2 Plates Panipuri

Her whole family had come to their hometown. Her elder sisters, her brother, her uncle, her aunt, her cousins, their children. It was her nephew’s wedding, after all. The whole family was together after a long time.

Most of the functions had happened before she arrived. Not that she didn’t want to attend them but she was traveling by air this time. And checking her luggage in, going through security check and traveling alone wasn’t really her thing at this age. So, she clubbed her travel dates with me. For company, you know.

The journey was quite interesting, if you ask me. After boarding the delayed flight, hesitantly speaking to a VIP whom she has known since she was a little girl till we reached just in time for the mehendi and the pseudo sangeet. The world was a happy place that day.

Of all the people I’ve known over the years, she’s one of the few beautiful souls I’ve come across. Optimistic, cheerful, ever-smiling. She cooked, she served, she ate, she laughed, she joked. Pouted for selfies with the bachcha party, sat down and had tea with the elders. Everyone adored her for a reason. And the rest, for no reason at all.

Life wasn’t a walk in the garden for her. Right from getting married to someone she didn’t particularly like to her nagging in-laws to the untimely death of her husband. She was too young to face any of those. But she did. And she beat life at its game, in her own stride, every single time.

It was now after so many moons that she was happy. Her son got married. Her daughter-in-law was more like a daughter she never had. And she was about to become a grandmother. She smiled till she cried. She ate what she liked. She wore what she liked. And she went wherever she felt like. What else she could have asked for?

Or so I thought.

A day before the big wedding we sneaked out of the brouhaha, just for fun. We took auto rides through long forgotten gullys, did some street shopping, ate guavas with salt and chilly powder. Oh, it was the best day! And then she asked, “Panipuri?” And next thing I know is we’re heading towards this really famous panipuri wallah.

“Teekha ki medium?”, he asked before he started serving us morsels of heaven. I was stuffed after three but I wasn’t going to let go of the remaining three. After both of us finished our plates, I had the look that suggested that I had attained nirvana. But she asked me, “Another round?” And that’s when it hit me. Who eats two plates of panipuri on a normal day! And I realised that maybe behind the happy, chirpy face was a girl, who was now too tired to put up a fight against life.

Hang on, dear. Forget your failures. Forget that you fell. But don’t forget to get up, dress up and show up. The way you always do.