The Surprise package!

If love came in footballs, I would have gone to Germany. If love came in cheese, I would have gone to Swiss. If love came in coffee, I would have gone to Brazil. If love came in art, I would have gone to Italy… but love came as you, and I have nowhere to go, for you are in my heart!

Monday (08:42 hours)

Pari was idly staring at the walls of café corner, as she sipped the cold contents from her coffee mug. The pleasant October air did little to steer her away from the agony and ecstasy of it all, agony more than the latter. She dreamt of her fascinating escapades with Krishna, and even as she treasured those moments very dearly, her heart choked with emotion: she missed Him.

“I can’t believe I must wait one whole week before I could meet you again” whispered Pari in a wistful tone. “I miss ya Kahniya, and to think that I must be in office in the next 15 minutes is not helping the mood.”

It was 09:10 hours IST, when Pari finally crawled towards her cabin. 

Little was she aware that a surprise package awaited her, so she feigned no desperate attempt to reach her desk.

As she inched her way, Raj, her good friend and colleague, gleamed with a teasing smile and said, “You have got a bouquet, Pari.”

He then gave a pause to read Pari’s expressions.

“Huh! Stop kidding me Raj. I ain’t falling for one of your tricks again” said Pari a little too cautiously, while her eyes pried for mischief.

Raj, a chivalrous man himself, doted Pari like a little sister. Pari, he believed, would not accommodate a man with a girlish whim, true she was a paradoxical person, for her girlish giggles rocket through the floor every once in a while; but her ethical sense of mind; her way of waddling through the corporate rigmarole; her unbiased pragmatic mind that combats dogma and embraces drudgery; and most of all her ever kind heart, he knew deserved the best.

“Hey, you stop kidding me and tell what’s cooking! Are you keeping me in the dark?!” remarked Raj, hoping to see Pari blush.

“Pari wasn’t one for crushes, or love” he thought. There was a part of her, which lay in the oblivion even for Raj, he wanted to know what she was up to, but knowing Pari, he gave her time, and walked the aisle with crossed fingers.

Pari walked into her cabin a little hastily, as soon as Raj was out of sight. “Who in the world would have left flowers at my desk, or was Raj kidding me once again?” thought a clueless Pari, only to let her heart skip a beat, as she found a bouquet of wild flowers on her table.

“Goodness Me..!! Wild flowers..!! His favourite..!!”

As if lost in the ecstasy of transcendental swoon, Pari became quiet, and was humbled by the love of her love supreme. In a spirited effort to get back on her toes, she whispered, “Looks like I am not the only who is missing somebody!”

She took the bouquet close to her to smell the ethereal fragrance, when a card fell down:

 “Hey dodo,

Don’t fly off too much thinking I am missing you.”

Well, Krishna knew how exactly to smack Pari back to reality. With an awkward flush on her face, she continued to read:

“I wanted to drop by some flowers, as its October 16th.”

“October 16^th is D’s bday, but how could that even be related?” thought a bewildered Pari.

“Not D’s birthday dodo. That’s when we met last year. Remember?”

“Oh yeah, it’s been a year. Man! Why does it still feel surreal?”

“Here’s to being my best girl!

PS. Stop thinking about me, or Preeti Shenoy’s quote, now go and work.”

“Aww… Kay, you are just awesome, I feel too good already”, whispered an ecstatic Pari, “and ’When I think of you, my Mondays really do turn into Sundays.’ How can I not think about that quote Madhava, or even you for that matter?”

****

 A year back – October 16^th, 2010. 03:30 AM.

The Ravindran household was filled with too many people, as both D’s friends and clan had come over, to celebrate Deepa’s 24^th. The gang was at their wakeful best, playing ‘truth or dare’.

It was Preethi’s turn to do a dare, as she had literally run out of truths for the day. After her vain attempts at standing still for 5 minutes without uttering a word, the Miranda bottle was spun again.

“After duck quacking musical skill at my earlier chance, I decided to go for truth. My good ol’ friends spared me and asked a hypothetical question – ‘What would you do if Krishna was to ever come before you?’”

“I would melt, merge, weep in joy I guess. Erm… I don’t know. I would ask Him to ever be with me in a person kind of way, than omnipotent kind of way; well, at least for a starter – it would be just perfect.”

Just as Pari excitedly told her wistful wish in an animated way, the church gong gave a quizzical dong.

“Don’t tell me my prayers are going to get answered,” Pari squealed, and everyone laughed.

Gore, being the gang’s ultimate teaser, decided to chip in, “For all you know, it might come true girl.

