The Unending Journey

There was this girl on whom I had a crush upon since first day of first year in college. First sight infatuation infact. Nothing more or less was I able to think about, except for those dimples on her cheeks. But I was a geek. I never had courage to be completely free with any girl except my own sister. The days of the college gradually passed. I talked to her once but she had me blocked. So all the doors were closed. Eventually we were out of college. I was placed in a reputed group of companies. She was from another branch. I never would have known about her placement as well. But fate had something else for me. I used to ride to various sites of our company on my own SUV. Generally they were located in countryside. On one such fateful day, I still remember, I was called at one of the famous sites of our company. It was about 80 km away from a famous city.

I went there and was shocked ! The first person I saw there was the girl which I never forgot since last 5 years. The girl I always cherished in my heart of hearts. And the fate had it, she was in same firm as me but, in a different department. We had a continuous work schedule for almost 18 hours continuously. That day my fate had been blessed by god himself. When on leaving my site after humongous work load, she asked me for providing lift to the district headquarters from where she was having her train scheduled. As I was one of the last persons leaving the site and coincidentally she had also finished her department's work in the last place, I agreed. The skies were getting cleared as it had been raining in the place continuously for last 6 hours. The place was a sort of hill station, so rains were incessant. But now by around 5 pm, our work was over, clouds started drifting away and peeping sunlight guided us on our way. We left the hilly area and we're on our way to the district headquarters. The road was flooded on both sides by beautiful flora and fauna. The opened window panes were guiding small quanta of air streams on the cheeks, almost pleasantly tickling them. Also it carried the fragrance of soil that has just undergone rains, it was really soothing my smell. Also the music that was playing in my cell phone's main playlist, which was synced to the android speakers of my vehicle, adjusted to a moderate volume, added more to the healing effect. It had almost been 25 kms away from our site and I was almost relieved off the stress by the beautiful music and nature. Then came my favourite song, a fusion of two beautiful songs by Ayushmann . A mixtape version of two of his own most beautiful songs "Yahin hu mai " and "Mera mann", in his own magnetic voice, with extra beats.! As the song began, after a few lines, I decided to change the gears of my vehicle.

As I was habitual of gearing my SUV without looking at the gearhead, I placed my hand on the gearhead ......but this sensation was different from that obtained from your hand touching a rough gear head . It was soft as velvet, I realised, this is the sensation of a hand, the hand which I always wanted to hold in my hand, those nails whose marks I would gladly bear on my back as those delicate arms embraced me, those braces in which I want my entire existence to be merged. In a fraction of seconds, my mind was flooded with currents of thoughts. I gently placed her hand on her lapse as I was the DRIVER and adjusted my mirror in such a position as to have a continuous glance at the moon appearing in the daylight, sitting immediately on my left side. Then I realised those beautiful eyes were closed. She was asleep. Her head had tilted slightly towards my side. The gradient it provided as well as the naughty air resulted in a strand of her hair falling down from her upper forehead to her cheeks and ending on her upper chin. The lyrics of song "Mera mann kehne laga" resonated with my mind. The second fiddle song, "Yahin hun mai" gave me goosebumps as if she was pretending to be asleep but wasn't actuall . Instead she was calling out to my sensation to hold her face in my palms. To those lyrics her breath repeated to me, I answered "Kahin na gaya tujhe chhod ke mai". We were now very close to each other. So close and so ecstatic that my soul was saying to her "Paas aake na tu dur jaa". Fate gave me courage or may be the god himself, my hand gradually slid up her face, corrected her strand beyond her left ear, and it went to her side neck on the right side, gently caressed and stroked her cheek, and then came back to its place on gearhead . Those musical lyrics, "Tujhse hi to mili hai rahat , Tu hi to meri hai chahat ", it felt like in being in solitude with her all the way, were coming out of my mind, heartbeat providing it's rhythm and our souls dancing to it. Eventually I dropped her at her location, we exchanged contacts .!!! The journey ended . But only the bodily journey !! Mind never wavered from her feminine charm and beauty. "Teri yaadein hai kuchh jaroori".

Infact, that journey gave me courage, opportunity and paved the way for our long and unending journey together. Today, after being together as a family for almost 2 and a half decades, I'm standing before our 22 year old son. His face makes me remember the beautiful face of his mom. But after his confession to me regarding him having deep crush on his classmate girl from a different community, the state of ecstasy that his mind enters on remembering her, I realise that he's my son after all. He knows the difference in the parental ancestries of his mom and dad. His dad being a Maharashtrian Brahmin and his mom being from a well known culture belonging to a land engulfed by five great rivers on the foothills of Himalayas. He senses the similarity between mine and his conditions. Our continuous question answer series makes me remember every beautiful moment I spent with my better half. Those 4 minutes from our first SUV outing changed my life drastically from awful to awesome. Those are the moments which I'll continue living within throughout my life. To accomplish that, I don't need a time machine, because I have cherished them deeply to the core of my heart, my being and will continue to cherish them until my last breath on earth.