FranKophone

Dear You, It’s been really long since I wrote to you. A long while since I intently noticed you. You still look so perfect. Makes me fall in love with you all over again. It seems you have not changed at all. Except for those random greys and a little wrinkle there. It’s a delight to watch you fall asleep. Calm. Quiet. Sound of your breath. Scent of jasmine floating in the air. The arms that are always open for me. The comfort of being with each other. As for me, I know I am beautiful. Even without eyes. You make me feel beautiful. Yours truly, Me.

Yun tumse milkar aaj woh puraani baatein yaad aa gaye , Woh wafayein yaad gaye , woh deewane yaad aa gaye. Shayad tumhe bissra diya thha, tumhare shabd yaad aa gaye,  Miley jo thhe kisi mehfil mein kabhi, woh taraane yaad aa gaye. Bhuley nahin jo hum kabhi, woh nazraane aaj yaad aa gaye, Bataye nahin jo kissey kabhi, woh afsaane yaad aa gaye. Dekhe thhe jo khwab kabhi, woh bulandiyaan yaad aa gaye, Ki nahin kabhi shikayat jinse, woh anjaane yaad aa gaye. Gul jo murjhaaye thhe kabhi, woh bahaarein yaad aa gaye, Dil k kisi koney mein sajaaye huye armaan aaj yaad aa gaye. Tumhari woh muskurahat , woh giley shikwe yaad aa gaye, Yun tumse milkar aaj woh beetey zamaane yaad aa gaye.

Remember our first date ? I walked to you in that lilac dress – with apprehension. You later told me that you fell for me then. I had noticed your jaw almost dropping  but never mentioned it to you. In one of our later dates, I caught you staring at that anorexic female with garish make-up. I was a fool then (Yes, I am a lot wiser now ). I tried to lose weight, use make-up. All proved futile. The next time we met you almost laughed at the sight of me. Visibly thinner, under inches of God-knows-what powdered on cheeks. Creepily lined eyes. After a few seconds, I realized you were laughing at me. I tried going away, crying. You stopped me. By that time, my eyes were streaming with tears. You looked straight into them and said “You do not need a mask . You’re beautiful.” I stopped crying. You hugged me. There were times you needed me. For telling how badly your Dad thinks of you. How you miss your Mom. I just listened. And yet you told me it comforted you. To be with me. And then on...

Never thought about You…. Drunk in the wine of pleasure… I ignored You. You always smiled… At me. I didn’t see it coming. A day when life abandoned me. My loved one fell silent. Then You took me in Your arms. Made me live again. The way I never knew. Filled with bliss. I could see your footsteps Unwashed, on the shores of time. Exactly on the path I traversed. I was gratified… Then bewildered… Then revered You… You did so much for me. Even though I never trusted You…. They are so true when they say – Strange are the ways of the Lord !

December 1991. A small township in India . A new departmental store had just opened. A little girl of about three years. Very mischievious. Pushes the stack of buckets and they tumble. Reason : She needs the biggest toy available in the store. She can’t find one, much to her disappointment. Her mother, naturally embarrassed, puts forth a condition. “You have to write A to Z as well as 1 to 10. Only then you’ll get this gun ”,she said, pointing towards a two-feet long, sturdy, toy-gun. Her eyes gleam,then shimmer and then she rushes home immediately. A quick glance at all the letters of the alphabet and then she sits down with a pencil. It was the first time she wrote all those twenty-six letters together. The girl’s father came home. She proudly displayed “the fruit of her labour”. No mistakes. Smiles followed. The next morning she finds the gun on her bed. Squeals with delight. Bliss. Today that little girl is in search of another gun.