😎THE OBSERVER-(M-40)😎
Sun 18 Apr 2021
INTO EACH LIFE SOME RAIN
MUST FALL
Two major questions confront the average chronicler as he goes about the business of putting into black and white his narrative for the reading pleasure of a varied audience. The first is of where to begin. Once that is settled comes the question of what all is to be particularly included or excluded. Leave out nothing,says one part of him, lay it all down as it comes. Proceed with caution and discretion, says yet another, lest it result in hurt feelings somewhere. He ends up trying to somehow do justice to both these angles.Which calls for some deft navigation and the use of some old tricks of the trade. Talk of fishing in troubled waters !
Those following the thread of events from the start would recall the mention of a certain 2/Lt getting struck by Cupid's arrow towards the end of his YO's Course in Dec1982 in the College of Military Engineering, Pune.An annual event called the Musical Evening was one of the highlights of this institution's cultural calendar . It provided a platform for the showcasing of musical talent from not only within the campus but also the surrounds ; providing some merriment in the bargain. A little prior to this event that fateful year , the YO's course had been on a Bridging Training Camp at Marve
( Mumbai). During the customary campfire at the end, three YOs had managed to cobble together and present a medley of Sri Lankan numbers that proved to be a big hit. The singer was from Sri Lanka, accompanied by a guitarist and a harmonica-ist. This item was deemed good enough to be part of the YO's contribution to the Musical Evening.
Any such event in the Army is not considered to be complete without a slew of auditions and numerous rehearsals.So it was with this one. During one such fine evening, there floated in the air the captivating, melodious sound of a very sweet female voice emanating from the stage. A closer inspection by one of the keen bystanders revealed the source of this sound to be a presence even more charming and beautiful than the voice. Cupid strikes in many ways to work wonders and this was undoubtedly yet another example. The voice had literally plucked at the heart - strings of this discerning listener. He had no doubt that the person it belonged to was one worthy of worship , nothing less. In cricketing terms, he was clean bowled. It did not take long for this listener to ensure that he got introduced to Her Highness. To wriggle his way into the very number she was singing , in the role of playing a prominent interlude on the harmonica took very little longer. The music blended so well and the finished product turned out to be so good that it resulted in some more performances. One thing led to another and soon this youngster became a regular fixture at the residence of this Goddess in human form. There were invitations to lunches and teas and so forth.
Smitten as he was, the YO one day managed to find the courage to propose to his dream girl when he sensed the opportunity. He did this in a roundabout and what he proudly imagined to be a rather clever and diplomatic method of putting things across.Much to his surprise, the "diplomacy" failed to impress. On the contrary, his nervously mumbled declaration of love was misinterpreted and misunderstood. He had a hard time convincing the other party that he was in earnest and meant no offence. Peace was restored with some difficulty. Though nothing affirmative was forthcoming in response, there was no denial either. Not one to be deterred by such trivialities, the devotee continued his worship. By the end of the YO's course, addresses were exchanged and so forth. Then followed a stream of letter-writing from deserts and mountains and wherever. So much for this little peep into earlier happenings.Now, to catch up with the events of the previous episode.
A lean and mean 2/Lt with hardly any hair on top, brimming with the positivity that can only belong to one who has just completed the Commando Course, could be spotted getting off at Pune Rly Stn the day after the course was over. He made his way to this young lady's residence and they chatted happily of this and that. Finally,when he was leaving, her mother asked him to speak to his parents about whatever it was that was going on between the two. There followed also a subtle hint that his parents should thereafter take up the matter "officially" with the father of the girl and let the issue proceed to its logical conclusion.
Reaching home on the way to his unit with a head full of lofty dreams , he faithfully did as directed. But ,wonder of wonders, 72/Lt Santa Singh (for this was him ), now started to have mixed feelings about the situation he found himself in. On the one hand , he was by then totally committed in all ways to spend the rest of his life with someone he was so fond of. On the other hand, there was the fact that he was yet to get a proper green signal from where it mattered most. There actually seemed to be signs of some hesitation.
