one windswept evening

The last word found its familiar coffin, and i slowly mopped up the pieces, a half-chewed pencil, a diary that was fraying at the edges and my handphone, before slipping on my coolers to walk out....the window looked as if it had been washed clean just that afternoon...through it i could see motes of dust and polythene staking a lazy dance for the night...."this would be a windy torment," i thought....running down the stairs in twos, i spied sandhya sitting on a ledge, trying to hide the smoke...."hi there, see you tomorrow," i whispered, going close enough to her to smell the ash-burnt lips...she shooed me away like a mongrel and i went jumping down in anticipation of tea at the nearby velu's dim-lit stall.......the wind tore into my shirt with a ferocity that i couldn't place at first.....ahhh.....it reminded me of her....like, when she was dissecting a topic to bits, the same ferocious attitude......the same cool, logical take on the subject...the passionate rebuttals...everything......the windswept path reminded me of her..passionate, cool, fixing me with a sigh........."better get to the tea before velu shuts down," i told myself, amrvelling at the mundane that can intrude even into the most searing moment.......Velu was grinning when i showed up...."oru tea thana sir," he asked, in that familiar lilting tone..i couldn't remember his village...must be from the south...south of madurai, even, i thought..........."aama velu," i said, nodding..............."madam???" he asked, glancing up and down that road, expecting her to come down running.........."no madam today velu," (or for that matter, any other day from now on, i thought), i told him grinning sheepishly...by then he had started pouring out the steaming cuppa into a styrofoam.........he knew the "madam" very well.....she was his favourite even, i could guess...she always asked him about his wiffe, back there in that obscure village that was untouched by any politician's promise.....after that, he would go on and explain everything about family to her....she had heard it all before, but wouldn't indicate that..........and, the tea he would mix for her would have just that bit of elaichi, and other spices...making it very special in his eyes..........but for me, the normal tea would do, just as fine............no sign of rain.....sigh..how i wished it would just drizzle....just like my home town, even in spring, i mused........but of couse, this was a different city....a city of dreams...a city where i thought i would get to dream, again after that traumatic time...................and it did seem so, indeed, for a while.....in all the while that she was there............now, it looked like it would be no different from a lot of other days....... (to be continued)