Enveloped in spirituality, Banaras was home to the tranquility that could wipe away every trace of restlessness. The city woke up to skies painted in shades of saffron and slept in the shimmering lights reflecting from the ghaats.Pillars of temples rose high up and birds opened their wings to soar in bliss. Even before the sun came up, Banaras was already immersed in mesmerizing voices of the devotees who sang to their Gods and the Ganga. This was a primary reason, besides the rejuvenating early morning sunrays sliding in through the crimson curtains of the room, that Piya never really needed an alarm.
Piya was nineteen when Aditya first met her. However, her emotional stability and sense of maturity couldn’t be chalked out of her fragile age. Pursuing a Bachelors in Literature, she was unabashedly passionate about the subject. She was, indeed, sensible and assertive. She somehow knew the key to every shut door of happiness. From a very young age, she understood ideas that were incomprehensible even for ascetics. “It’s the little things. Focus on them. Life will conspire to drown you in waves of melancholy. It is you who has to bottle up the resilience to swim across and choose to be happy, each time.”, she always said. But what made her a tea spiller and a heart snatcher were a couple of striking features. The girl was blessed with a spellbinding face and an altruistic personality. She had the face of an angel, a face that could make your heart stop for a moment, that could make you forget to blink your awe-struck eyes and a face that could make you want to live longer had death approached you the same time you were looking at her. And her heart. That heart knew no boundaries of love and kindness. She was naïve, yet not a single being would want to harm her. That was the power of her innocent heart which in spite of being unprotected was always guarded by her own benevolence.
It was an ordinary yet enchanting summer evening in Banaras. Piya’s final year at college. Most essentially, it was that time of the year when Aditya was on his biannual trip to Banaras, all the way from Delhi, only to see her. The breeze was refreshing, carrying away the day’s heat. The waves at the ghaat were crashing, rhythmically, against the parked boats. The temples still echoing with clanging of worship bells and chanting of mantras. Every element blended to make the place feel surreal.
“My heart sinks when it’s time for you to leave.”, said Piya with her signature baby face that never failed to get a smile on Aditya’s face. She had draped his favorite yellow dupatta that he had bought for her, four years ago. She still remembered his words when he gave that to her on his last day in Banaras, at the end of the Inter University Law Fest. “Piya, this trip was meant to be. It was meant for us to meet. I am leaving the city tomorrow but I am not going to leave you. Looking at this dupatta, I organically began thinking of you. In an instant, I felt my heart being pinched, realizing that our paths will diverge soon. I had your face stamped in my eyes and I knew I had fallen in love with you.” he had said. It was the best day of her life. How could she forget? All her dreams came true when he said that.
“Your heart sinks? Don’t ever say that, you. You know if you say that, I won’t be able to go back with a calm mind. Just hold my hand and let me look at you for the time that we are left with. “Okay. But I need to ask you something. It’s been 4 years that you’ve been coming to meet me once in every five months. Why is it that on your last evening we mandatorily come at this ghaat?” Aditya looked at her. His gaze could scream a thousand times, how intensely his heart felt attached to hers. The world would seem to pause and when he left everything and just looked at her. He couldn’t tell her but he too was devastated at the thought of leaving her. Placements were right around the corner. Knowing that he would be swamped with work and a subsequently hectic life, he was uncertain of when he could see her again. But of course, he couldn’t tell her this as well. “You know, they say the mere existence of some people makes life okay. I never understood any of this before I met you, Piya. Looking at you doesn’t make my heart skip a beat or make my body tremble but rather makes my heart feel lighter and breathing easier. I don’t experience that insane rush that lovers boast about, but yes, I become more stable and calmer. Just being by your side makes me want to live more and live happy. I have no idea how you do that for me but holding this hand of yours gets me immeasurable peace. Looking at you, makes me forget all that I had been worrying about. I don’t know if I can make you laugh every day, but, I unquestionably, can’t see you crying, ever. Sitting at this ghaat with me might only be just another evening for you. But for me, it is priceless. The hours that we sit here for, heal me and make me want to run back to you as soon as I can.”, said Aditya.
It was time. Both of them arose with their fingers still intertwined. “Don’t go.”, Piya said with watery eyes. “You know I have to. Come, give me hug.” He knew she had begun sobbing already while his eyes too were numb and red. “When will I see you next?” “Very soon, Piya. I’ll come get you. Even if I attempt to, I can’t live without you. You better keep smiling till I see you next.”, he said, planting his parting good bye kiss on her forehead. She wiped off her tears with her tender fingers as her eyes rose to look at him, one last time. When his cab arrived, Piya’s cheeks turned red, she could feel her hands getting warm. If only she could freeze time, she thought. A part of her heart broke each time they parted ways. Aditya got into his cab that rode off in a moment but he kept looking behind to see Piya wave for as long as he could, till his eyes aimlessly wandered in the dark, losing the sight of her face.
She began walking home while grief clouded over her heart. The pain got heavier when uncertainty and fear barged in too. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t stop the rolling tears. For as long as she walked back towards her house, Aditya’s words reiterated in her mind, “I’ll come get you”, he had said. Just then, she looked at her phone which buzzed with his message, ‘I’ll miss you’, it read. Weeping uncontrollably, she said, this time louder, “He’ll come get me.”
