There was snow. There was sunshine. And there was Wind with the silence that was one with the scene around! She found this place beautiful and he always found it serene. They were quite different and yet subtly alike. She was extremely affluent and he wanted to be one. She thought that the world has a lot in store for her while he always pondered about making a difference to the world! She wanted to party, He wanted to sing and dance! She cared for him but also cared for what the society had to say. He cared for her and that’s it! They never understood why they loved each other, may be they never tried to! May be that was the best thing about their love and may be that was the worst thing for her and him!
He made a perfect coffee and brought it in the mugs which they had gifted each other on their birthdays (the teenage ones when they were not sure of the difference between liking and love). It was symbolic in a way! She had not asked for the coffee but she did not ask him to love her either! The coffee was there but the conversation was missing or maybe they wanted to avoid one. He could sense from the slightest expression on her face that she found it slightly bitter but that is how he liked it and wished that she also likes- Small things where they would attempt to bridge the differences! Finally she started the conversation which he would have loved to avoid for his lifetime! There were few things he was scared of in life but this was an exception. “I think it is high time I start moving substantially on the way I want to travel. It might not be easy but I guess am ready for it. I wish you also come along. It will be great!” She said. It had to be her, he liked her because she was beautiful (Gorgeous would be more towards perfection) but he loved her for the fact that she was brave. She always wanted to travel the foreign land; she had this childlike rigidity in spending her life amidst the ‘Modern’ world. She thought her life belonged there though her soul would always belong to the weirdly candid man sitting next to her! He had his own dreams (Yes there were some in which she was absent physically!). He wanted to be ‘The Leader’- the one who will serve the beautiful and not so developed land. He thought he owed it to the motherland. She felt it was rude of her to leave him, he felt it was innocent of her (And that is why they were madly in love). “You will have fun. You will surely find the pleasures you are looking for. I will pray for your happiness till I breathe.” He said. The voice was firm as ever and that was typical him- replying in the weirdest possible way that always left her life in perplexity! He thought he was complex, she thought he was mature! So it was decided and waited to be done! They always had this competition between them- the one to hide emotions and hence there was the silence- the one that speaks aloud and speaks a variety of emotions. There was emptiness, oneness, joy, anger, tears, anxiety, care, prayers and a lot more in it. More than anything else there was Love- the true love and that is how they loved each other most of the times, silently!
“How deep is the valley?” She asked as the last sip of coffee was passing through her neck. Oh God, isn’t she the most beautiful girl he wants to see in his lifetime? He thought (in fact he did not) in a split second and replied: “How far is the Sun?” They were ending in the same fashion in which it had begun and had always remained till then- Strange! A lot of strange things are pretty; this surely was the prettiest of all. The brave stood up and asked if she could keep both the mugs. He wished he could say a No to this and to the more important decision she made a few minutes back. But he never learnt that and she never taught him that. But both wished from the bottom of their hearts that He would say a No, that he would stop her. They used to think alike especially at times when it mattered for the pump that keeps the life alive. She came near and embraced him. She wished he would kiss her, he wished as well but he did not! The eyes were closed though. For a moment they wanted to live and die both simultaneously! Like most of the true joys of life, it was momentary. They departed. There was love, there was an ego (or two) and there were dreams (or the belief that they are!). Of them, the Love lost or not really!
She did well with her pursuit of happiness and so did he. He was the lead of the place which had become ‘Almost modern’ now. He had spent his manhood in making it one. He thought he owed it to the land but may be somewhere he wanted to make it a place where he could have asked her to stay; he could have said The ‘NO’ of his life! 'Beauty and Freedom' is a rare combination and that is why she was unique. That is why he loved her madly. She thought that the relationships are strings, she loved him but she loved her freedom more than him or maybe she thought so. He thought, “Love binds, it never ties. The river never stopped on that Rock to tell it where it was flowing but they are so lovely together! Love lets you go because there is no sense of insecurity; there is a trust, a joy which is above all the pleasures of the planet. It is unconditional else why his mom never asked him for a reason when he suddenly wanted to sleep peacefully on her lap. Love is free like a fall.” She loved the freedom, he loved the love; both actually loved the same!
One fine day she comes back to him, to the beautiful modernized land where she belonged once and where she had left her soul. But unlike the movies they had watched, she did not come back soon. They were just 50 years old then! He made the coffee and she obviously did not ask for it. She found it perfect as she had started having bitter coffee after leaving him (maybe that is how they kept in touch!). He was usual silent. Praising her beauty with the words raining from his eyes but the mouth shut. They both smiled the dangerous smile- the one when your lips stretch minutely wide but get inside the mouth! Yeah they had their own weirdness in everything they did, the smile, the praise and the love! They finished the coffee faster than they did 25 years back. She put back the mugs in the kitchen and got back to the swing where they were sitting. They rocked the swing like children for quite a while. She was lost in the memory and he was lost in her (the only memory he had)!
“How deep is the valley”, She asked but she sounded different than what she did years back. She put her fingers on his mouth before he could reply with his stupid weird answer and kissed him. They wanted to live and die simultaneously! She decided the latter and suddenly jumped in the valley. There was a silence, an eternal emptiness. “Not as deep as our love”, He said and jumped into the valley staring straight into the sun. There was the Sun. There was the Sunshine. A few clouds to make it gloomy but there was the Love in the air though the lovers were gone with the wind!
