Sugarless Love(Part 2)

He added those two spoonfuls of sugar like a tradition,and stirred.
She watched him peacefully,as if the clanking sound he created,was music to her.The way she looked at him had changed,it was warmer now,but he still wasn't sure of what her eyes said.
Evidently she had a history,ofcourse a sob story,which she was either  too chocked up to speak of,or had swallowed long back.
He had dared to ask her about her past once,but the result was 2days of a quieter silence than ever.So he never attempted to botch the effort so far,by poking her again.
They(Mostly he) spoke about the winds,the weather,the birds and only sometimes, as a respect to human race,about real people.
One fine day,she came up to him and was about to place that cup of tea on the table infront,when he suddenly grabbed her hand,and nimbly pulled her towards himself.
"Marry me!"
There was an air of frostiness.
He had anticipated rejection,opposition,surprise..etc,but none of them happened.After about a minute(seemingly decade) of stillness ,she carefully kept the cup on the table.
"I'll bring sugar....and...
and ...I'l think about it...."
That was enough to bring a smile on his face.He did a little imaginary 'celebration dance' in his mind and immediately started picturing her in a beautiful bride's attire.

After he left,she sat down calmly in one corner of her hut and re-illustrated the whole last month in some split seconds to herself.It had been a long time,this fitted rightly into her life's jigsaw.
She knew what she had to do.She looked at herself in the mirror,and a mild smirk came back.

He came early the next morning.Having unslept the longest night of the decade,his eagerness for a response was sparkling in  his eyes.She was busy doing her daily chores when he directly rushed into the kitchen,a li'l kid's soul had entered his body..

"Hey...u thought??"
"You came early today.."
"Yeah...u thought abt it??"
"Wait outside...I'll make tea"

Whenever she said something,it was more of a command than a suggestion,so he didnt bother to retaliate and obediently took his usual seat.He had not just proposed HER,but also PATIENCE to marry him..and stay together for the rest of his life.
 She came with the cup,and instead of placing it on the table,gave to him directly and sat down beside him.
He was surprised!,since the last one month...this was the first time there was an alteration in the sequence of events today.It must be a sign.

"And sugar??"
"Its already there...I have made it"...she said it with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

He didn't feel the need for a response now.Her eyes,her smile...the sugar...everything spoke.It spoke loud and clear for him,or may be he just heard what he wanted to.
She eyeballed ,as he drank the tea sip by sip.

It was a love-eye lock and suddenly his eyes didn't blink,
his hands started shivering and he felt breathless,choked...he tried to shout or speak,but the voice stopped midway.
The cup fell from his hand and BROKE!
In an attempt to reach for her,he stretched his hand and within a couple of seconds gave up....gave up for good.
She serenely got up,saw him,touched him and confirmed there was no breathing.
Picked up the broken cup and walked towards the washing area.Cleaned it carefully and wiped it
And finally neatly placed it with the rest of the broken cups in the basket...

There was still space for more...she thought....and the smirk came back..


THE END

Sugarless Love (part1 )

After travelling for 40kms up and down the hills, he finally delivered his last package for the day.He pulled out a hankerchief  from his pocket, and wiped off that one drop of sweat on his forehead, that had managed to loom despite the chilling winds.While cursing the day when he took up this part time job of a delivery guy,he started his scooter and hopped on to go back.The high altitude had turned his throat into Sahara desert,so he began looking around for  some place to quench his thirst....for water ofcourse!.At a visible distance he saw a board
'Sapna Tea stall'

As if living in  her own climatic region of some sort, under that almost broken hut like structure,she was draped in a thin cotton sari and and a namesake shawl sprawling between her neck and shoulder.
She heard the sound of a scooter approaching and got up to greet the customer.

"Excuse me...can I have a glass of water??"
She looked at him in the eye..and without an inch of expression said..
"Sorry Sir...we serve only tea..no water"
"And how do you make tea without water?"
He expected a smile,but got none.She kept gazing at him as though her eyes were too tired to blink.He couldn't comprehend the situation or her body language,so quickly ordered for one cup of tea..to jump the awkwardness.While sitting on the one single piece of furniture in the proximity,he watched her making tea.
It took him more than one glance to appreciate her beauty,and once he arrived at it,he realized ..she was too pretty to be alone.
With the extra vigilant senses that a women is blessed with,she could feel him staring from the corner of her eye.She brought the tea to him,and kept it on table in front.With his eyes locked elsewhere,he picked it up and was about to drink when she said
"Wait!"
She rushed inside and brought a bowl of sugar and spoon and placed it in front of him.
"Please add sugar to taste....the tea is sugarless"
He smiled.In his mind he imagined a bollywood scene with 'sarson ke khet' and violins playing in backgroud and considered saying  something like...it must be sweet already,you have made it and blah blah...but with her face going from cold to chilled..he erased the  theorization .
He drank it as slowly as possible to delay the end.He made one or two futile attempts to strike a conversation,and after hell lot of perseverance managed to get a few nods and a teeny-weeny smile.
Despite minimal exchange of words,he learnt that she lived there alone and was content with the amount of money she made my this small tea stall.
She was in her late twenties,but her face was stuck up at a younger age.A few wrinkles here and there gave away what her seemingly innocent eyes were trying to hide.
He stood up to place the cup in the washing area,but she almost  snatched it from him and went ahead.He followed her, to keep the wordless conversation on.
Near the sink,he saw a bunch of broken cups neatly placed.
"Hey...these are broken...you don't throw them??"
As expected..she said nothing,answering in one go was against her practice.
"these are broken..."
She looked at him,almost through him..
"those are....those are memories..."
She was too interesting and beautiful to be not met again.

