The Girl On The Roof

How does it feel to fall for someone completely strange? We have read, listened, and watched countless stories and movies about two persons who fall for each other not knowing about it. They say it’s the most beautiful feeling in the world that can’t be defined. Everyone has their own ways to meet their love. Some find it in no time, while others wandered around for a long time to meet their love. And, here I’m a teenage nerd, who loves to read and watch two persons fall for each other but never had a chance to experience this beautiful phenomenon, is waiting for his love.

It’s a beautiful summer night. The moon had climbed up on the east sky shining bright, so bright that one can see his own reflection on the silvery surface of the earth. I looked up at the pale yellowish round shape of the moon in the dark sky, filled with countless twinkling stars but I’d to go back to my house, as my mother called out for the dinner. Soon it’ll be the time to go over the roof and enjoy the milky view in the moonlit shimmering sky with sparkling fireflies; those flew aimlessly over the bushes around my house.

Minutes later I was back, on the roof. My phone clutched in my hand, earphones hanging from my neck. I looked up, countless dazzling stars scattered around in the dark sky trying to compete with the mighty moon, shooting their faint light beams on us. The mighty moon laughed at their foolish efforts to defeat its brightness with their feeble twinkles and I too couldn’t stop myself to smile at their foolish child play.

A bit farther in the northeast, a dark grey sheet of clouds emerged over Mussoorie Mountains moving fast towards the mighty moon to conquer the entire night sky. An intense battle between the mighty moon and the cloud, and hide and seek of moonlight and darkness is about to begin. I stuffed my earholes with earphones and tapped on my phone screen to play ‘James Blunt.’ I chose him to loose myself in the beauty of his immortal voice and the stunning scenery of this summer night. This was the moment and I was there for it.

I don’t know when I started humming out its lyrics, cause the moment I turned west; there was a shadow of someone from the other side of the roof, standing still with no movement, a pair of eyes glowing in the moonlight. The shadow was of a woman with long hair, not sure who she was?

‘Is she my sweet and caring neighbor aunt Rashika?’ I thought but soon realized that she doesn’t like to walk on the rooftop at night and if it was her. She’d have talked to me and probably would’ve been scolded for walking out on full moon night, but she didn’t. So I moved towards the edge of the roof which was parted by a 3 feet high brick wall. I walked close to the shadow pretending to be unaware of her presence, to see the face of the shadow. As I got closer, her facial features revealed that she’s way too young to look like my sweet and caring aunt Rashika. She was the same age and height as mine.

Hi! She waved her hand smiling but the music blocked everything she said.

Hi! I said emptying my earholes to listen to her.

‘Is it James blunt?’ she said looking my face, ‘because you’re humming its lyrics.’

‘Yes yes!’ I nodded hastily; her voice and smile had raced up my heartbeat double-fold. I’d never felt like this before seeing a girl. She’d big eyes with light bluish face, glowing in the moonlit surrounding; her long dense hair had covered entire back.

‘Oh,’ a thin sound came out from her throat, and started gazing at the beauty of the full moon.

I followed her gaze where the moon hid behind a thin sheet of smoky clouds making it half-transparent, ‘pleasant evening isn’t it?’ I asked looking at her face which seemed kind of familiar but didn’t know where?

A silent nod was the only answer I got from her.

I was trying hard to remember where had I seen that face before and cursed my memory. I tried to steal another glance to see her face but couldn’t. Finally, I gave up and decided to ask instead, ‘Um, I was wondering, have we met before? Well, I’m Mukul.’

She shifted her eyes on me, ‘I think you have to figure it out on your own. I’m Manshi.’

She went back looking at the hide and seek of the moon and clouds. Who got a chance to shoot milky rays back on us through a small gap in the clouds and I too had a good look at her glowing face in silvery rays. There was a slight smile on her face and I knew that she know I’m looking at her.

‘Are you aunt Rashika’s relative? Cause I haven’t seen you before?’ the question escaped from my mouth without letting me know and I cursed myself again for asking such awkward questions to a girl I’d met a few minutes ago.

She looked taken back with the sudden question, ‘No no, I’m her tenant,' she looked at the blue portrait on my phone screen and asked, 'do you like James Blunt?’

I couldn’t stop smiling the way she dodged the question and replied. ‘I adore him, do you want to listen to it?’

‘Hell yeah! Who would dare to refuse him?’ a lovely smile spread all over her pale bluish cheeks.

We leaned over a 3 feet wall to rest our bums on it facing each other, close enough to share the ends of earphones. She smelled elegant, it was a unique kind of intoxicating. It was from her and I loved it.

‘What song do you want to listen to?’ I asked looking into her eyes.

‘Anyone,’ She whispered and put her earpiece in her right ear.

I tapped the blue portrait and played ‘Cold.’ As it began to tune itself and then I know where I’d seen her before. I remembered a brown-haired girl on the first day of my orientation session at Doon University. She was sitting alone on the far left corner of the last raw. A novel was barely covering her face, showing her pink pursed lips. Dressed in a black top and blue denim. I sat in the 4th column same raw as her; there was nobody between us then a pair of empty chairs. As I watched her or should I say observed her. Something caught my eye, she looked nervous. Kind of self-centered like me.

Once she had to put down her novel, when a guest lecturer wearing a maroon Sikh turban and black shirt with dark grey trousers and a white dotted tie, moved around us blabbering about his new research findings in the stock market. She caught me staring at her and again she hid behind that book but here I see quite opposite of her, that I’d seen in the orientation session.

When the first song ended and next was about to begin, I whispered without looking at her face, ‘I know where we’ve met before as the guitar began to tune the loveliest song from James blunt as his immortal voice began to pull us into his magical world, ‘My life is brilliant...’

‘Shhhh! Enjoy the song’ she whispered back and soon we both were humming with his voice, ‘you’re beautiful....you’re beautiful it’s true.’ I tried to look into her eyes but couldn’t, why? I don’t know.

Minutes after, when the last song ended from the playlist, she asked me, returning the earpiece.

‘Do you like summer night?’

‘I like every night whenever the moon shines. What about you?’

She stood up, ‘I don’t like the night with a constant downpour,’ and started walking alongside the wall.

‘Oh, so you don’t like the rain?’ I asked standing up to walk with her.

‘No- no it’s not like, that I hate rain, I like it, I like it a lot but you know. It sucks to get wet in the rain. Especially, when there is a lot of things to do and the continuous tip-tip of rain; make me feel like I’m home arrest.’

Her honey-dipped words melted in my brain like cotton candy, each sentence she spoke felt like a verse from the poem and my heart was trying hard to escape from my ribcage. I was struggling to maintain the rhythm of my heart and somehow managed to say, ‘you know, I also hate the rain the way it damages my precious books.’

‘I guess there are more commons things between us.’

‘Like reading novel in the class?’

‘How do you know that?’ she laughed.

‘You said I’ve to figure out own my own, so here I’m,’ I smiled back.

‘And you certainly did.’

‘But there could be more common things between us. I said looking at her beautiful face.

‘How.. about, we find it together,’ she said confidently taking my hand with a smile.

I nodded trying to keep my heart at its place, ‘So, can I pick you up tomorrow morning for class?’

‘That would be appreciated,’ she smiled.

‘Okay then, see you tomorrow,’ I stepped back smiling and waved my hand, ‘good night!’

‘Good night!’ she smiled; she smiled beautifully from her heart and we both went downstairs to our rooms.