The date was 17th June 2014. Two major things happened with my love life that day. One, we completed a whopping three years of our relationship. Second, our relationship got a few extra words to precede it. On that day, after a train left the railway station, our story became a long distance relationship.

Her family was relocating to Rajasthan and they were taking away the jewel of my eyes with them.
Okay! It pained me. The fact that she was going away hurt me a lot. And the biggest doubt I had in mind was the uncertainty about the future of us. Would we survive? Amidst the doubt and the pain, I didn't even plan a proper anniversary gift for her. At nine in the morning, I drove to the railway station with just a rose in my hand.

As I parked my car in the station's parking space, I saw her walking inside the platform building. Like always, she looked absolutely amazing. I had the urge to run towards her, hug her and bid her a proper goodbye. But she was with her family and they didn't know anything about us.

'Dad will kill you if he comes to knows about us,' My girl had once warned me. Did I tell you that we are from different communities? She is a Marwari and I am an Assamese. In India, this is a big matter and I am sure her dad would kill me just for this reason.

I stayed inside the car and kept watching her. Feeling helpless, I switched on the hazard lights. The parking space was just in front of the entrance and I hoped she would notice my car. And she did. She turned back and her gaze stopped right at my car. I am sure I saw her lips curving into a smile.

But she went inside with her parents. I came out of my car and ran towards the station. I stopped at the entrance. Something told me that she would come back out and jump on me.

The jump part didn't happened, but she did come out. I was in smiles as she descended the stairs of the station building.

'Hie,' I greeted her.

'Let's go to the car.' She said. 'My parents can see us here,'

We went to the car. I opened the passenger side door for her and she sat down inside. I quickly moved to the other side and sat on the driver's seat. The memory of us going on long drives instantly hit me. We wouldn't be going on drives from now on.

'Where is my gift?' She asked me.

I got the rose from the back seat and handed it over to her. 'Sorry! That's all I could get.' I said.
'The rose is great, I can easily hide this.' She smiled. 'Love you,'

'Love you too,' I managed to say. It was starting to hurt now. I could see her leaving me after a few minutes.

'What's the matter, Shona?'

'Don't go.' I said. 'I can't live without you.'

'Stupid,' The beautiful smile in her face was still there. 'I am just changing my address. I am not leaving you. Listen to .....'

She couldn't complete her sentence as her phone rang up. It was her father and he wanted her to immediately summon near him. She dropped the call and made a face. 'I have to go,' she said. Yeah!
She didn't even complete her last soothing speech.

'I will give you something. Will you keep it safe until we meet again?' She asked.

'Sure,' I replied.

What she did next deleted all my sorrow. She moved her right hand to her chest, made a gesture as if she grabbed something and then she moved her hand towards me and acted as if she dropped something in my shirt pocket.

'That's my heart,' She said. 'Keep it safe.'

I smiled. The pain somehow went missing. This simple gesture from her was a promise that we would survive. That we would stay together forever. That she would always stay mine.

When she saw me smiling she moved her head towards me. I thought she was going to kiss me and therefore I bent nearer to her. She saw what I was doing and playfully slapped me and turned my face, until her lips were near my ears.

'This is not the end. This is a new beginning' She whispered and in blazing fast speed she was out of the car. I stayed inside. Frozen by her love and words.

I saw her walking towards the station. Her hair swayed with the wind. Her duppatta danced with her hair. Mid way, she looked back and waved at me. I waved back. And soon, she was out of my sight and inside the station.

I didn't even cry, like I initially thought I would. I was in fact smiling. She wasn't going away from me, I understood. She was only changing her address. And like she said, it was a new beginning. Not the end. I could look up to the future and see us together until death.

Inseparable

'Everything will be all right,' I told myself as my put the gear in reverse and pulled my car out of the parking lot. 'Love you forever dear,'

P.S - Till date, we are on. We survived.
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This post is a part of Look Up Stories written for Housing.com.
Image sourced from here.

