RAG DOLL: a toyish love story

7: YOU'RE A RAG PICKER

The door moved back and forth without making any noise. He did the same with other doors.

Today he decided to warm up the house. Gradually he had cleaned each room and now it was his turn to galvanise the junk.

The matter of buying property was settled and now he did not have any work other than repairing his house and pestering Palak until he left the place.

Today was Sunday and she had her routine on to do the social work as it was a holiday for the children and herself too. She had called him in the morning to earn some punya before leaving the earth but he had excused himself to restore his house. Now he had to catch her within half an hour or she would explode his house.

He had decided to repair the next crumbled house in the backyard too but would do it if Palak left his bone uncrumbled today.

Rinsing the grease from his hands he took out the old cycle from the garage and checked the bell if it was ringing properly which he had fixed up just the day before yesterday.

Paddling the cycle he moved on the sun-kissed route. Lazy morning winds were fondling his hair. He remembered thee time when his father got him a new cycle and he had a competition with his friends to prove his one was the best and expensive. They used to tear apart the wind, chase the sunbeams and run behind the clouds. Those were the golden days.

As he had decided to relive all or most of the moments of his childhood, he had decided to give a bicycle ride to Palak. The simple and earth-loving girl she was, she must be the happiest to breathe along the breezes.

Yesterday he got upset when a random thought hit his sleep. A month and more has completed since he was staying here. He had lived more than he expected. He received frequent calls from his family to return. That only meant he was not going to live longer with her. One day might be next week or the next one he needed to leave for Delhi. He couldn't stand this departure. There will be no smile of her little face, no scolding and no tantrums of her. Life wouldn't be the same for a huge length of time. It was itself a puzzle for him if he would be able to arrive at this village ever again. They would be separated for an unlimited and unclarified period.

It was not like they would not remain in contact through social media but gradually the conversation and the contact will be automatically reduced. He would get busy with his work and she would merge into her life and they would forget the bond. The thought was painful but it was practical. It was almost impossible or seen as negligible in cases when you get back the person in the same form the way you had met them or left them.

He hadn't discussed his leaving with Palak. She was very happy these days around him. She might get upset or...cry hearing this piece of news. And he could stand anything but her joyless face.

Sometimes he felt he shouldn't have met her in the first place and grew the tender relation between them when it was already crystal clear they couldn't hold it long.... but some of the times he didn't regret it at all. It was one of the best things that happened in his life after years. If he had met Palak 5-6 years back then her presence and absence possibly wouldn't have bothered him much. But now.... her one pair of assuring eyes meant the whole world to him. When he was broken inside; when he was hopeless and defeated.

Living in a huge city like a loner with no love and affection from people was more dangerous than it appeared. He never stopped smiling after whatever was ongoing in his life rather it only caused irreversible damage and nothing else.

Not only after his break up but when he was with Malini, he had gone through many events in life and endured much but he never shared it with Malini. He feared it would upset her little loving world. Previously when he used to share his problems with her she used to stay depressed about the disturbances in her love life because of the outside disorders. So he stopped sharing tidbits with her. The fragile heart of your lover costs more than anything.