants to meet Joydip alone. Presently, this is the only pain-point in their relationship.

Roshni and Joydip had a plan to go to a hotel to spend some time together. But the sudden entry of Vicky may bring in a change in the plan, Roshni thinks. After reaching the spot, Roshni comes to know that there is no change in plan. Vicky wants to introduce her new girlfriend to Roshni. After the meeting, Roshni and Joydip head for the hotel. On the other, Vicky and Chandrima, his new girlfriend, go to a movie.

 ***

‘Did you see the Starz Makerz ad on Facebook?’ asks Joydip.

‘No. What does it say?’ asks Roshni while combing her hair.

‘It says there is a reality show is coming up for couples’, Joydip tells Roshni.

‘Give me the paper’, Roshni says. Roshni takes the paper from Joydip and reads the ad minutely.

Roshni looks at Joydip. Seeing that Roshni is not saying anything, Joydip asks, ‘so what do you think?’

‘I think we should participate in it. Will you be able to take a break from your business?’ Roshni asks.

‘Well, I think I can manage’, says Joydip.

‘Then let’s go for the audition immediately’, says Roshni.

Roshni and Joydip leave the hotel within 10 minutes after their conversation. Their current destination is the Starz Makerz office. The journey intends to give an audition for the reality show ‘Dare to Love’. Roshni thinks if they get the opportunity to participate in the reality show, then it would be easier for her to get into the film industry. It would be a great opportunity to show her face.

The rule of the show is simple. Only couples can participate. They have to stay inside a house with other participants for 3 months. They can’t leave the house for 3 months. Each week one couple will be eliminated for the failure of tasks.

Roshni and Joydip appear for the audition and get selected with 11 other couples for the show.

The house is outside of the city where 12 couples are residing. After entering the house, they come to know that each day they have to perform a task. Each couple will be evaluated at the end of the week based on their performance throughout the week. Based on that evaluation, one couple will be eliminated at the end of every week.

The trickiest part of the tasks is that every day each member will be given a name set by the house. And throughout the day, the members have to call each other with the alias name. Not by their real name. If someone calls any member in their real name then he or she will be stopped from performing the task of that particular day. Quite obviously, it will affect their weekly evaluation.

Apart from performing the task together, each couple gets 1 hour for discussion. They have to live in separate rooms. 

***

Roshni and Joydip initially faced some troubles but eventually, they get accustomed quite easily to the game and its rules. Roshni’s conviction and Joydip’s cognitive abilities create a ripple across the nation as the people watch them on television every day.

Following all the rules, without making any mistakes, Roshni and Joydip reach the 12th week, the final week. If they can perform all the tasks in the final week without any mistakes, they will leave the show with 1 crore rupees in their bank account.

Six consecutive days of the final week, Roshni and Joydip perform all the tasks without any mistakes. But on the 7th day, the final day of the show, they are asked to do, rather say, something that they have never imagined. The house lord, the host of the show, asks Roshni and Joydip to tell their real names. In the last 83 days, they have called each other 83 different names. The house lord intends to check whether they remember their real names or not.

And the house lord turns correct. Roshni and Joydip both fail to remember their real names. They can only able to remember some of the alias names they used in the past 83 days. If they fail to tell their real names to the house lord, they will leave the show without getting a penny.

Roshni and Joydip become restless. They can’t able to find a way to remember their real names. Understanding their trouble, the house lord gives them the stipulated for 1 hour.

***

Roshni sitting on a chair and the opposite Joydip is standing. Both are tensed and worried, asking each other different questions to remember their names. Roshni is ashamed about the fact that the entire country is watching them on television. On the other hand, time is also getting passed.

Roshni couldn’t stop crying. Joydip holds her in his arms and consoles her. But she keeps on sobbing. Suddenly, she kisses Joydip. Joydip tells her, ‘everyone is watching’. Roshni replies, ‘I don’t care’.

Roshni starts kissing Joydip intensely. Joydip couldn’t resist himself. He starts kissing her and pressing her breasts. They get undress. The house lord tells them to stop. But they couldn’t able to stop. They start passionately love each other. Roshni tells, ‘oh! Joydip’. And in reply Joydip says, ‘my Roshni’.

Suddenly they stop what they are doing. They realize that they have solved the problem. They have just said each other’s names. One hour after that incident, they come out of the show with a 1-crore rupee cheque.