He now made sure that he would grab all the parcels to be delivered in that area.Now winter,cold breeze etc,didn't bother him.She was magnetic!
He would sometimes drink 2-3 cups of tea in a row...just for her to be there.And she was growing fond of him too.She had graduated from 'nods' and 'smiles' to actual sentences.

It had been a month...and they met almost daily.For him,it had crossed the levels of attraction...it felt Love
For her....he didnt know...

To be continued....

Dhakka laga bukka...

It will be suffocatingly monotonous at times and yet surprise you everyday, it will constantly push you forward and yet hold you like it's own,it won't ask you your name but will remember your face ....a million heartbeats reside here,survive here.live here..die here and fondly call IT 'Amchi Mumbai'.

No, I cant explain this city to you in a few words..I am too naive for that,I am just one of that crowd who doesn't belong here but has felt Mumbai's warmth, to the extent of its sweat!
Here's just how one day...Mumbai welcomed me,pushed me,hugged me,grabbed me,threw me and in the end patted my back for having made it alive :)

I have heard a thousand stories and a million experiences about Mumbai local trains,but had never really experienced the real journey.Every time I tell people that I have been to the city quiet a number of times,the first question that pops up is,"have u been in the local" and I always wondered that I have traveled in the ever so infamous DTC buses n no. of times,how different/bad could this possibly be??(Now i laugh at myself for having compared the two).So i thought ..big deal....lets do this!.Took a couple of directions,and with a little jabbing from here and there which was as good as walking in the clouds by Mumbai standards,i got into the local,which was going from some place to Andheri.
I didn't get a place to sit,hence i declared it crowded.My bad!
I proudly completed my journey and walked up to one my frnds ,acted a bit fagged out but not exhausted and casually said....
"dude..i traveled in YOUR local train today...it was damn crowded....but i did ok...no big deal"
With the end of that sentence I was about to take a bow for my accomplishment....but nobody seemed impressed.
"Crowd!! at this hour...and on dis route....u gotta be kidding me!" and they giggled at my slapdash attitude of not understanding the nervous system of this city.
In the next few minutes i was told a couple of ground rules
1.if you can see through the train....it is NOT crowded at all
2.if you are in control of all your body parts...it is NOT crowded.
3.if you are able to get off at the station that you intended to...it is NOT crowded.

Second attempt.
This wasn't intentional...but i guess someone up there granted me this one trip to fill up the lacunae in my consume..once and for all.
Considering the number of people on the platform,I was already jittery about what was about to follow.I did a bit of warm up,some stretching followed by some self motivation and while i was still in my 'ready steady' mode,the whole population of Mumbai appeared from everywhere and pushed me to 'Go'.

 Cannot see through the train...check


So I was inside,not that I had a choice.I had a bag on my shoulder...and carrying luggage with you in the peak hours is CRIME...mind you, I repeat Crime!!
Now there is a magical expectation,that as soon as you get on the train...either you should get down at the very next station or magically fly(coz moving/walking is practically impossible) to some place where you and your rejected luggage would cause minimal hindrance.
After having being abused from all the four sides,the lady standing in front of me clearly read the baffled expression on my face and said "Push me hard...so that you can move ahead".Those were the rules of the jungle i guess.Although I did more of falling on her than pushing her,she passed it on...and the chain reaction took me to some place where I could  breathe the amount of oxygen required  for survival of a non-Mumbaikar.

Not in control of all your body parts ....check


There should be a warning like on cigarrette packets "Travelling in mumbai local could be injurious to health" or atleast some special demo sessions should be held for the first timers,where you could go in a simulator of some sort,I wish I had a health insurance before I got in...with all those slew of thoughts juggling in my mind,I heard the lady next to me ,asking each and every 'seated'(pichle janam ke punya honge)passenger about their destination,and booked her seat accordingly.
I was pleasantly stunned by this concept of 'booking your seat' and how religiously people followed it.No matter how far you are from your booked seat , nobody else will take it ,out of respect for this unsaid regulation.
I cannot imagine this happening in back in Delhi by any chance ever.

Now with the weirdest names on earth that places in Mumbai have, like Dombivali,Kandewali,Borevali etc...I somehow figured that my station was next and although ,i had my research in place, but I forgot the basic convention,that one should start moving towards the Exit atleast two stations prior to one's destination.Any effort now would have been futile...so I stood there comfortably(yeah..I could move both my hands,it was luxury!) and got down at the easy option...the last station.

Not able to get down at the station you intend to ...check


Finally I succesfully completed my 'mumbai-certified' experience.....peace!



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