Achi news desk-
20 hours ago
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Ramya was standing sad and lost in herself on the terrace. Maybe she was just standing there trying to lose herself. Colorful flowers were flying in the park in front of you. Firstly, it is the spring season, and secondly, those flowers were decorated very skillfully by the authority that manages the park. It seemed as if an artist’s brush had been scattered everywhere. Those flowers were very neatly shaped. In one part, there were ten huge bunches of white flowers arranged together in a circular shape, while in another part there were rows of sunflowers. Red, yellow, purple, pink, orange, blue… what color flowers weren’t there? It was as if a complete rainbow had descended on the park. Its flowers hung on the Semal trees flaunting like Chandoba. There were many Semal flowers lying below as well, as if they wanted to attract attention.
The flowers were proud of their existence, even though they knew they would have to wither at night or in a day or two. ‘Don’t stop blooming still, dancing with joy,’ a voice touched his ears like a gentle breeze. He began to tremble. This happens quite often now. And after that Ramya’s eyes get moist. It feels like laying your head on someone’s shoulder and crying, that too by screaming. Ramya clenched her fists for a few seconds in an attempt to stop the tears from flowing.
Slowly, the noise rose. He saw that some children had come to the park with water guns. Some voices also echoed from behind, “Don’t play with water now. Play Holi in the afternoon. It’s cold.” Suddenly Ramya also felt cold. She was wrapping the shawl tightly. March is coming to an end, but the morning and evening cold is still there.
Without going for a walk, she had come for a walk on the terrace with a cup of tea. “On this Holi, I will apply all the colors of these flowers that have bloomed on your face so that a rainbow blooms on your soft cheeks,” then the same voice reached my ears. While standing here, Ishaan had said that fifteen days before Holi last year… God knows how many memories came to Ramya’s mind. Where did she get a chance to play Holi with Ishaan? Holi was not the only festival she could celebrate… Ishaan was definitely drenched with his love, but where did Ramya get so much company that she could soak herself in every shade of his love and feel?
Mum said, ‘Memories are like street children who run away every now and then when the doorbell rings. For them it is nothing less than a game. Like children, these memories should also be teased and chased and if they don’t agree, then they should be ignored. If the sound of the doorbell bothers you, you should put on a song, dance to some tune, but don’t let yourself be disturbed.
She knows why mother says this. Why only his mother, even his own people all say the same, twisting things in their own way.
But she wants to live in these memories. In fact, she just wants to live in these. How could he have thought that so many memories could be made in three months? Everyone wonders why she doesn’t want to let her life move on for the sake of three months of companionship.
“Hey, three months are spent understanding each other. Even the habits and behavior of the human being are not revealed properly. After marriage, everyone, whether a girl or a boy, remains ‘goody goody’ and because of this many months pass before their face or true nature is revealed. If boys continue to go back and forth to impress their new brides, then girls too, in their desire to please them, put their desires aside, even if only for a while short. How long did you know Ishaan? I am still trying to understand your brother even after a year and a half of marriage,” Ramya’s sister-in-law explained to her.
Surekha is more of a friend than a sister-in-law. He is only four months older than Ramya. The brother had even started thinking about her second marriage. On some pretext or another, he mentions that ‘so and so works in a big company, so and so is an engineer and so and so is also a teacher, you will get on well with him. If you are also a teacher then both of you can open a training institute together.
Ramya is just listening. She goes to her room without giving any answer or response. Who can know Ishaan as well as he did in three months? Besides that, would he have been able to get so close to her by rising above all relationships with which he spent years? Can I get so close to her heart? It is so established in the heart that it is difficult to move it even an inch, so how can there be room for someone else?
My in-laws are in another city, so I was staying at my parents’ home because of my job.
By afternoon the Holi fun was starting. Seeing the people of the colony coming for Holi Milan, she was locked in the room. But when she was called to come out, she came to the terrace thinking that her neighbors would not feel any discomfort because of her presence. Anyway, have any festivals been celebrated at home since the last year? Everyone is quiet. Deep inside he fights with Ramya through her grief. But you can’t stop neighbors or relatives from coming!
There was a lot of excitement in the park. There was an uproar in the colony too. The faces were painted in such a way that it was hard to tell who was who. The children had their own groups and women and men had their own groups. The elders sat on the benches of the park and on the platform of the temple which was inside the settlement.
“If a rainbow does not adorn the sky then the vast expanse seems so empty. And colors are so magical that they give meaning to even a blank canvas, so wouldn’t it be an insult if colors don’t decorate your cheeks? The spread of sound in the flowing atmosphere of Ramya’s ears.
Manjul was standing next to him with gulal of all colors in a plate. The same Professor that a brother had mentioned many times about. He was the brother of his colleague.
“He came to your wedding too. My colleague told me that he doesn’t like any girl. But after seeing you at the wedding, he told me that if I had spoken to him, he would have said yes immediately.” The brother had told this to Ramya many times on one pretext or the other.
“When life decides to play a game with you, the first thing you lose touch with is colors. Colors express human happiness. Gum has no colour.”
“It is true that life has taken happiness from you, but you have become so accustomed to hearing the doorbell of memories that you listen to the sound of the doorbell singing the love-filled tune. Take Ramya’s time, but not so much that time becomes so exhausting that it cannot give you anything else. Ishaan, I don’t know how much love I will be able to give you, but I can definitely give you the confidence to give me as much love as you deserve. May I put a pinch of the same faith on your cheeks?”
Ramya kept staring at him. She placed her palms inside the plate and placed their impressions on Manjul’s cheeks. Manjul made a small circle on Ramya’s forehead with colorful gulal. A rainbow had appeared on Ramya’s desolate forehead.
When she heard the doorbell ringing downstairs, Ramya felt that a lovely tune was accompanying her to the ceiling this time.
-Suman Bajpayee
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