Periods, Pyaar And Patriarchy

Chapter Thirty-one

There was nothing different about the afternoon at the Old Age Home. The sun- the winter sun- shone brightly over the sky. And on the splendid yards beneath, there grew an abundance of cornflowers. While it was a hassle for the gardener who was employed on the grounds; to the viewers, it looked both pleasant and beautiful. The cats seemed to agree with it as quite a few of the tabbies from the Old-age Home lay against the warm weeds, sprawling in the sun.

The fleas jumped up and down their bellies and only occasionally would a cat sit up and rub its' belly. The residents were engaged in various activities, most of these taking place outside now. The regular carom table had been brought outside and had managed to engage two Bengali gentlemen in a fierce debate with each other about who had scored a goal and who hadn't.

Next to them, were some of the young residents. One of them had a guitar with him, but it lay beside him unused while the owner tinkered with a notebook instead. The Old Age Home had decided to start a 'Warm Drinks Bar' after much success of their 'Cold Drinks Bar' in the summer. And while in summer they'd served non-alcoholic beverages ranging from ice-cold water, lemonades to carbonated drinks and the occasional iced teas and cold coffee.

The cold season favoured drinks like coffee and tea with ginger in them in order to ensure that none of the seniors caught a cold. When one of the seniors caught a cold, Mrs. Matthew would shake her head. The virulent nature of the flu would only ensure that all the residents one-by-one fell caught a cold as well. While the seniors liked to chuckle at Mrs. Matthew's worries, she would remind them that they were old, their immune systems were already compromised. It didn't take much for a cold to trigger something worse.

For all her grumpiness, Mrs. Matthews was wonderfully kind and all of the residents loved her for it. As did both Shweta and Vaibhav. Even long after Shweta had decided to stop volunteering, Mrs. Matthew always ensured that she felt welcomed enough to be a part of their Sunshine Village as she was used to calling it. And Shweta gladly accepted the invite because she had begun feeling lonely and the old age home and Bhavya did a lot to keep her loneliness away.

And much like any other day- there was nothing really special about the afternoon as well. The sun was perfectly in place as it always had been. The trees were stationed where they always had been and there was the familiar smell of cleaning fluid rubbed all over the floor of the area. It would only be a while before Bhavya trudged up in front of her. He had begun limping these days and would only return to his wheelchair when his feet really started hurting.

He had been painting a lot more as well. And by the time summer rolled around, Bhavya had plans to return home as well.

The only slightly different thing about the afternoon was that today in an airport miles away from where Shweta was, Vaibhav would be boarding a plane to Melbourne. He would probably send her a message when he'd reached and then well, who was to say what would happen next? It had been an understanding between them that they'd consider themselves broken up the day he left.

And for Shweta; it seemed like all of the unease she'd been feeling from when she met him was finally giving way to feel the one thing that she'd been so afraid of feeling. And now she would have to work her way through it. Shweta's own phone was bombarded with messages from her friends- and in the evening she had a coffee date with Riddhi.

Riddhi had managed to fly back home on the pretext of saying goodbye to Vaibhav but had stayed back because she knew how much Shweta needed her. While Shweta hadn't really said much, she'd been really working around to keep herself occupied. Shruti found herself being relieved of her kitchen duties more often than not, with Shweta being more than willing to cook all sorts of meals. She seemed to be willing to do anything; as long as it kept her mind off him.