Their Story: Episode 6

Two pearls of maidenly grace, after that moment of a brief struggle was all that Karuna had in store for prashant’s apprehensions. The defining act of such anxious times is the precipitous flow of tears and the absence of any precognition for a moment of such a magnitude was too heavy for karuna’s eyelids. Those big, powerful eyes were transformed into sockets of meekness and serenity. Her inability to say anything and the simultaneous need for an answer had been taken care of by those beautiful eyes of hers. The essence of monotony lies in the lack of effort; the departure from normalcy becomes meaningful only if unforced and without a purpose. The smoke in her throat and the mist in her eyes had revolted today. The zenith of this mutiny was her lack of desire to suppress it. Everything was fluorescent. The transcendental tenderness in the atmosphere was very real and tangible.

She was bundled up in her virgin grace, consumed in her efforts to stop the inexorable flow of emotions through her eyes. He was staring at the glistening dots left by her tear drops on her shoes, as she tried to arrange the pleats of her skirt. He had asked a question, the reply was pending. What was she thinking all the while? It was definitely not sadness, it wasn’t joy either. The afternoon sun was hidden somewhere behind the mango tree at the backyard, peering its way past the windows. The pink of her lips had turned to red, and her cheeks into a red apple (only figuratively though). What was he doing all the time? He was nothing thinking anything, just staring at her shoes. Often had he put himself into this condition, the difference being this time he was not alone and the imagination had gone beserk in the form of reality. Who could have thought the girl of his liking would have a propensity of crying at the very first hints of romance? He was unlucky, I thought. My medical friend “burst” laughing at this reaction, may god rest her soul.

More than fear, her reaction generated affection in prashant. All he could think was to comfort her at that point of time. Well, he could not have caressed her; neither could he have jumped straightaway to saying “I LOVE YOU”. Trying times needs tough people. He sat there silently beside her baggage, packing his bundle for the day. She did not move. He was finished with his stuff, and then quietly, without a fuss, compiled her things. What next, he thought. You bet, he didn’t say anything. Walking away was the last thing he could have done. Poor guy, caught in a catch 22 situation. Karuna was not shedding tears anymore and he thought, “Done with your crying, girl? Now make the next move.” This was not some diktat or impatience for arriving at a conclusion, but a clueless, sinless urge. First love is a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity. Prashant was foolish, none would doubt this. Curiosity was absent. Since the day he had understood the chemistry between the sexes he had waited to talk to a girl to win her. He did not want to see her jumping to conclusions, he did not want to force her to jump to conclusions, he did not want to lose her either. An ingenuous admission of naiveté. Karuna was baffled at the terseness in the statements expressing his love by a rather laconic person. Beautiful was an adjective that quite had maintained distance from her, when all the time chirpy and bubbly (partly, due to her shape, I thought) and yeah, peach (or was it something else?) had been attributed to her.

“May it’s time we leave. I can sense the sweeper’s propinquity.” Silence.

“You are not hurt, right. I mean this was an innocent expression of what I felt about you, and it’s been time enough since I have been trying to let this out. Yeah, the happy thing about this “epiphany” is that you are the luckiest to have known it first. Yeah, I have not told anyone else and I do not intend to do so in the near future, you understand….please tell something…see this was not supposed to happen the way it has and I do not want you to give any second thought to what I said….you see, this guilt of watching you differently all the time was too heavy for me and I thought in what better way could I atone for this than by telling you first….you sense how helpless I am in these matters…..you know how seldom I talk to girls of the class and when I decided to, this is what comes out….but I hope you understand that I am not someone bad at heart who wants to trap into this love (shit, did I say something), I mean, infatuation thing. See I am not forcing you to come to any decision, positive or negative, on this matter. In fact I said I do not want you to give any further time to this silly blabber of mine….wont you say anything….yeah, I know I should not have told you this but it was not righteous to carry on with my feelings for you keeping you in black about all this…..I am a bad person….at least tell me this, you won’t say this to anyone else, right?.....why don’t you gather your belongings….umm we can talk on our way back home….it is already time we left…..”

He hadn’t finished on this, and had started packing her things when she got up. Her rose too like an obedient disciple. She wiped her cheeks clean of her tears, with trembling hands, collected her stuff and deposited them in her bag. Before she could say something, prashant had started talking again. “see I did not want to put you into a disarray….you can relax and forget about what I said to you…..yeah just think that I said I don’t find you beautiful (shit, again. Saying something of this kind backfires in critical times as these)…why create a fuss over these inconsequential matters…..”

“Stop, prashant! May be we should get going. I sense the sweeper’s propinquity.” Karuna was blank. The tears had gone but she was still wearing that confounded look. No, this was not the time for her to think about a reply. What, is this guy too early into the realization of his adulthood or have I been too late in realizing things? Ok this attraction is normal but why me….I mean is he really into me…. (Disbelief) yeah that’s what I heard. God, he does not want a reply, happily. Idiot, stop this prattle….I am going madder at this than at what you said about beautiful and stuff…...

Prashant helps her with her bag; a smile ensues on both their faces. “you are alright with the past half an hour, right…..you see…..”. She nods her head shying. He ends on an abrupt stammer, as he watches her hop past him, and just stares at her hair….

“I am gonna buy you a comb this Christmas, Della…”