And that smile is my reward....... Random Stories # 1

I know I have took a long time to start writing again. Sorry for that and Thanks to everyone who still follow my blog and are part of Butterrfly Effect. I might take a few more posts to get the usual style of writing. So please send your feedback and comments. 

"Wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR filled with love, happiness, prosperity and success"

For the first time in 7 years of My Corporate life, the office communicator said I don’t want to be disturbed. My Outlook was sending alerts for the missed deadlines and unattended meetings. I was seated in my cabin at the corner of the large ODC, separated from my team. The only good thing about being seated in a cabin is that, no one notices your tension.

She stood before me and had a very serious look. 'Not again' I thought, I was not in a mood to continue the argument we had this morning. Don’t ask me if I remember any of it, I don’t. Her eyes were still having the same rage that she maintained from home to office, a 45 minutes’ drive. I didn’t try to convince or confess. I am good in neither.  I am good in avoiding these arguments though.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"What? Has she started reading my mind?"

"You haven’t replied to any of my messages or Whatsapp pings."

I took out the mobile that showed 4 messages and 10 pings.

"I never noticed them."

"Exactly! Why didn’t you?"

I didn’t answer for that. Well what would you answer for a question like that?

"I called you, just before I came in to your ODC."

Oh no! Was that her call? I started feeling guilty for putting the phone on silent when it started singing the Samsung default ringtone.

"Say something"

"I didn’t notice it was you"

"So, you would have took it if it was me"

I had to say something to postpone the argument, and the best lines that I could say was, “I am busy now. Can we have this conversation later?"

"No!" Single word, two letters was enough to throw away my best lines to trash. I was lucky now to get the word though. Usually she would just look into my eyes and I would start reciting my apology.

"Can’t you see that you are being unreasonable? This is my workplace." I said in an irritated tone.

"Exactly! This is what you should have said this morning."

"What?"

"I woke up with a headache but that doesn’t grant me immunity over fighting with you this morning."

I didn’t say a word. But started to feel that the conversation is heading towards a happy ending.

"So what should you have done?" She asked without the slightest hint of smile or anger.

That was a boomerang. I was stupid to assume that I can win an argument with her.

"What? What should I have done?" I didn’t have anything to say. There are times when you won’t know what to speak and there are times you stop yourself from making further damage to the situation.

"You should have explained to me that I was wrong. I was being unreasonable. You should have not let me to ruin your day."

"Okay. So, why are you saying all this now?"

"I can’t carry the guilt through the day after realizing my fault."

"Okay."

"So what I am saying is, I am sorry for ruining your morning'"

"Okay." A small smile appeared at the end of my lips. Was it relief? Was it something else? I noticed the shine from her lip gloss, the minute blue ear ring, the maroon dot between her eye brows and the small Sandal line above it as she leaned on my desk.

"And you should come home early today so that I can ask absolution in a more appropriate way." she whispered with a mischievous smile.

"Absol... What?" I asked, unable to hold the smile that made a hole in my cheek.

She touched my cheek saying, "And this smile my dear is the reward I get for the conversation we had now" and walked away.

I stood up to see her walk towards the door. That walk told me the smile she had, the smile that makes a curve in her Cheek and pushes the Cheek bones high.

And before she walked out of my ODC, she lifted her hand and said bye without turning back.

I stood there smiling to myself avoiding the heads that were peeping to make fun of me.

"You can never beat her in these styles." 

P.S. Probably my first post without love (the word 'love')

Success in love is… Part 28

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5  Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11,Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27

Yes, a numerous parts hurt due to the fall but my heart ached more, masking all the other pains and spreading panic all over the system. Nothing else mattered in the world. Nothing else. The dilemma, the mortal’s pursuit to attain importance, everything seemed immaterial compared to her. I turned to see her, who by now had grabbed me in panic. I saw her getting worried over my fall.

“What happened? Are you all right?”

I didn’t answer. I was seeing a person cry for me and show all the world’s love. The list of uncertainties never had an end and never will, but this certainty is going to mask all that for eternity. She rubbed her red eyes making it redder, and starting searching for my wounds. I didn’t speak, I didn’t move, I just let her to decide what I should do. She pulled me up and held me by my shoulder, walked me to the bench next to the gate. She ran to the watchman’s cabin, got the first aid box and came back to nurse the wounded chin which by now had dried after staining her white dress.

She had by now cleared all the dirt from the wound and started applying the antiseptic. I reacted with a sign of pain and she reacted with a sign of concern. She looked at me to convince it’s not going pain and I nodded in genuine belief. However old we are, we have a child inside us yearning for love and however young we are we have a mother inside us yearning to care.

She sat down to clean the right toe. I felt something weird that pushed me to bend down and stop her.
“I will do it”
“Why?”
“It’s ok. I will do it.”
“Don’t be a chauvinist. Sit back and let me finish this.”
“Chauvinist?” I thought. She soon gave a stare, forcing me to sit back and turn away.
“What’s the bloody difference between nursing your chin and your foot?” She was speaking in a low voice that had enough decibels for me hear. I didn’t dare to ask her anymore. May be She was exaggerating my act as Chauvinism or teaching me how to curb the subtle Chauvinisms left with me. Well, I have a lifetime to learn and a lovely relationship to learn from.  

She stood up after finishing the first aid and I remembered why all these have happened.
“What was that sound?”
“What sound?”
“That truck, it…”
“Ya, the truck. The driver saw me near the gate, applied the brakes, craned his neck out of truck with a frightened stare and resumed his drive in a hurry, giving raise to all the dust.” She said while wiping her eyes with her handkerchief that showed my names first Syllable.

