She stood watching the signal at the corner of the roads.. a busy junction it was.. as any other day.. She stood frozen in time like a ghost, oblivious to the chatter and noise around her.. the decibels having no effect.. as if each and every sound around her was already moulded into her, had become an undetachable part of her life..
She was naturally beautiful.. the white dress she wore flowed with the wind.. taking nature into sync.. her hair seemed so dark black, a pure contrast to her glowing skin, the sunlight bounced off her eyelashes.. making everything even more bright.. she seemed an angel .. a halo around her...as if she were a source of exhuding light..
No one noticed her.. rather paid attention to her.. she was just another person in the busy world where everyone knew each other but could never find time to stop and talk.. the itsy bitsy conversations seemed to be diminshing by the minute.. The vehicles came screeeching to a stop as the signal changed tracks from amber to red.. hawkers trying to making the best of each and every moment.. chanawala's peddling stuff for a rupee each.. young kids selling colour pens and books to poor parents trying to pacify the childen who in turn were trying their best to convince their parents to get them such stuff.. trust experienced people to take advantage of such innocent poor little things..
She stepped onto the road.. and briskly walked across.. allowing people to walk by and still maintaing the fast pace.. as if to keep up with the world..yet there was a feminine touch to everything she did.. She reached the opposite end and walked past the shops straight into a coffee shop. This was the place he was supposed to be meeting her.
Her parents had fixed up her match, or rather were just waiting for her to confirm. She had been through a lot in life.. and didnt want her parents to go through more agony.. every suitor who came her way would finally say NO. She failed to undersrtand why some things were so important.. why they couldnt read her soul.. couldnt accept.. and then finally resigned to fate.. maybe it was the way she was.. her destiny.. fate..
But this time she felt it was different... She had spoken to him on the phone.. He seemed very different from the others, caring.. soft spoken, well mannered. You dont have to be facing each other to notice such things. Thats something that we all need to have in life.. the self respect, the attitude.. Sure Money is important, to survive in this cold blooded world, but where do you go without caring and affection? They had talked about small things like making cookies, sitting in the balcony when it rained and having hot coffee and listening to music.. a lot of what they talked about seemed to match.. she felt nice about him, maybe this was why God had wanted her to wait...so she could have the best..
He came in and sat next to her.. and they spoke.. He couldnt much .. He was mesmerized by her eyes, just couldnt stop looking at her.. those emerald eyes somehow seemed to sink right into him, it was as if she werent looking at him but right into him...They talked about general stuff for sometime, and finally came down to planning their future.. He talked about taking her places, so she could see Paris, the pure romance of the city, he wanted to show her Jaipur, the colorful city.. he was an artist, and he wanted to show her his art, the paintings that he had sketched for her, thinking of her, thinking of how she would be, and how angelic she was in reality.. Thats when things started changing..
It started with a sob and then she started crying .. he couldnt fathom why and how come so suddenly.. It pained him to see the tears flowing down her cheeks.. the cherubic face looked so sad.. what had happened.. it took some while before she got back to normal and finally decided to speak to him.. she couldnt muster the courage to.. and couldnt find the right words.. she tried framing sentences.. didnt work .. all she could do in the end was say Sorry to him and she did that.. she tried explaining and didnt know how to.. it was like one good dream gone haywire.. it still seemed a dream.. not for real... she told him it wouldnt work.. they werent meant to be.. he still couldnt move.. and then she had to leave.. she stood up faced him and smiled that sad smile knowing in her heart that he didnt deserve this, and her eyes were sad, they seemed to speak volumes, he was a nice man, yet she had no choice, she had to do this to keep him happy for the rest of his life.. and then she starting walking out of the cafe...
And then he saw it.. he saw the white cane in her hand.. and it all made sense.. She was blind
I would love to hear your views!
She was naturally beautiful.. the white dress she wore flowed with the wind.. taking nature into sync.. her hair seemed so dark black, a pure contrast to her glowing skin, the sunlight bounced off her eyelashes.. making everything even more bright.. she seemed an angel .. a halo around her...as if she were a source of exhuding light..
No one noticed her.. rather paid attention to her.. she was just another person in the busy world where everyone knew each other but could never find time to stop and talk.. the itsy bitsy conversations seemed to be diminshing by the minute.. The vehicles came screeeching to a stop as the signal changed tracks from amber to red.. hawkers trying to making the best of each and every moment.. chanawala's peddling stuff for a rupee each.. young kids selling colour pens and books to poor parents trying to pacify the childen who in turn were trying their best to convince their parents to get them such stuff.. trust experienced people to take advantage of such innocent poor little things..
