BUTTERFLY : TORNADO :: THOUGHT : WORLD

Butterfly Effect is my attempt to share the thoughts/stories that had struck me when I came across the opportunities which gave inspiration/lesson/hope/smile and been kept in my heart's archives all these years. I plan to recreate the flapping that had an impact in my life's many tornados, in hope that it might be a small trigger for someone somewhere to alter the course of his/her tornado.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Success in love is… Part 25


I held her hand and she turned to see me. The eyes that were hiding the tears smiled and a micro nod conveyed she is fine. She extended her free hand to the intern who looked at us with guilt. She continued before I could ask anything:
“Yes! I love you. But that doesn’t mean I want to marry or live with you. You gave me the much needed hope, when I said about my past love to you. The burnt I had in my heart which I didn’t want to visit and heal, vanished all of a sudden when I saw your eyes glow up in appreciation after hearing me say I didn’t pursue the relationship. I haven’t seen anyone who had such a reaction; it was either sympathy or anger. You are someone whom I won’t be remembering as a friend but as someone who had made it to my heart like my Mom and Dad.”
She gave a pause and wiped off her tears. “I started living without any regret in heart. Life became pleasant after a long time.”
Her dad kept his hand on her shoulder and wipe off the remaining wetness from her face. He looked worried.
She came forward and caught the drop which fell off my love’s chin and they smiled forcing a few more fall. They hugged each other and she said, “I was worried when you said you love him. Seeing your tears, I thought I have made another person feel bad.”
“Another person feel bad! What? You have made everyone feel great when they finally understood you.”
 The Intern spoke like she had known her for ages.
“And these tears did not come because of him but because I realized my Dad is the same person who would find all my worries before I tell them to him. I have been longing for his love all these days as he doesn’t show them unless necessary.”
“Love you Dad. Thanks for showing me that you are the same person.”

