Long For

Sillunagar

“Why not? You are welcome, as my parents had gone to work for a few days outside, I hope the maid doesn’t disturb you now,” her friend said. We were at the house of her friend Bibha, she gave a warm smile to both of us and gave a big hug to Amrita.

"You have to surprise me this way now?" She said and grinned.

"After surprise, if the person welcomes us home it would be good," Amrita taunted her, she laughed out on this and let us both enter, with a brief conversation we both introduced ourself to each other, Amrita helped us to get more comfortable with each other, she was being the third wheel to mine and Bibha friendship, Bibha was a healthy girl, who had a lovely smile, she seemed a pure soul who welcomed everyone and would never think bad about anyone, she was a devotee of God, she had many statue of them in her home, she had particular time just to go and do the prayer and she wouldn't miss any, she gave me the room of her parents and she and Amrita lived in her room, it was a better thing to do so, when I asked Amrita how many more days she is going to spend here as we wrongly dropped ourself here, she was firm in saying "For a week? Don't you see the beautiful snowfall? I want to enjoy this moment," and even she called up her dad with that old telephone which was the hardest to dial a number, swing it to the number you want again and again from zero, she told that she is with her friend Bibha and would be coming back to home in a week, she even said that Bibha is lonely and she is here to help her stay, she lied, we were the uninvited guests over the place.

One day, while there was heavy snowfall going on, three of us sat in front of the window and saw the snowfall while having a cup of tea. All of a sudden, Bibha remembered something and went to her room and brought in some photos.

"Look, these are some of the photos for the candidate whom I can select as a husband in future," she said and passed the photos to Amrita.

"Don't get married this early," Amrita said out and passed the photos back.

"Don't worry, these are just a few photos, the preparation has begun, it will take some years, I will keep on rejecting," she said and grinned.

"So after a point without even asking you, they will select a boy of their choice and get you married," Amrita said.

"I hope not, let's not give me a nightmare now, please look into the photos," she said and passed the photos back to Amrita. She looked at the photos, there were some boys my age with little moustaches posing in front of the camera with either nervousness or big smiles which looked fake like anything.

“I hope the dowry isn’t asked by the jackass people” Amrita sighed.

“My father hates it, I am thankful to have a father like that, even before going out on a trip talks about my marriage were on, we even visited that man’s house but when he told that he would like to take dowry from us, my father got up held my hand we we both got out, even after that those moron didn’t get and kept on saying ‘How will you get your girl married without a dowry? We are asking for such a less amount’ I had a pure form of hate for them and my father had even better reply for them he said that ‘it is better for my little girl to stay unmarried than getting her married with money, I ain’t selling my daughter, morons,’ that words touched my heart,”

“You got a really good father, I don’t know when the government will actually punish these people for asking dowry from the family of girls,” Amrita said. That line hit me, it actually gave me a short story to think about, about a person who fights with the government for an anti-dowry act, I had a smile on my face thinking about the story.

“What is it, Palash babu? Why is there such a big smile on your face?” Amrita asked, somewhat teasing me back again. “You need to marry me without any dowry, understood?” then she laughed, I wasn’t reacting much. I was into the thoughts, with the first story of my life which I can write down. I was on the top of the moon.

“Okay, I didn’t allow two love birds to be here…Amrita, do your parents know about the love blossoming between you guys?” Bibha asked. Girls had a lot of interest in all of this for sure.

“My Dad knows him, he worked for him when he was 6-7 years old, we never actually met each other, I think if I even try to tell him, he would accept it, what do you think, Palash?”

“Huh? About marriage? I am still trying to understand love, get a job, we can’t be getting married this soon,” I said.

“You love me, right? Please say yes just for my satisfaction,” she said.

“You guys are getting a  lot of freedom over here, I dare you to talk like this to each other in Ulaspur, you will be fired by all,” Bibha said, but waited for my reply.

“I do, how someone cannot, that is my question,” I said and made her blush.

“You know this man is becoming a writer, I bet his will be successful, he gets this kind of line again and again and makes me blush,” Amrita said and held Palki’s hand.

“That was a nice one, Palash babu,” Bibha said and bit her lips.

“Stay away from him, you witch, look at these photos, not him, he is mine,” Amrita said and passed the photos back. I was living one of the best times of my life here, I got to know that sometimes the wrong roads also bring you to the correct destination.

"My father bought a camera a few weeks ago, let us take a photo together?" Bibha said.