Platinum Moments

Everything was moving on smoothly. The day began at exactly six in the morning and ended at ten in the night. The roads led to nowhere but college and home. The bikes racing at full speed on the roads and the laughter of groups of young girls on the roads walking past me filled to garner my attention. The goal was clear - to become a doctor and be of help to those millions of pole who die of diseases, unable to afford treatment, among whom I grew up and one among whom I might become. Little steps in the direction of my goal were successful. The first step made me a topper in my class ten examinations and the second step gave me admission in a prestigious medical university. But the third and the remaining steps would no longer be as smooth as the initial steps and may not necessarily lead me to the goal along the path I thought that they would. The platinum moments of my life and love are yet to begin.

It was a hot afternoon in mid-summer. I was returning to my hostel after an examination. The heat from the sun made me dizzy and I couldn't walk even a step without sawing from ones side to another. Fearing being knocked down by some speeding vehicle; I willingly collapsed on the footpath. My vision was blurring and I could hardly see anything. When my senses were about to completely disconnect me from the physical world, I felt someone gently put their hand over my head. It was the first platinum moment of my life which I realised later on.

There were no strong gales accompanied by rain to mark the arrival of the platinum moment nor did the bells in the adjacent template alert me.

She sprinkled some water over my eyes and I could see a blurred image of her face through the thin film of water over my eyes. Her lips spoke something for a few minutes and then then she helped me to the beach in the park adjoining the road. She gave me some water with her hands, sat for a few minutes and then the sound of her anklets slowly faded in the air.

Few more months of my life passed just like those days of my life before that platinum moment. Nothing special happened. And then the day arrived wen my love would be expressed, the event requiring nothing more than a new seconds.

It was the time during Diwali. Decorating my room with earthen lamps was one of my favourite activities during Diwali. I had gone out to the market to buy the required items and there, I saw her the second time, in a beautiful sari with the winds playing with her hair. I didn’t knew if what I intended to do was acceptable but following my natural instincts, I took a rose in my hand, walked to her and stretched my hand with the rose towards her with a smile on my face. I didn’t utter a single word but she probably understood what I wished to convey. She accepted the rose, blushed and left the place.

That night was perhaps one of the most beautiful moments of my life - the moment when you realise that life is all about living with the person you love and that you already found that person.

Standing in front of a row of lamps in the balcony, I stood staring at the sky recollecting her blushing face in the air lit with the lamps - the lamps signifying a new dawn in my life. The second platinum moment in my life had happened.

After that day, we met quite frequently. A larger part of my day was spent in her company talking about everything that we could. She appeared to be the most important thing in my life at that moment. There was nothing which could give me as much happiness as her presence beside me.

It was too late when I realised the setback to my goal of a becoming doctor and helping those poor and needy in their deathbeds. I had failed in a couple of subjects in that semester.

As usual, we met in the evening at the park but I was silent and so was she. A couple of hours had passed and the sun had set but neither of us spoke a word. It was dark all around except for a streetlight in the light of which I could see tears rolling down her eyes. She probably knew what had happened. She looked straight into my eyes for a few moments, hugged me and left the place. Her silhouette against the dark light got permanently etched in my memory. I’m not sure if anyone would call this a platinum moment but I definitely will for reasons that would be evident shortly.

Unexpected things, so scary that make us fear if life had taken a turn along the steepest curve happen, but life moves on and most of the things end on happy note.

Inspire of all the unexpected turn of events, I managed to become a topper in our university. It was the convocation day and the hall was packed with family and friends of the students. She too was present, sitting at one corner of the hall watching the proceedings. After the ceremony, within a couple of minutes, the entire hall became vacant but the two of us stood quietly waiting of the other to speak.

She hugged me to her chest and with her hand gently running thigh my her, breaking the silence, spoke a few words.

If there is anything at all in this world important to me, then it us you. We both may be two distinct individuals but our souls are strongly bonded to one another. Your goals are as important to me as they are to you. Life gives time for everything and the years that passed were the ones intended to be spent achieving your goals. I’m not sure if I was the impediment but I wanted to make sure not be a hindrance in you achieving your goals. I might have not met you all these years but my heart was always with you. I looked for hope in the future when you would be ready to accept me, when life decides that it is the right time to do so. Thoughts of this day when I would be meeting you kept me alive all these days. I might have been physically away from you but mentally, I was no farther from you than I was before. I wish to live the rest of my life as your wife. With your love, I shall be the happiest person in this world.

I put my hands into my pocket and took out a pair of platinum love bands which I had bought from the money saved from the various scholarships I had received during my studies. We exchanged the rings that marked another platinum moment of my life.

But that was not the end of the story. Life was waiting for an opportunity to make me a part of those people whom I saw bidding goodbye to the earth on their deathbeds, succumbing to terminal diseases, and the day did come closer.

Lying on a bed in the hospital, covered with a white cloth, either resembling the peaceful state of my mind or the gloom that would descend over my wife and kids after my death, I was recollecting the days of my life.

I am the same person who looked after people in their deathbeds with love and affection, assuring them that death was too far. And now, doctors around me talk of the same distance between me death, which I know, is a blatant lie.

My life was spent the way I desired. I have achieved my goals and alongside, I have lived the best moments of my life in the company of a loving wife. Every moment spent with her was a platinum moment. What she said that day was absolutely right. We both may be two different individuals but our souls are strongly bonded. She read through my mind and took decisions on my behalf which later on, provided to be optimal. I might have not met her for a few years but I thought about her every moment those days and she, in a way, pushed me towards my goals. Nothing seemed difficult to be achieved to see the day when we would be married and lead a happy life.

My head is resting on her laps, with her finger gently touching my forehead and her eyes expressing the same love I felt when I looked through my filmy eyes years ago when we met for the first time. Death may occur at any time but it doesn’t have the power to separate our souls. We shall cross the barriers of life and death and meet again in our next life, albeit in different situations.

There was complete silence in the room. The winds started blowing strongly outside and in a few seconds, it started raining heavily. Both their eyes were closed for ever. She was lying over his chest. The lifeless hands were tightly gripping one another. The two love bands fell on the floor breaking the silence.