Diamonds

Those small little sparkling things refracted light like nothing else on this earth. Not that she liked wearing them. She wanted to get them all for her mom. Every possible shining thing on this earth, not just diamonds. Time flew and she was not even close. “Stay at it, perseverance and patience can mine diamonds from coal”, she was told. She did.

The VOID

Never knew all this was real. It all seemed so far away. Things like this would happen in some distant worlds. And then I grew up, and I saw my grandfather leave us. The distant world suddenly merged in mine and then the myth shattered. Things are real. DEATH is real. It is inevitable and it exists as much as I do. I know that it happens. I could never understand the fact that suddenly I would no more meet that person. I still cant believe the exact meaning of the word DEMISE. Because no speculation can ever reveal the meaning, its too hard to think and gulp it down.

                I was almost learning to forget the truth and started living with the reality and still meet in my own world, those who left. That world that’s just mine, for in that I could meet whoever whenever. But now suddenly that world seems to expand and I don’t like it. This is just another side of growing up. And I hate this more than any other thought that trails in my mind. I don’t know how people learn to live in this shrinking world. Its not just me but its how I see this injustice to whom I love. They say it’s a loss, I don’t agree for loss is too simple a word to define someones absence. For I am not sure if it is absence at all. Whn it is a cause of so much sorrow, then why do people have to leave at all? I wish I could do something, I pray to GOD for comfort of those who are afeected by this in unconquerable pain, but I know no prayer would ever help. Maybe Time would, maybe Time heals. I wish I could just revert certain things but its true that everyone has a special place not only on this earth but in the hearts of those who matter and those who love. Love never fades and The void never fills…

Brave Heart

Life had been harsh before,

But now, he could not give another test anymore.

I saw him fight day after day,

A tough torso, iron spirit – made up: fake, I say.

A gush of emotions,

Tears full of questions.

But no, he would never cry,

How could he question?

Acceptance – he believed, conquers the pain and repairs the damage.

Amazed me - So much so at such a young age?

Powerless as I sat,

That day, when he came and slept in my lap.

I know it’s the worst of all fears,

To give up, give in, hold firm and bear.

I Respect, I salute to the spirit of that man,

For all he always says he can.

There was so much more in that Brave Heart,

It withheld, bore and prepared for a fresh start

Rishtey...

Haven’t you come across strangers, who at the very first glance seem so known? Haven’t you made friends with people whom you never exchanged even a single word… just a smile or a nod maybe. Some people whom you see daily but don’t know who they are, and then suddenly the fade away but you never forget them. This story is dedicated to all such strangers who have been close to my heart.

I wake up early at the sound of my annoying alarm and then push my blanket away unwillingly. My bed keeps screaming and asking me to not leave him alone. My pillow calls me back and the blanket weeps to be thrown away. But after this initial daily motion of 5-10 minutes, I finally get up, put my snoozing alarm to rest, brush my teeth then my hair, gear up in my jogging suit and out I am in the fresh air. I can breathe the freshness of the mornings. The best part of the day; sun shining and not burning, birds chirping and not tweaking, Bicycles riding and no bikes racing and most importantly people smiling not sulking. I don’t have a particular route, I go where my feet take me. Usually a 4 km round and then some stretching in the park in my society. The jog is mostly a pleasant affair, except when some wild dogs make you run for your life or ghosts from some scary movie from last night haunt you and you feel they are following you. Some fast music quickens my pace and keeps me going. Finally when I enter the park I am always welcomed with a smile. Smile by a middle aged lady, she is present everyday at the park. We exchange a smile, a nod and then I start my exercise. She takes rounds of the park walking. We two have known each other for almost an year now. I note her expressions daily, at times she has a persistent tension on her face, that day she even walks faster than usual. At times, she seems to be too tired. Mostly she is jovial and smiling. I noticed a bandage on her hand once, out of curiosity I asked “hey hope everything is allright”, she replied smiling “ Oh this, no no everything is fine, I just burnt my hand in the kitchen, it will be ok in a few days”. If I bunked my regime, she would definitely ask me the next day. If she did not, I would think that even she was a defaulter. We had a cordial mutual relation, that of perfect strangers. We never bothered to ask each other whereabouts or names. It was just as if we existed in some parallel worlds which meet in the mornings.

                At times she would get her cute little daughter along. She would run around singing “ring-a-ring-a-roses” and keep plucking flowers and presenting it to random people in the park. Her name was Roma, must be 4 years old; Pretty girl. At times she would come with an aged woman. Once she did not come for one whole week. When she did, she had a sad long face. When I asked “all ok?”, she replied, “my mother-in-law(that aged lady) passed away.” I gave my condolences and carried on my routine.

                Today it has been more than a month, she has not showed up. For a few days I kept thinking of reasons that would have kept her from coming. Reasons like a vacation, maybe ill health, maybe her daughter is sick. I used to say a small little prayer for her well being. I imagine her warm smiling face every morning. We were strangers, yet I had some connection with her. I felt wanted in the park as if someone was waiting. I went prepared with a reason if I missed my walk any day. I liked meeting her.

It has been more than six months now. Well she might have shifted to a new city or a new locality maybe. Shouldn’t she have informed me? I wish we exchanged more than a smile. I wish I knew who she was, for she surely was a comforter. Some cosmic force or human nature, we were strange friends. I so dearly wish we would meet again, in the park on the road, somewhere, sometime and this time I would surely introduce myself. I wish she is still in this universe.  

Vasant Heights

She had this aura all around her. Some would mistake it for arrogance but Vani very well distinguished the thin line between self esteem and conceit. The former being of utmost importance to her and the latter a mere word in the dictionary. But today this face did not have that charm. Something had disturbed her terribly and her heart would not be at peace until she set things right. She did not like the feeling of being ‘not right’. She could not sleep even for a minute after the phone-call last night. It was a Pune number 020… something,  how could she not remember the std code?? The call started in a little surprise… a lot of excitement, recollection and then disappointment. She would not talk, would not eat and not utter a word. All she did was to pack her tiny travel bag and catch the first train in the morning.

She got down the train, still with the same expression like a zombie, came out of the main exit and hired the taxi. “kaka Kothrud la zaanar aahe”, the driver could not understand how this typical outsider “north Indian”, could so fluently talk in his language. She enquired about all the new developments, the old roads, she could connect to the city so well. But after every small while she kept reassuring herself something.  As she got down of the taxi and walked with a quick pace towards the main gate of the ‘Vasant Heights’ ,she was lost in her thoughts, memories from 10 years back. Flashbacks of the past were so vivid. The road was just how it looked when she first came here. She noticed the watchman, he was the same man, she could not recall his name. She distinctly remembered how they always troubled him past midnight hours. “College life” , she smiled to herself, “when were we ever back home before 12?”. The (now)old chap, was always fast asleep at the gate when these people used to come back home. “Home”, she thought “how could I forget this was home once”. ‘Kasakae Kaka?’ The man looked up and in an astonished tone said ‘Barr aahe’, clearly he did not recognize her. She smiled and had barely walked a small steps when she saw that withered bench in the corner under the tree.
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