Yes - Part 3

You can read the First Part Here

And the Second Part Here

Panting and practicing Ajay stared at the clock. It was 11:00am and he was late. Sameera laughed at her brother’s misery as Ajay turned the whole room upside down for the red tie Mishka had given him for his graduation. “You sure you want to do this today Ajay”, a worried Sameera asked. “I have waited years, I love her, I want her, and now I have a job too. She can study after we marry or maybe we can wait for her to finish her studies but I need to know she will be mine for the rest of my life” Ajay remembered the blank pain in Mishka’s eyes - the day her parents died. He had decided he would make his life’s mission to make her happy always and now he has reached a level where he could fulfill that mission, why stop now? Finally Sameera had some pity on her brother and tied the tie she had been hiding all the while and kissed her brother good luck.

On the way to Mishka’s place he kept thinking about how after her parents’ death she lived with her aunt and uncle and they had so many restrictions levied on them. They had no more late evening cycling trips, the band was shut down and they could meet every day but just in school and after his 12^th only during vacations thirty minutes per day. That is when they came up with the old school letters game. Every day when they met both of them had a letter filled with not important but important stuffs that they couldn’t talk about in the half an hour mirth and blissful meets. Soon it became a habit and they wrote everything important in letters over the years.  Distance was set to test their love but his determination to get a job as soon as possible and finish the journey whose destination was this very day kept him going. He had come so far and nothing could have stopped him nothing but a word.  He reached her place and pressed the doorbell for the 1^st time in his life. Uncle came up to the door and greeted him with a smile. One step inside; his eye caught the visage of his girl sitting on the dining table, smiling nervously and clenching a piece of paper tightly in her right hand. The breakfast on her table was untouched and he knew what that paper was. Without wasting any more time he started speaking as soon as chachi entered the drama room. “Sir ummm Uncle I know, I think you know this day was coming. I know it’s early, I mean very soon. But I got a job and I don’t want to… I mean it is ok if we… I want to marry Mishka. I know she has just started her graduation and is quite young but…” rest of it was all lost. Mishka kept staring at Ajay while he babbled in front of her Uncle, tears rolled down her cheeks, she didn’t even notice the muffled laugh Neha was trying so hard to control, her heart was thumping and all that kept playing in her mind were the words of that letter.

“Mishka

I dreamt of this day ages ago, when I would ask you to be mine but was scared of a “No” so the day took pretty long to come on the calendar. But now, I make a promise to keep. I’ll ride like a knight, without the armour or steed (unfortunately), Race to you place when I get a job and ask your Uncle for your hand with brimming hope. If you have no qualms getting married to me Say yes now Mishka and the year will pass in a jiffy. I respect your dreams and your aims in life, but it would be my pleasure if I could be a part of it with all rights. I love you, you know that. You love me I think. You are my saviour, my miracle, the person who made me realize my dreams and taught me to follow my heart with my responsibilities. I want you to be a part of my life forever. Please say yes.

Love you always

Ajay.”

The moment she read it she had tears in her eyes making them sparkle and with some mustered up courage she made her cracking voice say “Ajay, Yes!”

Her memory train came to a sudden halt as everyone in that room stared at a cheery elderly face bringing the moment to stand still with a delighted “Yes”. Uncle had said yes even before Ajay could finish his super unsuccessful attempt at a speech.

Neha later informed her dear sister that she had been feeding seeds of their love coaster to their uncle and aunt regularly and they knew Ajay was coming that day. Mishka couldn’t thank her sister and Uncle enough but knew that their love had made that “Yes” the purest word of her existence now. Ajay and Mishka smiled at each other dreaming of the world that reverberating “Yes” was the door to.

Yes - Part 2

You can read the First Part HERE.

Mishka kept pacing up and down her room holding a letter in each hand while the bed sheet was veiled by 50 more letters Ajay had written to her over the years. “Mishka, clean up and stop freaking out, he must have gotten the job by now and he will come and talk to Aunt tomorrow itself”, chided Neha, her elder sister. Frustrated she threw the letter about the interview in her home made pond of letters but not the crumpled, already on the verge of tearing, eight months old one. She went over to her desk and pulled out the lavender diary Ajay had given to her 2 days after her parent’s death. Just as she touched it the past 5 years of her life flashed right in front of her eyes.

 She was singing on the compound wall of Mantra Uncle’s mango orchard while Ravi and Ajay played their guitar. Neha and Sameera stared in awe as Mishka sang the first song she ever had ever written and Ajay already seemed to know the tune to the song written for him. Mishka and Sameera were the two young ducks of the gang but the naughtiest too. Mishka always had a crush on Sameera’s tall dark and handsome brother, the best flirt in the world, but today she had decided to make him acknowledge that she was going to be his from now on. All of them indulged in their new new found hobby of shayaris and Mishka used this opportunity for her “Love Confession”.

