Photograph – A guest post by Aparna Prabhu

Old couple

This post is written by Aparna Prabhu as part of the 6th anniversary celebration of my blog.

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It’s Monday morning, a start of a new week. Unlike others I didn’t have to participate in the rush hour or have deadlines looming over me. Everyday is more or less the same when you are retired from your job. I pick the newspaper and skim through the pages when one news item caught my attention. While I was completely immersed in the article, Gargi’s voice echoed in the background. “Who are these two, Atul?” she asks, her hands wiping the dust off the black and white photo. I look up from the paper and focus on the photograph in her hand. I feel the words deserting me again and I find myself lost in my thoughts. Gargi’s hand waving across my face brought me back to my senses. I compose myself and take the frame from her hands.

“The one you see with the Khadi shirt is my friend Rahul and the girl is his now wife, Anjana. They were college sweethearts”.
“Oh, I never heard about them from you. She had really thick tresses, I wish I had too”, she says not looking away from the photograph.

I look at her silky black hair, a grey strand falling across her face. Her cheekbones had shrunk, but the traces of beauty still lingered on her face, even after a long time. It feels like I’m looking at her closely after a long time. “How did they fall in love?”, she asks, breaking my reverie.

“They were always competing for the first place in college. Once their fight escalated and the lecturer had to send them out of the class. When they were outside, the ice between them broke, when they laughed at a common joke”, I answer.

“That’s quite a story”, she says, her lips twitching into a smile. At that moment, I felt a tingling sensation.

“Have you prepared tea?”, I ask, not able to find my cup of morning tea. “Oh, it seems I have forgotten again”, she says with a sad smile. “Don’t fret so much about it. I will make one myself”, I reply nonchalantly and go to the kitchen. I take the tea leaves from the cabinet and put them in boiling water. The sound of the bubbles coalesced with the disturbing silence in my mind. It’s been 2 years since my wife, Gargi had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Quite oblivious to her, I’m pulled away from her by each passing day. I’m slowing getting to know her again and spend each moment by creating new memories whilst reliving the old ones.

 

About Aparna –

Aparna Prabhu is a third year Engineering student. She started writing by chance and has now fallen in love with the art. Apart from writing, she considers herself to be a movie buff and an ardent music lover. Her fiction and poetry pieces have appeared in various online/offline portals like Paperless postcards, Womansera, IndusWoman Writing, Indian Ruminations etc. She has also contributed to two anthologies which are going to be released at the end of this year. She blogs at https://thethoughtscribblersblog.wordpress.com/ where you can find her book reviews, fiction and poetry pieces.

You can reach out to her via her twitter handle – www.twitter.com/hearme1nce

 

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Read all posts from the 6th anniversary celebration of the blog – #6YrsOfHappiness

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