Continued From…
We lost count of the drinks. We tried to make castles from the cigarette buds, lying inside and around the ashtray. Our drinks had begun to taste like water but we drank like thirsty travelers in a desert caravan.
She told me not to smoke through a filter as it would take the cherry color away from my lips. We did not touch each other’s tongue but her lips appeared to be giving some ‘peace’ to mine. She hugged me and we stayed frozen in that moment for what seemed like an hour. I gently pulled her back and noticed that her beautiful eyes had closed, they were moist. My collar was wet. I helped her to bed. She, half sleepy, walked like a child being shown the way. She partially opened her eyes and asked for a night dress that hung behind the door. I nodded.
She sat up, then turned with closed eyes and opened the back strap of her party wear with some considerable effort. I noticed marks on her otherwise flawless back, those that looked like patches left by merciless beating from a belt or something similar. I wished I could kiss those marks and wipe them away. I realised how we never see the person, we see only the outer beauty. We create theatricals. In that very moment, I realised I first saw her as ‘grey’, I saw her as simple and pure. She collapsed on the bed. She closed her eyes and left the world for a dreamy bliss. She smiled in her sleep. If someone would ask me to define beauty, I would like to frame it into memories and moments like this one.
It was almost 5.00am and a hint of light entered from the window. I wore my shoes and walked to the door. There, I noticed a set of opened letters lying on the table next to the exit door. I picked one. It was addressed to some senior manager called Mr Srivastava who shockingly worked in the same firm as mine. It spoke of his ‘good’ appraisal and a subsequent promotion. The next was an appendix of divorce documents. It came from a lawyer and spoke of terms like domestic violence, affair of the husband at work and his few appearances at home. It spoke of a child custody battle, and of separation.
I looked at the lush green gardens of ShipraSun city on my way back home and thought that, grass is indeed not greener on any side.
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