I smiled re-creating the scene, held her hand with a wide smile and pulled her to sit next to me.
Kept my arm over her shoulder and said, “Angels and demons have a lot in common and differ only on their purpose.”
“Why are you saying this?”
I smiled and she gave a minor blow saying “Yes, I am a devil and am going to haunt you all your life.”
I hugged her saying, “Lucky me. I love my devil. The poor driver should have had a minor heart attack seeing you in your white dress and the flowing hair.”

She pulled my face and our heads collided, stayed together for our lips to follow suit. Well almost.

“Guys! What the hell are you doing here?”

Someone was calling us and we turned losing our collisions. The watchman looked at us and we gave a lame smile. I thought “How the hell do you guys to do this? Bugger! a huge truck’s voracious brakes, a fumble and fall on your footsteps, a hurried search in your closet nothing woke you up except for this tender moment. Fuck off you brute.” Oh ya, I can only think all this. I am a good fellow, ain’t I?.

“Are you alright?” he asked with a concern.

When I was wondering how he was making his concern as genuine as it could be, she said “He is fine. Don’t worry” and turned back to kiss me.

Yes, she kissed me making me kiss her as well. I stumbled for a minute and closed my eyes that had the watchman watching us. Moved my hands in air to hold her face, lost the watchman’s image, and the grip of existence. Finally when my hands reached her face and started to enjoy the bliss of being human, she turned away from me. I was holding my hand in air and watching her turn away lost in thoughts for how worthless was the turmoil I had in my heart today.

She turned to see me with a tear rolling down the left cheek and we moved closer to wipe away the tear on each other’s cheek.
I held her face, “I am very lucky.”
“I know.”
“That’s unfair. Wont you say the same?”
“Do I have to?”
“Not if you don’t feel so.”
“Or if I am sure you know that already.”
“Sometimes we have to say things that aren’t necessarily new”
“Oh! I am not very lucky. You don’t know to reciprocate well”
“What?” I looked at her in disbelief.
“And not smart enough as well.” Spreading her smile to me.

As I moved near her, she moved away from me and there was a roar of applause from the Balcony that shared our moments some time back. The Balcony looked like the Indian rooftops next to cricket stadiums in a World Cup Final. Our family stood there smiling and passing comments as we walked with our heads down to face them.

Very soon we stood on the dais and the same crowd was standing down and passing comments. Yes! A month is a very small time period when you have a Mother to run behind and feed you in the morning, a love to kiss you when your Mom has gone to get ghee for your Sambar, a father who smiles without taking his eye off the newspaper, an uncle who shows his thumbs up for his daughter’s triumph, an aunt who hits your uncle with the rolled magazine commanding him to stop the gesture, a sister who has grabbed your ear and a grandma who sends your Mom back to kitchen and signals your love to continue loving me.

I stood there, looking at the people gathered. The hall was filled with people from every part of India and Beyond. People who would have otherwise lived as separate families, castes, religions, languages. A marriage is not just an union of two hearts, it’s a union of two families. And ours, an union of two different sets of people separated by centuries of discrimination based on imaginary lines.

My love pinched my hand saying, “Why are you smiling?”
“I am very proud today.”
“Our marriage is tomorrow. This is just the reception. So save some pride for tomorrow.”
“It’s not about the marriage or the reception.”
“So what’s it about?” She turned to see with wide eyes.
“Look at those kids.”
“Ya! my Cousin’s girl and your Nephew. Lovely kids. But what’s with them?”
“Look at their parents conversing with each other not worried about their kids.”
“Why should they be worried?”

Just then the girl fell down from a chair and my lab-mate rushed to kid and rubbed her knee, while the boy was wiping her eyes and handling over the toy he had ran with.
My love came close and whispered “Wipe your eyes man. What happened to you?”

“Success in our love is not the reception we are having today or the marriage we will have tomorrow. It is what we are seeing now. Thanks for everything dear. Those kids will grow into a single family and defy the rules that the Castes have put on them for centuries. Their love will be unbreakable once we have our casteless kids who will become their cousins. Life will be good without barriers for them. They won’t have a tough battle like you had when they grow and pursue their life and dreams. All thanks to you.”

“Not just castes. They will not have the barriers of religion or language. We will not let them have them.”
“They have already broken those.” I said and pointed her to the kids who now were talking with lab-mate’s daughter in the hands of the Krishnagiri couple’s Kashmiri daughter in law.

“We just have to encourage them and let them have the same heart without corrupting them with our stupid beliefs of superiority over caste, religion, language, country or lifestyle. They don’t see the differences while befriending each other and once they become friends the differences won’t have significance.”

She nodded as I spoke and moved a step away to ask, “By the way. Were you speaking about our kids already?”
“Who? Me? When?”
She gave stare and I smiled, “We are not yet married dear.” I said, “We shall start from tomorrow.”
“Start what?” her stare was starting to break
“The fight.” I said in the usual matter-of-factly way I own, “Oh! Wait a minute, what are you thinking?” I smiled with all the front teeth visible.
“Oh no! What am I going to do with a Stupid like you?” She turned away with her hand on her forehand. ‘Man, You can love her all your life just for these acts.’ My conscious kicked my  brain.
“Just watch” I said and kissed her, a long kiss which got back as much love as it gave, filled with claps and whistles all over the place and a blast resulting in flying color papers.

The celebration called Life had just started for me, my love and all those who love us.