Rajat grabbed his phone. No message yet! Irritation was visible on his face. It had been so many days that he had spoken his heart out!

He switched on his TV and there he saw the Lord with big eyes, Lord Jagannath concluding his Rathyatra while returning back to the Shree Mandir while participating in the last ritual of Niladri Bije where his wife, Goddess Laksmi was being seen creating obstacles for Him and not allowing him to enter the temple. She has been upset with Him since he left her all alone in the temple and went to His Aunt’s place with His Siblings. She calls him Ugly and scolds His sister for trying to snatch away Her newlywed husband from Her. There is a verbal debate between the couple and the entire devotee clan is glued to this Leela of their Prabhu! He offers her Rasogola and a new Patta Saree and apologizes for His negligence. Goddess Laxmi too feels a little shy and finally lets Her husband into the temple. There was celebration all around and the live coverage of the same made Rajat feel as if he was part of the same himself.

Wo ruthna , wo manana …. wo silsile baton ka fir se shuru ho jana…pyar ka fir se aghaz karna ! ( that feeling of getting angry with a loved one, then the beautiful feeling of convincing your loved one, and then the beauty of starting of series of conversations is what makes love going). Isn’t anguish in love a beautiful thing? Two hearts go through many phases and sometimes they are so close as if to become one but at many times, things become so different that one heart does not even understand the other!

Human interactions have evolved with time and the need has always been to create channels of communication. There was a time when it happened through letters, then through landlines, then through mobiles, and currently through smartphones which have made things happen with just a click! However, the art of conversation seems lost! All we have is a set of queries and replies which we mistakenly call communication. Rajat had many such intricate thoughts going through his mind! When was the last time, he laughed out loud with all his heart? When was the last time when someone actually wanted to know about his life, his childhood, his likes, his dislikes about his dreams! When was the last time when someone wanted to know what music he loved and which dish he loved to eat the most! He did not remember! But then he also did not even remember when did he even take the effort to know someone that well!

Love is beautiful but also difficult and hence everyone wants the easy way out! Nowadays, people do not have relationships, they now have … what they call …situation-ships! People do not enjoy love stories, they enjoy lust stories now !! And undoubtedly this leads to a lack of trust, a feeling of emptiness, and increased anxiety about losing anyone at any point in time! But these are modern times and Rajat being young should not be feeling this! He could smoothly sail through his generational mode of experiencing life.

However, Rajat had always felt odd one out from the crowd. He could never be like his friends who indulged in everything that was casual and termed it ‘cool’ as per the lingo. He wanted real over fake, permanent over temporary, and loved with all his heart! Rajat felt overwhelmed as he started going back to his notes while preparing for his class examination. A shade of melancholy hung on his face as he tried hard to ward off unwanted feelings of negativity.

After a couple of minutes, while going back to sleep, he browsed through his social media and scanned through the trending topics. As he was dozing off to sleep, his phone rang .

“Hello! How can you just not get back in touch !! I missed you! How have you been ?”, a delicate voice said from the other side.

” Hello! I thought you ….”, Rajat could not stop smiling while answering the call.

Love,

Chinmayee