Wedding cards were a thing that always fascinated me. I loved the way in which it was designed. The glitter and the razzmatazz was the thing I adored. The only sad thing was that I never received a wedding invitation personally. All the invitations that landed in my home were for dad or mom. I always dreamt of receiving a wedding invitation card but damn my friends. None of them are getting married as yet. One of my school friends did get married but he invited me personally on phone. Sadly, no invitation card!!!

All that changed a few days ago. I received a wedding invitation. It was a beautiful brown coloured envelope. It had a lovely red coloured cursive handwriting. I opened the envelope to reveal a beautiful card. It was made of red crepe paper. It was like a single page notebook. I opened the crepe paper. A plain red paper had all the details engrossed on it with a beautiful golden font. It took me a while to recall the to-be bride. Then a bolt of lightning struck me. She was a long lost good friend of mine. We had been out of contact ever since we finished our twelfth. I was sure to attend this wedding surly.

The bike ride to sangli alone is usually long and boring. But this time it was different. Memories of her flooded my mind and the time seemed to pass in a jiffy. It was way back when I was in my standard 8^th when I first saw her. It was not the typical filmy istyle love on first site or cupid striking my heart. In fact I noticed did not notice her on first day. It was a week later that I noticed her. I was early and waiting outside the tuitions when she arrived too. I looked at her and was thinking is this girl really in my tuition. All of a sudden she gave me a shock. She asked me "You are Ashwin, right?" I agreed though looking sceptical. Then she not only introduced herself to me but also kept on talking a lot. I kept listening to her with an occasional nod. From that day onwards I occasionally watched her in the tuitions. She was very chirpy girl. Her voice was the loudest if the class was noisy and her giggles broke the silence when the class was quite. She had a habit of cracking PJs when there was a silence. This led to a set of giggles between her and her friends. One such time I got the joke and I giggled with them. She smiled looking at me and then blushed away. That was when I released how beautiful a girl can be when a girl blushed. Since then she looked at me every time there was joke. And I was the only guy who giggled with them. May be there was a telepathic connection going on.

As I reached Shirval, the memories still continued to flood my mind. Another memory pooped up in my mind. Way back then, I was a loner. During the rains I usually went to a coffee and ice cream shop to have a hot coffee looking at the rains. 11^th science was very busy year for me. With three back to back classes in the evening I sometimes took this liberty of bunking the classes and enjoying a cup of coffee during the rains. She wasn't in my college and I didn't know which college she had joined. It was not that I didn't want to find out but a small little ego that I had stopped me from doing that. Fate had its way though I went to the usual coffee shop for my coffee as it started to rain. I saw a beautiful girl taking abode in the coffee shop to avoid the rains. As I went closer I recognised that she was 'she'. A joyous wave went through my body though I didn't show my excitement. As I walked towards her our eyes met. She recognised me instantly. Her eyes gleamed and she called my name loudly. It sent shivers down my body when she did that. My joy knew no bounds that she still remembered me. We shook hands and greeting each other. We fumbled and mumbled a lot because she had more words than she could speak while I had none. Finally as the adrenaline settled down we took a table at the far end of the cafe from where the rains were visible. I ordered the usual coffee. She looked at me and smiled. She said "Ashwin, have you tried some madness? Chuck the coffee lets have ice-cream in rains. ". Before I could react she cancelled my coffee orders and ordered two ice-creams for us. She took the charge and started talking a lot. She told me all about her college, classes and her new friends. She talked of the old class days. She talked of the telepathic connection we had. I don't know of the telepathic connection but I think there was different connection going on now. I kept looking at her. She looked mystical. She was lean and a few inches shorter than me. She had lovely curly hair. Her eyes were the diadem of her beauty. The beautiful black eyes she had gleamed with her expressions. Her eyes transferred her thoughts more than her words. A thin gold chain with a small diamond pendent adorned her neck. Her small sleeve kurti was a beautiful light green in colour with embroidered on the collar. The words flowed beautifully from her mouth. I noticed that she pronounced really as 'rilly'. The grammar aficionado I was it should have irritated me. But instead I love the way she said rilly. "I rilly love ice-creams.", "Did you watch that movie? Its rilly beautiful" and "Rilly Ashwin, we should meet more often." This habit of her was something that I inherited. To this day I pronounced really as 'rilly'. Our ice-creams arrived. I was leisurely eating it. Looking at me she said," wanna try something silly?" I nodded. "Race to finish the ice-cream, loser pays" she shouted. Before I could react she stared gobbling down the ice-cream leaving me with no choice but the follow the suite. As I tried the madness I found out it wasn't easy at all. A sting of pain transferred from my teeth to forehead. In no way was I going to compete with her. I gave in and accepted the defeat. She than told me "Ashwin, there are so many times we follow the same path that someone sets. Why should one drink only coffee in rains? Why ice-creams should be eaten only in summers. Why are we so dogmatic? Chuck the prejudice and try some madness. It won't lessen your pains or worries by any amount but it will sure give you a moment of happiness, a moment of joy that we thoroughly deserve to enjoy." Till date I eat ice-creams super fast. I never back from trying something new. She had found a place in my little heart which then I had no idea why? A connection was surly going on.

