Ice Cubes

“What happened to me, today” lying in her bed, watching the faded dawn through her window, she asked herself.  She was astonished to listen to her own heart beats, so loud and fast.  “What happened to my heart” she wondered.

She sat on the bed and looked at the mirror.  “Thank God that still my skin is quite smooth and not even a wrinkle at this age” she whispered.  She was a beauty queen who caused sleepless night to many men.  Now, she is a grandmother, still pretty and fabulous.  “Cool down, my heart” she said, but her heart was unwilling to listen to her.

“What’s wrong, today?” quite wonderingly, she got up and walked to her balcony.  Everything was as usual and as always.  The gulmohar tree stood completely reddish with smiling orange flowers with plenty of chirping birds and sparrows. 

“Heart is unpredictable, even the owner of the heart quite often doesn’t understand it” she said smilingly.  She picked up the newspaper and returned to her bed.  A cup of hot tea was already waiting for her.  She could hear the ‘morning fight’ between her daughter and granddaughter in the dining table.  “The history repeats” she laughed.

Reading newspaper had become her habit for quite some years.  She would often spend more time reading the obituary page, watching photos of the known and unknown people.  She would pray for the souls of both the known and the unknown.  But, today, her eyes were stuck at one photo.  Her hands shivered.  Her throats got dried up.  Her tears rolled down her cheeks.  Silently she sobbed. 

Her fingers patted him.  His smile was still killing.  He was still handsome.  His eyes were still inviting.  Decades after decades had passed by but he remained as an ocean in her heart, an ocean with enormous waves of vibrating emotions and love.  She had just a few meetings to remember about him but he lived in her heart always as evergreen and everlasting.  She hardly remembered a mild touch from him once; still he touched her heart and soul always.  He was her inspiration; craze and above all a positive energy to fight with her life.  She could never find an answer to her question whenever she tried to define her relation with him.      

“Love is just one simple form of emotion, my feelings for you are above love” his words echoed in the emptiness.  Mostly, he remained a memory, not in reality, as the life had taken her to different routes.  She had lost her root in the new routes, still she remembered him.

He is no more now.  She couldn’t believe her eyes.  “How can you die?” she asked him.  He still smiled.  “Why did you die?” she asked him again.  Her tears fell on his face.  “Tears are priceless, don’t waste them” shockingly she looked around.  “Are you here?” she shouted, looking around.  “I remember these words, it’s yours” she screamed.

She looked at his photo again and again.  Still, he was smiling at her.  He grew up only to remain a child always.  He was not a serious type but always remained funny, naughty and romantic.  In the last mail to her, he wrote – ‘Today, I celebrated my 85th birthday; by dancing and drinking with young pretty women all around me.  I made cocktail with vodka and whisky.  And, my book Around Angels got published today.  I celebrated with my loving family as always.  I remembered you too, as always’. 

“You have always been awesome and dashing, dear” she smiled.  He never liked to see anyone’s tears.  Only once, her tears twinkled down her eyes before him.  It was their last meeting.  On the lunch table, unable to bear his killing eyes that were penetrating deeper to her heart and soul, she smiled and said – “You are a late comer, alas”. 

She couldn’t control her tears.  But, he was too naughty then to collect her tears and put them in a peg of vodka, mix with water and walked to his refrigerator.  Smilingly he said, “Tears are priceless, don’t waste them.  I am going to preserve your precious tears forever”.  He filled the ice tray kept in the freezer and said, “A few drops of diamond tears are mixed with vodka in water for ever-shining ice cubes, wow!”

“Crazy, you are!” she screamed.  She knew obviously that he had preserved those ice cubes.  And, today, he is no more.  She has no idea what would happen to those ice cubes after his death.  He was more than a lover; more than a friend; more than any other human being she had ever known. 

He might have always watched her precious tears in those ice cubes.  Those were the tears of her memory, preserved forever by someone who valued her beyond any conditions.  She couldn’t control her tears today.  She collected them in her palm and walked towards her refrigerator.  She was smiling.  Her eyes were twinkling.  Her lips were shivering while her heart was beating for him.

Her daughter and granddaughter stared at her unbelievably.  She opened her refrigerator; opened the freezer and smiled silently.  Her tears twinkled in her palm.  “Tears are priceless, don’t waste them”

She eagerly waited for the new ice cubes!!!

MURALY TV