“All flights leaving from Bangalore International Airport have
been delayed due to turbulent weather conditions. Passengers boarding the
flight to London are requested to bear with us for the delay. The flight would
be ready for take-off at 2 p.m.”
Pranav looked at his
watch and sighed deeply. 6 hours to go before he left Bangalore - the city he
fell in love with since he took the reins of his senses. His heart was still
uneasy and his thumping pulse was unnerving him. More than he lamented leaving
his city behind, he felt deep restlessness looking into the eyes of Kritika -
his fiancée to be. She was sitting by his side, clutching his arms whilst he
could only find a denial of approval to leave her behind, in her eyes. He felt
at a loss of words to enunciate that he would be gone only for 2 years. It was
his dream to study Journalism from the University of the Arts London. But one
look at her eyes and he felt a hollowness that would await him in London. She
wouldn’t be there.
____________________________________________________________________________________
It was a chilly morning. Pranav had woken up way too early in
contrast to his schedule. Kritika knew what the weather could do to Pranav. She
too was brought up in the same city. She had rushed him in packing the bags and
taking enough pairs of socks for the journey. She knew his feet stunk when they
were sweaty. She had bought a pair of mufflers with her because she knew he
would ‘obviously’ forget them. And forget them he did.
Pranav felt the grip on his arm loosening. Kritika had fallen
asleep on his shoulders. He remembered her once saying that the most
comfortable sleep she had was not on her pillow but on his shoulders. He
adjusted his shoulders for her comfort and parted the wisp of wet hair gummed
to her cheeks. Her teary eyes had given away every bit of resistance that she
could muster when she was awake.
Pranav kissed her on her cheek and covered her up with a blanket.
What a terrible person he had become, he thought. An overwhelming crease on his
forehead loomed over his grim face when he realized the promised he had made to
her - that he won’t let her shed a tear for anything in the world. Yet it made
him weak, knowing the fact that he was the reason this time. A solemn promise
of never leaving her alone. Ever.
Nonetheless, he was going away.
Pranav looked at his watch again. 11 AM. He might as well take
some rest. He rested his head on top of hers as he adjusted the blanket over
her feet. He loved the smell of her hair. It had the power to make him happy
whatever depths of melancholy he was in. It was the smell he would associate
when he met Kritika for the first time. A whiff of freshness and a feeling of
warmth. It was during his college 5 years back.
Pranav recalled himself spending his classes on the last bench, at
the same spot every day. Daydreaming was his hobby and scribbling away his
thoughts in his notepad was his passion. Not quite the ‘last-bencher’ stuff
anyone would expect. But he wandered within a world of his own when the
professor preached his sermons without mercy. He liked to remain content.
Kritika, on the other
hand, was quite the opposite. She was quite the untamed-force which made up an
air of enigma around her. She was inquisitive, competitive and tremendously
impatient. She was flamboyance personified. She could give anyone a piece of
her mind whenever she liked. And the best part of all, she looked gorgeous in
the orange salwar that she frequently wore to the lectures.
Pranav didn’t quite
know anything about this until the day he encountered the dashing diva in the
college canteen. He was munching on his dosa and chatting away with his
friends. The conversations got funnier and as a result, louder. Unexpectedly,
there was a tap on his shoulder.
“Excuse me. Which year?” It was a girl with inquisitive auburn
eyes. Three other girls were beside her too.
“2nd year.
What’s the problem?” Pranav spoke with confidence.
“2nd year,
right? Get the hell out of the canteen now!” shouted the girl. She twitched her
eyebrows in the rage. Some boys came and stood beside her.
Sensing trouble, all his friends, including Pranav packed up and
left the canteen without a word. The girl seemed furious. “You! Come with me,”
she pointed out at Pranav.
Pranav was holding a
piece of paper in his hands. She could see that he had scribbled some lines on
it. Without a second thought, she snatched the paper from his hand.
She read them aloud, “Risen
in the stars, Walked through the garden of sunshine... Meet me at the gates of
eternity, I'll be…”
“I'll be…what? You
haven’t completed it. So, you are a poet, eh? You've got a big mouth for a
poet! Apologize for your behavior back there!”