Time passed by only to strengthen our friendship. We used to meet more often and she ensured that we tried some madness every time. This one time she called me to her home. After all the introductions with her parents, we moved to her bedroom. The room was one of the most beautiful rooms I had ever seen. It was off white in colour and had orange curtains on windows. Those curtains gave an orange tinge to atmosphere in the room. The neatly arranged table caught my eyes. All books were properly stacked on a side. A pen holder held few pens. However a scrapbook like thing lay unattended on the table. I moved towards it and read the title. An awesome calligraphic font read my encounters with Ashwin. I took the book and asked her as to what this was. Just as I was about to open the book, she shouted and snatched the book. I continued to ask as to what it was. She shouted and said that if I ask about it ever again, that would be the last time we speak. Her friendship was more important to me than my curiosity so I dropped the topic. But that day onwards a lot of questions kept popping up in my mind.

Co-incidents do happen when things are connecting. It happened with me too. Both of us were in Pune at the same time. By this time we were great friends. We had decided to enjoy the day together in Pune. It was magical. We walked together on JM road. There were moments when our hands touched. A spark of current passed through me every time that happened. She held my hand while crossing the road. A heart skipped a heartbeat. The touch was magical. As we crossed the road I looked at her. She was looking at me too. Our eyes met and then she blushed. But she did not let go of the hold. We continued walking holding hands. It was a memorable moment of my life. I think I was falling in love. I was enjoying the moment. I didn't know what she felt about me. I was not going to tell her that. Her guaranteed friendship was far more precious to me than her unwarranted love.

I had stopped at 'virungula', the famous halting point for travellers, for a tea. A kanadda family sat on my neighbouring table. I don't understand kanadda but I could make out that they were speaking about reaching Bangalore. "Bangalore" reminded me of the last time we had met. It was right after our twelfth result. It was the same coffee shop. She wasn't chirpy and happy as ever. A gloom could be seen on her face. I didn't know the reason. She had scored an impressive 79%. An ice-cream later she said that she along with her family is shifting to Bangalore. I felt as if someone had hit me with a sharp object in my head. I didn't know how to react. Moving to Bangalore would mean that we would not meet as usual. I was still confused till date about my relationship with her but today I knew I was in love with her. Three ice-creams later we decided to leave. We had till then decided how we would be in contact and how we will try to meet and so on. But whatever the insurance may be the partying moment is the most painful. I put my hand forward for a hand shake. She looked at me and my hand. Then she did something which left me stunned. She hugged me. I was shocked, frozen to react. Before I could regain my senses she had left. She drove off on her scooty without looking back. I stood there looking at her go. All I could think was that why hadn't I revealed my feelings to her?

