Keeping The Spark Alive

Amidst the buzzing streets of the busy Crawford market of Mumbai, on her way to buy essentials, Maya listed out in her mind the preparations for the evening she had planned for her husband Ved, who has been quite a busy nowadays with his stuffs and often ignores her presence, hardly notices her new attire and preoccupied with his tasks, had started living life mechanically. He rarely smiles and does things in tight-roped way. Maya, the suave and subtle lady has been married to Ved for two years now, with her angelic grace, she juggles with home chores, part-time blogging assignments and the knack of managing things in the nick of time and above all loving her husband, unconditionally!

While florist was busy arranging her particular choices, she shuffled the pages in her memory through last week and recollects how tough it had been for her undergoing such a phase where she had almost put her identity on the backburner and was effortlessly engrossed looking after her loved ones that she even unintentionally turned a deaf ear to their happiness. Yes, she and her husband Ved had been almost living a stereotyped routine from the crack of dawn to the dusk. Everything was going with juggling perfection, until last week when she happened to see Ved texting at two in the night. She had then ignored it but had a clue of something fishy. She had been observing since then, he had become indifferent of her presence and whenever he happened to find time, he was found texting or talking on his cell phone. This had been the regular affair now, but she preferred not to eavesdrop and gauge the situation prudently without losing her cool. This was the only thing that occupied major chunk of her mind these days.  After a tiring day, she sat down with a cup of coffee on her chair thinking; what is Ved hiding? Is he having an extra-marital? Or he is simply yearning for the attention that he’s not getting from her? Whom is he talking to these days? The questions had been boggling up the nerves of her mind. She started connecting the dots and accidently happened to see herself in the mirror, she had almost lost the enigmatic charm she used to own a year back, and arrived at a hazy conclusion that the lack of spark in their relationship might be the reason for this change.

 She texted him, ‘Hi baby, had lunch?’ Her inner goddess prodded and asked when was the last he had texted him and the reply she gave herself was a blank look. Ved didn’t reply for almost half an hour. She checked that he had last seen seven minutes ago. Yet no reply! She reined the bulls of her mind and texted again and wished him evening. Again no reply for two hours now and Ved had come home at his regular time without mentioning about her texts, had his dinner and lulled to sleep.  She had been holding this turbulence inside her, sobbed inside the quilt and felt asleep. Maya, the woman of substance, had always been tranquil and thus she decided to deal with circumstances sensibly.

Next morning, she woke up with all the charm and the calmness on her face. It all went like usual until afternoon when she again texted Ved asking whether he had lunch. Her heart was beating with undulating speed. It was an hour now.  She willed herself to not check her phone to see if he had replied. It had been about three days now. She hated that she was constantly checking his 'last seen at' status and yes, he had logged in just five minutes ago. Yet she couldn't stop herself. This sinking feeling to find absolutely no communication from him was becoming unbearable, almost torturous.

And then, just as she sat down in her chair, her phone vibrated. With her heart thudding in her ear, she unlocked her phone and stared at the screen. Finally! It was his message.

But when she opened it and read it, she nearly stopped breathing. She didn't know if he was joking or not. What was this?

It said, ‘Hi sweetie, I was in a meeting. Catch you in the evening. Missing you,’ followed by a winking emoticon. Her excitement knew no bounds after reading that. She scolded her inner goddess for the suspicion and with a blush, instructed her to enlighten the missing spark again. But she was bit suspicious whether the text was meant for her? Instead of intriguing further, she decided to surprise Ved this evening and headed to market immediately to buy all the stuffs.

The roller coaster ride of her thoughts came back to the present and she was rehearsing the series of events in her mind right from the moment Ved will enter the home, things should follow the creamy smooth fineness. From preparing his favourite meal, making him eat with her hand with lovely music playing, to adorning their bedroom with petals and candles with invigorating fragrance, everything was planned.

‘Red and pink roses, lilies and orchids in a bouquet and a bunch of fresh rose petals...this is what you had asked for, ma’m?’ asked the florist interrupting her serpentine chain of thoughts. She nodded, paid him the money and left on her way to buy apples to make apple-pudding, Ved’s favourite!