“I am sorry. Can I have that back? I don’t remember the lines and
I’ve got to complete it before I forget the rest of it.” Pranav nervously
stared at the ground.
“No you can’t. That’s your lesson for today.”
She folded the paper and kept in her bag. She was just walking
away when Pranav called out to her. She
couldn’t just walk away from him just like that!
“Excuse me, miss…”
“Kritika”
“Quite a unique name. Umm… I make great coffee. Can I bring some
for you tomorrow? I don't want to keep any grudge between us. Plus, I am
really… really sorry.”
“Oh! Is it? Kritika taunted him.
But then, she felt a flowing bitterness within her. That’s not how
she was. She softened up and said, “I like my coffee cold. See you tomorrow.
Junior.”
She walked off swinging her plait behind her. Somewhere at that
moment, Pranav noticed a smile on her face. He couldn’t believe how he got the
guts to hit it off. Neither did Kritika. But there was definitely a splendid
spark. She had been his senior in college. A fact that Pranav always made a
point to make fun of Kritika whenever she acted like a kid in front of him. A
wide smile adorned Pranav’s face when he acknowledged this fact now, Kritika
beside him.
He remembered being drawn towards Kritika by some irresistible
force, a charisma and an unyielding desire confess his feelings to her. And he
knew in his heart that it was the same mystifying force, which took control of
Kritika too when Pranav gave her the red lily and said those magical words. The
taming of a tempest was an unbelievable tale that both of their friends seemed
hard to swallow, but nonetheless, it had been done. And Kritika, with all her
soul, accepted that Pranav was the one. He was the perfect person in the world
in front of whom she could remove the mask off her ‘public’ personality and
just be herself in all her vulnerabilities.
The first time Pranav took her on a long ride on his father’s
bike, he reckoned how she opened the ribbon form her fragrant black hair and
let it flow in the air with her arms spread out like an angel’s wings. How his
heart leapt with joy when he saw her exulting in the rear mirror! He had never
sensed what freedom felt like. This was it.
They glided along the
road to the sea shore adjacent and the sun on the horizon. Pranav recalled
stopping his bike and taking in the mesmerizing view of wild waves crashing on
the shore. Kritika held his hands and closed her eyes. She looked beautiful
with the sun beaming on her smiling face. He couldn’t for once decide who
looked more stunning, the view in front of him or the girl beside her.
Before he could realize it, she brought her lips enticingly close
to his. She had never been this bold before. Pranav held her trembling hands
and placed it on his chest. “It’s more to the rhythm of your heartbeats right
now,” he spoke. There was silence, the one where they both knew nothing needed
to be said to let each other know this was their moment. Only she knew how much
restraint on her part it had taken to wait for the right moment. This moment. This was the first
time in her life she had known how painful a virtue or a sin patience could
become.
____________________________________________________________________________________
“Passengers for flight A-230 bound to London are hereby notified
of proceeding to the security check in an hour. Thank you.”
“Baby? Is it time?” He heard a drowsy whisper. Kritika had woken
up.
“Still an hour left. Am right beside you.”
“But you’ll leave me behind. What will I do without you? You know
you are the only best friend I have.”
“I am still sitting beside you, Kritika. And you are still holding
my arms tight. How can I leave you behind like this? I’ll drag you to the plane
if you refuse to come with me”
She let go his arm and turned around. “You are still making jokes,
no? You don’t understand how I feel, no?”
“Kritika… Kritika… look at me. A smile appeared on his face. She
always behaved a bit childish when she was annoyed. With brimming innocence on
her face, she would appear as the morning flower which just needed a bit of
benevolent sunshine to bloom in all its glory. Pranav knew this. He would
deliberately avoid her at first, just to make her a bit cranky. Just for fun.
And when she would puff up her cheeks like an angry toddler, it was just the
right time for him to wrap his arms around her and make things better. He would
give up anything in the world at that precious moment when she cozied herself
in his arms and asked him every single time, “How much do you love me?”
There was only one answer. “More than you do.”
“Passengers boarding the flight to London are requested to
complete the security check within 20 minutes”
Pranav arose and swung his bags over his shoulder. He rubbed his
eyes, perhaps to wake up from an unfinished dream and find himself on his bed
back at home. Not today.
