Wink

     

    The balcony was breezy. Shekhar sipped his morning cuppa with the crisp DailyNews. 

"Bomb explosion at Kurla market!!" 

He flipped and closed the disappointing newspaper. His cuppa fresh and hot with love steamed his senses.

 "This is perfectly what a good wife brews." He blushed deep with each sip. The cologne fragnance of the shampoo sliding down the silky locks mesmerised him. The thought of his new bride sizzling in the shower made a scarlet tomato out of him.

 "Heyyy... " 

Suddenly, there was a sprinkle of cold water drops on his tomato face. The sweet offender winked back at him. 

"How lucky I am!" 

He thought still looking at her, " This Greek Goddess is all mine." 

There was another sprinkle as she waved her tresses in air. Slowly nearing him, she gently picked up a drop that had cosily nestled at the corner of his cigarette burnt upper lip. Balancing the drop on her fingertip, she pressed it against the sindur in her mang. 

"What a life!!! What a wife!!! " He smiled to himself as the sound of the trinklets vanished. 

***********

    Shekhar was a student of economics at the  Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Cracking the UPSC, was more than just a goal for him. Intelligence was more a career than just a trait. The country's welfare and warfare mattered most. The heart knew patriotism as the only emotion. But destiny knew the longing of the real masculine heart. Love walked in hushed tones. 

  The sunshine was meant to brighten her henna dressed tresses. The wind was supposed to blow her chiffon dupatta. The campus was infected with her smile. It was pehla nasha pehla khuma..for Shekhar. All he conversed with his friends was ek ladki ko dekha toh kaisa laga... Love is blind, they say. Yes he never saw she was a mute, muslim girl over his age. 

Shama was a newly appointed economics research assistant at the JNU. The bonding was bound to happen. Economy learnt the undulating play of Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet. The difference of age and religion didn't deter their spirits from falling in love. Life was never the same again. She blossomed like the autumn pansies in his cold life.  Canteen chatters and balcony banters became a regular affair. 

"Shama," he gulped  a spoonful of sticky saliva down his dry throat.

"You know my parents will not support this union." 

He spoke with his index finger rolling in the interwingled grip of her hand. 

"I can't run away from a modest upbringing to a soul stiring romance. Can you please convert for me?" 

The hand left his grip. He knew it was the last touch of her creamy white carass. She raised her hands to cup his beardy anxious face in her palms. And then  she WINKED! 

"What are you saying!!! You mean a YES..... " Weired ways of expression of weirder love stories. He danced his way out of the campus to buy a red rose for the new proposal. Again life too has its weird ways. Shekhar was knocked down by a speedy SUV. 

" Relax.... Mr. Mathur. Your technical working with the RAW has nothing to do with your son's accident. Don't bear a professional guilt." 

The Delhi Crime Branch DCP assured Mr.Mathur, Shekhar's father. After a month long struggle with the prosthetics,  Shekhar was wheeled out of the hospital and along with Shama was happily welcomed to the Mathur Mansion. Only surviving son thriving on his only lady love found solace in the family. Mr.Mathur felt pride over prejudice as he watched the handicapped love story. One could never talk while the other could never walk. There was a voice for every dumb and stick for every lame. He thought. 

    One fine morning, Shama handed Mr. Mathur a white crisp envelope. The contents of which buffered his happiness. He didn't want Shama's Mumbai University appointment letter to crumple his son's life.  Shama convinced her soon to be father inlaw, about his son's wellbeing would be the only motive of her living being. Trust was more than what he placed on her. On occasions, she dutifully placed his books and files in order. Silent at heart and peaceful in the soul, Shama loved the Mathurs. A punjabi lavish marriage was followed by bidaai of both the son and daughter in law to Mumbai. 

***********

        Beep.... Beep... Shekhar was jerked from his past to the present. He opened his whatsapp to, 

 "Today evening few friends from the university coming home for dinner. Are you ready Mr.Mathur? Yours lovingly Mrs. Mathur. 😉😉"

 The wink was inevitable. Weird expressions of weird love stories. Chandeliers lit. Candles lit. Sweety fragnance waffled with spicy aromas entralled his senses, as Shekhar wheeled into the living room. Most of the guest were men. But Shekhar least doubted his beautiful wife. Conversations wandered from Madhuri to Modi. Food, music and ambience bowled over the guest. Shekhar was the most amicable host ever.

"You have an amazing husband Shama. " Mushraf her overfriendly assistant chirped.  To which she WINKED. 

"How possesive I'm of that wink!" Shekhar thought overcoming pangs of jealousy. The day ended in fun and frolic.

"Neha, is Shama at your place?"

A worried husband made frantic calls to his wife's friends who was late than usual the next day. Her switched off mobile added to his agony.  The night went by half winked sleep.

 "Deva what will happen to the country?  Another blast at Masjid!!!" 

Shekhar was woken up by his complaining maid. The country's welfare mattered least to him now that his own wife seemed to be lost at some funfair. His suspicion turned  darker when he heard, ' The number your trying to reach is currently switched off. ' on Mushraf 's call. Inbetween his random calls, Mr. Mathur called him nth time. Shekhar was scared to what he would answer to a father in law who loved his daughter in law more than his son.

 What would he answer for now he was proved handicapped, not able to walk up to his wife. Finally, as the old man wasn't ready to stop the calling, Shekhar answered the call. 

"Shekhar, Shama...... Shama has deceived us. I'm called at RAW for an inquiry with regards to the serial Bombblasts in Mumbai.... Shekhar my son, Shama was the Mumbai lead of operation WINK-World Invasive Narcissist Kemp........ Helooo.. Helooo.. " 

The phone dropped from Shekhar's trembling hands. The winks definitely had weired meanings. The campus wink lead to the accident. The living room wink to this terrorist disaster. He tried to join the winks but his head spun.  In the wink of a second, the breezy balcony witnessed a loud fall. The wheelchair was now handicapped as its frail occupant jumped into another world. 

Not all winks are mischievous my friends, some are deceitful too. 😯