Life After

For most people in India, love stories generally happen to people (characters) in Hindi or Indian language movies which involve far fetched love stories, love songs and garish costumes; but I know of a girl whose life was far more exciting than a standard Bollywood film, much more complex and deep. She had elements in her life that only I can narrate to you. Care to listen?

She came from an upper middle class family of eastern India. She loved life like a bee loves honey, and was ever zestful. She had brown hair, brown eyes, coffee cream skin and beautiful lips. But no she wasn’t beautiful. In India we have this notion, like you know what I mean, the Fair and Lovely types- the ones that consider fair as beautiful and the rest ugly. The types that pervade the countryside no matter which side it is.

She was a romantic soul with love in her eyes. Born in a city, she had all the advantages any urban young girl could ask for and then one day she heard her father was going abroad, and lo and behold she was in a new place called the Middle East where she started on her beautiful journey of life, of love.

She was 8 years old when she first fell in love. He was this wonderful 8-year-old boy, in her class. Yes, I’m sure of what I am saying. It was love at first sight and she had never known this feeling before. She never mentioned it to anyone, and never told the boy. Perhaps that was her greatest mistake and her agony. But then time passed by, she grew older and for the first time felt pangs of joy, of hate, of despair, of love, of lust and of anguish. She wanted to be with him so bad. She was 10 then, when all the dreams broke suddenly. Her parents were going back to India. Oh! The rotten pain, she didn’t know what to do. She was so afraid of losing her first love, but then what is there to loose when it’s not yours. At least she knew she loved him but didn’t have the courage to tell him. She didn’t know if he loved her.

She went to India and didn’t know where he was.. Then the story begins. She searched for him. For 9 years she searched for him, every school alumni, every email service provider, every search engine, every common friend she remembered. Still she didn’t find him.

Life went on, considering she was a young woman now, she had her second love coming around the corner, her first boyfriend in high school. She thought she was going to be the luckiest woman but she never forgot her 1st love. The relationship with her boyfriend didn’t last long and they split ways. She graduated from high school and went to college, after the break up, the last thing she needed was another love affair but it happened, very unexpectedly in the form of a colleague during training. She was happy, with this man and slowly it became the best thing in her life…. almost perfect. Notice how I said almost. It’s because she still missed her first love, longed to see him. Ten years had passed searching for her first love and then one fine day….

She found his mailing address and mailed him. He mailed back and they started keeping in touch. That was great, now she had her love, her friend and her happiness, but that’s not the end of it my friends. That was the beginning.

She wanted to meet him and so did he. And more importantly he loved her! But never had the chance to tell her, imagine her shock, the first love of her life was in love with her too but it was too late. She had a love, a man she was about to marry.

But then God was kind, and they met, in the most unexpected of ways, the strangest time, the unlikely meeting. But they met, to be parted again. She took a plane landed in his town and surprised him. Imagine meeting your first love after ten years, can you imagine the happiness she went through? It was love revisited for her. But it was so confusing, two men in love with her and she loving both. But she had to choose one. She chose her other love. One would be surprised; I mean, think about it, if you were given a choice what would you choose? Most of you would say first love.

Try and see the logic though, that’s what I saw, because I never had the chance to ask her why she choose the second, but I know this much that she let it be felt that despite the fact that the first man had taught her what love was, the other taught her the meaning of it and what it took to be in love and fight for it. She’s a married woman now, with two children, she meets her old love now and then and tells me about him. She tells me to make a movie about her, she wants to be a star, but I guess it never will happen. A love that spans more than 2 decades is not new, but then its unique, it’s the story of a woman who fought for her love, overcame her emotions to be with her true love.

She hurt the first man, but he understood. At least I hope he did! Anyway to continue what I was telling you about this woman, who fought for her love and learnt how to keep it without it being hers. I learnt a life’s lesson from her, didn’t you?

I plan to make her life story famous one day, I want to see her happy. I want to be happy myself by seeing her happy. She’s a woman of exceptional beauty; deep within her I saw that charm, to leave what’s important to her so that others could be happy. I wish all of you could meet her. You would enjoy her company and of course her two little babies are lovely. But then you don’t need to, ‘cause you’ve been reading her life.

-Pallavi Barat

******************************