Late, One Night

The strange dream had snapped my sleep in the dead of night. I woke up with a jolt wiping the few beads of perspiration from my forehead. Looking around, I found the still darkness staring at me. Beside me, my husband and my little daughter lay fast asleep etched with a small smile on their lips. Perhaps nice dreams, I thought. How lucky they were!

I got down from the cot silently and moved towards the small round corner table. Feeling thirsty, I gulped some water down my throat and moved to the large window opposite to the cot. A gust of cool breeze blew in as I drew the curtains a little and the starry sky seemed inviting. Had I ever seen such a beautiful night before? I wondered. Perhaps not. As I gazed into the vast expanse of the lush green field dotted with coconut and palm trees, swaying gleefully with the breeze, I heard something strange. A cry or a whisper, I couldn’t distinguish. Then, I heard it again. Yes, a cry with sobs in between. Who could it be? I thought. Perhaps the cat or the dogs in the bushes around. When I heard it again and tried to listen attentively, I realised it wasn’t either of that. But a woman’s cry instead. Who was crying at that hour? The maid? I thought. Perhaps her husband had beaten her again for raising her voice against his consummation of liquor. I tried to concentrate as if pinning my ears and mind at their door. But, there was perfect silence.

The cry lingered. And now I could hear it more distinctly. Definitely my neighbour then, I presumed. Quickly I walked to the other room just adjacent to hers and flicked the window wide open. Another gust of wind blew in. A mother cat below the window sill was scratching her paws on the soft, wet ground and the litter around her were whimpering. May be for milk, I thought. The cat growled and the kittens scrambled away in fright.

The cry persisted. But it wasn’t coming from my neighbour’s house either. Who was it then? From where was it coming? I stood still trying to concentrate deeper. At first I thought it came from somewhere far away. But the next moment it felt closer. Somewhere from the backyard or from the lawn in the front. I moved to the large window once again and peered around outside. No it wasn’t coming from that end. Quickly, I rushed to the hall and flicked open the window overlooking the lawn and the garden outside. Soon, my eyes fell on a shadow strolling on the lawn. I rubbed my eyes to dispel the thought of my wild imagination.

But, it was still there. The sight sent shivers down my spine and I felt my whole body numb in fright. I pulled the curtains together and ran to the cot where my family lay fast asleep. I sat there for some time, drank some water and tried to wake my husband, Rajiv up. But, dropped the idea the next moment. With curiosity reigning, fear took a back seat and I crept to the window and pulled the curtain again, but this time a bit silently, not willing to snap the silence around.

It was still there. And as it turned, I saw the face. Dark but lovely features with diamonds studded all over her body. Long, black beautiful hair let loose as it cascaded down her tall, slender body. So beautiful and yet, so mysterious! A paragon of beauty, indeed. The bright dot in the centre of her forehead illumined her dark features with the diamonds emitting glittering lights. How wonderful she was! I thought with my eyes riveted at her.

She now walked to the lovely rose plant and cupped the big, white rose in her hand, caressing it gently. Bending down a little, she brushed her soft cheeks and eyes over it. A tear or two cornered her eyes and she wiped them away. Soon then, the gentle wind blew away a wisp of her hair across her face and she slowly tucked them behind her ears.

I had kept myself hidden behind the curtains watching her every movement in minute details. As she strolled again, she broke into a song. A song so melodious I imagined, if anyone had ever heard one. I listened enraptured entirely lost in it. Yet, I hadn’t missed the melancholic note underlying it. The stillness that had been a while ago was now flooding the entire place with her delightful song. She sang a love song that seeped deep into the heart of every listener therein bleeding in her pain.

She began her song, glorifying her love – love that was purely ethereal, that which grew continually with the passage of time. Free from consummation and entirely Platonic. She then, went on to sing of the curse that had befallen her love, resulting in endless separation from her beloved; the pain in her burning desire for her union with him, the love that bound them together, the steadfast faith that blessed them with a glimpse of each other, though only for the shortest moment and the pride that they took in having built the loveliest monument of love deep in their hearts. As she sang, I felt the melancholic note fading away gradually, enlivening it once again with sheer ecstasy.

“O my love, come to the garden of bliss

As love showers with the gentle breeze

…………

Yet again, as the ecstasy slowly faded away, her cheerful face got shrouded in misery making her eyes misty. Her gnawing pain was so poignant that it seemed the entire universe-the plants, the trees, the rivers, the mountains everything under the sky who listened motionless to her song, shed tears in silence. I wondered whether the dew drops we see on the grass or flowers in the early morning were the tears of the entire nature who too, wept in her pain.

Far away as the cock cawed, I saw her melting into the thin patch of light spreading in the sky.