Along With The Breeze!

 Along With The Breeze!

 

I stood on the empty eerie road, alone. No dogs, no vehicles, and absolutely no life. I heard her steps. I ran to the end of the street and peeked from behind a wall. Was it her birthday? No. Was it my birthday? It has been only a day since I turned 18. So, definitely no. Why did she ask me to come to her house, on a cold, scary night, like this?

I checked my watch. It was almost midnight. Then I put my head out from behind the wall, to see her extend her hand out of the gate. She wore single bangles in both of her hands. She stepped out, and I saw her wearing a black Kurti. Her eyes searched around, probably looking for me, while her earrings dangled in the air. The street light made the nose stud twinkle and she bit a small portion of her lip, looking around.

She called me. I attended the call. “Deepan, where the fuck are you!”, she asked politely.

I smiled as I came out from behind the wall. She wasn’t excited, clearly. I went straight to her, adjusting my backpack. I saw her beautifully carved eyes, this time, thickly outlined and smudged, which elevated her face to a whole new level. I spoke nothing, baffled looking at her. She told, we’ll go for a walk, and she’ll let me know the purpose of her, calling me. We started walking.

“Why did you come, Deepan?”, she asked me. I didn’t see that coming.

“Just because you called me”, I tried to be as soft as I could.

“Well, it's late right. You better go home”, she said to me.

I laughed. Both of us know I am not leaving, even though I was hella nervous.

“We’ll sit there?”, she asked, pointing to someone’s house entrance.

Already I was nervous, and this made my soul escape my body. I didn’t even know who was in that house. She saw me getting nervous.

“Chumma Chumma don’t make me irritated Deepan. Come sit!”, she commanded.

I should’ve been shocked. No no, I should’ve been annoyed. But what I remember doing was, sitting in front of that house, without uttering a word. Did that come out of respect for her? I don’t know. Or, just that she commanded me to? Not that either. I was smiling again, dumb.

“So, your parents….”, I started.

“They should’ve entered the deep sleep phase by now. Don’t worry”, she said.

“Okay, but why?”, I asked out of my mind.

“Shhhhhh! A R Rahman?”, she asked me after shushing my question.

She took headphones and connected them to her phone. She gave the left earpiece to me when she put the right one in her ear. She played Chaka Chak from Atrangi Re and tried hard not to laugh. I looked intensely into her eyes, trying to recreate that ‘puppy eyes emoji’. She laughed at me and changed the song.

My eyes got wider, once I heard that song. Everything started to make sense after that. I turned to her.

“How did you know?”, I asked her, with my face getting pale.

She smiled and lay down on the concrete bench kinda thing, in front of that someone’s house.

“Happy Birthday Deepan! I got access to your bucket list from your notes on your phone.”, she said, looking straight into that three-quarter moon.

I stammered, and I started to search for the right words.

“You’re welcome, Deepan. Your bucket list said, ‘Should listen to ARR under the moon, sharing headphones with a girl'. Now, stop fumbling within your small brain, and enjoy your moment.” She spoke to the moon.

I lied back and looked at the moon. I’ve never seen the moon in a worse irregular shape, but it didn’t matter. The moonlight could’ve been better for me to make out her beautiful face, but it didn’t matter. I checked a box from my bucket list with a girl…

“With a girl. That’s it. Don’t think too much, Deepan.”, she said, turning to me.

“You think too loud, to not be heard.", she chuckled.

I smiled, as tears of happiness went down my red cheeks, with dim moonlight on me and Parandhu Sella Vaa in headphones.