Like every school in the world, my one too had three kinds of people in it. One, the toppers and nerds, the guys who permanently occupy the first benches. Second were the giants and the bullies, whose basic reason to go to school was to bully others. Third and last were the weaklings, these were the ones who acted as punch bag to the bullies.

And allow me to introduce myself as the president of the third kind. Claps claps!

But I fortunately didn't hold that position for long. This post is all about how I retired from coward-land. Once I was gifted an iron-man water flask by my mother's brother who brought it for me from Singapore. I was little and was very happy with my new possession. The very next day I went to school, with that flask hanging on my neck. I was smiling all morning. But the smile stayed only until the Tiffin break. Because it was when the bullies came and snatched away my new flask from me.

It was not the first time that they took something that was mine. From pencils, pen to food items, they had snatched a lot of things from me. And every time I had remained silent, for they had warned me that if I complain then they would break my nose. I was genuinely afraid of them. So I never told my parents or teachers about it. In home, if dad enquired about where my belonging were, I would lie to him that I lost them somewhere.

But this flask was too precious to me. I was angry. When I came home that day, I told my parents everything about how the bullies at school took away my new flask. My mom instantly became angry at them and promised me that she would accompany me to school the next day and retrieve my flask. But dad seemed angry at me.

'No, you will not go,' He told mom and turned to me. 'We cannot help you. You lost it, so you have to get it back yourself. Stop being a coward,'

I cried. 'But dad...?'

'And yes, you will not get a new flask until you get that one back.'

I was stunned with dad words. How could he do that? How could he expect his little son to fight some big guys? Later as the evening approached, my anger grew. I was angry at the bullies but I was more angry at dad.

Next day, I went to school with nothing hanging from my neck. I would get my flask back, I had determined. When I spotted them in the playground, I approached them.

'He...e...lo...lo' I said to them.

'Hello! Jay,' The biggest and the fattest bully, Raj smirked.

I grew weak at my knees. No way I could fight them. They would crush me. 'I want my flask,' I said

'What are you talking about? Which flask?'

'The one that you took yesterday,' I managed to say.

'Oh! That one. We threw it at the pond,' Raj replied and all of them laughed.

You lost it, so you have to get it back yourself. Stop being a coward. Dad words echoed in my mind

'Return me my flask,' I angrily said. 'Or I will complain it to the principal,'

All of them laughed loudly. Raj came forward and held me by my collar. The others cracked their knucles.

Stop being a coward! Dad shouted again

'Arrrggh!,' I kicked Raj at his groin with all my might. He let go of my collar and cupped his crotch with his hands and sat down on the ground.

It took exactly twenty five seconds for the others to realise what happen, and then turned at me with killer looks. I turned back and ran. They ran after me. It was the first time I realised the advantage of being skinny, I was way too fast for the fat pigs. I didn't stop until I reached the teachers common room door.

I looked back, they were some two meters away. But none of them had angry looks. Instead it looked
like their eyes were pleading me to not go inside. They didn't move and so didn't I. The moment was funny, because the bullies looked really afraid.

A few minutes later, Raj came towards us. In his hands was my iron-man flask. He approached me and I step a few steped closer to the door.

'Relax,' He said. 'Take your flask. Don't complain.'

I was surprised but I let him come near me. He handed over the flask to me and muttered a inaudible sorry inside his mouth.

When school was over, I went back home with my flask. Dad patted me on my back. 'See! You did it on your own,'

I was so angry at dad when he refused to help me. But I now think, it is because of him that I no longer belong to that third kind. If mom had accompanied me to school to get my flask back, I am sure I wouldn't have been writing this post. Instead I would have been hiding under the bed.
And I kept wondering about why Raj was so afraid of me complaining to the teachers. I later learned that a lot of students had complained before me and he was in the ultimate warning.

