How Blue Is My Sapphire!

Being termed “inseparable “is essential in the life span of a relationship. The peers, whether in college or in a corporate or in an extended family, express their approval which justifies the requirement of such relationship too, through this adjective. The requirement is to fall in love…with love…

They were like that. More than the mandatory few months they were inseparable, college friends gaped, colleagues murmured their appreciation and as expected birds chirped away their mirth in cool tree shades.

Then the inevitable. It hardly matters whether it was him or her.

The falling away. The growing apart. Not being happy, together. Discovery or invention of reasons to bid adieu. He cries and moves on. She cries too and moves on too. It is a routine, that way.

Well, Sapphire is blue, coral is red and emerald is green.

He moved away from Pune to Bangalore and mingled in that incessant stream of software professionals, flooding the morning and evening roads, a jetsam on the ocean of city’s populace. One promotion, two increments later, he was married. His wife, another professional in the same mould. One kid and one apartment later, they were there. Considered as “The Arrived”. Oh, of course, there was a sedan too. There is a sense of regret, a sliver of unease when past confronts him. A song both liked, mention of a location, they both visited brought back vivid memories, seldom painful yet intense. He thought of her now and then; not of what could have been but of what was. He thought too, often, what it would be like to meet her and what to say then.

She moved from Pune to Delhi and was at once the toast of the elite, the city is supposed to be full of. Competitive and a competent journalist with a practical approach to life, she was successful. She made it a mission to reach fast where she aimed at. Seven years later, she has a partnership at a media house, membership of more than a couple of prestigious clubs and a latest BMW in her porch. Her marriage became a stepping stone for her ambitions; her husband, a business man. Smart couple. A child has been on the cards, not yet, but.

She thought of him too whenever driving across the wide but unruly roads; after episodes of the frequent road rage brawl, when the Adrenalin bubbles down after the raucous arguments, his smiling face floats in her mind. But no regrets. Memory it was, memory it would be. She knew what to say when and if they meet ever.

A couple parts but afterthoughts and the catharsis that follows make them yearn for a chance to get even with each other.. a chance encounter, to see what happens…to say something that is meaningful or spiteful.

Well, Sapphire is blue, coral is red and emerald is green.

He was on a trip to Mumbai for a meeting with his client. There he was asked to go to Delhi for seeing the client off to London after one more round of negotiation at Delhi.

He was on the window seat looking out at the other aircrafts, staring blankly at the dark asphalt on the tarmac. His client took his seat in the business class and left him to his thoughts. He turned around to ask the air hostess to fetch him a toffee before the flight commences, a habit always criticized by his wife. Smiling at the memory of her reprimanding face, he was about to beckon the air hostess and then froze.

She was checking the seat numbers while walking down the aisle. Age did not catch up with her, he decided. She was slim and elegant. Now she is slim and elegant.

When she finally settled in the seat next to him on the aisle, she perceived his stare and was about to return it with an indifferent smile. She handled it easily. Said “Hi” to a still gaping him. Got out the reciprocatory greeting. A few moments. Then they could hear the flight attendants talking on the public address about the precautions they should take if they land on water etc.

“So, a software pro!”, there goes the bell.

He thought of his unkempt nails which she always used to taunt him about; his graying temples which he thought of dyeing the day before but neglected, his waistline and the everyday resolution to start jogging from the very next day…

“How many years you have been in Bangalore?” her question brought him back to the stiff and straight seat of his flight.

“Five”, he said and thought how pretty she still is. Not to be left out, he asked her a few details; trivia, bordering on the courtesy rather than curiosity.

He matured gracefully, at least as far as looks go, she decided after more than a few cursory glances. Putting on weight is ok especially when one was skinny to say the least almost a decade ago, she smiled to herself.

Then the routine interruptions of hospitality; serving of meals reminded them of how fervently non-vegetarian he was and her veganism back then. After exchange of nuggets of information about each other, both became silent observing each other and their own thoughts. The subject has to be broached, the conversation has to take that turn, risking the cul-de- sac it may encounter.

Uncharacteristically, for them and him, he did try to start, ‘See actually … about that…’. She got it. She responded with what she has been thinking of saying all these years, what she has been training herself for the delivery.

“Don’t try hard. All of us live with our past. All of us allow it to shape our future. But some of us know how to shrug the past. I think that is who I am. So let us go ahead and let go. “

He accepted it with a shrug. He knew she was the stronger of the two. He knew she was right...if only he can accept it completely and let go..With a sigh and a few appropriate sentences, he brought the topic to an end.

The landing spurred him into action. He had to be with the client right from disembarking onwards. He explained that and bade goodbye to her. Picking up his laptop bag from the overhead bin he was the first to walk towards the exit. All the way out from airport to hotel, he did not even think of this meeting. Once alone in the room, he was busy in the routine of arranging the documents for the conference, shower and dressing for the meeting. While he was sipping the coffee before starting out he thought of her, her words and the way the long-awaited showdown happened. Then it passed and it somehow happened to be almost the last time he thought of her.

She was the last one to get up. She leaned out of the window and kept on looking at him boarding the first bus towards the terminal. She felt satisfied and relieved that she told him what she has been longing to tell him since a decade and now she is free… Completely.

He is clumsy still, she thought, seeing him fumble with his bag for the boarding pass. She was looking at the shuttle as it zapped across the field towards the terminal. By the time she arrived at the carousel he left as she expected.

She reached home. Looked at some of the articles for the next edition of her online magazine, fixed up a bath for herself, chatted up with two of her associates about her schedule in the coming week. All through this, his memory was there. When her husband returned from work and walked in, she compared both of them instantly.

After dinner, she was not very communicative; “ very unlike you”, her husband remarked before turning in. As the night grew and the city became quiet, her thoughts turned to him, the past and their past. That was the first night of many such nights when her past came back to her, he to her thoughts….about what could have been…

Well, Sapphire is blue, coral is red and emerald is green. Or is it?

How blue or how red or how green!

How less we know about ourselves!