Arjun was running late…very late. This was supposed to be the most decisive day of his life and he was stuck in the infamous Chennai traffic in the middle of nowhere with Ilayaraja music reverberating inside his car, barely keeping him sane amidst the chaos on the outside. He kept looking at his watch, It read “11:35”, and constantly made calculations in his mind. The equation was simple, he had to cover 16 KM in 25 minutes navigating his way through thousands of vehicles in front of him, and his Engineering conditioned brain came up with a million possibilities!
It was his Wife’s birthday. April the 23rd.
Diya. His Moon and Stars.
He messaged her that he was running late and wouldn’t make it on time for the customary dinner that they usually have on the eve of her birthday. She didn’t reply. He had messed up the one thing that he wanted to be perfect in a long time.
Diya, She was the love of his life and everything about her felt surreal from the moment he saw her for the first time. The moment their eyes met he knew they were meant to do this forever. The romance was the kind you usually witness in Maniratnam movies, or the ones you read about in a Nora Robert’s novel. It was a whirlwind romance and culminated in their blissful marriage a year later, and it felt like the best decision of his life then. Occasional doubts started to creep up but he would brush them away. The three years were the best years of his life and just passed in a flash.
He was reminiscing about their college days together! The stolen glances, the awkward initiation, their first coffee together. Engineering life was a drag and Diya was the breeze that kept him moving.
He was interrupted by the moving vehicles ahead and the incessant honking from the vehicles behind. The Traffic gradually melted away and his rickety car chugged ahead with a renewed vigor.
His phone ringed, his ringtone interrupting the meticulously constructed serenity of Ilayaraja music, and his heart skipped a beat. He hoped it was Diya and picked up his phone and was disappointed to see his friend, Raghu, calling him. He would have been elated to see his friend calling him any other time except now. He wanted Diya to call him, he hadn’t heard from her in a while. He was growing worried and wanted to know Diya wasn’t angry.
He looked at the phone until it stopped ringing finally and the number of missed calls notification increased to five, unperturbed he stepped on the gas and surged ahead.
He slowly wandered again. The years felt like mere seconds but now everything was falling apart with each passing day. Seconds became years, the words became awkward and silence became the norm rather than the exception. There was a wedge and it kept growing with each passing day and was threatening to pull everything down. He was desperately trying to save their marriage but he was the only one making an effort. She remained aloof, her gaze lifeless, touch frosty and her smile sparse.
He wasn’t ready to give up just yet. He pulled out all the stops to make her coming birthday the best she’s ever had in her life.
He was taking guitar classes despite his busy schedule for the past three months to play her favorite song on her birthday. She adored Pop and “Stand by me” by Ben E King was their favorite song together. They danced to it probably a million times. It was a song that was an eternal part of their lives and he desperately hoped that the song possessed its vintage magic to turn back the clock and stop this rot.
Initially it was a tough ask and his Guitar teacher, a retired army septuagenarian, brought back the repressed memories from his Sainik school days. His fingers were dead in seconds and by the end of each session he was left with nothing but a set of bloodied fingers and a broken heart. But the resolve to save their marriage and the thought of seeing a smile on her melancholic face after what felt like an eternity kept him going despite the bloodied ginger’s. The tenacity and perseverance kept wavering, his mind constantly asking him to stop, but it was his unwavering love for her that kept him on track until he finally made it.
