Meet me again..Oh clouds from Heaven!

It was a time when selfies did not exist. We had cameras and reels, there was a limit to the number of pictures you could click, you could not delete or edit or apply filters. We did travel then, clicked pictures without the faintest idea how we looked and without social media, photographs were for reminiscing, not to show off the latest outfit or haircut, latest exotic destination one has been to.

I had been on a trip to the Himachal with my aunts. Three of us had boarded a train from Guwahati to old Delhi, then Amritsar, then finally Dalhousie. Dalhousie was wild, mystical and the place where I first fell in love! Well in a place like that, you can fall in love with anybody you set your eyes on. I was standing on the balcony with a thick veil of cloud floating behind me, where this picture was taken. Jeans-top was a luxury for me back then, somehow I had assembled those outfits, I did not have the gut to endure ogles of sick salesmen, try a pair of jeans or a decent top. Those were the days when I was doing my postgraduation.

I had my little coveted Philips Walkman with me. Gulzar’s ‘Fursat ke Din’ tuned in, each song had Gulzar’s lines being recited in his impeccable voice.

I remember the lines till date… ‘ Geet budhe nahi hote…us pahad ka Tila jab barf se dhak jata tha, to ek awaz sunai Diya karti thi’, and, Asha Bhonsle’s voice echoed ‘Phir se aayo badra bidesi….tere pankho mein moti jadungi’

I breathed the air around me. I was in love, I could be in love with the clouds, mountains, Gulzar…my being was asking for love! Well, I was in my early twenties then, and come to think of it I have not come a long way since then. I was ready for our day tour when Aunt A called me for breakfast inside. Aunt B has a fixed vehicle for the day and also found another family to share expenses with. There was a slight knock at the door, ‘Might be the driver, just check’ Aunt B asked me.

There I had opened the door and was staring into a pair of eyes who had the Himalayas within them – greyish, he was staring at me as well, my own dark eyes. I knew I was not supposed to stare unabashed, guys, men could be pathetic, that too we were a women-only group, I tried to remove my eyes which were hopelessly locked with the stranger!

‘Who is it Mithu?’ Aunt A’s voice came across the seas!

Widening my eyes, I stared at him, this time with a question in my eyes.

‘Aunty…we are waiting outside’ His voice was directed inside, eyes now playing with mine. ‘Join in when you are done

He raised his palm as a gesture to me, eyes were glimmering now past the initial shock wave, faint smile on his lips as he turned to leave. That was how I met him, Aneek, that was how I wanted to tell my grandkids that was how I met your grandpa.

We connected, me and Aneek in the Himalayas, with Gulzar, with RD, with those badra bidesi, we talked, exchanged glances when no one was looking, laughed, smiled! Those three days in the mountains!

Aneek had joined a job recently, me in my final year of university. He had asked for my email before we parted, we had so much to say. Our eyes probed, pleaded, with all-around we had no idea how to go about it without being obvious.

Aneek did mail me, with poetry, laughter, memories, I had replied and waited. He had called me too, yet the magic of the mountain withered slowly. He was getting busy with an overseas project, and for me- my parents have started looking for a groom!

Years back, I had looked for Aneek on social media, sent a friend request. We do greet sometimes, remember those days in the mountains. Awkward strangers we were, so eager to love, how we matured and stepped back, we get sarcastic, sometimes try to hurt..if you…if we..if us..we dodge everything thing in a smile. Sometimes I so wish Aneek and I had a selfie! When I go home, ransack old albums, I see Aneek in group photos, smiling shyly, averting gaze from me, from us!

Beautiful mesmerizing Dalhousie! I had been to Dalhousie again. Sometimes beneath the trees, I could hear Aneek calling softly or standing mystified in front of the clouds looking straight into my eyes or humming Gulzar so that I pause, to listen to the next line. I look at Aneek, he walks away smiling, knowing very well my eyes pleading for next ….!

Soma Bhattacharjee

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