Love In Times Of Curfew

Its 3:30 am and Anwar wakes up for the umpteenth time. The excitement is writ large on his face and it seems a smile is frozen on his face for now. He is always this excited and cannot ever sleep in peace if he has important work the next day. And for sure the thing that is going to happen tomorrow is the biggest thing in his life so far till now.

Flashbacks of his life come to his mind right now. Jannat, that beautiful name, the name etched in his heat as the love of his life. Years before, Anwar was the biggest flirt around. And why wouldn't he be? He belonged to a rich family, had good looks and was athletic. He was Mr. Popular in School. He never had feelings for a girl. He dated many but dumped them like hot potatoes whenever he felt like. Then he had to meet Jannat, the girl who would change his life as he knows it existed.

Anwar had first seen Jannat at some inter-school event. That time he had another girl in his arm and so he did not give much thought about Jannat though he did notice her simplicity and beauty. As fate would have had it, Anwar ran into Jannat again the day before Ramzan in the local market. He was sure he had seen her before but he could not remember where. Anwar had the gift of gab and he always knew what to say to a girl and how to say it. So, he wanted to strike up a conversation with Jannat. He walked towards her to speak to her as she was browsing for clothes at the shop. But when he saw Jannat, it was something else he wanted to say which did not come out the way he wanted. So, the first question he managed to ask Jannat was "I think I have seen you before"-the cheesiest line that a guy could give a girl. But Jannat was different, and she said calmly, "you know I volunteer at the local asylum maybe I know you from there".

Anwar never got such a type of answer from any girl before in his life. And that was it, he knew instantly that he had met someone very special. He had dated many other girls but this girl was really different. He had never known what love was and he still was confused as to why he wanted to talk to Jannat all the time. This was so unusual for him. All the time it was the girls who made a gesture towards him and this Jannat, he was not sure what she was made of. She didn't even care to seem to know that Anwar existed. No girl had ever treated Anwar like this before. He had to run around her for a month before she agreed to go out for a coffee that also only as friends and seriously not as a date. Anwar completely changed after meeting Jannat.

Jannat was someone who was full of ambitions, unlike Anwar who always had an easy life as his family ran a very successful business. Whenever Anwar tried to tell Jannat he liked her, she would always say that she had no time for love. When Anwar tried to get her a very expensive gift, Jannat scolded him saying that she did not want anything that was not earned by Anwar on his own. He still remembers how he to worked as an usher so that Jannat would accept his gift.

 It took really long but then one day Jannar said that if Anwar did something on his own she would say yes. Because of the situation in J&K, Anwar had to give to Delhi to study and m he to leave his hometown Jammu for 2 years.

 During these 2 years, it was really hard for Anwar as he could not see Jannat often but she was always supportive and she kept waiting for Anwar to come back.

 Then one day, after Anwar had his last exam, Jannat had called up to say that due to financial constraints in her family, she was being forced to marry another guy. But then Jannat was calm and she told Anwar that he should come back home immediately, they had planned to elope...a day before the marriage was to take place. So Anwar rushed home and he reached there two days before the marriage date.

That night Anwar was exited. He would drive down to Samba where Jannat's old house was and whisk her away. This was last night Abwar would remain single. He was going to elope with Jannat after all his parents would easily accept his choice. It was really unbelievable for Anwar to think that all this time, he had been always been afraid of commitments and now he was ready to elope with a girl. 

The morning did finally come, and Anwar was getting ready to do the most important thing in his life. He was really happy and kept smiling as he got ready. Just as he was getting ready his mother came to his room and asks him where he was going.

"Well, Mom I am going to get you a surprise, just wait".

"That's okay, son but do you know that curfew have been imposed in the Samba and Kathua areas??