Waiting for Him

The windows had been set open. After all, he could be here any moment. Other days might not have had that effect on her, but it was just a different day. Maybe it had set differently or progressed so, she was able to feel each moment passing by today. The ticking of clock was giving wings to the butterflies in her stomach. She was actually looking forward to her husband coming back from work and her holding him in her embrace.

While the rest of the days were a part of the routine, these days were especially earmarked as festivals. Rains cast that spell on you; they make you happy from inside and this happiness just spreads on to everyone around you. She prepared the snacks they had almost forgotten they used to have after their marriage. Things were definitely different that time. The desire to know each other and get close was such that it superseded every other desire the mind ever conceived. She set the snacks on the table placed in their courtyard which was covered in a way that they could still feel the raindrops falling on the ground. Even the winds seemed to be dancing along with the rain drops, splashing some on them while twisting and twirling along. Meera was reserving this pleasure to be had with her husband, Karan. Till that time, she was making sure that Karan forgets all his worries the moment he enters the house she was so endearingly decorating today.

Flowers in the brass vase, incense sticks lit in the small temple hung on the wall in the study room, fresh, washed curtains and the cleaned linen on the bed, all were creating a beautiful aura in the home, the home she lovingly called her masterpiece. For the first time in months, she was feeling like dressing up in a saree, that red one which was his favorite. She couldn’t help but wear the anklet her mother-in-law had gifted her after her marriage. She remembered how Karan used to love its tinkling and how it was often the start of tickling nothings between them. Kohl, bindi and gajra, she wondered how she had almost forgotten these friends of her she adored seeing adorned on her mother.

The sky was covered by dark, grey clouds and raindrops were hugging the ground, almost as if answering its prayers. The cool breeze was bringing back the memories of everyone from their childhood. Even Meera had a lot of memories of playing with her brother in the rain when she was young and, then, of waiting for someone special in life to cling on to during such weathers when she was an adolescent. She wondered why she never told this to Karan, may be because they never sat down to talk anymore. 

Today would be a different day, she thought. She had been living her dream ever since she got her marriage arranged, a caring husband, a house to call her own, the liberty to take decisions and a loving family, she could have never asked for more. She wondered why she never expressed her gratitude enough. She thanked rains for bringing a sense of happiness and a desire for her to stop for a moment and feel herself, her body, her mind and her senses. Passing a flying kiss to the sky, she set her one foot in the rain while sitting on the recliner in the courtyard. She thought she would sit down to talk, spend some time listening to him and caress him out of his worries. She had so much of love to share with him and the rain had been a perfect buoyant force to bring all of it out. She set the teapot on the table along with their favorite mugs and played the music they both loved listening to; after all, every couple had those special love songs which they called their own, the ones they played to cheer the other up and the ones which were timeless. Ah! She felt the freshness of the old times and the bloom of a newlywed bride. 

Knocking at the door and noticing it open, Karan entered!