The Sour Truth

 

“Where am I?” a loud voice crossed my ears.

“In my heart”, I said with a smile.

“Not this time. Find me if you can,” she replied.

“Are you challenging me?” I said with a slight grin.

“Whatever,” she said and smiled.

I looked around and that place was full of trees. Those giants had big branches.

“Oh, let me listen to her steps. She will surely try to move”, my curious mind started giving me ideas. I closed my eyes to locate her position but was unable to do so.

“What should I do?” I thought and again started thinking.

She was still hiding. The blue sky and swift breeze were washing away all the sadness from the atmosphere.  The tranquillity and serenity were stitched to that present moment. She was hiding, smiling and waiting anxiously for me, to find her. This wasn’t the first instant of our play. Whenever we used to get spare time from our jobs, we would be here, playing and giggling for hours. The atmosphere  here would be so quiet that we could listen to our heartbeat.

“Here you are.” I touched her shoulder.

“What?” She was taken aback. “You must have seen me hiding here. It’s not possible to find me so easily,” she said with naughty expressions.

“I don’t need my eyes to find you,” I said, looking into her beautiful eyes. They were like sparkling diamonds. Those were the most beautiful gems of my life.

“Oh! My Dear Hero now doesn't start another story of fantasy,” she looked at me and shied away.

“It’s not about the movies,” I said.

“Then?” She was surprised.

“You use so much of a perfume that no one needs an eye to find you,” I said and laughed.

“What? Oh no, you are making fun of me,” she said with wide eyes.

 “You are so mean,” she said and punched me.

“Ouch! It hurts!” I said with a painful expression.

“Then take one more,” she said and again punched me. “You should learn to respect your lover,” she said and was about to punch me again.

“Oh God! Save me!” I said and started running.

“Nobody can save you from me. Not even God,” she said and started running behind me.

This was our normal discussion and fun filled talk. We used to fight more than we love, I guess. But that’s how our relationship was. We loved to walk together in such a serene atmosphere like two birds flying under the lonely sky. We never discussed the future. We both had the same line of thought. We believed in the present. Our lives were busy with our jobs and houses. But love is a pure and eternal relation which provides you freedom from worries, even in a congested life. That’s the magic of love which every lover feels. It’s not about leaving everything else, running away from your responsibility towards your near and dear ones. It’s about a new touch of bliss which intensifies with time and dissolves inside your soul. Something that turns you more responsible and sweeter towards everyone connected to you. We both knew that we were together for so many years and yet tied to the same thread. We understand each other and rarely try to tie the other half in fake promises and cunning desires. And till today we believed in the present.

“I am tired,.” I said and stopped running.

“Me too,” she said and stood close to me.

“Okay, then let’s sit there,” I said pointing towards the bench.       

 “Yes,” she held my hand and we started walking towards the bench.

That bench was an ordinary bench. But then everything is ordinary until we make it special. For example, if no-one buys a diamond then what value will it have? That bench was at the corner of a square shaped park. The edges were covered with trees and under each tree there was one bench to sit. 20 steps ahead of that bench, there was a spree of water fountains. The splashing water used to touch our feet and we used to enjoy that. An instant smile used to cover our lips and she used to put her head on my shoulder. We sit like this for hours.  

“I miss you a lo,” I said while touching her hair. Those magical black hairs were covering her so reddish lips as if clouds were trying to hide the sun.

“Me too,” she said while bringing her lips close to my ears.

There was something in her voice. I used to get instant relief from hearing her, no matter what she would say, there would be serenity in her tone. May be because I loved her or she loved me. I always wanted to sit close to her. Her presence was enough for me to believe in myself. Even if she was silent at times, it feels like an eternal relief by just realising her presence.  

 “So, have you learned anything new?” She inquired.

“Yes, I tried a new tune. Would you listen to it?” I asked.

“Yes of course, ” she said and was keen on instrumental music.

I used to carry the instrument and she loved to see and hear that. That was a simple guitar and I wasn’t that great at playing the instrument. Few tunes and few leads, that’s it! But she listens to it as if I am a great guitarist and had a potential to hypnotise everyone around. For the next hour, the music and the notes were all around the atmosphere. What can be much more soothing than this? She was attentive and at times was singing along with me.  Her voice was so sweet that I used to stop playing my instrument. She tells me to continue playing and we used to sing together.

“You play so well.” she said hugging me.

Her hug had the warmth which melts my senses into love. When you hug someone with all your love, then that love transmits inside their soul. Such transmission was there in her hug. I forget everything during that memorable second. “No, it’s all because of your sweet voice” I whispered into her ears.

