h2>Dating : Rain, rain come again
After Subash’s demise, I spent most of my time with this beautiful soul, Nausheen at my workplace. Even though she has not met him, she would be ready to spend hours listening about him whenever I poured my heart out to her. She revered him. Then the D-day arrived. She left to Banglore to attend an interview for a job which she was very passionate about. Unfortunately they turned her down citing inadequacy of documents. Sitting at the bus stand, she rang up to me and expressed her disappointment. I wished I was there with her. As I kept consoling her, she said, “Buddy, it is raining here. You know I feel better.” We still stand for each other no matter what.
The other day, Appa called me to unpack Subash’s luggage which arrived from Kargil. I was so prepared for this. I calmed myself down, took a deep breath and wanted to take it slow and savor every moment of it. Running my hands through his belongings, I could feel what Subash stood for, and how he embodied that till his last breath. As I was unpacking, I came across his diary. I couldn’t hold myself anymore. With no patience, I frantically turned the pages, wanting to hear more from him. I stumbled upon this.
That was plenty! He never disappoints me.
I had a complete meltdown that day. Nothing could console me other than Subash himself. The sun was up, shinning brightly like no other day. The previous day, Yitzhak informed me that two of Subash’s course-mates, Capt. Sonu and Capt. Bopaiah, from his training period would be paying a visit to his place the next day. So I got in touch with them. Rightly when I was overwhelmed with emotions, Sonu called me to enquire about the shortest route to reach Subash’s hometown. As I was explaining, he cut me short, saying “Could you speak louder? It’s raining here.” That meant something to me. It was also their first visit to his place.
There was just one day left for my birthday and it’s been six months since he left to heavenly abode. Last year, he messed up my birthday. He was on his way to commando course and he was in no mood to make my day special. So this time I demanded him to make it up for the last year. Even though my city was witnessing lightening every evening those past two weeks, there was no rain. Rightly, two hours before the clock struck twelve, the sky opened up. It melted my heart. I couldn’t thank him enough. I sat at the balcony and spent quite some time there. After an hour of downpour, the rain eased off. That was more than enough. I replied to my friends’ wishes and went to sleep with a sense of accomplishment. I woke up by six and checked my phone. A message read, “A heavydown pour from three ‘o’ clock. Finally!” When I opened the balcony door, the smell of rain welcomed me. It’s been raining for the past three hours. My day was just made.
And the journey continues.. To many more paper boats, wet clothes and smiles.