And then, I was smiling

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This post continues my story about optimism which started with the 'Everything will be all right' post.

When the jewel of my eyes left for Rajasthan, I was initially very depressed. But then she managed to soothe me and made me believe that the physical distance between us wouldn't affect our relationship.

The optimistic hope that her love and her words gave me unfortunately wasn't enough to make me feel good. It did relieved me from a big amount of pain, but somehow it couldn't suppress the fear of losing my girl. This was when the gang came to my rescue.

After getting the last goodbye from my girl, I returned home to find two of my friends waiting for me. They announced that they were taking me to a party. I bluntly expressed my displeasure and told that them I wasn't in a mood to party. They knew it well about what I was going through and yet they were thinking of partying, I was surprised.

I do not remember how, but they managed to convince me to go with them and within a hour we were standing near a chaat stall. They were gobbling up plates of food while I didn't eat anything.

'What's the matter buddy?' Bikash asked me when he saw that I wasn't eating anything.

'You know what it is,' I angrily told him. 'Don't act like you don't know anything,'

'Man!,' Sagar, my other friend mumbled with a mouth filled with pakoras. 'Are you sad because your girlfriend moved to another town?'

I didn't reply. I was clearly doubting our friendship.

'If it were me in your place,' Bikash spoke. 'I would have welcomed this freedom with open hands.'

'And I would have already started collecting other girls' phone numbers,' Sagar, the moron, added.

Now, I was really angry with them. And I think they could sense the anger building up in me. Because Sagar immediately said, 'Hey, we are kidding Jay,'

'I don't know what you are feeling right now but I know one thing that nothing in the world can separate you from your girl,' Bikash said. 'I have seen your love story from the beginning buddy and I can guarantee that it is meant to last forever.'

I let my anger go down. Bikash was good with his words and he knew how to use it well.

'You love her?' Sagar asked.

'Yes,' I replied.

'She loves you?'

'Yes!'

'Then...' Sagar paused to scratch his chin and then said. 'Then there is no problem. If there is true love, there is marriage.' And he cracked up. Somehow his words seemed funny to him and he started laughing. When he saw that neither me nor Bikash found it funny, he shut up.

Bikash came near me and rested his right arm on my shoulder and spoke, 'Buddy! Don't worry so much. Everything will be all right. And if something ever goes wrong we are here with you. If you miss her too much, tell us. We will just hijack a train and reach Rajasthan. It is not that far away.'
I smiled and pushed off his arm away. It was too heavy. His words made me feel good. It was another hope that my relation would last because I had real friends to support me.

The day that I initially thought would be the worst one of my life was changing into one of the most memorable days of my life. Although my girl left, she did it only after making a promise of forever. And now my friends were backing me up which made that promise a lot stronger and optimistic.

Sagar finished his plate and after burping twice, turned towards me and with a smirk in his face told me these awesome words. I would choose not to translate those words to English and allow it to completely original.

He said. 'Tu bas bolke dekh dost, zarurat pare to utha ke leke aaunga teri ladki ko Rajasthan se,'

‘Just follow the routine and he will have a good night’s sleep,’ my wife says as she drops a little kiss on my left cheek.

She is going out of town on her company’s assignment. It is the first time she is going to stay away from our love’s outcome and also the first that I will have to manage the baby all alone. I have taken a very detailed course on babysitting from my wife, and therefore I am confident that I will not mess anything up and both I and my baby will have a good night.

The clock shows 8 pm when my wife leaves. She has already feed the baby, so my job for tonight is only to arrange him a nice sleep. I sit down on the sofa with little Arjun in my lap. He reaches out to my face and squeezes my nose. I make a fake face and he smiles.

I feel like tickling him and making him laugh hard. But home-minister (Yes, I am talking about my wife) had strictly warned against it. According to her, I shouldn’t excite up the baby before sleep. Instead I should slowly induce sleepiness in him.

