Love Letter To 2024

 " Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."

- Rumi 

I closed the diary of quotes I kept near the window. Recently, my grandmother fell ill, she urged papa to take her to her village where she wanted to spend her last days. I took a long week off from the office. I realized I needed it. 

It's serene here. It's June and rain's on its way. We have chosen a perfect time to spend in the village. People here have not realized that 6G is on its way. I hate how time is unjust to us in the city. Here it just moves slowly, like life's expectancy is longer. Maybe that's the reason she wanted to breathe in the village. 

When I am not dozing on Charpai by the window, I like to have a walk in the village. Yes, it's muddy and smelly but close to nature. It's better than the gloom in cities. 

As I walked here like a tourist, I realized this was missing from life. Back in the city, I wake up, head to the office, and come back to prepare for the same. My mornings and evenings go like this. I am unable to look at the sun and thank for the next chapter. Even loving someone and being loved is harder. At least the village has something to give back to me. 

I saw a vendor selling Jhalmuri. He looked like a local, kids were bargaining like he's family. I stood near his stall and asked him to make a plate without peanuts. He wrapped the whole thing around a piece of paper and headed to another street. 

I came back home only to be welcomed by my favorite corner. There was no one downstairs so I assumed they were chatting on the porch. I sat and opened my book of quotes, keeping the evening's snack next to it. 

Jhalmuri looked tempting and uniquely served on a handwritten paper. I grabbed the piece of paper and began reading it in my head. I smiled halfway through reading it. It was better than the book, it was a love letter. 

The signed name was faded by now. After reading it I think it was narrated to no one. It was narrated to the person's dream fantasy. One part of it read, ".......At this point I truly want you sitting with me and thinking about the world beyond. I want to be filled with the hope that makes every day waking up easy...." I resonate with the person's view. He/ she just fell in love with the idea of love and wrote to it. I think maybe they were waiting for the cupid to find it. 

I flipped it to look at the name clearly if I could. Surprisingly something was visible. It was the date he/she must've signed below the letter. The year was 2002. 

After thinking a while, I said smiling, " I accept it". It made me feel that the letter had reached the right person. I do not know the clutches of time it passed through. Or what happened after the intended person read it, or whether it was hidden somewhere till someone decided it was time to let go. It doesn't matter. 

Even today I think about the person who must've written it. I have a safe place for his/ her words. I resonate with everything written and respect the feeling conveyed. Isn't it a part of what love wants? 

My Dadi is still alive. We got back after a week of staying in the village. The village practitioner gave the green light to Dadi's illness. I might be boasting but I think that the trip was for me. Or better, it was for that letter to complete its longing. 

- Kratika

*This is just a piece of fiction. Any resemblance to another story or someone's life is purely coincidental