the day it finally rained....

she stood staring out of the window. a body trapped in the four confines of her room. a soul trapped in the myriad confines of the society.


it was her wedding day. she could hear bits and pieces of voices,shouting orders,laughing,playing music, all around her,from her house and courtyard. people were on a constant move in her house,preparations for the wedding.the auspicious hour for the wedding was at night. evening was beginning to gather. she had these blessed few hours before the ladyfolk came to dress her in her bridal finery.


she had long accepted the fact that he would never come back. long accepted the feeling of something left incomplete. long accepted the shattering of the illusion that love was enough to live. accepted it all as a part of growing up. but,today's evening was different. today she would shed her old life for a new one.as the companion of a man,who everyone told her was the best for her.a man who would give her love,security and comfort. a man she respected and cared enough to spend her life with.


at this juncture in her life,she didnot want to face memories of a distant time. time spent staring out of the same window,listening to the voice of the boy she loved,as he practised singing with his master.time spent submerged in the bliss of his rich voice,flying with him to the places his voice was taking her,aching for him as his master scolded him,giving him company as he spent hours practising,sharing his dreams of becoming a singer,shyly telling her dream of becoming his forever.

in this small town,under silken skies their love was born,from the moment she was born.all through her life she remembered him.she was always connected to him at some subconscious level.she could feel his hurt,his pain,his joy and she could read his thoughts. so could he,with her. she believed it was because he had been with her mother all through her pregnancy. her father had to go on a year long project abroad. he had appointed a maid to be with her mother all the time. the maid brought along her son. he was the son,the one with the beautiful voice.her mother had told her about how he used to sing,exceptionally well for a 5 year old,whenever she felt like relaxing.

thinking back on her mother's words,she believed she had had very little choice but to fall for the voice which used to sing to her even before she saw the world. a voice which reminded her of her mother's womb;a sheltered world.


all through her childhood,she had tagged behind him. he ;with the soothing voice and gentle manner. she had always thought she would always tag behind him,all through her life.
innocent minds and hearts;innocent dreams.


she remembered a time, a lazy afternoon,lolling off to sleep,she felt a sharp pain in her left jaw.
she knew immediately,he was hurt. running out she saw him on the ground,his left cheek bleeding. he had been coming home;he had tripped and fallen.


such had been their relationship.
at the twentieth year of her life,one sunny morning, he left town. he was never seen again. where he had gone,why he had gone,noone knew.


she had waited,hoped and cried,for a word. hoped that his voice had found its fortune and he would come and claim her;his destiny.


3 years had passed,her parents had allowed her ,her mourning time. mourning for a love which would never die.


with time,the rawness of her hurt faded,but the wounds remained.the intensity of her feelings were cloaked,but it stabbed her from time to time. a chapter which never had an appropriate ending.


she was broken from her reverie as thunder boomed from the mountains at a distance. it was the rainy season. she stepped out into the open verandah. across the street,a young boy started humming a folk song.


from the guarded chambers of her heart,a tiny tear made way down her lashes,making way for the flood thereafter. the heavens opened simultaneously. she looked up as tears rolled down her eyes,crying for whatever was lost and whatever was stolen by time and fate. she spread her hand and drenched herself with the sky's tears as her tears fell on the earth.


a soul searching for solace from past memories. the rain lashed away at her.


********


Miles away ,separated by land and sea, in an arid desert,at an excavation site, a man looked towards the heaven. on a bright and sunny day,he felt the sting of thousands of raindrops.


he touched his face and found his cheeks wet with tears.

turning towards the heavens, he started singing- a tune of heartbreak and hurt,a song of love lost to fate and time, a song meant to soothe away at the pain which gathers in a soul due to unanswered questions. a song meant to remind someone of the peace and safety of a mother's womb.