THE BRIDGE TO "FOREVER"

I AM TRULY HOME

I've never brought into the idea that blood is thicker than water. Love, respect, gratitude, affection is meant to be won from our family members. You be yourself and be the best that you can. We owe our elders our respect but we do not owe them love. Iam Abir Rajvansh and I stand by this principle.

Iam the oldest in the Rajvansh household where Iam mostly surrounded by love but its love bordered on fear where no one can express themselves freely so to say. Where everyone smiles but its always laced with sorrow like someone is going to jinx the happiness. Surreal huh? ...welcome to my life.

Despite being affluent, well, mostly because my mom ran the grand travel family business, I never cared much for riches and ostentatious living. I ran my own NGO and tried to make my ends meet. Before you get me all wrong – I do not hate my mother, I just don't agree and get along with her ideas, principles and way of life. Despite being her blood, I thought on similar lines with Parul Maasi and gelled with her easier than I did with Meenakshi Rajvansh, my mom.

Kunal is Maasi's son and my half brother and I loved him crazy. He looked up to me despite the three-year gap between us and came to me for advice on the "cool" way of life but he was mostly mom - my mom. Weird huh? Lot of things about my life are uncanny and mystifying. I don't share the same interests and personality traits like the others in my family but most of all I do what they don't. Stand up to the family, when they and especially my mom, when she does something wrong. Because of that, Iam called a rebel and because I leave home when no one listens and pays heed to what I say I Christened myself a "Banjara" a nomad. This was one of "those" trips but I had to go back because of the celebration in the family. The NGO didis had traced me and had managed to convey the news of the nuptials and celebration to me somehow, because I do not own a cell phone. Oh Puleese! Don't give me that pity look...its purely by choice. I hate cell phones.

I turned to take few pics of the landscape and my heart stopped. I couldn't take my eyes off the view and I shamelessly stared. A beautiful girl was climbing in. Then, this naughty little imp did the most unexpected thing. She bobbed down from my view and waited until I stopped gawking perhaps. I gave an abrupt guffaw of laughter to engage myself in her hide and go seek game, as I turned my head to the opposite direction. Game on...naughty imp. Little did she know that I had my most prized possession on the camera – Her eyes and part of her stunning face. If you could read my mind, you'd be in tears darling, Abir thought as he put his camera away and sat right in front of the bus happy and contented with an unobstructed view of his second most prized possession at the moment, God's gift to man – Nature.

He fell a rustle behind him as their souls touched again. What was about this girl that drew her to him he wondered. It had never happened with anyone before. Naanu would call him crazy and Nanko was too work involved to understand these things. Yet ironically enough...Nanko was the one getting engaged and Ketki his sister was soon getting married.

A gust of wind blew and his pagdi's loose end flew as carefree as his heart. He loved donning colorful ethnic clothes and stayed true to his name Abir. He smiled and then he suddenly heard someone mutter angrily. "Agar yeh turban pehenna hai tou sambhaalna bhi aana chaahiye; pura ka pura merey face mein aur mujhe tandh bhi nahin lag rahi hai."

Abir glanced back, and faced her sideways and looked transfixed at her face, his heart in his mouth. His mouth went dry and he was totally lost for words as he gawked again into the most fascinating eyes ever. His eyes shifted slightly to her dangly earrings which fluttered in the gale like his racing heart at the moment. As the bus driver applied brakes, she lost her balance and fell right into my lap.

She apologized profusely and her flawless skin turned a beautiful shade of pale red in embarrassment. She regained her mental composure fast enough, apologized again and started talking to me.

I was gawking at her like an idiot who had lost his voice, drowning into the incessant black pools that were her mesmerizing eyes. I did see her pretty little mouth open and close but did not absorb a word of what she said until she tapped my arm and said "Ajeeb Aadmi ho tum" "Ajeeb aadmi" fits me like second skin and I do not mind the name at all. I see what you don't, I live how you won't, and I say what you won't so it's absolutely fine darling was my usual mental retort to anyone who called me that.

That's normally the case but not this time. For the second time, she flicked her slender fingers in front of my face bringing me down from my lost space down to earth.

"Kya tum teekh ho;

Merey sarr par saanp hai kya?

Huh

Tum kya behrey ya goonge ho?

Kya

Tum kya Kumbh ke meley mein ho?

What

Phir aisey ghur Kyun rahe ho aur merey sawalon ka jawaab kyun nahin de rahe ho? Itney lost kyun ho?

I grimaced and acted all hurt and asked, what her question was. She shrugged, sat and did not reply, perhaps offended at being ignored. I wanted to tell her that, was not the case when I heard a scream... "Mishti ki bacchi tu teekh hai upar? Agar tujhe hawa udaakar kahin ley gaya tou naya remodeled room pura ka pura mera ho jayega. Good Luck to me!"

Gotcha - "Mishti" - What a beautiful sweet name and I had to find out who the screamer was.

Sorry...I started

Sorry kyun, kis liye aapney kya kiya

Please, mujhe bataaiye na. Mein aksar kho jaata hoon agar saamney ka nazaara bahut sundar ho tou.

She looked bewildered. Excuse me, Mein aapko paagal lagti hoon ya sayaani...aap mera mazaak kyun uda rahen hai

No really Iam an artist and I was looking behind you, I lied. I knew she was not ready for the truth. Woh pichey dekhiye na kitna sundar baby hai. She turned and smiled for there was a beautiful baby.

Please sorry...

OK no problem...aapko mein hat kar baitney ke liye keh rahi thi

OH, OK comfortable now...?

She nodded and looked around enjoying the wind on her face but mostly quiet. She reminded me of home and happiness and to me these moments were nothing but pure bliss.

Baba always used to say If you want to know where your heart is, look to where your mind wanders and at that moment ironically enough though I was miles away from Rajvansh Sadan, I truly was home.