With a bunch of beautiful pink-white-purple flowers in hand; blushing face trying hard to resist a cheerful grin; her eyes playing hide and seek with his through the white veil; slow but steady steps closer to her man who had waited long enough; she looked the most beautiful she would ever look.
The church smelled serene and so did her heart.
He stood upright as she walked down the aisle. He waited, and waited a little more to hold her, kiss her and comfort her through their lives.
***
Gazing through the ageing eyes, he concentrated hard to believe what he was seeing around. What once was an abandoned ground where hardly anyone ever visited, had turned into a crowded park; gatherings of kids and elderly shared the place and noise in near equal proportion. In the midst of all the chaos, he could still feel the tranquil he had left behind back in his twenties. He could still visualize the infinite landscape all around.
Over time, everything had changed; everything but what he had come in the quest of. Even with all the fanciness and modernization around, still very much there; standing taller, firmer and denser than before; the banyan tree gave him the same affinity. It had matured colossally. He observed it up and down time and again; it was the only familiar entity in the surroundings.
He orbited the mammoth trunk of the tree to locate the clue that he was looking for. He smirked at seeing barely detectable script which only he could spot out of everyone present there in the busy park. It faintly read, ‘Until Then…’!
He sat quietly and started digging damp sand with bare hands.
He couldn’t resist a smile as he was dragged down the memory lane located four decades back.
***
If gorgeous and handsome were to be defined in a pictorial dictionary, it would certainly have her and his pictures. Individually, they exhibited God’s art of human beauty at its finest; as a couple they were cupid’s best job ever. Stunning bodies, alluring faces, youthful-carefree attitudes, magnetic smiles and chaste souls to top it all, made them an enviable blend.
Today, however, she was a tad different.
She stared down the ground at nothing in particular. He held her chin and made her look into his confidently loving eyes. A couple of tiny tears rolled down her cheeks.
Whistling winds, roaring clouds and ash grey skies boosted the love in the air. In a deserted backdrop, fighting through the leaves and branches of a dense banyan tree, a few rain drops fell on her cheeks and blended with her tears; as if saying, it is going to be fine!
‘I love you Harry!’ she said. Innocence wrapped her words.
‘I know Jenny. I love you too. And that is why we are doing this, right?’ he held her face between his palms.
‘Hmm.’ she went back to staring-at-nothing. Her nervousness was turning into shivers.
Harry enveloped her with his strong arms and kissed her forehead.
‘So, let us revisit our plan once last time. Shall we?’ he said.
Jenny nodded.
‘I will leave for Punjab tomorrow, close the deal in a week, take the money and come back to Goa. We will meet here, right here, under this banyan tree next Sunday, sharp at noon. And the next morning we will see a novel sunrise, together.’ His smile had a hope.
‘Hmm… But I really wish there was a better way to do this.’ She sighed.
‘I wish too. But we are not left with any other choice, are we? And it is not that we haven’t tried, sweetheart.’
