“Shit, Shit, Shit !! Your glasses”; remarked She, as I went partially blind, the lights fading as I blinked, it took a couple of minutes for my eyes to get used to the light around me. Not a thing someone would attempt while taking a ride on an electric rickshaw, to this day I don’t remember as to why She even tried pulling me towards her. The result: my glasses were now gone, the temple broken to pieces, and beyond repair.
It was her plan to take a rickshaw ride to her then favourite ethnic restaurant, a plan that wasn’t part of the original plan we had, but then who ever knew or could guess her plans, that was her beauty. The bumpy ride and the stormy weather weren’t conditions that were to be taken for granted, but She wanted a rickshaw ride, other plans could wait.
The dinner plan now gone to the bin, all that we had to do was to somehow get a new pair of glasses, I couldn’t see anything beyond 10feet. All things now blurred, apart from her. She was still looking like a dream, I could see with my now naked eyes.
A walk to remember it was: towards the optician’s store, lightning and thunder and flashes of her by my side, I wish I could hold on to the moment, and freeze it forever. The Rain Gods weren’t too pleased with our outing, a slight bit of drizzle to make it worse for her. She never liked the rains, I loved it, and with her walking besides me, I now loved it a little more.
I tried covering her head with my palm, a stupid idea but nonetheless She found it cute, brownie points for me then, but, to have her walking by my side, in the rain; wearing a shade of white and her untied hairs: if I were an artist, a portrait of this would have been my masterpiece.
The walk to the optician turned out to be futile, I didn’t mind it, all that I awaited was not for my normal vision but the rain to not stop, to not be heavy with pride but carry on the way it was: I would have traded five more pairs of glasses for the same. The heavens did listen to my plea, the walk back was equally enthralling. I, to this day wonder what made her take that walk despite hating the rains.
With the question still lurking in my mind: Why did She pull me in the first place? I took that walk towards her restaurant now, She laughing as if She were possessed all the while. I couldn’t take my eyes off, there have been extremely rare occasions when my heart must have a skipped a beat, the walk in the rain perhaps was one such experience. Never had I felt captivated by anyone, and to this extent.
I hadn’t seen anyone laugh that much, that bad, all eyes were on me as mine were stuck on her, She would look up, look at me and laugh. “Don’t look at me like this”; She would say and laugh again, how could I not? For, I hadn’t seen anything as pleasing to my vision despite the loss of my glasses, She shining bright, dazzling me with her light. I could sit, look at her and spend a lifetime not moving an inch, not bat an eyelid for real.
The walk, the rain and my racing heart; all seemed to have found their point of intersection in her. Why did She pull me close btw??
abhishek purkayastha 