Land Of Lines

4

The river gushed along its course under the warm evening sky. The boats slowly drifted in the distance while the birds returned to the trees with trills of excitement. People walked along the bank with their hands hanging down. Their faces tired but relieved. The casual ring of a bicycle speeding along the road and the electric whizz of the toto looking for the last passenger for the day. On the other side tiny dots moved along the bank--people from another country. They too seemed to return home. The entire universe seemed to move along its usual routine, everyone seemed to know where they belonged, have somewhere to return to. Everyone except me.

My left hand compulsively tugged the silver bracelet dangling on my right wrist. Shraddha had given it to me during our first visit.

"How is this?" Shraddha asked.

It had been almost half an hour that we had been wandering in the market place, looking for gifts in the limited line of shops. Shraddha had made up her mind that she won't rest till she got an appropriate gift for me. I firmly believed all this was needless and had try to convince her of the same. Obviously she didn't listen.

"It's good", I sighed hardly taking a look. My legs were aching.

"You didn't even look! It's such a nice bracelet"

I laughed. There wasn't much available in this countryside so Shraddha had finally resorted to express her fondness for a plain piece of silver bracelet in this scarcity to get me something as a gift. I knew she wouldn't rest till she had bought something or the other. And why not? These two days have truly been very special. She giggled as she pretended to admire the fine craftsmanship of the bracelet. A heart shaped diamond pendant twinkled on her chest.

She had been so excited when I gifted her the pendant. But she had also felt sad that she didn't have anything to gift me.

"It doesn't matter" I had said.

"Yes it does. And I do have a surprise for you but you're going to know about it only when we get back to Kolkata."

That was completely fine for me but then again she still wanted to get me something as a token of our trip. So here we were in our quest to search for the most appropriate gift in a place where it was difficult to get even a proper signal for the phone.

"That's a great bracelet. Let's buy that,"I said. I wanted to get back to the hotel as fast as possible.

Shraddha walked up close to me, took my right hand and slipped the bracelet over it.

" You won't ever take it off would you?” She looked me in the eye and asked.

"Uuuuh, I don't know. Maybe if it itches?" I shrugged.

She smiled and slapped me lightly on my shoulder.

"I love you" She smiled.

And just like that, in that tiny village by the river, standing in that dingy market place, without any music or exuberance or any other cathartic outpour of pulchritudinous emotions that poets have promised for centuries, I smiled and repeated the same words.

"I love you too Shraddha."