I woke up... It seemed like a peaceful morning... I was not yet ready to get out of the bed... I could hear the early morning noises, the birds chirping, the gurgling noises of the stream nearby, the temple bells ringing at a distance... The aroma of filter coffee from the kitchen managed to further wake the lazy-me and I slowly turned to my left. That’s when I saw her, sleeping next to me, a sweet serene smile on her face… I smiled back mesmerized by the beauty, only to suddenly wake up completely and recoil in horror – who the hell was this sleeping beauty, and what the hell was she doing here?
Then I looked around. It was a nice airy room, natural air breezing in and out through the open windows. Elegant white curtains fluttering at the window softening the morning sunlight giving a dreamy feeling... Some odd knick-knacks around me - a hand-painted odd colored vase, different shaped candles all set up nicely on a work table. A Butterfly adorned framed where I could see a snap of the beauty next to me - and then a voice chimed on my right - "Oh good you have woken up! You were so dead tired yesterday .. and why not, you had a terrible journey" I looked at the voice of my bestie - who I had met after a decade.
Last time we met, she was all decked up in Wedding clothes and the Constant Reception smile wasn't quite reaching her tired eyes.
Oh, we were in touch all the time, had heard her heartbreaking when she found her new husband was in an affair and had married under parents pressure. Had heard her confidence shaking when her in-laws - in spite of knowing about their son's negligence, expected her to be the traditional bahu of the 1950s and let her job go for their "Gharane ki ijjat". I with a few other friends also supported her when she decided to break the chains and move to a new city on her own. Heard her horrific tales of men ogling and thinking her a fair game as she was alone. But for a year, due to my own priorities, hadn't been able to connect more often or hear any tales. The final wake up call for me was cleaning up my old cupboard and finding a photo of us both with a note: Twogether we live, Twogether we smile! And I had started on my unplanned trip to meet my bestie - Savitri who was living 800 km away in a small town in Karnataka. The tales of travel - some other time!
"So did you meet my little Abha? You were sleeping soundly, and Abha sleeps soundly when she has someone to snuggle. I woke up early, so thought will make you some coffee and breakfast.. your favorite paneer paratha with a little bowl of honey " The words bowl of honey had Savitri's familiar frown with it and all the years between us washed out!
"Abha! She is so radiating like her name.." That was the name of the beauty sleeping with me... As I was gathering words for the multitude of questions, the sleeping beauty woke up and Savitri got in a fussing mode in a way mothers do to their child... A look from her told me, hold your questions and she introduced me to the shy, approximately-5-year old beauty...
"Abhu, see here who has come.. your favorite Abhilasha aunty is here .. and do you know I called her Abhu when we were in college, come on let's brush teeth and give a sweet kissie to aunty"
Abha shied more but still looked at me with her big eyes..
"I want a kissie right now.. and I will take more once your have brushed.. I want to see which one is sweeter " I smiled at her and called her out. That did the trick and she tiptoed me to give a little kiss. I held her close and any misgivings I had vanished in that embrace. I was ready to hear Abha's story without any prejudice.
(..to be continued)