The place for the reception was a commercial lawn on the Miraj Road. As soon as I entered the arena, I could notice a beautiful little thing standing on the stage. I couldn't notice the other half. I walked towards the stage. I noticed that she hadn't changed much. She had draped a beautiful black sari. The sari was embroidered with beautiful jardoshi work. The diamond necklace she wore shone stunningly in the evening light. But it was her smile that shone even brighter. I walked on to the stage. She shouted "Ashwin!! What a surprise!! I thought you won't make it." I said, "How was I going to miss this!!" As I walked towards her she held her hand forward to shake it. This time I remembered the time I did that and she hugged me. I wanted to do that. I had an intense desire to hug her. I ended up shaking her hands. After the customary photograph I congratulated her and walked off. Tears flowed down my cheeks.

On my way back to Pune all I could think was "Life teaches you a lesson only after you have failed the exams!!" and I vowed to pronounce rilly as really henceforth….

      One of the wonderful reasons to sleep is obviously the beautiful world that one enters at night. The world where there are limitless possibilities which can extend from the depths of the oceans to the heights of the skies. Anything is possible in this world; one can expect to meet the not only the dead and the non-existent but also the very sweet people in life. This world sometimes generates a character that we can never forget. Sweet, cute, attractive, seducing yet unknown: her characteristics…..

        What a beautiful girl she was! This wonderful virtual personality kept me thinking whole time since yesterday night. Generally the dreams of night are not that we remember but I won't be able to forget this girl for longevity. She was a wonderful soul that could make the hardest of the rocks melt. Despondency would be annihilated when she smiled. Her altruist smile was a diadem to her beauty. Long deep black hair was a feature that also shined along with other features. A strand of hair that waved along a drift of wind always seemed to irritate her; which she pulled back with her index finger and placed it to the back of her ear. Her eyes too matched the colour of her hair. Her eyes were lined by kohl that added to its charm. My dislike for kohl lined eyes changed since I dreamt of her. She had a round face and it seemed that all her facial features had been placed to nanometers of perfection. She had a bindi, a small dot of black colour placed perfectly in between her eyebrows. Blush was a part of her character and this very feature created a wave in my heart.

         It was 8:00 in morning. All were getting ready for their work. She seemed to fit accurately within the cosmos of my family. She seemed to get along very well with my mom. She served tea to my dad and helped my sis to tie her hair. I watched all this lazily from my bed. As the haste eased out she turned her attention to wake me up. She came to my room and called my name. I don't know why but I tittered. She came and sat besides me. She held my hands and asked me to wake up. I would be more than happy to wake up two hours early every morning if I get this kind of alarm. That touch made a chill run down my spine. I shivered as she held my hand. She felt the shiver and retreated her hand. I could smell the fragrance of her aura. Black, black, black

Why do we wake up??

I named her Rhea

                              The hot and tyrannous sun had given up and had diminished on this summer day. The sun had shed its unforgiving aura and slid into neat shades of orange. On the other end, the spotless blue skies had paved its way to darker shades of gray. Zephyrs had turned into winds raising the layers of the dust; the road had accumulated over the course of the dry summer. Winds were cooler than normal. All the things living or inanimate welcomed the change. It was inevitable that it would rain.

Sometimes silence speaks. It tells you that someone is watching you. It makes you feel that someone is about to seize upon you and gobble you up. You can hear the thud of its steps that follow you as you move. You can feel the chill of it as you halt. You gather some courage and turn around bit by bit, expecting an attack. But as soon as you turn around it vanishes. You turn back and you feel its presence again. It uses one of its best weapons from its artillery on you: it tells you that you are alone. Result: fear. A chill runs down your spine. You are afraid to go ahead or return back. Your very own house turns into a hunted mansion. And then you remember that one person whom you love the most. You wish she was here with you at this moment. Holding your hand and kicking that 'it' out of your house or even out of your life. All the moments you spent with her. Watching her, that animated face, those swift eyes. Listening to her, that levitation of voice in excitement, that undertone telling you how much she loves you. Those promises made. And then you remember that betrayal. All that she did was just a performance. An act put to make someone else jealous. You were a toy in her hands. And then you feel an icy thing stabbed in your back. You feel the pain. You scream in pain. As you return to reality you befriend that feared loneliness. At least 'it' doesn't leave you alone .

Loneliness: unlike her it never leaves you lonely