The Draft

FICTION

It was a picturesque Sunday morning in Thane, away from all the constant chatter & glitter of Mumbai City. There was a blueish hue that dominated the expansive sky, enveloping carefully the beauty on display. A couple of food stalls had opened up around the corner with a healthy rush of joggers who awaited their turn for a morning tea.

“You woke up so early” shouted my mother.

“Yes Maa, wasn’t able to sleep. I don’t know why.” I replied as I went back observing the surroundings from my third-floor balcony where I had almost camped the entire night. It was kind of a weird day for me; it felt more in the zone of anxiety of being left behind rather than the excitement for the new.

“What’s wrong?”, Maa replied as she handed me over a cup of coffee and walked towards the kitchen.

“I feel all the people who I know would move on in their lives and I would be left behind when I return from abroad.”

“What do you mean by all people? I am sensing a girl in this picture.” Maa smiled.

“Nothing like that. There is this…I mean there are many friends, close ones who I have grown up with, they might move on.”

“Relax, it’s okay. You haven’t seen the other side of the world, wait till you do that.”

“Okay Maa.” I replied, pretty much knowing that this feeling would be true even on that side as well. The strangeness of love, I wondered.

“What’s her name?” Maa asked but only to be met with silence.

“Okay fine, don’t tell me. At least let me know what you want to eat?”, she asked.

Ryan turned towards his mother and replied ‘Poori Bhajji’.

There was an unusual frenzy that Ryan felt at that moment. A yet to be sent draft and an untold love seemed like the possible reasons, all magnified in the context of flying abroad. The draft of his love letter was ready a month ago, the day he saw Tara for the last time. It was the final day of graduation, all his friends had planned to gather around the resident eatery for the final photoshoot. He had luckily reached early to the place and so did Tara.

In there three years of college, they never had a single conversation of their own, despite belonging to the same friends’ circle. Thus making these five minutes of alone time that they had, both crucial and uneasy for Ryan. The words were right there to be said when their eyes finally met but all that came out was a hesitant smile from both sides and nothing else. It was the same uneasiness that he was going through right now, a dilemma that he knew had an answer but he was too scared to even knock.

Ryan put his phone back on charge and went back to packing. The draft remained unsent like before and the feelings never seemed to find closure even after he left for his university abroad. Though he made it a ritual to visit the draft almost every night before he slept but not a single day he found the courage to send it. The draft was for himself, for the love he carried in his heart that he adored and was passionately attached to. He didn’t want to risk it to find it gone all too soon. It’s strange and beautiful in its way, maybe true love does that to one, maybe.

Period.