She stepped onto the road.. and briskly walked across.. allowing people to walk by and still maintaing the fast pace.. as if to keep up with the world..yet there was a feminine touch to everything she did.. She reached the opposite end and walked past the shops straight into a coffee shop. This was the place he was supposed to be meeting her.
Her parents had fixed up her match, or rather were just waiting for her to confirm. She had been through a lot in life.. and didnt want her parents to go through more agony.. every suitor who came her way would finally say NO. She failed to undersrtand why some things were so important.. why they couldnt read her soul.. couldnt accept.. and then finally resigned to fate.. maybe it was the way she was.. her destiny.. fate..
But this time she felt it was different... She had spoken to him on the phone.. He seemed very different from the others, caring.. soft spoken, well mannered. You dont have to be facing each other to notice such things. Thats something that we all need to have in life.. the self respect, the attitude.. Sure Money is important, to survive in this cold blooded world, but where do you go without caring and affection? They had talked about small things like making cookies, sitting in the balcony when it rained and having hot coffee and listening to music.. a lot of what they talked about seemed to match.. she felt nice about him, maybe this was why God had wanted her to wait...so she could have the best..
He came in and sat next to her.. and they spoke.. He couldnt much .. He was mesmerized by her eyes, just couldnt stop looking at her.. those emerald eyes somehow seemed to sink right into him, it was as if she werent looking at him but right into him...They talked about general stuff for sometime, and finally came down to planning their future.. He talked about taking her places, so she could see Paris, the pure romance of the city, he wanted to show her Jaipur, the colorful city.. he was an artist, and he wanted to show her his art, the paintings that he had sketched for her, thinking of her, thinking of how she would be, and how angelic she was in reality.. Thats when things started changing..
It started with a sob and then she started crying .. he couldnt fathom why and how come so suddenly.. It pained him to see the tears flowing down her cheeks.. the cherubic face looked so sad.. what had happened.. it took some while before she got back to normal and finally decided to speak to him.. she couldnt muster the courage to.. and couldnt find the right words.. she tried framing sentences.. didnt work .. all she could do in the end was say Sorry to him and she did that.. she tried explaining and didnt know how to.. it was like one good dream gone haywire.. it still seemed a dream.. not for real... she told him it wouldnt work.. they werent meant to be.. he still couldnt move.. and then she had to leave.. she stood up faced him and smiled that sad smile knowing in her heart that he didnt deserve this, and her eyes were sad, they seemed to speak volumes, he was a nice man, yet she had no choice, she had to do this to keep him happy for the rest of his life.. and then she starting walking out of the cafe...
And then he saw it.. he saw the white cane in her hand.. and it all made sense.. She was blind
I would love to hear your views!
Deeps.....i did have my eyes filled...nd goose bumps tooo
ReplyDeleteitsssssssss tooooooo good///loved it
Better late than never, thanks Di :)
Deleteoh. one really heart touching story. Ending would have been a little more happier.
ReplyDelete:) Now that I read it again, I agree with you :) This was a long time back and I have no idea what mood I was in when I wrote this!
DeleteA nicely built up story, Deepa. It was a miniature roller-coaster as I was left guessing till the fatal crash at the end.
ReplyDeleteps. Why were the prospective suitors not informed of her handicap remains a mystery.
Thanks Umashankar. See, now that's where I need a critic, to point out the loopholes in the story so I can work on making these better! :) Thank you for both the positive and the constructive feedback :)
DeleteGreat at creating the mood Deepa! I agree with uma, though..it seems unlikely that they would have come to the stage of meeting each other without the chap having been told about her vision issues! Maybe you could have made it a date, rather than an arranged marriage meet.
ReplyDeleteSee? It's 2005. I make major loophole mistakes even today then how could I have thought to tackle loopholes in 2005 :D
DeleteNicely executed Deepa ! Blogging since 2005 .. you've sure come a long way !
ReplyDeleteActually I wasn't really blogging since 2005 in the true sense. I had written this post in 2005 and posted it on Sulekha, it used to be an online blog portal that time - stand alone posts. Then wrote one more in 2006 and a couple more in 2007. That was it. When I took up blogging in 2011, I decided to consolidate these as well. I have been struggling to find the Sulekha links so I can link those too - but I cannot even find them anymore!
Delete