Glued to his laptop in the office, Ved was sipping his cup of coffee and manages to take off his eyes and closed them for some rest. He was aware of his hectic schedules and inability to spend quality time with Maya, who had somewhere engrossed her so much in the rigorous life that she never even complains and sulks over him. Despite trying his level best, Ved was not able to steal the time out for her. He again texted to somebody, probably to the person he has been talking since many days. ‘Thanks a lot’, it read. By the stroke of some internal voice, today he promised himself of making it special for Maya and their love and had already given her the hint by text. Remembering their honeymoon in the exotic islands of Andamans and the breathtaking ambience, he remembered the glint in Maya’s eyes as they bespoke of Ved’s love. He wanted to see that glint again today. Wrapping up his work with doubled speed and increased focus, his heart beating fast to make it a memorable day, he headed his way to a women’s wear shop and looked for a pretty dress for Maya. Almost after half an hour, he zeroed in on a black off-shoulder knee length dress. ‘Maya would look fabulous in this...!’His eyes twinkled with the thought.

Done with cooking, putting them in serving bowls on the table, adorning their room, she went for a quick bath and getting ready, though there was enough time for her as Ved comes past 9:00 and it’s still 7:30. Maya had thought of wearing anything beautiful she picks randomly from her wardrobe.

In her bathrobe, she comes and dries up hair, applies light make-up and light-brown lipstick. From her vanity case, she picks up the exquisite neckpiece; Ved had gifted her on their wedding night. She opened her wardrobe and heard the door bell. She rushed and looked from the door-hole, Ved was back home! She opened the door and both were awestruck. Maya was surprised to see him reach home before his regular time and Ved looked at her without dropping his eyelashes as she looked extremely sensuous in bathrobe. With a peculiar silence, they both got inside. She handed him a glass of water and to his bubbling excitement and a bit of shyness, he took out a gift wrapped nicely and asked her, ‘This is for you, sweetheart’. She was hailing on cloud nine to see him home early, especially when she had her surprise planned and to add cherry to the cake, this gift from Ved made her extremely happy! She unwrapped it and saw the lovely dress. Their hearts were bubbling with excitement and unspeakable happiness. Ved approaches her, slowly unties the belt of her bathrobe and lets it open, her slender shoulders ready to flaunt the dress. He planted a small kiss on her neck and made her wear the dress, impeccably fitted as it was made for her only. He combs her hair and made her wear the neckpiece. She was looking stunning and fresh like a daisy. Maya loosened his tie and kissed his forehead.

Ved’s happiness was quadrupled when she presented him the bouquet as he was clueless about Maya’s surprise. They sat at the dining table, everything arranged apple-pie order, and the sumptuous meal prepared with love. The fine aroma of the delicacies took away his heart; as they say, the way to a man’s heart goes through his stomach. She made him eat with her hand and their eyes full of love were communicating it all, words had become superfluous. They finished the dinner and the sweet apple-pudding made him kiss her lovely hands and touched them to his eyes. With a pause, Maya looked in his eyes and he understood the unspoken question. She wanted to know about the person he had been talking these days. Ved with his I-am-all-yours look told her that it was his childhood friend Priya who had been counselling him for the bridging gap between him and Maya. She is a relationship psychologist who guided him about the missing charm in their married life, until then he had not realised how important it was to keep reviving the love. And the other day he had intentionally not replied to her texts as he wanted to analyse and absorb the circumstances and had planned this evening for them. Maya took a deep breath as if a storm has just ended, though somewhere she had the unflinching belief that their love can never die, though it had faded.

She stood up and asked Ved to wait for a while and rushed to their bedroom to light the candles. In no time, she came back with her intoxicating eyes that perked him up. He took his lady in arms, gently held her and headed to the bedroom. To his utter surprise, Ved was awestruck to see the room romantically decorated with a heavenly touch. The lights were dim and this made his eyes even more shine over the lovely surprise. He took her to the bed adorned with soft petals, looked into her eyes and hugged her passionately, his happiness knew no bounds and he wanted to feel her closely. The warmth of their bodies made them lost in each other. After a while, he held her beautiful face in his hands and kissed her cheeks, gently touched her lips and their lips got mingled for eternity. They had experienced such high in love after a very long time amidst their regular chores; the romance had somewhere faded. But now they were experiencing a rainbow of love with such an exquisite ambience and timing of things.

Taking her in his lap, Ved took her hair strands and put them aside in the front and kissed her neck. She was holding his hands around her waist. She melted like butter on a hot toast, emanating a delectable aroma of her natural scent and crisp figure that Ved could not take his eyes off her. He laid her on the bed and caressed her. Their bodies were warm with their heats as well as the flames of the candles lit in the room. He kept embracing and she closed her eyes closed now remembering that the things went perfectly fine as planned and this would be a memorable day altogether. And they got entwined in their bodies with the serene surroundings as the candles too had melted. The next morning was fresh and full of extreme love for all the days and years to come. Keeping the spark alive is all we need. That spark will always light the flame of love.