“No No No! It’s your guitar that makes me feel so light that I want to fly in the air. It takes me to a world of togetherness where we sit together forever and that’s what reflects in my voice” She said with a smile. Her natural smile was the proof of her truth.

“Okay, Madam! How was the new tune?” I asked her.

“Wow, that’s so amazing, I will write a song for this tune for sure,” She said in excitement.

“Really?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes, I will,” She said and a loud voice broke our sugary talk.

“Oh, I guess it’s time to go,” I said, listening to it.

“It’s fine, we will meet again,” she said and we hugged each other.

 

That sound was a loud bell, a sound that comes from a factory nearby that park. This was to signal the completion of their morning shift and our meeting. Every week we meet at this place and then we walk till the land of trees. After coming back from there, both of us would spend time talking, till the factory bell rings.

“Okay, then let’s go,” I said and held her hand. We started walking together and after 15 minutes she moved towards her destination.

I left her and started walking towards my destination. The road alongside which I was walking was too busy and noisy, but I was all lost in those moments of love and togetherness. We meet every week and share our life with each other. During the start, it happened sometimes that one of us wasn’t able to reach on time. But we would meet next week and then settle our anger with love. Whenever I think about her, a smile conquers my lips.  As I was moving ahead with her thoughts, I started feeling thirsty. I looked around and found a water tank nearby. That was just opposite to the place from where we parted a few minutes back. I washed my face and was about to drink water when suddenly a heavy hand struck my shoulder. I turned around and saw a man in anger looking towards me.

“I was screaming for the last two minutes. Can’t you reply?” He said. His face was red in anger.

I shook my head, giving a negative reply.

“You are making fun of me,” he said in a harsh tone and was about to fire more bad words on me. He stopped as he heard the voice of a shopkeeper behind him.

“He is telling the truth, Sir,” the shopkeeper said.

“What?” That man looked at me in pure disbelief.

My eyes were slightly wet. My eyes weren’t wet only because of my washed face, but that was the wetness of a blunt truth realised again through this incident. That man also realized the truth and apologized to me like a good citizen. There is no harm in apologizing to someone who is blind or deaf. We sympathize with them because we know they are not a part of our race. They are creatures which are punished by God. So we sympathize with them. I started walking towards my destination.

“Is this true? I mean, he can’t speak?” that man asked the shopkeeper again.

 “Yes, that’s true”, the shopkeeper said.

“But a girl was talking to him when he left her on that side of the road,” he was still in surprise.

“That girl can speak, so she was speaking,” the shopkeeper said.

“But why she was with him, I mean are they old friends,” he said

“No, they are much more than friends,” the shopkeeper said with a smile. His eyes were slightly wet.

“What? But she is so beautiful; she can have anyone in her life,” he said.

“No matter how beautiful a girl is, no-one can bear the pain of a deaf bride,” the shopkeeper said.

“Oh my god! She is deaf?” He said in utter disbelief. When he looked at them together from this side, he wasn’t able to make out this ugly truth.

“Then how they communicate with each other.” He was really keen to know.

“The girl is perfect in reading body language and expressions and the boy is perfect in lip reading,” the shopkeeper said. “They communicate with each other without any problem. It’s only us, who are unable to understand their bonding and their understanding because of our narrow mind,” the shopkeeper said with a sigh.

“But then what about guitar, means she would haven’t heard the voice of the guitar?” That man wasn’t able to hold his excitement.

“Do you really need to listen to something to enjoy, she actually reads the expression of the boy. The boy plays the guitar with his whole heart, dedicating it fully to her. She could grasp that dedication with his expression and that’s how she enjoys the music,” the shopkeeper said and started walking to attend his customer.

“Wow,” that man was still in surprise and he started walking towards the bus stand.

 He was still rewinding all those incidences starting from his anger and ending in a surprise. This incident made him think about the cruelty of humanity. Everyone is our competitor and everyone can take away something. We are so obsessed with our so called normal lives that we forget that there are so many people around us who needs to live with their identity. We should treat them at par with everyone else. Are we all grown up completely? Do we count the inability of scoring in a subject as disability, do we count the failed relation as a disability, and do we count being rich or poor as a disability? If not, then why we count such people as disable? If we look from one angle, then we all have some disability, may be physical or mental or social or economic or emotional. Then why we differentiate lives to make them suffer more. As he was thinking about this the bus honked. He looked at the bus, sighed for a second and entered the herd of normal disability.