He turned around, “So you are not going to see me off till the
security? Are you still angry with me at a time like...? ”
Kritika hastily turned around before he could complete his
sentence. Her eyes were swollen with the unceasing stream of tears that rolled
down her cheeks. The anguish was clearly written on her face.
In a steady yet hesitant voice, she murmured, “Please don’t go
Pranav. It’s not that I don’t want you to go. I want to make your life bigger,
make a great career. But I don’t want you out of my sight. I know I sound like
a selfish fool. But I can’t help it! ”
A guard standing in the corner walked up to Pranav and asked him
to hurry up for the baggage deposit. Pranav quietly picked up his bags. He felt
helpless in not being able to give any plausible reply. With a heavy heart, he
grabbed Kritika’s arm and drew her up from her seat.
“Passengers boarding the flight to London are requested to
complete the security check within 20 minutes”
The guard grew impatient. Kritika hurriedly wiped away tears from
her eyes, distorting the kaajal in a bloating smudge. She knew she was
embarrassing him in a public place; she knew it would be uncomfortable for him.
She hid her face in her scarf, but her eyes said it all.
“Sir, please proceed to the check-in area. We don’t want you to be
late for boarding.” The guard spoke with urgency this time.
Pranav went to the baggage check and waited in the queue. They
were hurrying with the checks lest the weather got choppy again. From there, he
could see Kritika standing in the visitor’s bay, impatiently waiting to see a
last glimpse of him in person before he would disappear for a long time.
“Please move to the security area sir, we’ll be boarding the bus
to the plane shortly” the personnel at the baggage spoke. The same security
guard urged him to move along quickly to complete the other formalities. Pranav
followed the directions with his mind drawn into a limbo, where was lost in a
never satisfying contemplation of his decision to leave his love behind.
Suddenly, he looked around. He had moved into an area where he
lost sight of Kritika. Guilt and panic caught hold of him. Was she gone? Did he miss a chance
of telling her how much he would miss her? He
desperately wanted to behold Kritika one last time in his eyes before he took
off. Dropping his bags in a corner, he ran towards the visitor’s area in a
frenzied fit only to find a familiar face blocking his way.
“Mister! Where do you think you are going?” He caught hold of
Pranav’s arm. It was the same security guard who had met Pranav before.
“It’s urgent sir. I have left my belongings with my fiancée. I
need just a few minutes.”
“At least you can tell me the truth, sir. Even I got married last
week! Is that the same girl? ” He said, pointing her out.
“Yes… Yes!”
“5 minutes. Only 5”
“It’ll be more than enough.”
Pranav ran towards the corner where he had last caught a glimpse
of Kritika. His feet fell short of completing the whole run when he saw her
standing in the same place. Their eyes crossed. He ran up to her, took her in
his arms and kissed her then and there.
After a moment of realization, Kritika wiped off her tears and
said, “You kissed me in public?”
Pranav smiled back and said, “I am leaving the country. Aren’t I?”
This time, a subtle yet unpretentious smile adorned her face.
Pranav could now go in peace. The guard signaled Pranav to get back. Pranav
kissed her forehead. He unfastened his bracelet and tied it round her wrist.
“I’ll be back before you know it, sweetheart.”
Kritika didn’t say a word. She only gave him an envelope.
It was a long walk to the flight. In his heart, he carried a
glimmer of hope that he was going to be alright. Most importantly, he was
leaving with an assurance, that Kritika would be fine too.
“Please fasten your seatbelt or call us for any assistance” declared the air
hostess.
Pranav looked down from the window as the plane glided into the
blue infinite. He was leaving behind a part of his mind and a bigger part of
his heart beneath the clouds.
A part of Kritika, her handwriting, opened all floodgates -
“This is for you, my life:”
On the inside were the words written,
Risen in the stars,
Walked through the garden of sunshine...
Meet me at the gates of eternity,
I'll be waiting with a butterfly
in my hands...
And say, "Fly free if you love me"
He believed it was always meant to be.
Being together.
It was the same piece of paper, the same string of words. Half of
them created by him. And half of it completed by her.
