FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN

Getting under her skin

"It's funny how, in this journey of life, even though we may begin at different times and places, our paths cross with others so that we may share our love, compassion, observations, and hope. This is a design of God that I appreciate and cherish."
― Steve Maraboli,

The next few days flew by Manjari as she struggled to catch her breath. Orientations, workshops, signing up for classes, taking classes, the opening of bank accounts, grocery shopping, library membership.... her days were full. Every day she reached home exhausted. Her jet lag still had not worn off and she was waking up at the ungodly hour of 3.30 a.m. daily. She was sleep-deprived and food-deprived and nothing tasted the same.And she just could not eat another pizza, or cheese and tomato sandwich or muffin...what she would not give for some good ole' dal chawal, rajma chawal, dosa.... her mouth watered just at the thought. Get a grip, she scolded herself! Learn to make do with what you have and be grateful. Thank god! The weekend was just around the corner. She needed a break so that she could work on her sleep cycle. Her co-FLTAs were struggling like her. Everything was so different and so challenging. She had found a good school for Amaira and told her about it who was just as excited to come here. Amaira's visa had also been approved and she was scheduled to come after Diwali. Her brother would be travelling with Amaira. He had some work in his company's headquarters in New York City. Everything had worked out for the best.Manjari walked the short distance from her office to her home. There were shuttles she could take. But she loved to walk this stretch. And she loved her office. She had a nice workstation, a new MacBook, printer, coffee machine (most important of all) and many other research resources at her disposal. She reached home and fished inside her bag for her house keys as she opened the doors of her front lawn. Suddenly she felt a shadow loom over her. She shrieked and the other person laugh. She fell on her rump and turned to see who it was...Neel.

"What are you doing here? You scared me....", said Manjari, one hand still over her throat.

"I scared you. You scared me!", Neel retorted.

She plucked herself off the ground, huffed and crossing her arms asked, "what are you doing here?"

"Visiting you. Like a good friend."

"We are not friends, "she said exasperate. Not yet, he thought. But soon. He wished.

"We could be", he said softly. "If you would just give me a chance ..."Manjari quelled the rest of his words with a withering look.

Neel sighed. This was not going as planned. He rarely saw her and that too when they were in the same university. The course work was rigorous and he was struggling to catch his breath.
"I came to give you this". He handed her an envelope.

"What's in this? "

"Damn, I didn't know that you could not read".Manjari swatted him like one would swat a fly that was irritating them. She turned around dismissing him and opened the envelope. It was an invite. To the Fulbright get-together tomorrow evening. A black-tie affair. She read it again. Hmm...she did have a black saree with a golden border she could wear. She opened the front doors and walked in.

"Won't you invite me in?", asked Neel. He knew the answer but could not resist riling her up more. Feeling childish, Manjari turned around and stuck out her tongue at him before closing the door. Neel walked away laughing. He had been so glad to receive the invite. He had missed her, more than he had imagined. He had been thinking a lot these past few days and was still reeling under the shock of some of his newfound discoveries about himself and his Manjari. HIS MANJARI. He could not wait to spend time with.  He did have a few glimpses of her as she rushed from one place to another but he missed her. And her sharp tongue. He was looking forward to spending some time with her- fingers crossed. Because if she had her way, she would gladly feed him to dogs!