Let me introduce myself first, I aspire to be a story teller and I have millions of emotions and billions of stories playing and replaying in my heart. As I sit down thinking about the one story that has touched my soul in more than one ways, the image of a girl who crossed paths with me recently flashes through my mind. Though I am not very sure at this moment if I should call her a girl or a woman but as my story unfold I hope to decode this mystery.
Getting a seat in the crowded Delhi Metro is one of those rare pleasures that can not be expressed in words. I guess, the heaven was happy with me today and as I boarded the metro rail from the most crowded station with a silent prayer for atleast a little space to stick my feet, a gentleman abruptly stood up and offered me his seat. Hesitantly I took the seat and thanked the lords of heaven for this mercy on me on a much needed Friday evening. My destination would take another 45 mins, so I decided to close my eyes and relax my body and mind, and as I was about to put my plan into action, I saw this woman sitting next to me watching some colourful video on her laptop. I did not want to peep and infringe her privacy, but could not control my eyes from having a glance. It was a wedding video that she was watching, colourful, lively, vibrant and oh! so many happy faces. I decided to give her company and watch the video for a few more minutes before I could close my eyes. I usually do not enjoy watching wedding videos or photos unless I am there in the frame, but at this moment it seemed far more interesting than watching the shabby faces of other co passengers. Initially her video seemed drab and bore to me, but as it proceeded I got interested in all the flashy rituals and suddenly it stuck me that the girl watching the video was infact the bride. I got more interested. She was an ordinary looking girl who looked no less than a princess in the video, attired in her traditional wedding dress that was all red and jewellery that was all gold . I could see from the corner of my eye that the girl was blushing and smiling while watching every moving frame of the video. As I started enjoying this extravaganza of happy faces and beautiful ceremony, suddenly I could feel a deja vu of being familiar with everyone in the video. I could easily recognise her mother, father and brother. They were the ones with the most tired yet happy faces and eyes that had emotions as deep as an ocean. Frame by frame the guests were introduced, a bunch of ladies standing near the stage and whispering with each other and having sarcastic smiles and inquisitive eyes, the middle aged men who were only waiting for the food to be served, the young boys trying to entertain themselves by fixing there gaze on the pretty girls with colourful outfits. I was becoming so good with the guessing game of spotting the guests, I could point out the useless relatives, the happy friends, the cribbing in laws and even the gatecrashers. With every passing moment I started looking at the girl's reaction to the video, it was as if I was trying read her mind and judge her emotions. Then came the Kanyadaan ceremony and I could see the candid moment when the bride's father's hands shivered as he placed his daughter's hand on the groom's hands and it was captured so beautifully on screen that I realised that wedding cameramen have the most thankless job. They capture every candid moment so subtly and yet remain unrecognised for the talent they have. Now my eyes searched for the girl's expression again and as I had guessed, I could see her with a tiny little tear drop on the cheek. Weddings!! We wait all our life for that perfect fairytale moment and spend the rest of our life reliving the nostalgia that comes with everything life offered before and during this life changing event.
I had gotten so engrossed in this girls's fairy tale that I almost forgot my destination, and as the train announced the next stop I realised that time had passed so quickly and I suddenly felt a deep connect with her wedding. I usually do not speak to strangers but somehow after these 45 mins into her life through her video, I could feel a strange sense of closeness and familiarity with her. I tried resisting myself but in vain and before getting up from my seat to deboard the train I blurted out to her that it was a beautiful video and she looked like a fairy out of heaven. She looked back at me with smile on her lips and tears in her eyes. For the past 45 mins I was trying to decode if she was a girl or a woman, but her shy smile and innocent eyes made me realise that she was a girl indeed. She thanked me shyly and closed the video and before I could take my eyes of the laptop, she pressed the delete button on the laptop and in a flash of second all the colours, drama and emotions that I had been experiencing in her video were shattered. The wedding video was deleted!! It was none of my business but I felt cheated. I was so lost of words and emotions that I missed my station and was dumbstruck to even realise it. A few moments later the girl closed her laptop and got ready to deboard the train. It was now that I realised that I had gone way past my destination point and I got up along with her and we both made our way through the crowd and as we got out of the train, I could not resist myself again and asked her angrily why she had deleted the video so mercilessly. She give a little sigh and suddenly I could see the face of an innocent girl turn into a mature woman who had aged within seconds and her eyes lost their glow. Her reply is by far the most hard hitting statement I have come across. It was such an impactful statement that by the time my mind tried to register her words, she had disappeared in the crowd. "This video was the only memory I had from a life that's long lost and sometimes when I feel lonely and out of place, I revisit this memory, not to see anyone else but to see myself, to see a younger and happier me. Every frame in the video makes me believe in love, life and fairy tales again and today its been exactly two years since this video came to life and after battling with every negative emotion from anger to frustration to depression towards everyone and anyone, I have finally realised that clinging on to past is for cowards and I have now permanently deleted this memory to make my heart realise that though this dream is over, there are other dreams waiting to be realised and other dreams waiting to add colour to my life" As she spoke these words I could notice the glow back in her eyes and her face turning into that of a young girl again, a girl who believed in a promising future with hope and happiness.