A Lovers Tiff and Karvachauth and All That !
Dinesh K Kapila
Surya was siting quietly. Reading his newspaper.
Sipping tea from a giant mug and watching his wife Annie. Admiring her
with quiet affection. A silent thinking man
with a greying head of hair, he was wondering how the years had passed. Years
of marriage had passed by as though in a
flash, though actually it seemed every January that the year had passed ever so
slowly.
The two sat in companionable silence,
their morning routine a set ritual. Annie was smiling as she leafed through the
newspapers, it was Karvachauth and celebrities were proclaiming their love and affection
for their spouses with enthusiasm. And then there was the social media, the
classic being a seventy year old guy saying his wife still looked as she did as
a bride ever so many years ago. “Well, he must be saying it without wearing
his spectacles “”said Surya. Well, its in the mind”, said the quite but
assertive Annie. “That is how it is. And should be”.
“Well, what about this one”, said Surya,
eating Rajma Chawal (Rice) is necessary says a young celebrity couple. Of all
things something so prosaic. Tea over, the two set off for their walk. Avid walkers,
whether out of fear of doctors or not, walk they would do. Another ritual, where they while walking talked
over kids, relations and anything and everything.
As they walked past a house, Annie said, “the two youngsters are having a tiff”.
“Come on” said Surya, “it cannot be. Just yesterday night they were talking
away, I heard them as I had a stroll”. Annie was steadfast in her judgement, a
lovers tiff it was. They reversed, walking back, instead of walking on. There is
nothing like gossip, scandal or a lovers tiff to give rise to curiosity and a
keen desire to know more. From times immemorial it holds true.
As they walked
back, their gaits as though focused on the road but the eyes and minds were
looking elsewhere. Elsewhere was a staircase leading down from the first floor
of a house nearby. The young lady was sitting on the stairs, the young man
standing behind, sort of requesting her to come back into the house. She was looking
ahead, saying, no way. I am sitting here only all through the day and night. He
was trying to rub her shoulders, cajoling her. She was shrugging it all off. Well,
said Surya, that negates one principle. Annie, walking slowly alongside, asked
which one. Surya simply said, “Love isn’t just looking at
each other, it’s looking in the same direction”, quoting Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Ever the observer,
Surya said, “both are looking in the same direction, yet it’s a tiff”. They walked
within fifty to hundred yards, reversing quickly, so as not to draw attention
to their knowing that they knew that a lovers tiff was afoot.
The tiff
continuing, the cajoling and pleading and entreaties failing, Surya said let us
walk on. This is not settling early. He muttered, “the young guy, Yogesh”, as
he remembered, “should simply walk in. switch on the AC and chill. Wait. Then come
back”. “How could you even say this”, remonstrated Annie. “He has to win her
over. He is at fault, not Sanjana”. As they walked, they discussed animatedly
as to who could be at fault. Annie being clear, if Sanjana was sitting outside
on the stairs on a hot day, then only Yogesh could be at fault. Twenty odd minutes
later, they returned within the vicinity of the House of The Lovers Tiff. Well now
Yogesh had stepped down, two steps lower
than Sanjana, now he faced her and was requesting her. Sanjana was speaking a
bit louder, quoting slights imagined or
otherwise. He, not knowing an old couple, still young at heart, were looking on
though pretending they were not looking, even touched his ears to plead guilty
and his innocence.
“Its nearing
its end”, said Surya confidently, “not so”, said Annie. Sanjana will make him
dance around her a bit more. And they walked on. Five hundred yards later, the
quest to know what would happen next got the better of them. They turned back,
to find Yogesh was now back near the door and pleading and Sanjana, though
still sitting there like a rock, was surely smiling though the tantrum was very
much on. Suddenly Yogesh swooped down, just lifted her up and took her into the
house.” Ah, that ended well and suddenly” said Surya. As they took another
round, they came upon Yogesh and Sanjana, getting into their car, dressed up
and they waved happily to the older couple. “We are off for a leisurely meal”
said Sanjana and Annie smiled and said, “enjoy this stage of your life and hold
onto the memory always, our blessings on Karvachauth”.
Annie was just about to say
something more as they walked when Surya said, “A happy marriage is a
partnership of two good forgivers”, this he said Ruth Bell Graham had
said long ago. “You and your knowledge”, said Annie, “read less and specially
on the mobile, I notice you use the mobile too much”, bringing him back to this
world.
“”Well, continued a happy Annie, having seen the happy conclusion
of the lovers tiff, “I will only say, Karwa Chauth is not about
fasting, it’s about feasting on love.” “Diehards” she said, say “the moon
witnesses the purest form of love on the night of Karvachauth, I would like to
believe it. Truly”. Surya responded, “well, if Yogesh and Sanjana meet me now, I
am going to say “May your marriage be as timeless as the moon that blesses it.”
Maybe I will tell them to read up on The Legend of Queen Veeravati, The Story of Savitri and Satyavan, the
Story of Karva, the Story of Draupadi
and Arjuna and the tale of Goddess
Parvati and Lord Shiva. These traditional stories passed down
through generations have to be told and retold. Just to add the deeper
spiritual and emotional layer to not only to the rituals but to the cultural
continuity. The fasting was just a part and could be flexible, the context and
connect with culture was more important. These timeless stories remind us of the
enduring values of love and dedication. Surya
and Annie walked on in companionable silence.
Folks in love, still in love, out of love temporarily, looking
for the right one, carrying a tiff or a grouse, not carrying a tiff, sulking or
not sulking, fed up with in laws or happy with in-laws, old and greying or young and fit, middle aged
or whatever, wherever you are, Happy Karvachauth. Stay Blessed. Be patient. Stay
in love. May your bonds of affection only grow. Stay Happy. Stay in Love. Look at the moon
tonight and sing your paeans of love and romance, in your mind or otherwise. Love.
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Loved the penultimate para. Good , dinesh
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