It's been quite a long time since I landed onto a story, since I came across a pair of eyes captivating enough to be back to my desk, untill that evening.
I came across a girl in an otherwise empty place. It must have been some family gathering. Her inattentive look towards everyone gave away that she was there unwillingly, She would have prefered a cafe by the bay, alone and a coffee to gulp and waves of roaring sea to submerge her throbbing heart. But here she was! few tables across me, at this crowded restaurant. I believed her energy was so powerful, so full of love, one could hardly pass by it unnoticed. Strangely though nobody seem to care around her. They were all enjoying their exchanges, nods and smiles of approval.
Her eyes glassy but true, almost on the verge of breaking down. Her hands moved swiftly, lacking her usual grace (one could sense she being a lady of thorough manner in the way she conversed); only the most observant could notice the shiver in her movement, the shattering heart that was driving her around driving her anxious and vulnerable, sitting steady at one place among eyes which stayed focused on her.
She craved for sweetness, she craved for someone who could start of a conversation of her interest and didn't care for her to hold on to it, she wanted to listen! just listen to her favorite fairies, her favorite stories. But not utter a word, there was nothing there within her to express, nothing that the cheerful surrounding would approve of.
She just wanted to be pampered, like a infant, toddling, struggling to get through the doorway, to get back out and feel the sunday morning sunshine, oozing her and comforting such that her dark circled eyes would shed its seasonal wrinkles and beem and blossom with a smile mermaids be envy of!
I just sat there, all the while admiring her courage to keep herself together, a slight twitch here and there, grabbing at the arm of her sister maybe till her pain vented, cuddling with the youngest member on the table (still in diapers), making him laugh and hugging him warmly such that the chills be no more, and amidst all this the chitter chatter around her goes on.
Just then her phone rang, she looked at it and excused herself out the door. I looked on from the glass door. She walked out, holding the phone to her ears and just when she was sure nobody could see her, She just leaned against the wall, stroked her hair behind the ear, and stared up breathing out all her energy.
I stared in the direction of her gaze, there was this restaurant and it had a chimney atop coughing out dense grey smoke. And there was a man standing by the window, with his palm placed flat on the glass. I gazed back at her, she raised her hand shakily, and broke into a torturous smile. And then he blinked in aproval. Then he vanished. And an elderly woman probably her mother, tapped her shoulder. And the chills came back!
I looked up again, at the chimney, and the smoke, and wondered one can never predict what must be cooking under that grey formless smokescreen of cloud.
I came across a girl in an otherwise empty place. It must have been some family gathering. Her inattentive look towards everyone gave away that she was there unwillingly, She would have prefered a cafe by the bay, alone and a coffee to gulp and waves of roaring sea to submerge her throbbing heart. But here she was! few tables across me, at this crowded restaurant. I believed her energy was so powerful, so full of love, one could hardly pass by it unnoticed. Strangely though nobody seem to care around her. They were all enjoying their exchanges, nods and smiles of approval.
Her eyes glassy but true, almost on the verge of breaking down. Her hands moved swiftly, lacking her usual grace (one could sense she being a lady of thorough manner in the way she conversed); only the most observant could notice the shiver in her movement, the shattering heart that was driving her around driving her anxious and vulnerable, sitting steady at one place among eyes which stayed focused on her.
"GOSHHH!! Look away!"A meagre eye contact made her uneasy, let alone the overcrowded presence who one could relate to on a ration card, but none of them was aware of her story. She felt like being under house arrest.
She craved for sweetness, she craved for someone who could start of a conversation of her interest and didn't care for her to hold on to it, she wanted to listen! just listen to her favorite fairies, her favorite stories. But not utter a word, there was nothing there within her to express, nothing that the cheerful surrounding would approve of.
She just wanted to be pampered, like a infant, toddling, struggling to get through the doorway, to get back out and feel the sunday morning sunshine, oozing her and comforting such that her dark circled eyes would shed its seasonal wrinkles and beem and blossom with a smile mermaids be envy of!
I just sat there, all the while admiring her courage to keep herself together, a slight twitch here and there, grabbing at the arm of her sister maybe till her pain vented, cuddling with the youngest member on the table (still in diapers), making him laugh and hugging him warmly such that the chills be no more, and amidst all this the chitter chatter around her goes on.
Just then her phone rang, she looked at it and excused herself out the door. I looked on from the glass door. She walked out, holding the phone to her ears and just when she was sure nobody could see her, She just leaned against the wall, stroked her hair behind the ear, and stared up breathing out all her energy.
I stared in the direction of her gaze, there was this restaurant and it had a chimney atop coughing out dense grey smoke. And there was a man standing by the window, with his palm placed flat on the glass. I gazed back at her, she raised her hand shakily, and broke into a torturous smile. And then he blinked in aproval. Then he vanished. And an elderly woman probably her mother, tapped her shoulder. And the chills came back!
I looked up again, at the chimney, and the smoke, and wondered one can never predict what must be cooking under that grey formless smokescreen of cloud.
-V. V. Talavanekar
