Under the shade of love

In the coffee shop-I

She looked at her watch. Aryan was late. They met every Thursday at five pm to catch up. Their conversation lasted for hours. Sometimes at the cafe, sometimes in her car, sometimes in places that she could never tell her friends about. They would never understand. And yet Aryan made her happy.

Suddenly her phone beeped. He had sent a message. "On my way. Have something important to tell you."

Gayatri stared at it and realized she had knots in her stomach. Thoughts flooded her mind. What did he want to tell her? Gayatri always used to imagine a life in which Aryan was with her, in every moment, at every stage. Gayatri always led a shelled, cocooned life being brought up in a very conservative family where girls are meant to be bounded inside boundaries. Strictness sometimes leads to rebellion and sometimes wretchedness. She never enjoyed her life. There were always glints of pain in her eyes but the day when she met him everything changed, just like the dry land changes after showers of rain. Such is the power of a true love. It creates you. It makes you. It gives a chance to live life and to feel life. Both Gayatri and Aryan were exactly opposite as far as nature, tastes, thoughts and are one was dark and other was fair.
She believes in philosophy and he in science. And in harsh blunt words of Indian society, he was dalit ( depressed classs) boy and she was a Rajput ( upper class) girl.
The soft music, the cool vibrant fresh air and the serene touch of the coffee shop was making the evening pleasant rather one can say beautiful. Gayatri was fiddling her fingers, obviously not waiting for her cup of coffee. The voice of the artist performing live was really mind-blowing and the album was also great.

I know it is life,
I know I have to live,
But what about the heart?
who repeats,
Life is not life,
Without you.
The glass panes of coffee shop's wall were getting wet with the water droplets because of the foggy weather outside. Sluggishly and slowly water droplets were oozing and that was the state of their minds, it was also filling with foggy thoughts and reminisces of two beautiful years they spent together. "Don't worry, you will find a very good person who will make you realize that life doesn't stop for someone. Aryan grasped her hands and tried to console her.

I know it is world,
I know I am a traveller,
But what about the heart?
Who says,
Journey is incomplete,
Without you.

Gayatri peeked through the window, bunches of grey clouds were roaming, were turning darker and water droplets were still sprinkling from sky that was now looking dreadful.

"How easily you said all these things Aryan. I can't even believe my ears. I always thought that you are a strong man but you proved me wrong Yes, I was wrong." She almost shouted after taking out her hands from his grip. Tears rolled down on her reddish cheeks. She was unarguably very beautiful .Her gorgeous warm, almond shaped eyes were filled with limpid water.

"Yes I am not strong Gayatri. I am not strong enough to see dark futures of my sisters. I am not strong to stand against the barrier the society has created between us. I can fight for you but I know I can't win you." Our story is not any bolly wood movie which will have a happy ending and I am not Salman Khan. I am Aryan Manjhi, a very simple boy with a very simple outlook towards life. He smiled lopsidedly or tried to smile.

"Please Aryan. I want you to fight for me. I know you are very strong". She almost cried at the end.

"You are a wonderful girl and I want you to have a perfect, ideal life and I don't deserve you. Every child craves for moon and stars. You know why? Simply because they have charismatic shine. Everyone gets attracted to that despite knowing that no one can get it. I also dreamt about you but I can't ignore the harsh reality of life." He again plastered a faint smile on his lip.

"I can't live without you. Why don't you understand?" She rubbed her temples and screamed.

"You will make me mad." He released a deep shuddering warm breath.

"You have already made me mad."

"I want to have beautiful memories of yours. I can spend my whole life with that. I have lots of responsibility to fulfill Gayatri and I can't escape from those things. My life is not easy and I don't want to complicate yours. I never asked you anything but today I am asking you to forget me. I want you to remember me as a poor boy that wanted to give you everything but failed. I want you to remember me as a silly boy from Bihar who didn't have enough courage to stand for you. Four women are important in my life and I can't risk the life of three for one. I want you to remember me as a selfish man." He released a deep breath at the end.

"This is your final decision?"

"Yes, it is."

"Please understand my point. You are such a sensible girl and I don't know why you are behaving in such a childish way. I don't want to disturb the equilibrium of your life." Aryan continued again.

"You already have disturbed it. She interrupted in between. The color of his face was changing with every passing second.

He smiled again and this time it was a natural one. For the first time she realized how soothing his smile was. Those who say beauty and grace are the monopoly of women are wrong. Even a man's smile can be killing if it comes along with honesty. If she would have been a photographer, she would certainly have captured that smile in her camera. For any director this scene was definitely perfect end of his/her magnum opus movie. But the biggest problem is that we can't control time. Sometime time makes us helpless.

"Why do you think you do not deserve me? You don't know how talented you are. You have Midas touch. But if you want to do things for your family then I will never create problems for you. I will not stop you from going." Her voice clogged. She felt a searing pain all through her body. Corners of her eyeball were wet but she stopped them from oozing out. Girls are habituated of living in a fantasy world where everything is just gets normal with a magic wand. But what about boys?

Gayatri can shout at him, cry before him or can curse him for all those pain, agonies which he gave him but Aryan, what about him? He cannot shout at her or even cry before her. The biggest challenge for him is to smile in front of her at time of distress, to put back those waters which are trying to come out at a cyclonic speed, only to maintain the legacy of men. The historical fact that men don't cry.

"My friends once send me an Urdu couplet-

Woh Afsana jise Anjam tak lana na ho mumkin( the story whose end is not possible)

Use ek khoobsurat mod dekar chodna accha"( Its better to leave that after giving it a beautiful turn)

I knew it that you will not disappoint me after you all you are my choice. My choices are not masterpieces but they are definitely different from others in a positive sense. You will live a perfect life. You are an epitome of love and you will always remain under the shade of love."

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