Shalini returned home exhausted from the office and quickly removed the dupatta that felt like a rope being attached to her nape. She opened the fridge and took out the bottle of water and held it in her hand. A drop of water trickled down the bottle just like a bead of sweat that dropped down from her forehead due to the killing humidity levels. She prepared her favorite Nimbu pani and gulped it in one go. The torturous weather condition since the last few weeks had been a reason for impatience and had been her only ally , ironically,in the past couple of days.

A heated argument with a colleague, a misunderstanding blown out of proportion at her home, and a minor accident while returning from work had made her understand that it was time for her to take a step back and witness life as it happens!

As she sat on the sofa in the living room with her head tilted to one side, she looked outside her window and just then it had started to drizzle. A calm breeze touched her face and the serenity in the air almost made her so calm that she slowly realized how chaotic her life had been recently!

Just then her phone beeped in her hand and she looked into her chatbox with a few messages on it. As she started replying to one message after another she realized that she had this weird habit of sending perfect replies to her loved ones, be it her family, her old friends, or even office pals! Another reason why she always felt scared to even enter group chats! As they say, old habits die hard, she replied to each of her emails, chats, and assignments and by then time had flown like a river. When she looked up, the beautiful moments of raindrops kissing the rough patch of land had vanished.

“Does it really matter to people of your perfectly crafted replies? Does it really matter if you correct a colleague at work? Does it really matter to be the crusader of change? Does her existence even matter? Sometimes it does but most of the time it does not, probably!”

As thoughts like these entered her mind, a new message from one of her long-time friends arrived on her phone.

“Hey, sorry to disturb you! Are you wearing a saree? You look beautiful in your DP! Stay blessed !”

She typed a blushing emoji as typing even a single letter seemed tiring to her at that moment.

A smile appeared on her face and then it vanished shortly. It was her ex-roommate! From sharing dirty jokes to experiencing heartbreaks together, they had done it all! Given her extremely chirpy nature, she would have called up immediately and said “Shalu! ye tu hai!! Omg! Kitni pyari lag rahi hai!” And would have cracked some silly jokes and they both would have shared a light moment with a lot of giggle. But as they say with time everything changes.

There was a time when Shalini herself found it very hard to even install WhatsApp on her phone! Her friends would scold her often. It seemed irrelevant to her! But now, the whole world runs on it and the latest addition or rather addiction is the stories feature on it! As she gradually realized the cobweb of all of it, she understood how shallow human connection can feel sometimes. But nonetheless, a world without technology is impossible today. The irony is that the same technology that helped everyone survive during the pandemic is also becoming a distraction as life slowly moves back to normalcy with each passing day.

A sense of unknown anxiety touched her heart and Shalini quickly ran towards the balcony. The raindrops again started falling from the sky as if someone heard her silent cry and she held her hand out to experience each droplet on her palm.

The monsoon was already knocking on the door and it was time to welcome it with open arms. She switched on her TV and a beautiful song started playing. The petrichor, the sound of the rain, and the very moment of peace were too precious to lose.

She tapped her heart with one hand and then put her phone on silent mode.

Love,

Chinmayee