Leaving
the soul behind,
I traveled
the heights of Himalaya,
Swam the
depths of Ganges,
Crossed
the vastness of Sahara,
In the
search of love.
Walked I,
Through
the thorny scrubs of Deccan,
The
labyrinths of Sundarbans,
Eerie
alleys,
Green
meadows,
Bustling
Metros,
I
meandered through all!
Alas!
Love hid
itself,
Amid the
obscurity of denseness.
Muddled thoughts,
Hopeful
soul,
With no
heart to budge.
A bleak
remembrance of
Grandma’s
tales,
Traversed
me
To another
land
To witness
Aphrodite,
The
epitome of love.
Yet …
Feelings
of mine,
Didn’t get
any dope.
Dispirited,
My foot
strolled me,
Back to the
soul,
Where my
existence reside.
Epiphany
it was!
To feel
the dope of love
In the
soul I left behind.
“Hum ek baar jeete hain, ek
baar marte hain, shaadi bhi ek baar hoti hai, aur pyaar wo bhi ek baar hota
hai.......”
Sheetal spats out the coffee she was savoring on, hearing King Khan make such a
silly statement about love.
“What’s wrong Sheetal?” asks
Tani shocked at this sudden burst.
“Did you hear that dialogue
Tani?” inquires Sheetal.
“Oh come on, what’s wrong in
that dialogue Sheetal?” Tani scorns at Sheetal, “I mean, doesn’t it sound all
goody goody and eternal and romantic, and goose bumpy and ...”
“Cut the crap Tani.” retorts
Sheetal.
“I know darling, you have fallen
in love four times or was it five? whatever …” chuckles Tani, “and have
fallen head over heels all the four times, right?”
“It’s five, Tani,” grumbles
Sheetal.
“Ya right, five times, that too
all were eternal love right Sheetal?” Tani laughs hard rolling on the couch,
not able to control it anymore.
“Shut up Tani! Will you?”
retorts Sheetal, “Yes, I had fallen in love and fallen in five times and that
too deeply and eternally in love with all of them. What’s wrong in that?
Huh?
“Phew!” sighed Tani.
“You know what Tani, love can
happen anytime, anywhere with any person,” says Sheetal gesticulating her hands
philosophically. “I mean look at me. Do you think I am a kind of a person
who is not committed, who doesn’t love deeply? No! right?”
“No! Never!” giggles Tani.
“It’s just that when you break
up in one relation, you search for a shoulder. Just then some angelic guy from
the crowd offers you their shoulder to lean on and you fall on him completely
and … there begins a new courtship. “
“And then?” inquires Tani
curiously.
“Then again the guy, being
angelic in nature, realizes after a certain point—a point where they taste the
fruit from the forbidden tree—that he is doing wrong to his family; he is doing
wrong to my family; he is doing wrong to such a sweet person like me; and God
knows what all … he moves out of the relation for my good sake you know?”
After a short pause, as if
thinking and smiling over some incident, continues Sheetal, “Further he cries.
I cry. We both cry. Our friends cry. Sad love songs get some good TRPs. Depression
happens. And then … he gets a shoulder. I get a shoulder… and the same shoulder
story goes on.”
“Oh! Is that so?” inquires Tani
confused and surprised and somewhat excited as well.
“Yes!” crows Sheetal with a
proud look on her face as if she has done some revelation before Tani which was
unknown to her poor little friend.
Keeping her coffee mug down on
the teapoy, clearing her throat, Sheetal furthers to speak, when suddenly a
bell on the door cuts their vital conversation. Tani rushes to open the door,
leaving Sheetal behind distressed on being cut betwixt the important lesson she
was giving to Tani.
“Oh welcome Rahul,” Tani greets
the guest at the door and offers him to make himself comfortable on the couch
where Sheetal was lying lazily till now. Smelling the endless stream of
questions arising in Sheetal’s mind, Tani gestures her to join her in the
bedroom to help her get ready. Hastily, Sheetal passes through the alley
between the couch and the teapoy, stumbling upon the guy nervously to reach out
to Tani.
She grabs Tani by arm tightly
and pulls her inside the bedroom and inquires, “Who is this handsome
man?”
“Are you dating him?”
“What is his name?”
“Is he the same guy you said you
love and can't live without?”
A long pause stays leaving only
Sheetal's heaving audible.
Tani interrupts the pause
sheepishly and say, “He is my new shoulder Sheetal … you know?”
"Huh?" Sheetal fumbles
....
....
And they laugh out loudly!