She carefully looked at herself, closely and minutely. To her surprise, she discovered a couple of grey hair just above the left ear. She had grown old. There were wrinkles on her upper cheeks. Her eyes looked tired. All she could do is quickly hide the grey hairs and apply make up on her face.
She wore a yellow shiffon saree. He loved her in yellow. She smiled as she remembered how his face would light up when she wore yellow to college. My sunshine, he would say. They would then sit on his motorbike and go around the city, from the busy roads in old city to the highways and bridges. They were so different then. Youthful, exuberant and carefree..
She wore her favorite bracelet, which was gifted by his mother when she went to his place for the first time. It had been a long time but she still managed to secure each of those items with a lot of care. Last time she wore it on her anniversary. She remembered that the ladies from her kitty spoke about her bracelet all the time. It was their 20th anniversary. The relatives said that they looked like a 'made-for-each-other' couple.
"Twenty years of marriage", she thought.
Her cell phone was ringing. It was an alert message from the Airlines that the flight was landing in another thirty minutes. She quickly put some hundred rupees notes in her designer purse and started locking the steel almirahs (closets). She looked at herself one last time in the closet mirror. She observed that she was out of shape now but she was still beautiful.
Something was not perfect.
"You always look good when you keep your hair open...They make you look like an angel..." She quickly opened her hair clip from behind her head and let the silky hair fall on her shoulders. Yes whoever said it, indeed it was true. She was looking like an angel...an old angel.
The car was waiting for her at the porch. The driver opened the door for her. She carefully sat inside and asked the driver to turn off the AC and roll down the windows. There was a soft breeze and a slight drizzle today. She loved this smell. She remembered how they traveled out of the city while it rained. He drove like a speeding rocket on the country roads and she loved the clean air all the time. The scent of the air was so similar, she thought. "Drive a little slower..." she said.
The driver replied, "Okay Madam. The flight must have landed."
Traffic in the city had grown worse all these years. The flyovers had done little help. She put her hands out of the window and let the rain drops touch her. She was excited. But then sad. And then she smiled in thoughts.
She could see the airport. The flight had indeed landed. The mobile phone beeped twice in all this time. She asked the driver to park the car. While heading hurriedly to the International Terminal Gate 3, she was again reminded of that night, when he was leaving. They had not spoken for hours. His last words were "Take care Sheetal and wait for me". Her last words were "Hemanth, please call me"
She was waiting to see her husband after a long time. It was a long time indeed. She saw her husband from a distance, waving his hand. Women could still fall in love with someone as smart and handsome like him.
Two months later, after Hemanth left, Sheetal married Raj, a graduate from Harvard Business school, in a gawdy, pompy wedding. Sheetal's parents were very happy. They had found the perfect son-in-law, way much better than the struggling Hemanth. Sheetal had moved on. She had selected a more secure life for hers. The guests rejoiced all the wedding night and everyone said the same thing that night. The couple looked ideal, made for each other. No one knew that far away from the wedding, across seven seas, on an alien land, in a room closed with four walls, someone cried that night.
"Hello darling, you don't know how much I missed you. How are you? You look a bit tired. By the way, I thought you would wear my favorite black. You look more beautiful in black than yellow...and how is our son doing? Did he call you?..Hey how about a dinner? You ready?" Raj looked charming as always. He had a wide smile on his face, having seen her after 3 months.
They walked out of the airport exit like a cute couple, smiling. There was a long queue at the exit. People waited to get into their cars and cabs. It had stopped raining. The humid weather made them sweat.
Amidst all this, she quickly took her handkerchief out of her purse, and wiped the lonely tear drop from her right eye, making sure it would not spoil her make up. She took her phone and called the driver, "Saheb has arrived, come here at the gate."