He smiled and she hugged him. He kissed her forehead and turned to see us and smiled.
My Roommate came exactly when we were back to normal and the intern introduced him to her Dad and started reciting few funny moments we shared in lab. The whole atmosphere of the cafeteria changed once again and the air was filled with happiness.
My love who was watching us and walked to the Balcony. After a few minutes, I went near and hugged her from behind. Her tears spread equally on our chins. I made her turn and she wiped them off from our faces.
“I want to marry you” I said with wetness spreading inside my eyes.
“Why are you asking this now?” she asked with the stress on the last word.
“I want the whole world to know that you are my everything and I belong here” I said and pointed to her.
“Is marriage necessary for that?” she was not meeting my eyes.
“No. But something inside me tells that we should tie the knot soon. So that I can kiss you whenever I want and you can hit me as you wish.”
“As if they don’t happen now.”
“Oh! Come on dear. Why are you doing this?”
 I kept my hands on her shoulder and searched for mischief in her eyes. But they showed something else, they showed pain.
But I couldn’t understand what was bothering her. I lifted her face and asked her with a tear rolling down, “Don’t you want to marry me soon?”
“Of Course I do. I wake up every day in hopes that you would say this to me. But why today? Do you think I am hurt from what she said? Are you doing this out of guilt?”
 she asked with new tears flowing faster than the older ones.
“No dear. I was certainly worried when she said about love but I also knew you are mature enough to handle this. In fact I already had spoke to your dad two days back and said marriage in 2-3 months is fine for me. I can’t say No to him this time.” I spoke in a hurry to put her tear glands to rest, “You were very busy the past two days, so I couldn’t tell this to you.”
“You spoke to my dad? And accepted?” She asked in suspicion and surprise.
“Yes. I had called him to know a few places around Coimbatore for a friend and we spoke. May be the tone he spoke with and the fact that he was hospitalized, made me accept it. But I have been feeling great since I said Yes.” I said and suddenly realized that I should not have said what I said.
“Hospitalized?!!! Why? What happened to him?” she asked holding my collars with her eyes searching deep into mine.
“He had High BP and was admitted to make a few checks. He is fine now.”
“BP! You didn’t ask anything else.”
 I could see her get worried and kept my hand on her shoulder.
She pushed it down and made a call on her cell and went to the other end of the Balcony. She became restless as the calls went unattended. I went near her, “He is alright dear. I spoke to him and he himself said he is fine.”
“Of course. He will say only that. I can’t imagine why you didn’t tell me. I know it will take time for you guys to get close for what he did to us but I didn’t expect you to be this careless.”
“It’s not like that dear. He is alright.” 
I said with half the confidence I had went I said that first.
Just then she received a call and went a few feet away. Instant drops fell down without forming channels on her chin. She shouted, cried, plead on the phone while I watched in anticipation that everything is normal. Your confidence shatters when your loved one is in tears. You try to pin the sun and moon together to make things normal again. But here I can’t do anything. I visualized the call I had with her dad. He certainly sounded weak but also confident and her mom who spoke next discussed things about marriage and didn’t say anything about him. But looking at my love’s tears I couldn’t be sure. My patience was reaching its threshold when she finally kept the call. For a moment she wiped off the tears and looked at me. I took a step and she took two. She came near grabbed my shirt, pulled me close and said
“For the past two days I have been feeling like I have come a long distance away from my Dad. Now, when she spoke about her Dad being the same, I can’t stop myself from holding the tears. That’s why I came out. He has been there for me all my life but now he is down ill and I stand here few hundred kilometers away from him, unaware of what I should do. You could have told me. Nothing that kept me busy these days would have meant more than his good health.” She said and took her hand from my shirt. She continued in between her sobs, “I don’t know if it’s your fault of not being responsible enough, my mother’s fault of not informing me or my own fault of not calling him frequently, but I feel low inside my heart.”
A few seconds of absolute silence prevailed when she shed the remaining tears and I stood there watching the person for whose happiness I would go to the ends of the world, cry in pain. My roommate’s voice echoed from the café and ordered us to come in. She smiled, wiped of the tears and the sadness from her face and walked in. I stood there not knowing what to do.
I called her dad and it was answered by her Mom.
“What happened to Uncle?” I asked, which was the first time, I had called him so.
“He was travelling in his car and a kid suddenly came before the car from his house. The Driver stopped the car in time but Uncle had become tensed and rushed out see the kid, if he is fine. After making sure the kid is fine, he got into the car. The driver said, uncle’s hands were trembling and he fainted in sometime. Driver took him to the hospital nearby. The doctors said he was having High BP and made him stay there for a day to take tests. He is absolutely fine now.”
“Can I speak with him?”
 I asked.
“He has gone out without cell phone as usual. Is there anything I can tell him?”
“Nothing. I will call him later.”
“Okay. Take care.”
I walked into the café. The gang had made plans for dinner and the Intern’s dad wanted to take us to Oberoi where he was staying. I stood there unsure if I should go with them? Will she want to be alone? Are we going to Erode? But she joined the intern in making everyone come. I stood there wondering how she had masked everything that’s inside. The Intern’s dad came and put his arm over my shoulder.
“What happened sir? You seem to be lost.”
“Nothing sir”
 and said with enough masking to convince him that I am normal.
“Thanks for everything. My girl is really happy here. It’s long since I had seen her like this.”
“Please don’t thank me. I haven’t done anything.”
“Sometimes you don’t have to do anything. Just your presence, a missed call, a micro smile makes a huge impact in the person who loves you.”
 He said seeing his daughter.
“It sure does.” I said looking at my love.
“Life is just about being there for our loved ones when they need us. I realized that because of you. I thought children don’t stay the same loving apple pies when they turn into adults and move away. But they have the same problem as their parents do. We keep an Everest of love covered inside our heart until it dawns on us to shed the snow and let the love see light. After all, every child and parent long for the child’s childhood days. But we forget that the lovely past can just repeat itself if we open up our hearts.”
He said and took a few steps to meet our Professor, who had been refusing the intern’s plea and held his hand asking, “Please come. The family is never complete without the head.” 
Everyone stopped speaking and watched as the Professor took a few seconds to say, “Yes. I will be ready in 15mins.”
The Oberoi was spectacular as it should be and we had nice time. We were the last few people to come out of the restaurant after the usual crowd started getting irritated with our high decibel chats and laughs. I was dropped at my love’s place, as no one was driving back to the Campus.
We entered the home and again I could witness the super clean house with all things kept where they should be. I sat down to watch songs in Television while she changed and came near me. She stood near and watched the song for a moment and went to the bedroom. I went in next and asked, “Are you okay?”
“No, I am not.”
“Sorry. I thought it’s not a big issue.”
“It’s not a big issue.”
“It’s not like that dear. I care about him.”
“I am angry with myself and not with you. Don’t worry. I will be normal when I wake up. Switch off the lights except the night lamp when you come to sleep.”
“Come?”
 I said within my mouth.
“Yes. It’s a new house. You will catch cold if you don’t sleep on the bed. You can hug me if you still feel colder.”
I smiled when she finished saying all this like she was reading the news headline in the national television.

No comments:

Post a Comment