1. The church bell just gonged.

2. It is the brahma muhurtham hour, and

3. Sai Centres are already up and running, practicing for the Avtar day. Can you hear the ‘buddham charanam gachami” chants? Keep your fingers crossed babes! You never know!”

“Yeah Pari, you never know, the chants and the gong might be a sign from the universe; Paulo Coelho words aren’t going to go in vain,” smirked Preethi.

“Helloooo… Most importantly, it’s my birthday. You might get lucky, hun” said D in a mocking tone.

“Ha ha… Very funny! Tease me all you want. For the love of God people, let’s hit the sack. Don’t get me all conked up: am dreaming about Him already” said Pari decidedly.

Just before she got swallowed in a heavy slumber, Pari looked into the distant sky and whispered, “Are you really going to come Krishna? I hope you do. I love you!”

Sunday (09:17 hours)

“Pari, are you getting up or what? We are already down for breakfast” yelled Mad gang from downstairs, tired of waiting for their lazy bum.

“Uff! I will come in a minute” said Pari as she sleep-walked out of the room, only to collide with the person in front.

“Oops, sorry, I dint mean to…” and as Pari looked up, she was transfixed.

There in resplendent splendor, with dark curly hair, a compelling and captivating build, mesmerizing eyes, majestic gaze and a magnetic smile stood her beautiful blue boy. Even as her heart somersaulted, her knees failed her, and her hands went cold.

She finally managed a stammer, “Kr.. Kri.. Krish-na??”

Pari was doing reality checks in her mind, while she grasped the enormity of the situation, which completely enamored her. She was mildly distracted by the shouts that came from ground floor, “Parrreeeeyyyyyyyyy, we are waiting!”, but her eyes were back on Him, as she stood there enthralled.

“Krishnaaaa! Is it really you? Or am I dreaming?” with a reluctant pause, she again asked, “Am I actually seeing you?”

With a beatific smile on his lips, her love supreme said, “Yes, you are seeing me!”

“Oh my God! Oh my God! It is really you! You have come. I mean, I can’t understand why. Erm… Well, can I have your blessings? I mean, you are not kidding me, right? Did my friends pay you to fool me?”  jabbered on Pari, getting bowled over by a reality that she only dreamt of.

Krishna knew he had to stop her right then and there. With a charismatic voice, He said, “Sush! Zip it. Breathe! Breathe. Breathe. Good girl…”

“Well, you asked for it, and now you are having doubts?” asked Krishna with a quizzical brow.

“You mean, you granted my wish?” whispered Pari into His ears.

“Arey! God always answers, don’t you think?” winked her blue boy.

“Yeah, I guess.” said a smiling Pari, and asked,” I am sorry, but what do I do now? I mean, I hadn’t prepared myself for this.”

“How about starting with ‘Thank you’ or ‘I love you’” said Kay with sarcasm filling His voice.

“Oh yeah! Sorry!

Thank you very much for coming, and I really love you so much. You have no idea how much, or maybe you do.

I mean, you surely do. You are God, right?” said Pari fumbling for words now and then.

“You really aren’t a good speaker, are you?” joked Krishna.

“Yeah, not really” laughed Pari, and asked, “Now, what should I do?”

“Well, am super hungry. You could get something to eat.” said Kay in His honeyed voice.

“Oops! Yeah, sorry! My hostess skill kind of sucks! Shit! I mean, sorry! I didn’t mean to use the ‘S’ word in front of you.” said a frantic, but happy Pari, who lost hold of everything around her, as her dream came true.

She would later sit down to think if that’s how people would react in the happiest of times, as dreams become a reality. Though she tried to console herself many a times that it was an out of the world experience, and it was only natural for her to go crazily happy, she knew she could have done better. Hadn’t she practiced for that moment all her life? Perhaps, certain things are that way; you can never prepare yourself too much.

With a teasing laugh He had said, “I know you very well Pari, you don’t have to defend. Go on now, will ya?”

With nothing but an embarrassed smile to her support, she mumbled, “Yeah, roger that!”, while her eyes danced to find a way to meet His, her awkwardness stopped her.

Soon they were seated near the coffee table, sipping their chocó milk-shake, when Pari said, “Erm… so how did you? I mean, why did you come again?”

“You still need definitive answers, don’t you?” asked Krishna.

“Is that bad?” queried back Pari.

“No. May be that’s what I like about you Pari.

And to answer your question, God is where love is. Right?” winked Mr. Kay.

It took a while for Pari to absorb His words, and she was humbled by the love of her creator. “And to think that I loved Him more sounds a little too foolish now.” thought Pari, as she smiled at her lord.

“May I ask you another question dearest Kay?”

“Shoot!”

