Short Story

                                                                                                                     THE MEETING

                                                                

“The very first time I saw you, I fell in love and you smiled because you knew.” – Shakespeare                                                                                                                                                                                         

It was a warm sunny afternoon and Iti could feel the droplets of sweat on her forehead and neck. She wiped them again and again with the many paper napkins she was carrying in her purse. It was no good because the  paper would just dissolve and its tiny pieces would get stuck on her face. Though she usually did not much care to look very good but she wanted to look her best for the meeting. She felt a relief when the autorickshaw moved and the smoke and dust of the traffic all of a sudden melted into a rare momentary breeze. She had always loved the green that lines the South Delhi roads but today all she could think of, was him. She was meeting R after five years. A lot had changed since they met last time.

Slightly nervous she could feel her heart throbbing, palms sweating profusely. She  tossed her hair that was nagging her in the eyes ending up smudging her eye liner. “Who cares?”, she would have said, had somebody told her about the smudged black kohl on her eye lids. Her mind was racing back and forth in time. She was trying to recall the first time they met as well as the last one. In that same instant she tried picturing R’s face. She tried hard but she to imagine the particular facial features but could not. All she could do was imagine this blurred image of him. And she had always carried that in her mind. This is the irony of love! Just like something that you feel, you know from the bottom of your heart but fail to put it in words when needed. That image that you love the most in this world; which is etched in your heart, mind and soul is all but a blur.

The autorickshaw stopped outside the India Habitat Center. Iti got down and took hurried steps towards the grand building, looking at her watch again and again, just to make sure that she was not late. She had been an art lover and had fallen in love with the IHC the very first time she saw it. Her first year of college that was.

She climbed the stairs running and stopped near the entrance in an anticipation of finding R thinking he would have already reached. He wasn’t there. He would never let Iti wait. Memories take over again as she walks further inside and settles on stony seats near the entrance.

The first time they met through the college society. R was the secretary of the dramatics society. And iti was just a fresher who was auditioning. From the very first time their eyes met she had felt that she had always known him. It had been almost impossible for her to compose herself throughout that audition and she was gutted on her poor show and thought she would never make it. R had told her later that she was unique among the lot and one of the strongest people to audition for that role.

Her vibrating cellphone broke the train of thoughts all of a sudden. It was a message from R. It said that R would be late. Iti decides to walk in and sit at their usual spot in the restaurant. She fiddled with her phone for a while. After that she looked up and observed the people around. Looked at her watch again. She had been waiting for R for a full hour and fifteen minutes. She looked towards the restaurant entrance as if trying to assure herself that he would be there any minute.

Something did not feel right. The R she knew would never message. He always called her. She could not recall a time when he got late or she actually got anywhere before him. Memories kept flowing in and out of her head. Deep down she knew she had to go through this and wait.

A hope still lingered in her heart. Her hands constantly clutched the phone. Her heart sank further with every passing minute. Tears begin to well up in her eyes. All this was so strange she thought. She hadn’t seen him in five years and it was alright or maybe she just thought so.

Just then, her phone rings. It is an unknown number she picks up. It was someone from R’s office, a colleague probably who was calling to apologize for R who had to rush as an urgent personal matter had come up. This was the strangest thing that had ever happened between them. Even more strange than when they had decided to not see each other five years ago!

This made her realize that R had just backed out on her. But she had decided to go full circle this time she was not ready to let the matter be and hang in the middle of nowhere for another five years of her life. Full circle it was. She got up from her seat walked out of the building. She kept walking on the road for some distance till she found a quiet corner. She gathered courage and composed herself to drop one final voicemail. This was to be the uneventful end to a journey that had once been commenced by two people as a journey of a lifetime. A lot of love stories are like that! Aren’t they?

To her surprise Iti felt relieved as she walked away towards lights on the main road. Her face had the look of an impending liberation. A chain was broken, a closure reached, a mental block shifted aside, inertia quelled! This is how powerful truth it! And just like that in an inconspicuous moment, a girl got herself back.

Iti hailed a cab, rolled down the window glass and smiled as she looked out at the endless fleet of automobiles passing her by. The green trees looked refreshing and the skyline that had been tinted orange by the halogen street lights looked zesty again. She had always loved the sky!