Kolhapur Chronicles

14. future

How does it feel to be listened to?

There is a serious difference between being heard and being listened to. When you are being heard, the person in front of you just lets the words fall on their ears, and then forget about it the moment you leave the room. Your words have no impact on them and all they do is sit there and lend you their pair of ears for you to fill with information. It's temporary, once you are done, the pair of ears may be used for someone else to fill with their set of details, or you may find a new set to rant out.

But when you are listened to, people don't lend you their ears. They take a piece of their heart and place it in front of you, for you to fill your sorrows in them. They absorb every single word in them and let it flow in their blood, returning comfort in the form of their words or actions. They make you realise that there is a part in them that has you, your pain, your sadness, a part that has something which once belonged to you.

They make you feel understood.

That is what Raghav felt.

Pallavi is the most honest person he knows, and when Amma said that she is resilient enough to let people place their point of view before judging them, she was a hundred percent right. The people around him never heard his voice, but Pallavi listened to him and made him realise he was wrong but not as wrong as the world perceives him to be. He was once a kind-hearted person who was misunderstood to the point where he decided that fuck it- if the world wants to play a game, he will show them how it's played.

But she is not a player, and this ain't a game for her.

This is life.

She deserves love.

If there is anything Raghav knows about love, it was ages ago when he saw his Amma and appa, together, in the same room. They struggled a lot in life, yet before sleeping they had a smile on their faces. They always reminded each other how blessed they are to have the other person, and how any difficulty seemed small because of the mere existence of the other human being. He remembers faintly how his appa used to bring a small bunch of flowers from the farm he worked for, weaving them into a garland to place in Amma's hair. The flowers faded in a few hours, what matters is how appa always bought them.

Raghav knew that is love, in the way they noticed each other, they talked, they fought, they argued, in the way they lived life.

And somewhere his heart was drawn to the woman he calls his wife.

He doesn't want to name it love yet because it's still a mystery to him whether he has fallen for her because she is kind to him, or he has fallen for her because of who she is.

Has he really fallen for her?

It would be really nice to watch out for her, protect her and fulfill her desires, come home to her every night and wake up next to her every morning. it sent a wave of happiness through his heart when he thought of them living happily, under the same roof, sharing their troubles, doubts, pains and pleasures. 

Raghav would love to have a future with Pallavi.

His foot hit the base of the pillar on the way, and he was sure if not in love, he would have fallen face-first right here right now, breaking his nose and disfiguring his handsome face. How will she love him back then?

Raghav, calm down. You need to.

Making sure no cloth was stained or fallen down, he walked towards their room again. He had removed all the washed and dried clothes and was now going to fold them, making it a little easy for Pallavi.

"No Charu, the last time I gave blood was almost three months back."

Three months back? He met her almost four months ago, after that when did she donate blood? He had a very close eye on every movement of hers, and his brain could not put up the timeline correctly. Maybe she was bluffing.