‘Rangeen hasraton ki khawhish

Judi hai tujhse yaara

Bas yunhi aakhon aakhon mein guftagu ho

Ae khushnuma mera dildaara

Tasavur mein na ho aise khwabon ka manzaar

Jaisa hai yeh aalam aaj humare darmiyaan

Chup si baatein bas ho rahi hai

Kuch yaahan kuch wahaan’

She saw a naughty smile and a blissful blush on Ajay’s face and thought “God don’t make him think of me as a hopeless romantic or a kid with a huge crush and no idea about what love means.” They always spent hours near this orchard, at the dusk, tired from their cycling venture which made them feel like they’ve seen the world, feeding the ducks in the ever diminishing local pond. But that day they met early and decided to explore the streets till the sunlight had no speck of its shine on the azure heavens. Post the guitar session they went into the orchard to collect some green mangoes laden on the boughs of the burdened trees.  While others were busy selecting stones, she kept staring at a busy Ajay who was scribbling something on a paper. When he finally decided to join the notorious party he handed her some stones he had collected and along with them was the scribbled note.

“khwahish meri ho khwahish teri

Bas kabse thi yeh khwahish meri

Aaj hai who puri hui

Hai, he kya yeh khush naseebi meri.”

And maybe you thought so but I don’t think you are a hopeless romantic. You will always be the talented little tom boy for me.”

Nothing could wipe the smile off her face after that, nothing; but something that happened about an hour later changed everything. Neha and she came tripping and humming to their aunt’s house where they were going to spend the night as their parents were off to a wedding. “Whenever you girls come I have to cook so many things, how does your mother tolerate your tantrums. And you’ve come so late now I’ll have to heat up everything again”, complained Chachi (aunt) while Neha kept increasing the sound of the TV and Mishka pestered her dearest aunt “Only you jhelofy our tantrums chachi.” Just then the phone rang and Chachi hurried, still mumbling at the girls. The girls were giggling loudly but the whole world came to a stand still for them when it was pierced by their aunt’s uncontrollable cry.

Twenty minutes later their uncle came home and rushed the girls to a Krupanandan Hospital and their aunt had still not said anything. Uncle called over Neha first and a weepy Neha told an inconsolable Mishka their dad had died in a car accident and mom was in coma. Four hours later their mom gave up too and Mishka’s world was reduced to nothingness. Just then Ajay and his parents reached the hospital and without a word Ajay went over to Mishka and held her for dear life like he would never let go of her. Everything had changed for her but somehow Ajay’s warm embrace made her feel safe and believe this is as bad as things can get but she will survive this trauma. Hours passed worried wailing people passed up and down but all she could hear was her own sobs and feel numbness around her. God knows when she slept but she woke up in her aunt’s house to find a calm Ajay sitting across her bed. None of them said a word but that very moment she knew she lost her parents but she will never lose him. Time kind of froze in that very moment until it was externally reset by someone calling “Mishka, come down for dinner.”

Yes - Part 1

Breathing in a tensed whiff of the panic stricken air, Ajay sat there, impatiently on the not so comfortable waiting area chair, waiting for his turn. There was a high decibel cacophony of worried people marching like hoofed horses around, all scared and nervous just like him, but not one of them had the storm of thoughts like he did. It was his first job interview and he needed the job desperately but just moments before the ‘moment of truth’ all he could think about was a day eight months back.

Inky sky donned by clouds ready to pour anytime and him, standing under the banyan tree that had been his companion for years now, not sure of whether he was trying to save himself from inevitable rain or the probable mighty sun that might defeat the clouds and take back and rule the afternoon sky again. But none of that mattered because he talked to the tree endlessly to kill time so that he could have courage to do what he wanted to do at the right moment. He had been waiting for this moment for months now. He thought of doing it during the last vacation but guess he needed six more months of prepping time. And just when he was babbling away to glory he saw her, his Mishka. Looking at her small childish face, ever smiling eyes always made his heart flutter and made his day. He still could think of a thousand reason of why he loved her every time he saw her but could never remember what made him fall head over heels for her in the first place but over the years their love grew and just grew. Mishka asked her elder sister to go ahead and she would join her later. He knew his most crucial thirty minutes of the day have started and he had to make the best of it.

Mishka talked about her 12^th board chemistry paper that she had just appeared for and he kept smiling all the time. She was intelligent but never a great scorer. She loved making fun of the elite students of her class and today was no different but for Ajay it was. She went on and on, cribbing about a question she had answered correctly in the first place but changed it when it could have made a difference and he thought about what answer she would have for his question. “Ajay you are going back tonight, right?” He remembered her morphed with laughter, cracking voice and these words crystal clear. There were a hundred questions underlying that one and he could hear them all screaming silently in her glittery gaze. ‘Yes’, he had said and his voice was drowned in the quiet shatter of her heart that she meticulously covered with a smile and a teasing “great”. This was it, he had to do it, and he was running out of time. As a cool rainy zephyr brushed her hair he held out the piece of paper he was holding dearly to his heart for hours. Mishka joked, “Dude, I just gave and exam and you want me to study again”, but his heart was beating at 150 beats per minute threatening to jump out at any moment. “Just read it, it’s just like all the letters I write to you but for this one I wanted to see your reaction too.” Couple of minutes passed, he could hear the symphony of leaves rustling, birds chirping autos and cycles passing by even the Banyan tree laughing but he yearned just for her voice. Her face tensed, and sweat dripping down his forehead. “Ajay” “Mr. Ajay Sharma” you have been called inside.