The perfect dinner

“Awaaz do humko ... hum kho gaye ................ kab neend se jage....kaab kho gaye...........

Ashee was very excited. They were going to meet. It had been long and tough. She wanted to make this day really special. Ashee was planning for many days. She would again make him fall in love with her and things would be the same, “ceteris paribus”

She was humming their song and cooking his favourite pasta. She had picked up their special white wine from Haiko on her way home from office. The perfect candle light dinner, just the way he loved. The past few days (rather months) had been terrible. Nothing seemed to be going right. Something deep down told her, that this melancholy would prevail.

But today would be colourful. She was ready to fight the darkness away, forever. She laid the table with her best crockery and the best of skills she had learnt from her mother. The smell of oregano filled the room. “Everything is set”, she said proud of herself half wishing to feel the cheese melt in her mouth. To take her mind off food, she decided to take a long bath. This is also the best way to drive away all bad thoughts and negative feelings. It was still an hour for him to come home.

She wore the same dress she had worn the first time they kissed. She wore the same perfume which drove him crazy. She was waiting for him to come and hold her in his arms and say those special words. She was ready to do everything that would lead them to a happy fairy tale ending.

But what was taking him so long. He was already late by an hour from his usual time. She had to call him, find where he was. She called but he did not answer. “Must be stuck at some noisy station” she thought. She flipped through the album. Pictures are the best way to register memories, even better than the Egyptian way. But after all she did not need them. Every second that they spent together was still fresh in her mind. She shuddered as if he had touched her the first time. But it was not him, it was the wind. She realised she had been dreaming for half an hour now. He still had not called. She called him again but got no reply. She got really worried now. This was not how he behaved generally. She called him up again. After some 5 calls, he finally answered. She asked him “Kahan ho jaana ??”

All she remembered about the conversation was “I am in love with someone else........................”

Sweat, heat, heart thumping faster, shorter and faster breaths and the horrible sinking feeling. How could she feel so many things at the same time? What was happening? She twitched her fists. She felt the cold metal in her ring finger. She sat up straight on the bed and looked straight across. Through the blurred vision she could see his picture hanging on the wall. They had taken this on their first trip to Daman. His eyes had a shine – sparkling love.

The clock struck 8. It was the 4th august. It’s been three months now. Why after all this, she still feared losing him? Love was strange.

“The flowers need to be changed” she thought.

“Awaaz do humko.. hum kho gaye... hum neend se jaage hum so gaye..” was playing loud in the neighbourhood.