‘Sleep time,’ I announce to him. ‘Let’s have a bath,’ I take him to his tiny bathtub and slowly allow him to settle down inside it. He seems to like the warmth of the water and squeaks a little. 'I give him a warm bath everyday,' my wife had said. 'It not only keeps him clean and healthy but also indicates it to him that sleep time is near,'

I think my wife is pretty clever. She knows how to manipulate a good sleep. I pull Arjun out of the water and he lets out a cute yawn. I dry him up and take him to the bed and gently drop him between his pillows, above which he cannot role over. I make him wear new diapers which will keep him dry and peaceful all night.

I dim the lights. 'Do not immediately switch off the lights. Arjun might get scared. Instead dim them and he will get accustomed with the darkness,'  I remember my wife's word. Wife had also instructed me to sing a lullaby, which I think is a terrible idea. If I starts to sing, the baby along with the whole neighbourhood will start crying. Therefore, I switch on the audio player with some calm and slow instrumental pieces. The music seems to work, because the baby lets out another yawn.


 I lay down near him and put my index finger in his hand, which he immediately holds tightly. 'Let's pray Arjun,' I said to him. 'Thank God for your life, thank God for your food, thank God for your parents.' I do not know if he understands my words or not, but he closes his eyes and let out another yawn.

A few minutes later he dozes off.
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The baby in this post was kept dry by Pampers.

I do not remember much of life from my early childhood, but the little that I do are the most cherished memories in my head. When I have nothing to do or I am feeling bored, I recall those memories and smiles find a way to my lips. Sometimes even tears discovers a way out.

So this memory that I am going to tell you happened when my eleventh birthday was just around the corner. I was excited and so was my family. Mom had already started baking cakes and dad doing the grocery shopping for her. I also suspect that my sister was making a secret gift for me. I was ready to celebrate, ready to blow the balloons.

That year, no balloons were blown.

But. Yes, there is a 'But' and it ruined everything. Exactly two days before my birthday, before I could blow the balloons, this disease called Mumps pricked up my happiness bubble. Mumps swelled up my face and even a single movement there resulted in pain. And if the pain was not enough, fever and headache came bundled with it.

Like every disease, it hurt. It infected and stole away strength.It stole away happiness.

A celebration of the coming birthday was out of question, and this fact hurt me more than the disease. I was a child, birthdays are the best occasion we have.. I also realised that the efforts of my family for the birthday had gone in vain. The cakes weren't going to be iced, nor were ribbons going to be hanged. A mere disease ruined it all.

The swollen face and pain meant I could hardly eat. Moving my jaw was equivalent to touching a open live wire. I ate just twice in three days. Just in 48 hours of pain, I called death prettier than mumps.

When I woke up from a restless sleep on the birthday morning, I saw mom, dad and sister waiting for me. Mom and sister were sitting on my bed edge and dad stood nearby. The three in unison wished me a happy birthday. With all effort I simply nodded my head. I couldn't even say a Thank you or put up a smile. Smiling had started to hurt too.

I spent my birthday on my bed, crying and writhing in pain. It took me a lot of tablets, two vaccines and three more food less nights to recover. And when I completely recovered I discovered love. When I walked into the kitchen, it was in the same condition that it was before I got ill. Meaning, the items, vegetables, fruits all lay in the same place like before, a few rotting and others on the process to rot. I concluded, the kitchen hadn't been used much in the past six days, the duration of time I was in my bed.

Later when I asked mom about it, she confessed that she hadn't eaten anything when I was ill. Also, Dad and sister ate a few fruits only. When I enquired why, she replied 'How can a mother eat when her son isn't?' I didn't say anything in return, instead I hugged her and went back to my room.


 Actually, I felt bad. I still feel bad. I didn't only ruined my birthday, I didn't allow my family to eat for six days. I thought the pain was just mine, it turned out the disease was hurting the whole family. I wish I was healthy, I wish I was strong. An unhealthy child make a home unhealthy.