As for Santa's parents, when he broke the news to them ,they just put it all down as yet another
instance of his well-known proclivity since his kindergarten days to periodically fall madly in love at first sight with someone.This too shall pass, seemed to be their attitude. Like the guys who would not listen to the fellow who had made it a habit of crying " wolf " all the time. There seemed to be nothing Santa could do to convince them that this time it was the real moolah. They had heard this raga of his ever so often.
So, it was a thoughtful Santa who went to the desert this time
( winter of 1983 ) with his unit for the annual Exercise .Word went around the unit - Santa is not his normal carefree self, he seems to be burdened with a load that makes his shoulders sag. Often, he could be spotted talking to himself in the dunes . Jokes failed to provoke the characteristic hearty laughter from him. He was preoccupied . Every day , the only thing that seemed to matter to him was the daily dak , for which he kept a sharp lookout. When the much awaited letter did come by snail-mail, he scanned it from beginning to end for some sign of reciprocation of the kind of emotions he himself was going through. But something was amiss here, was his gut feeling.
In one of his letters to Her, he even wrote- " If you suddenly come across headlines in the newspapers saying - MAN RUNS AMOK IN DESERT, SHOOTS 5 - that would be yours truly."
Once the Exercise was over, he could not help walking over to the CO's tent one evening and asking to be allowed to proceed on leave in order to set things right on the personal front. " My love life is on the rocks " , were his words.
The CO lent a sympathetic ear to the all-too-obviously upset passionate young lad and granted leave.
Reaching Pune by the earliest available train, Santa lost no time at all in meeting the girl of his dreams at her abode. Once again there was chitting and chatting of this and that under the watchful eyes of her mother. Santa managed to retain his composure through the small talk till the time he went on a borrowed mobike to drop the young lady for some rehearsal .
On the way, Santa managed to pop the question foremost in his heart and demanded an answer .The rest of the ride was completed in silence. When she had gotten off the bike at the destination, they said their goodbyes.Santa was all set to kick off,when he suddenly turned around and said - " I want a clear answer to my question right now or else i will be forced to presume that it is all off."
On the verge of dashing off after uttering a hurried goodbye, she was shocked . She turned around and said -" Don't you know the answer has always been Yes, Yes, Yes." ? Having said that she vanished. Santa felt as if suddenly he was sitting on the top of Mount Everest wearing a rainbow for a scarf. He flew the bike like an airplane and first announced this piece of breaking news to her mother and then to the world at large, whoever he came across. There had been many wellwishers ( common friends) closely following the proceedings from the start and all were overjoyed. That evening, Santa held a mini- celebration of sorts.
Next day, Santa accompanied the young lady, her sister and mother to the wedding ceremony of one of her friends as planned earlier. While all her friends went out of the way to meet and congratulate Santa, the lady herself was sitting by his side,strangely silent and somewhat aloof. After some time, She vanished and was nowhere to be seen as he sat alone watching the proceedings .The grand wedding lunch was dispensed with, Santa sandwiched between the mother and sister. He felt more and more uneasy as time dragged on. The questions in his mind were unending and not comfortable at all. He struggled to pin-point the cause of his uneasiness. Maybe it was because of the fact that in his euphoric state the previous day,he had given up smoking. But now, the urge to have that satisfying after-lunch puff grew stronger and stronger. Was this the shape of things to follow for the rest of his life on this planet ? Feeling suffocated and claustrophoebic , he stepped out to get some fresh air. What a relief it was to be out of the crowded interiors and under the open sky ! His feet led him automatically to a pan-shop just across the road . A cigarette magically jumped into his mouth and he took some deep life-saving puffs thoughtfully.
A swift summing-up of the prevailing situation revealed that there seemed to be only two options available to him :
a)Go back inside into a very disturbing situation.
b)Move out to freedom.
He waved to a passing auto and jumping inside, sped away from the scene. All the above happened as if in a flash. He felt as if he had just pushed himself off from Mount Everest, rainbow scarf and all.
For a very long time, he went around the depths, puzzled why everything ended up that way despite the best of intentions from all quarters. Till the day he realised that it was just a concatenation of circumstances, nothing to do with personalities involved.
He is yet to figure out whether this was all a Midsummer Night's Dream or A Comedy Of Errors. But whatever it was, it certainly left its mark.
Happy Sunday-ying.
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