Learnings from a certain 'Miss Shah'

A few days back my friend Naidu and I were heading out for dinner but we planned to stop over at an ATM to withdraw money. The road to the ATM is not well lit and pretty difficult to see the faces of the passer-bys. But one face caught my eye. It was difficult to see her face clearly but her body structure and her hair style seemed familiar. I felt her eyes following me and reciprocating my approach.

Images and a name flashed through my mind. I laughed it off saying ‘nah! It can’t be her.’ I went into the ATM, withdrew some money and while Naidu turned the bike, I asked him ‘dude, was it Rashmi Shah?‘ He was like, ‘No wonder she was constantly staring at me!‘

So that confirmed who it was. What I had laughed off to be just my mind playing games, was actually true. We had dinner at our usual place and all the while I smiled I mean I just couldn’t stop myself from smiling. Those dormant memories came alive, Watching movies together, long evening walks, evening tea, endless conversations on the phone; they came flashing like a projector projecting the various scenes on my eye. Though we weren’t seeing each other, but the relationship shared was pretty intense. It ended on a sour note because certain developments were very hard for me to digest. The pain of not being together shattered me completely. It took a tremendous toll on me both mentally and emotionally. After we moved our separate ways, I built a lot of disrespect and dislike towards her; but with the passage of time I soon forgot about her.

But now, while I had dinner; all that was visible on my face was not all the pain that I had put myself through or my dislike for her but it was that little tension in the muscle of my face that we call ‘a smile‘. The feeling is similar to the smile I have when I think about the stitches I had received when I fell on my chin as a kid.

It brutally hurt me then. My screams shook the village hospital with tremendous resonance.. it hurt me after the stitches were removed but now, when I think of them I pat myself, ‘that was one hard run dude‘. And I smile

Certain marks, bruises and stitches happen because they remind you to smile when a stimulant triggers your memories after a few years…not to despair and feel sorry but Smile and you will forever smile whenever you think about them, and hopefully laugh, the way I did that day.