YEH DOORIYAN

Ice cream

"Apsara Ice Creams" stood proudly on the other side of the bridge. This one simple shop was hardly anything out of ordinary for most people but for Achintya it was a place full of nostalgia and memories.

This shop had been running from the last several years and had been the highlight of his and Meethi's walks back from school.

They had made several memories in this shop, going there whenever either of them could spare some cash on the hot sunny days of summer.

The shop was known for its eccentric collection of ice cream flavours, offering from the usual chocolate and vanilla to the more unconventional choices like jackfruit, roasted almonds and tender coconut.

Achintya could almost feel himself turning back the wheel of time and slipping into the old days, as his feet led him almost unconsciously towards the much trodden path to the ice cream parlor.

He could hear almost Meethi laughing as she decided what anomaly of an ice cream she would try today. Ever the adventurous one she was. Rarely would she ever have the same ice cream flavour twice, loving the thrill of enjoying new and weirder flavours each time. It would be dried anjir today and shrikhand flavour tomorrow.

Her choices stood in stark contrast to Achintya who himself remained loyal to his chocolate ice cream never so much as daring to choose even vanilla in its' stead.
He could see Meethi shaking her head at the back of his mind, laughing at his conservative choices and playfully admonishing his lack of adventure.

That is how they had always been, so different yet so tight knit. So close yet so far apart. He couldn't have loved Meethi more if he tried yet he couldn't be more unlike her at all.

Perhaps this was the reson Amar detested him. Meethi represented every trait and every quality that Amar had wanted his children to have and Achintya stood in contrast to it. Everything about Achintya went against everything about Meethi and Amar could perhaps not understand how he had ended up with two Children so different, one of whom was to him perfect while the other was full of faults.

But Achintya shook these thoughts away. His mind refused to dwell on these thoughts now that it had been distracted to a different purpose, for the time being atleast.

Achintya entered the ice cream store slowly,his eyes taking in the area. Much had changed in these years. The old benches n chairs with paint chipped off from here n there were replaced by modern polished tables n chairs. The interior was painted in different shades of blue creating layers n waves and an aesthetically pleasing look instead of the old uniform navy blue paint throughout almost.Instead of the old cardboard sign with all the available ice creams listed on it, laminated menu cards were placed on each table.

Time had brought so much change to the place, but to Achintya it remained the old nostalgic shop and every move that he made reminded him of Meethi.

He took a seat at a table to the far corner of the shop and began to stare blankly at the menu, willing himself to read it but his state of mind and overwhelming thoughts preventing him from understanding anything. He had to have gone over the menu for the eight time without having registered a single word when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Startled he looked to the side,to see a store employee smiling at him.The employee had been observing Achintya for 20 minutes and seeing that he was skimming over the reverently but not ordering anything came over to enquire,

"Would you like to order anything,Sir?" He asked with a smile.

"Wha...  Yeah...order" Achintya stammered realising he didn't know what to order as he hadn't comprehended a single word on the menu. This wasn't like him. Achintya was never confused about what to order.
He didn't even need to see the menu to know his order as it always remained the same but today he just didn't feel like ordering his usual. There was an emptiness in his heart and he was looking for a way to fill it up and chocolate ice cream didn't seem like it would provide even temporary solace from the pain.

The waiter smiled again and said," Sir, it's okay if you don't want to order off the menu, we have a few seasonal specials available today if you would like."

" Ye... Yes please." Achintya said, not knowing what else to do.

"Sir we have badam kheer and blueberry smoothie flavoured ice creams available today." The waiter said.

Badam kheer? Who even thought of that and who would even eat such an ice cream? Achintya thought.

Meethi. His mind answered. If Meethi were here, this was the first ice cream she would choose, for her the mantra was the weirder,the better.

Suddenly the ice cream sounded extremely appetizing.

"Um, I'd like to order Badam kheer ice cream please." He said

" Coming right up sir" the waiter answered and rushed to bring up portion of the ice cream.

Achintya dug into the ice cream. He hated badam and he hated kheer but he sighed when he put the first bite into his mouth. The taste was not appetizing at all but it tasted so like Meethi. Every scoop brought back memories of her smile and laughter.
The ice cream wouldn't appeal to his tongue but it seemed to heal his heart a bit.

Feeling just a little bit lighter, Achintya left the ice cream shop.

Quietly climbing into his car,he decided to go back home.

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