As I was sipping tea in front of our office, I heard a sharp sound from afar, which felt like that of a sharp slap. I glanced at the direction to see a guy and a girl arguing with each other. They looked very young; the guy might be around 23, in his shorts and a white tee shirt, the girl wearing a pink and green salwar kameez, sitting pillion on the bike hugging her bag to herself. The guy was straining to keep his voice under control and the girl was tying a scarf around her face, probably hoping to be spared of being recognized in the ignominy. I was not sure he slapped her, but he was pointing his finger at her repeatedly and trying to grab her bag from her hands. Their bike was parked right in front of our office, under the No-Parking sign, and soon I realized that they were having a full-fledged argument.

I tried not to look into their direction, and kept on sipping my tea, not in a hurry to finish it, neither too slow to stay till the end of their brawl. Things got worse between them as the guy has raised his voice and started abusing her loudly so that everyone was watching them. I wondered why he had to stop his bike in a busy road to have this argument. I wanted them to go away and then I saw it. He slapped her. I was taken aback, not much by the slap, but by how the girl reacted, or didn’t at all, to it. She didn’t cover up her cheek in defense, nor tried to fight back, nor shed a tear. She adjusted her glasses, untied and re-tied her scarf over her head, and listened to him facing the ground at her feet, as if the ordeal was a routine she had to go through occasionally. 

Soon, they attracted attention. One of the passersby stopped, after the shouting increased and asked the guy something. I couldn’t hear what was said, but the guy told the passerby to mind his own business. Even the girl told him that everything was alright, and asked him to leave them alone. The guy got outraged again, and started throwing the things in her bag on to the road, and abusing her loudly. The girl was calm, took another slap, and started pulling the guy’s cheek as if he was a kid at his usual mischief. I finished my tea and started walking back as a group of people assembled at that point, and loud arguments can be heard till I swiped in and entered my cubicle. 

I didn’t feel anything. This is not the first time I saw a physical abuse between a guy and a girl in a troubled relationship. It does look ugly, but I know these things happen, and are getting uglier by the day. I personally know of certain friends, both guys and girls, who would do such things, or allow such things to happen to them. I’m not taking a side here coz it didn’t bother me when I saw it, and it doesn’t bother me now. This is how some of the relationships are these days. I’m thankful that when I went to have tea again at the same place in the evening, the couple is no longer there. I’m not interested.