“Select all” “Delete” “Select all” “Delete” “Select all” “Delete” and the sequence continues. Sitting on a Sunday morning, with the Saturday night sleep being snoozed every now and then, one can easily judge the mood of Bhaskar, working his way through emptying the mailbox.
After the curtains tried to flow away, and the light tried to sneak in hurriedly through the cores of the unveiled window sills, it is then he decided to just close down the lid of his laptop and lay down besides her. The distance marked by an imaginary line, which didn’t require any army to keep it there, but only what was going in his mind. But he wasn’t alone.
Even Smruti was preoccupied with even stranger thoughts too.
It’s been almost six months since Smruti got married off to Bhaskar. “Married off” might sound some sort of trade, and even though they both consented to tie the knot with all the pomp and splendor associated with it, yet the iota of doubt already piled up could only be sensed by them both only.
Smruti, a cheerful young 24-year old, fairly cute and what they call naazuk, lived life without bothering about worldly affairs in a thickly populated neighborhood in Jayanti colony in saaddi dilli. A mohalle-wala affair, which couldn’t stand the test of time and compatibility, got over recently. With shadi-ki-umar approaching and parents standing on her neck, she had to let go.
Its’ no amusing that the filmi duniya does impact the life of our youth; Smruti’s dreams were all built with that caricature in place and regularly water those illusions too. But then dreams remained dreams. The mohalle-ka-launda went his way, and she had to stay there to weep her days out, before her parents fixed the match to a handsomely earning Engineer in Patna. The salary was handsome, not the engineer though.
Bhaskar, engineering at a mechanical plant in Patna, while his family stayed back in delhi, was eager to get married. Well, for a guy whose quest in life had only focused on tons of books and then machines, needed to finally get, what society says is “Life”. Junk food, and years of being in love with his window-95 through Vista evolved computer had not just increased the power of his lenses but also his weight. No wonder, apart from being called Bhaskar, his middle name or rather his more familiar name centered on the weight he carried around in fats. So, when a proposal for a delhi-girl came along, where he fell in love with just from the .jpg image that came down in his mailbox. She was cute. There was no way, he was willing to let her go.
Eagerness was what Bhaskar germinated, while apprehensions and simply adhering to what her parents say, Smruti waited.
They tied the knot.
Six months later, things haven’t changed much. Each night Bhaskar tries to make sure that he comes in a little late, so that they don’t have to talk much. So that she doesn’t look at him, as how cruel the god can be to tie her up with him. So that he could just avoid feeling miserable again.
It was that first time they met after being married; Her eyes just spelt it out quite clearly to him. Clear enough to know, the disgust and when a little later, described about how the marriage went through only because she couldn’t say NO. The shutters of the newly inaugurated dreamland store of Bhaskar at Patna, just closed down. Each passing day was another exercise to just keep on moving by just ignoring the reality. Living under the same roof, without being together and yet continuing with it. Well, if stats for the same would be known to public, they won’t
Bhaskar went to the plant. Smruti, roamed around the house and with nothing better to do, switched on the TV. Browsing through the channels she saw news flash of a plant in patna which had a major accident, 100s were feared injured and some dead. And just then the phone rang.
She picked up the phone, “Madam.. yahan sir.. madam.. hello .. hello..”
She dropped the phone and ran away to get the taxi, and with it to the plant site dialing Sameer’s mobile number, without getting a reply. Paying up the driver and stormed around the site, searching.
Her eyes, wandering around to look for something.With all the rescue work and people moving around, they all acted as a veil which she was constantly trying to put off. Tears rolling down her cheeks. Eyes still searching for him.
For Bhaskar.
And then she finally caught him. Both of them looking at each other from a sizeable distance, sizeable and yet his size giving her the relief that he’s fine. The distance seemed to have vanished. Limping across through the site, he walked towards her. She walked too. Her eyes looked different. They had finally found it. Their platinum day of love.
This post is written in association with Indiblogger for Platinum day of love Contest.