“How come you are in jeans?”

“Why? What did you expect?”

“Pattu pithambaram! What else?”

“Do you even remember what you wrote in the 1000s of letters that you had sent me?”

“Erm.. why?”

“Well, you had told me that you wanted to see me in white T, and jeans, remember?”

“Oh my god! Yes, of course. How can I forget that? You really are the bestest God. I mean, I know there is only one God. But awwww! You are the best” said a love struck Pari.

Pari knew too well that her wild imaginations never had struck a chord with a lot many of those orthodoxical people she was acquainted with. She had spent many a nights wondering  if fearing and revering God was more important than loving and befriending Him. If dogmas were created for a reason, and if she was destined to follow the norms, else had to face the blasphemy of outlandish temperament. She was much troubled by outcasts of all order, and the duality that ruled the world. She believed what the world needed was unity and love, and not religious and regional divides. Didn’t her guardian Father Christ and valiant Krishna stand for such a dharma?

She recalled her conversation with Preethi that she had a few months back.

“Oh my god, don’t tell me, I don’t want to hear.” Pari had said, when Preethi looked to elucidate a rather defaming incident of a spiritualist. Preethi affirmed that she gave a similar reaction, when she first heard the story.

“You know what Pari, that conversation turned out to be an eye opener” said Preethi calmly, “this is what our senior had to say:  Who are we to classify something as defaming and not so spiritual. Everything in this great, wide world is born out of Him, only our human mind adjudicates and classifies each of them as good and bad. To Him, everything is spiritual, and He loves every atom in this world equally.”

That’s the kind of faith Pari wished to foster, and to have Him acknowledge her simple wish of wearing a jean meant that He never did care for the dogmas either, He simply looks for love, and that understanding comforted Pari in more ways than she could decipher.

Krishna smiled at her understanding, as did He not intend to impart the lesson subtly. Just as the duo donned their teacher-disciple role, they heard footsteps in the corridor.

“I am just waiting to tell my friends about it.

Oh wait a second. I don’t know if I can. Should I?”

Just as Pari expected Krishna to answer her question, He vanished. It was as if someone told ‘Puff’, and He was out of sight.

“Oh my god! Where did you go?

Krishnaaaa? Where are you?” shouted a worried Pari, just as the gang entered the scene.

“Whom are you talking to?” asked Deepa with raised eyebrows.

“Erm… nobody!” said Pari while confusion rattled her heart.

“We were waiting down for you man! What were you doing here?”

Before Pari could answer them, in another ‘puff’ He was back, leaving Pari short of words.

She waited for someone else to say a word, as the reality dazed her. Everybody was only staring at her for an answer, but she acted as if in a different world, and whispered, “I thought you were gone… can they see you?”

“Are you even saying something?” asked Preethi getting annoyed at Pari’s behavior.

As Pari shook her head, Krishna interceded to say, “No. They can’t.”

Soon the gang drifted to another conversation to which Pari paid least attention, and turned to Krishna.

“Then why did you go?” she asked.

“To give a dramatic effect..!” replied the lord with a joyous face.

“Are you serious? You really are a brat, aren’t you?” remarked Pari, her face livid.

“Ha-ha. You can say that!” said Krishna jokingly.

“Showing off your magical powers, is it?” asked Pari, enamored by the spontaneity of it all.

“You don’t call this magic, my girl” chided Krishna mockingly.

“Sorry! Super cosmical powers, right?”queried Pari, not realizing that her human mind is again trying to classify things.

“Yeah, something like that.” dismissed Krishna, waiting for the lesson to seep in to her some day.

“What’s wrong with you? What are you whispering about?” snarled Preethi not being able to handle Pari’s quirkiness.

“Sorry! It’s the usual Krishna wistful thinking” said Pari apologetically.

“Uff! Don’t get started on that again. It’s D’s birthday for the love of God. Be sane.” said Preethi shaking her head.

“Looks like you have tormented them with your idiosyncrasies.”

With a sheepish look, Pari was forced to mumble, “Yeah, you can say so…” and continued, “…but you can’t blame me though. It’s all ‘Your’ doing. Well, it’s not my fault if you are so charming, right?”

“Absolutely, it is my fault. And that is why I need to go” said Krishna reproachfully.

“Oh wait. Don’t go! I was just simply saying, I didn’t mean it that way.” whined Pari with guilt.

“Don’t worry kiddo, I will come. You are my friend, that’s what you say, right? So I took the liberty to tease you. We meet on weekends, alright? That’s how it will be from now.” winked Krishna, and her eyes gleamed.

“Alright Krishna” replied Pari with an ecstatic smile.

**Puff**