Sweet Deals

Sweet as Honey

Credit: stevepb / Pixabay.com

"Sometimes we need to stop analyzing the past, stop planning the future, stop trying to figure out how we feel, stop deciding with our mind what we want our heart to feel, sometimes we just have to go with 'whatever happens.....happens'  "

 ~Unknown~

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The battle between Ragini and Sanskaar, much to Swara's delight, did not last long. It took three meetings, a dozen cups of cappuccino and an un-quantified amount of cookies for them to realize that they had too many interests in common, foremost being Swara, to be on warring sides. And when Ragini came to know about his knowledge about the guitar, it was the final nail in the coffin of their animosity. Their journey from initial antagonism to cordial companionship to 'thick as thieves' friendship was a short one and in no time, Ragini declared Sanskaar to be her best-est-est friend, a sentiment which, though not so spectacularly voiced, was returned in full and equal measure by Sanskaar.

The unexpected gift of this friendship was that Sanskaar felt it no longer necessary to restrict his visiting hours to the afternoon. Till then his heightened sense of propriety and an unwillingness to set unnecessary tongues wagging, ensured that he would time his sojourns only to the afternoon coffee hours. Now that he gained Ragini's trust and friendship he would, on occasions, drop in during the closing hours and sometimes extend his visit a little beyond.

Ragini would initially join them and soon make seemingly frivolous excuses to leave them alone and would bury herself in mundane tasks which suddenly appeared to take on a mantle of urgency. Swara was bewildered at Ragini's antics and would voice her objections but Ragini had decided to side with Sanskaar. She was not blind to the affection with which Sanskaar regarded her sister and quietly shared his silent exasperation at Swara obtuseness in perceiving the same.

The only fallout of their friendship, in Sanskaar's terms, was that Ragini sometimes dragged out Sanskaar for her shopping expeditions; Swara had never expressed any enthusiasm for that activity and Ragini had soon realized that he had a very discerning taste. An added bonus for Ragini was that Sanskaar was able to devote that time entirely; however limited it was, to her and her innumerable discussions. Thus when Ragini had wanted to buy something for Swara, Sanskaar accompanied her, far more willingly than he let on. And while she deliberated on which dress would suit Swara, Sanskaar took a only few minutes to finalise his choice, which astounded her, it was truly a marvelous selection though she did hesitate on the colour he had chosen, a lovely azure that deepened to a sapphire shade, with delicate silver work on the yoke and at the hem.

Her apprehension was well placed, though Swara loved the dress she had blanched at the colour and asked her as to how she could have brought a dress in that hue. Ragini did feel guilty on foisting the dress on Swara and grudgingly admitted that the choice was Sanskaar's and she was loath to disappoint him especially when she could not reveal the reason why. Surprisingly, when Swara heard that the selection was Sanskaar's, her eyes brightened and she carefully kept the dress away with no further objections, an act which gave hope to Ragini that Swara would realize her true feelings for Sanskaar in the near future.

It was the Durga puja, which that year, had come in the last week of October that brought down most of the barricades Swara had erected around her heart. Sanskaar could not be with them as he had to be with his family in Kolkata, though they were Marwaris, years of staying in Kolkata had habituated them to celebrate the Sarat Navratri with as much enthusiasm as any Bengal native.