Love-Poetry-Philosophy

                                               Love-Poetry-Philosophy

The Saturday afternoon sun was not helping. I was trying to compose my first poem for her. The heat overhead was sapping out all that feel-good-feeling I felt for her. I mean, it had been just two weeks since we were together-officially. I was hugely keen to seal the deal further with a good poem( I seriously hoped she would appreciate poetry.) 

My usual cabbie arrived. We had developed a bond over the past few months. He was the one who picked me up and dropped me home on those dull weekend shifts. He was probably 4-5 years elder to me. We used to talk quite a bit. Bangalore traffic, increasing number of  private vehicles on roads, increasing temperature, radio jockeys and their style, cricket and even the depleting number of trees in Bangalore. But never had I imagined we would connect at a personal level......

"Poem-a Saar?" he asked, seeing me with a note-pad and a pencil. I had scribbled one or two lines and was about to erase them. I smiled shyly. I wasn't ready for the world to know this! Not yet..

"Hmm..what does she do?" he asked directly! I looked at him in a bit of a shock at his apparent lack of tact. 

" I can't expect Software guys like you to write a poem on Nature! It has to be a girl.." We burst out laughing. The ice was broken. I felt no harm in confiding in him anyway.

Ten minutes into the ride, I was none the wiser. I had compared her eyes and hair to stars and clouds..but then they had already been done by hundreds of people in movies..it would fall flat. Then out of nowhere, my cabbie gave me the first two lines: 

"I dream of looking into your beautiful eyes

And finding myself there."

"What inspiration!!" I shouted. I was probably too loud.The auto-driver next to our cab on MG Road looked at us in shock. I raised the glasses of the window and noted those two lines down. I couldn't afford to lose them. I was becoming a rank plagiarist, but I had more important things to worry about at that moment. But something else intrigued me at that moment.

"I was a lover once too Saar..I still am..." my cabbie was saying. I paid attention to him out of sheer respect- he was more experienced see. I was in a position where I would listen to anybody's love story.

"Once a lover..always a lover.Our affair went on for 4 years 3 months, 21 days....you'll start counting the days too" he added, at my obvious look of awe when he mentioned the precise time-frame.

"She was not exactly beautiful. Good looking you may say. But her attitude...Sakath Saar"

"Where did you meet her first?" I asked.

"It was in the rainy season Saar. In a small umbrella she was sheltering 3 little kids, while standing in the rain herself." 

"I wish I could meet you every day

 You have always taken my breath away!". Two more wonderful lines. This guy was talented.

After pausing for two minutes, he continued. "Your character is what you're doing when no one is looking at you Saar. She was helping those kids and she didn't expect anyone to notice her. She wasn't doing it to impress anyone. That impressed me the most Saar." He could quote phrases too!

"I parked my car next to her and asked if I could help.She merely nodded. She helped the kids get in the car.She wouldn't get in. I thought that was the end.She didn't even say thank you! I started driving away. But then,she smiled. She smiled just enough for me to see that in the side mirror. Something told me she would be waiting for me at that place. I dropped the kids and returned. She was indeed waiting for me!!That was how it all began"

"Your smile and your ways are just so true

I'd wait for ever and ever..just for you...."Another two of those priceless lines.

"We liked each other straight away Saar. I suppose this happens only with true love. You just feel the other person is meant for you straightaway. We talked to each other for at least 5 hours a day. I missed my trips sometimes because of this. When I told her this, she asked me to stop calling her when on duty. And she told that so nicely. Even now when I start a day's work, I make it a point to remember those words Saar."

We were at a signal again.We could see a young couple. The guy was helping the girl cross the road with his hand a little unconvincingly around her waist. It looked  like the girl too didn't want it, but was putting up with it. Both our eyes lingered on the couple for a moment. The cabbie shook his head vigorously.

"It's all about respect Saar. You should never try and force your feelings and intentions on others.Flowers will always take time to bloom" he said, looking at a tree that had a lot of spring flowers blooming.Between all the poetry, I could sense a tinge of philosophy.

"So..what happened next?" I asked.

"Well...I don't know Saar. Two years ago, she disappeared. Just like that. Her house locked, her phone switched off. She had resigned from her job too! I looked for her all around the city for 3 months. But then,I  gave up. If someone is meant for you, they'll surely turn up Saar."

There was a deep silence. My mood for poetry disappeared too. Though inexperienced in love, I could connect with what this guy was feeling.

"I have two other best friends Saar. Their love story was a success. So..at least one of our stories had to fail. God chose mine" he said. I liked the way he had come to terms with the disappointment.

"I'm sure there's someone waiting for you.." I said, trying to cheer him up.

"True love happens only once Saar" he said."It's very difficult for me to feel the same for someone else all over again. I've decided to stay single..."

I could see the remains of a  rose kept in a glass bottle with water inside. On the bottle was marked a date, roughly two years ago. The cabbie must have noticed me observing it.

"It was the last flower she gave me Saar.It had 16 petals. Every rose she gave me had 16 petals. I'll hope for her return till nothing of this flower remains. Then I'll probably reconcile with the fact she's never going to come back. End of story" he said.

We reached my office."Take my advice Saar. If you truly love her, never let her slip away!". I smiled politely and started walking towards the entrance. "Saar!!" he called out. I could see him hastily thrust a sheet of paper in to his pocket. I could guess what it probably was.

"You're so beautiful and just so divine!

I just want to know...would you always be mine?!!"

 "Never allow her to say 'No' Saar" he said, with a twinkle of mischief.

"This man is a legend". I told myself. I watched silently as his car sped away. As it was about to disappear around a corner, it screeched to a halt. It halted for around two minutes.I could see someone get in before it sped off again

A week later, I was waiting to tell him how successful my recitation had been. I got into the car. The cabbie was grinning ear to ear. The rose in the bottle had been replaced. He gave me a diary. The first  pages contained excellent poetry. Then somewhere, there was laborious philosophy on what the world meant to him. And the most recent pages, contained poetry again- as fresh as the rose in the bottle. For the first time, I could see him blush as he pointed at the title he had given to this work of his. It was scrawled in the tiniest font on the right hand top of the first page. 

"Love-Poetry-Philosophy"

                                                                                           -21st April 2013.

"When Love succeeds, a poet is born..when it fails, a philosopher"- I don't know where I heard this. Weirdly enough, I felt this was true, when I heard this cabbie speak. The story ofcourse is fiction. But was inspired by an ever so tiny conversation I had with him.