The crack showed on Mrinalini’s face and dark spot peeped below her eyelid. She hid her angst and pain accumulated over the years of her married life and missed her daughter settled in the United States. She struggled to hold on to the huge grocery bundled into two huge carry bags as she waded under the sweltering heat at DLF Mall at Saket in New Delhi.
Images of her husband she loving called Seth Ji kept playing at the back mind in the distant past when as a young bride, Mrinalini suffered violence whenever he was drunk. One fine day, Seth Ji collapsed in front of her eyes and Mrinali yelled in pain as she took him to Fortis. On his deathbed, he sought forgiveness from her on how he crushed her identity. As Mrinalini and Seth Ji aged, they found company and discovered each other seeing life flitting peacefully. It was a compromise.
The huge stack of bags collapsed which brought her back to reality and the grocery were scattered on the road as two huge hands rushed to her, helped in picking up the stuff. He bobbed his eyes towards her and stammered, ‘M-r-i-n-a-l-i-n-i.’ She went weak on her knee on seeing him. “Rajeev,” she faintly muttered.
It was the same place they met 25 years ago. She was a young student from Pune who made a trip to meet her friends when their eyes met for the first time. Rajeev was a carefree rebel. It was love at first sight. Rajeev was weak for he couldn’t stand up to his parents who turned Mrinalini down due to caste differences. He prodded her for a coffee date at Barista where the young romantic lovers storm to steal priceless moments. They felt out of place there. Rajeev made a stupid joke. Mrinali smiled shyly.
She said, “You haven’t changed at all...same joke. How is your wife and children?”
He turned his face away and couldn’t face Mrinalini, “We have no children. Asha left me. She was right. I was weak as a person and couldn’t stand up for her in front of my parents expecting her to fulfill the daughter-in-law obligation of morning tea and working tirelessly not for us but them. I couldn’t realize that a woman has her own identity.”
She nodded. “You couldn’t stand up for me.”
Cupid struck again. They kept meeting at the same place, reminiscing on the places they dated and the long walks to the railway station. Rajeev knew everything about Mrinalini, her husband, and daughter settled in the states. Both of them were battling loneliness.
He hugged Mrinalini and kissed her lip. She was horrified at first. “How dare you kiss me? It’s not our age to do so.”
Rajeev maintained a calm composure, “Will you be my valentine, Mrinalini?”
She was shocked, “At this age, Rajeev. We are 50. What will society and my daughter think?”
The wrinkled hands pressed on each other. “Why should we be so worried about society, Mrinalini? Destiny has played a game in uniting us. You have lost your identity first by compromising with your husband, daughter and playing nanny to your grandchild. It’s time to think about yourself. Fine! I’ve been a terrible boyfriend and a weak man who couldn’t stand for my love. But, not now. We cannot replace the lost time but we can make a fresh beginning, not as a compromise to our old age... Live for love with gay abandon.”
Mrinali got up from the chair on the crowded cafe and hugged Rajiv tightly, kissing him passionately. Stream of tears felled down from their eyes. It shall be about them, exploring and discovering each other not for companionship but exploring each other’s soul.
Love
Vishal
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