The Violinist

The Violinist- Unfathomable

Before you read this, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Take a picture of the person you love the most in the world and then read this—

“Love is patient and kind, it is never jealous, love is never boastful or conceited, it is never rude or selfish, it does not take offence, nor is it resentful. Love takes no pleasure in others’ sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.

Corinthians 13: 4-8”

Believe in true love. :)

2. Unfathomable

The crowd was bustling more than ever. People were moving in all possible directions, tripping, jumping, grappling, swaying and dodging. In all the commotion, Suri was straining his neck to see more than just glimpses of the face that had stunned him motionless seconds ago. He tried to move towards her, at least to the position she saw her in last. As he struggled through the crowd, two large intimidating bodies crushed against his head from either side. There was a diminutive stampede and by some fortuitous ill luck, Suri had found himself in the middle of it. People fell like skittles at the back and tried vainly to balance themselves. There were low shouts and wails, but it disappeared somewhere in the midst of all the raucous. Suri caught hold of the person in front of him as an instantaneous reflex and it was the only thing that didn’t send him whirling down on his back.

Slowly, everyone began to get back on their feet and there was no one to be blamed for what had occurred, simply because the composition of the crowd had been doubly displaced. There was no one to point a finger at. By the time Suri found himself steady on his feet, he had lost all sense of direction and the girl seemed to have vanished completely. He couldn’t quite understand why he was drawn to her in the first place. It was a subconscious movement, was moving towards her. Thinking about it now, it seemed so reckless, so stupid, but so impetuous, so very impulsive.

The concert ended yet the crowd did not dissipate. There was another band going up on stage but Suri and Bora had decided to call it a day. They bought two cans of Mountain Dew and stood slurping near the entry to the carnival. Suri looked down at his feet. He now found that the Mountain Dew was quite a waste. He could barely taste a drop. His mind was inundated by something so trifle in nature, yet something that was overwhelming, compelling, uncontainable and beautiful—her face. Her hair had been tied neatly into an elegant ponytail, just brushing the brims of her shoulders. Her eyes were a light shade of brown, almost amber. Her skin seemed to glow in the sun and her face was simply a coalescence of all that could possibly be kind, gentle and loving. In spite of that, it wasn’t her face that brought upon a rush of streaky sporadic images raging in Suri’s mind, it was something he believed he saw in her eyes—some glint of truth, some essence of honesty. It all seemed strange but natural.

“What are you thinking about?” Bora asked emotionlessly, without looking above his can.

“I’m not sure.” Was the only reply that came to Suri’s mind. He really wasn’t.

“It was something in the crowd, right?”

Suri turned to Bora with a stunned and perplexed. Bora seemed to examine his expression with curiosity and prudence.

“I was searching for you in the crowd because I couldn’t find you, and when I turn around you were, umm, what’s the word? Gaping. And then there were people falling over all over you.” Bora took a sip from his can and looked up at Suri, expectantly.

“It was a girl. I—,” Suri started but Bora splattered his soda into the air.

“Of all the places in the world, you find a girl in a rock concert? In the middle of a thousand people? That’s just sad man, just so sad,” said Bora, his expression loose and full of ridicule.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect you to understand.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Bora raised his hands, genuinely surprised, “I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t even get why you’re so worked up on some random girl you saw for less than three seconds. Sheesh, man. C’mon.”

“No,” Suri replied, shaking his head, as if denying something to himself, “you’re right. I don’t know why I’m why I’m so worked up about her. Maybe it’s because the sun was getting to me. Maybe it was because she was standing right… there.”

Suri seemed to be a loss for words. It was one of life’s most difficult challenges—explaining something to someone when the elucidation was unclear to oneself in the first place.

Bora was looking at Suri with eyes of concern. Suri knew he could sense more than what he was feeling, but the fact remained that neither could explain it to each other. This was an awkward moment, when no one was certain about what the next sentence would be.

“Well you know you’re probably going to never see her again,” Bora was blunt but benevolent.

“Yeah,” Suri said raising his eyebrows, “All this is stupid. Let’s just go and get s—“

Suri stopped mid sentence and began to ponder over whether his eyes were deceiving him. It was one of those moments when he least expected anything. But it didn’t take much consideration to know that it was her. The pony tail, the glimmering eyes, the smile—it was as if he had seen her a million times ago.

“That’s her,” he could manage in the midst of shallow rapid breaths and a rapid heart beat. There was a strange warmth that was emanating from his cheeks. Suddenly the crowd seemed to vanish, fading into the vacant air around them. She was all that was true to his eyes, nothing more.

In his pensive state, Suri had not seen Bora staring at him, incredulously, his eyes still as a hyena’s. There was something more in his expression, something deep and unfathomable.

“That girl?” Bora said, waveringly, “That girl?”

“Yeah,” Suri replied without emotion. “Why?”

“Why?” Bora cried inanely, “Because she’s the Governor’s daughter.”

There is something about Bora’s character that may seem mysterious up until now. It would also be strongly inclined towards the fact that Bora’s association with Suri is hardly explicable. Bora grew up about three yards away from Suri’s ancestral home. There it becomes clear that the two had known each other since childhood. But there was something more, there always is. Bora was the solitary son of the state’s police commissioner. His father was a proud man, affluent and respected. He had occupied his office for six years now and was, by far, one of the most sincere and trustworthy officers the city had ever seen. Bora, however, despised him, detested his mannerly ways, his admonishment on the smallest of things. He had, thus, been a rebel to his father, choosing to deviate from the trodden path, a path his father held high in place. What Bora had gained by this exercise was freedom. Yet, freedom came with its shortcomings.

“How did you know?” Suri asked, languidly, almost dejectedly. They were now walking up hill. The sun was dimming behind the mountains. The sunsets weren’t really very pretty here; nor did they last very long. The sky was still an ashen blue, the clouds were a tinge of pale yellow and the sun was a placid golden.

“I met her at a party once,” Bora said, tugging his hands into his pockets and tensing his shoulders.

Suri walked in silence. It was so very fateful, so very disconcerting, his situation. It seemed like a piece out of a tragic romance novel. He had thought a thousand times before that he would stop thinking about her, but mental deliberation had no effect. It seemed an unachievable task. However fascinating it may seem to find someone in such a state of contemplation, it is not painless. The simple repetition of unwanted thoughts was a most tumultuous experience.

“I can’t get her out of my mind,” he finally admitted, without looking up at Bora.

Bora sighed, a sigh of submission. “I was afraid about that.”