Fiction
Solomon stared at the
message. It is not often that a message comes
traversing twenty years and makes your heart skip a beat. No, the message was not twenty years
old. He had had no contact whatever with
the sender of that message for twenty years.
In those days, twenty years ago, she was a symphony that flowed through
his veins.
“You made me pass
English. Remember the guidebook you gave
me? And the tricks you suggested? I passed English because of that. Otherwise I wouldn’t be the teacher that I am
today. Thanks. Sangeeta.”
Solomon read the message
again and again. His heart pulsated
faster and faster. The heartbeats
struggled to recreate a familiar symphony from the mounting feeling of
nostalgia.
Does she remember only
the guidebook and his tricks for passing an exam? Have
you forgotten the math exam in which you showed me some answers so that I
passed? Your roll number just preceded
mine and we were sitting on the same bench for the exam.
He wished he could ask
her that. He wished to ask a lot more
things.
“Why don’t you understand
calculus properly so that you don’t have to copy my answers?” She asked him after that exam.
“Why don’t you teach me?”
He asked seriously. She was good at
math.
He learnt differentiation
and integration from her. As she
explained the steps he would watch her lips occasionally. It was a delight to see her lips moving in
umpteen directions as she made dy and
dx dance on the pages that they
filled together. The dance metamorphosed
into a Wagnerian opera that flowed into his being, through his veins.
Sangeeta, you were the music of my heartbeats.
No, he couldn’t send her that message either though he had typed it out
in the Whatsapp rectangle.
She had never encouraged
the overtures he tried to make. Friendship without romance was her clear stand
though she never said anything at all in that regard. But he knew that she had understood his
feelings. Which woman doesn’t? But a relationship between a Sangeeta Nair
and a Solomon Joseph could not grow into a Wagnerian opera in those days. So Solomon gratified his romance reading the
Songs of Solomon in the Bible. Like an apple tree among the trees of the
forest is my beloved among the people. I
delight in her shade and her fruit is sweet to my taste.
Solomon wrote his own songs too.
Do you know why you are so beloved to me
Even when I know you will never be mine?
The kiss-curl that wafted in
the fan’s breeze touching her cheek gently and seductively made him long to be
a wisp of hair in that curl.
When love smothers my heart like a burden
You are there without your knowledge holding me tight…
After college they parted
ways. Never to meet again. Each one knew that they wouldn’t meet
again. Some things don’t need words to
be articulated.
“How did you get my
number?” He tapped the message and sent
it.
“Met one of our college
mates who had your number. They are
planning an alumni meet…”
His heart pounded
again. An alumni meet? Will I meet her again?
She was married. Her children were studying in a residential school
near the bank where he worked as manager.
The Whatsapp messages came and went briskly.
“What about your family?”
She asked.
When love smothers my heart like a burden
You are there without your knowledge holding me tight…
No, he couldn’t write
that to her. No, love is a Wagnerian opera. Let it flow through his veins. Without death. Without interruption.
He will meet her at the
alumni meet, he decided. Will he tell
her the truth? No, he shouldn’t. He can just say that he never wanted to marry
so that she won’t guess anything. That’s
part of the Wagnerian opera, isn’t it?
Thank you.
ReplyDelete"It was a delight to see her lips moving in umpteen directions as she made dy and dx dance on the pages that they filled together." - simply lovely...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Tomichan, simply beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Delete