She dwells in flowers..

She arose at daybreak.

The morning was the same.

Winter it was...cold as stone..she removed the drapes to let the sunlight in. The soft warm rays of winter sun greeted her to say "morning"! 

She made her bed like she always does and made her way to the kitchen all set to prepare herself a cup of hot liquor tea. The morning paper was at the door. 

Her morning has begun and it has been like this since long now...but today was a little different..

She sat by the window watching her garden out of the window pane..they always brought a smile on her face. Those innumerable in number and variant in colour. Names of all she knew and also the time and day each blossomed. Her teeny tiny children she called them, mute yet so dear to her that they always flashed that precious smile on her wrinkled face..

It was now time for her to visit them..water them..caress them and to see to it whether they needed any attention otherwise too. Lucky little creatures on earth they were loved and cared so well since so long and were always a treat to the eyes, some even spread an essence that was so often than not everlasting. Every little one of them seemed to display their bright colored petals as if in envy with the other as to which one could bring a wider smile to their "lady"!

Now it was time again to revert back to the kitchen. Her son was due to leave for office in sometime and preparing breakfast was a part of her daily routine as it was still too early for the maid to come who would only turn up by 11am to prepare lunch. 

He came down in his office attire wished her morning, had breakfast and left for office. Going to the balcony to see him or her off whenever anybody left the house was her practice ever since a child she once narrated to her grandchildren. Her daughter-in-law with her children stayed separate, been three years now.

Accepting situations without expectations in life is what she she was preached, what she lived with and now 

she preaches..

Her only grand-daughter of her eldest daughter was coming to visit her today after a span of almost six months. Back to kitchen again she put aside the best piece of Rohu fish reserved for her grand-daughter, made all the arrangements for all that was to be cooked by the maid for the afternoon.

It was now time for some crude work! digging up the mud in the garden, adding homemade fertilizers and creating a pothole to stuff in tea leaves and other daily wastes..

This june she completed 54 years of her marriage...dwelling in flowers and greenery was always her second love, first place was taken by her husband without any second thought. In love and sorrow she had spent those 54 years with him, and ever since these tiny little "flowers" came into her life he so envied them! but never complained cause they never seized to amaze her, make her happy and everyday she would spent at least an hour with him narrating him every little detail of her "little children" as she watched them and he watched her...grow old...through the years...He had passed away a week ago.

Her grand-daughter arrived, standing at the door as her gazed to see the morning paper still lying there.

Grandpa used to pick it up every morning and sit with it sipping his morning cup of tea with his wife beside the window!

She tiptoed over the wet mud and surprised granny clasping he hands on her eyes granny with all those wrinkles and gray hair took no time in recognizing that soft tender touch to be that of her most dear and favourite grand-daughter!

A common interest that the duo shared in flowers, her grand-daughter was only too happy helping her out in every and all kinds of gardening stuff!

She showed her granny the newspaper lying out and she was about to call out to her husband to ask him to pick them up..but she held her voice back..throats choked for a while..eyes welled up..the void created by someone you love is beyond words to express.

She turned back to her flowers, its leaves, its petals, their needs.

She still watches them with pride and admiration as they grow from a bud to a flower and watches them wither away. 

She still dwells in her flowers, nurtures them.

But now she dwells in them all alone.

Every night she writes a letter penning down all that she wanted to say about her flowers to him and leaves it at his desk.

She dwells in the flowers remembering him.

The Moonlit Lady

The road ahead of me seemed to have no destination. Everywhere my eyes ventured to see, it found nothing but darkness. Strolling across the beach a strange sort of emptiness seemed to dawn upon me. The bright silvery light of the moon paved my way as I moved ahead.

To accompany me was of-course the Moon - "the queen of night and splendour of starry heavens" - walking beside me  along with the darkness of the night. The scenic beauty reminded me of a few lines of Walter De La Mare's 'Silver'. The moon seemed unusually big and close to me. The cool bracing beams of the moon kissed my cheek and I stretched my hands out to get the sensation of it's touch, but I suddenly realised it was too far away from me...The glittering stars as if hanging from the sky, the presence of the moon made it appear , "the mother of all stars". The entire nature was garbed in the shining silvery robes of the moonlight. The atmosphere around was surcharged with a soothing calmness and quietness. I felt this strong desire to collect all the uncountable stars and treasure them in my musical box...but would it be fair to part them from their mother?

The moon had cast down its beautiful image on the rippling waters of the sea.

The waves with its white crest formed in the mid of the sea broke near the shores, perturbing the silence of the night. The sea waters lashed against my legs moistening my feet. But as the clock kept telling its time, even the sea slowly drifted afar, away from me. Everything around me seemed to be going distant from me. I have always been a happy loner but have never felt this lonely before.

A moonlit night that is to elevate your spirits, enliven your soul and refresh your mind instead gave rise to a brooding emptiness within me. I could feel the warm blood rushing into my heart. I could listen to my own heart beat in the silence of the breezy night. Even loneliness seemed to flee away from my presence. 

Away from the noise and clamour, the  din and dust of the cities, the sounds of nature was going to tell me a tale I never wanted to hear...

As I watched the dancing reflection of the moon on the flickering waters, a speck of cloud went past the moon and everything around enveloped in a "precent" darkness. Nature settled down into an eternal bliss. It apparently seemed to me that the moon whispered something in my ears as a sudden gust of wind went past me. That same old sweet fragrance that I had known for years, arose in the air, a lady draped in a saree went past me. I turned to glance at her. She looked up into my eyes. Her long cascading black hair fluttered in the cool soothing breeze. Her black eyes twinkled in the starry night. Momentarily it appeared to me as if nature had decked itself with the simplicity of her beauty. She was prettier than the prettiest moon. It was her austerity that really appealed to me.

She gazed at me as her lips broke into an enchanting smile. she stretched out her delicate hands as if to bid a final good bye. In her azurine saree she emitted a light of her own..

That same hands that once rocked the cradle today rocked the world. That same eyes that once shed tears of joy when I was born, now brought tears to my eyes. That same old lips that once taught me the first letters of the alphabet now left me speechless. I closed my eyes tight...After sometime, I opened them to see the moon had reappeared illuminating the sea beach. I was there the moon was there too but where was she?

She was gone..." gone with the wind" depriving the world and me of her beauty, her grace her love her care....

The bright star just above me looking down on me, seemed to shine more brighter than the rest...maybe the Venus or perhaps....................

I walked my path not looking to see who was beside me for I knew my shadow would never leave me...I walked ahead not looking behind for I knew she right above me forever...