Emotional Ramblings: MaAn

Wings of Silence

Anu wearily wiped away her sweat as she kneaded the dough for making the methi theplas. It was a hot and humid day and her braid had come loose and she desperately needed to drink some of that aam panna she had made the other day. She quickly put the dough to rest as she washed one of her hands and grabbed some aam panna from the fridge and heard her phone ringing near the sofa. Balancing the aam panna in one hand she walked over to her phone and quickly answered it without checking the caller id as her hands were busy. She put the phone to her ear as she walked back to the kitchen and say "Jai Shree Krishna, kon bol raha hain"? There was silence. "Hello, sunayi de raha hain kya?" - she asked again as her attention turned to the open fridge that she had forgotten to close. She bumped her waist against it to close it and took another sip of the aam panna and sighed in delight at the cool, tangy liquid as it poured down her throat. She smacked her lips once before speaking into the phone again as she went to wash her had that still had dough remnants on it.

Anu frowned. That was strange, there was still no sound and as she turned around she nearly bumped into Bhavesh and her phone fell down in the process - "Bhavesh! Tame pan na - dhyaan se chala na! Abi to ghir jaathi darr ke maare.". Bhavesh picked up her phone and placed it on the counter and jestingly joked back - "Anu aur darr? Darr tho Anu ko dekhar hi darr jayega - Anu ko kis ki darr hain? Tum to sab ko darathe ho." Bhavesh teased. And with that Anu answered back - "Main baddi hu Bhavesh, apni didi se aise hi baat karega tu? Rukh main abhi aati hoon - tumhe darr shabd se phir se mulakat karvati hoon."

And with that the siblings continued their banter as Kaanta entered in and all was forgotten about the phone placed on the counter as the merriment increased as Anu was teased mercilessly. Soon Anu returned to the kitchen and picked up her phone and noticed that the phone was still on and looking at the phone she realized that the call was still connected! She looked at the phone in surprise. Who was still on the line after all this time?! She looked at the caller id and her heart skipped a beat - Kapadia ji.

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It had been a good 15 minutes since he called and she pressed her ear against the phone - she couldn't hear much but she could make out some deep breaths on the other side. Her eyes teared up, it was him, Anuj. She wanted to speak to him but something stopped her. She could feel that he just wanted to hear her voice and she realized that, with a twinge in her heart. He wanted her presence around him, even if it was just her voice. So she decided to not cut the call and placed the phone back on the counter as she silently went back to work - humming her favorite song. She would intermittently glance at the phone to see if he was still on the line and he was. Anu continued to chop vegetables and when Kaanta joined her in the kitchen, they chatted amicably about their day and Anu told Kaanta in a lot of detail about all that she had done. How she had reduced the price of peas by a good 20 rupees from the vegetable seller and she giggled remembering how she and Anuj used to shell peas. Anu chatted animatedly about a new dance step she had learnt and a new recipe she had learnt from YouTube that she had made for dinner along with the other dishes. Kaanta proceeded to scold Anu for cooking so many dishes for dinner and Anu spent a good 10 minutes trying to pacify the "Boss" - her Mom as she cuddled into her arms.

Anu didn't realize her phone was running out of charging in the meantime and when she looked at her phone she let out a wail in despair upon realizing that the phone had died. Kaanta and Bhavesh looked on in astonishment as Anu rushed around to find the charger. Anu sighed as she anxiously waited for the phone to switch on. She spent the next half hour looking at her phone waiting for his return call, too nervous to be the one to call him. Finally after some time she gave up and clutched her phone as she went to sleep.