The temperature had dropped noticeably in the past few days, but the onset of rain and the northern wind had made it icy. With no break in the greyness above the chance of a let-up was slim to zero. It was going to be a rainy day and no amount of pleading with the gods was going to change that. The rain has always been my calming sound when I was little my mother would play rain sounds to lull me to sleep.
To venture out into that cloudy city at 6 p.m. with my umbrella, the misty air surrounding me felt fresh. To my put my feet upon that buckling concrete walk and making my way, I walk past a coffee shop, that evening there wasn’t much of a crowd. Then suddenly it started to rain. Gradually the skies outside had darkened. The street lights came on. I stand upon the intersection and peer down the long lit avenues of the sidewalk in all four directions, deciding which way to go, but it made no difference; I was alone.
With a final decision made, a path selected, I stride off.
Sensing I was all by myself, a girl joins me under the umbrella. I did not notice where she had come from, nor how she got there. I saw her clothes were wet and clung to her body. The crowd in the street lessened. She looked befuddled. Only motor vehicles went past, crossing each other
“I’m shit scared of thunders, I’m sorry… is it fine if you can walk me to the nearest bus stop?’
“Umm…yeah, sure!” I replied.
It grew completely dark; we were the only two people walking towards the bus stop. We trudged along the pavement at a sedate pace, my mind focused on the gentle footsteps that seemed to echo throughout the desolate street.
“Hi! I’m Tara” she said.
“I’m Ashwin” I replied, as we shook our hands.
“What brings you here, Tara?” I asked.
I sense some hesitation; she looks at me and smiles, “Oh, Tinder! I came here to meet my match. You see Ashish”– I barked –“Ashwin!”
“-Yeah, Ashwin!” her face lit up and gives me a smile that just seems so genuinely sweet just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me.
“I am not from Delhi, I came here to meet my match all the way from Gurgaon. Can you imagine the time and effort it took me to reach here! I was waiting for the guy in the café. Despite a less crowd, the management decided to play Jazz. I didn’t come here to sit at the bar all alone and listen to someone blowing the Saxophone. I guess all good looking tall men are like that, when it felt like he was not going to show-up, I came out of the café, I heard a clap of thunder and it was all cats & dogs when I saw you…” she roared.At last, I saw her properly, small and pretty. 20 years old something, with the brightest smile I had ever seen, wavy black hair, eyes dark. And, a small black bindi on her forehead.
She truly was a beautiful sight to behold.
When she saw me noticing her, she broke into a smile. It was a strange feeling, it felt like my lonely soul sensed a surge of exhilaration. I guess this is what happens when you stand next to an attractive person?“I see it’s sad to know you have been stood up,”– I look at her
-“I hope next time you find someone from Gurgaon.”
We huddled close together under the single Umbrella, did not exchange any words till we had covered some distance, in the rain and darkness. From time to time we bumped onto each other, moments like these made me experience a sudden shock. Tara, however, would look at me and laugh out loud. Windless, the rain beat straight down with great force. Lucky for us, we had the umbrella. We walked through the driving rain and the fierce thunder and lightning, stumbling against each other.
We arrive at the bus stop.
“It looks like the rain is not going to stop,” she said.
“Yes, and it seems the bus is not going to arrive” I answered.
-“If I had realized it was going to rain, I might at least have brought an umbrella…” she murmured.
“You could have not known that it would rain! And anyway, what if you had? If you had known that I would be passing by the café, would you have brought your own?” It was only after I had blurted out all this I was mortified.
She laughs, her laughter was like the summer rain and every time I heard no matter the weather, the sun brightened. I laugh, I hope she is watching. Not so that she sees I am happy but that maybe, just maybe she’ll fall for the smile just as hard as I fell for her. It was like her sound lifted the grey-black clouds and allowed us to see the world more clearly. It’s funny how laughter can do that, such innocence in the soul.
The umbrella she held snapped closed, releasing a gravity-defying plume of small droplets over our heads. Tara shook her hair to gain some life back into her flattened locks.
“Tara, I know I don’t stand a chance, I may not have the prettiest face nor the built, but I do promise I have a kind heart to ask you for a cup of coffee…”-showing my white pearls,
I ask her, -“Would you like to have a cup of coffee with me?”
She smiles-
-“What are you waiting for, I have an umbrella!”
Smiling, she walked beside me, under the umbrella.
