POETRY AND PENANCE -{A SAMAINA OS}

Crimson rays pierced swiftly through the silver laden sky. Freshness of dawn upheld little power to wake up the old Sameer from his slumber, but now the same dawn had become the harbinger of hope. Hope to mend ways with the person who acquainted him to the sheer splendor that the morning sky embodied . Their soulful talk beneath the velvety sky had made him feel alive. Love she had once bestowed upon him was magical. It was like living a fairy tale but he had single handedly managed to ruin everything. Bet revelation had wreaked such havoc that the serene sunrise of Mt Abu seemed surreal. His expectations of her confronting and lambasting him shattered in an instant as it crashed with her profound silence. No conversation occurred between them since that fateful day .Eyes that had once housed unbounded warmth ,now spared him cold glances. His quest for forgiveness succumbed to her indifference . Indifference that had pushed him deeper into the abyss of remorse.

"Tum mujhe humesha apni kavitaye suna sakta ho, Naina had uttered those words with sparkle in her eyes that matched the intensity of star's sheen .

Thus he sought solace in writing, to pour his heart out to her. A poem dedicated to the angel who had sown the seeds of love in his heart .

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Naina wept profusely. Feigning nonchalance had now began to take a toll on her .Today when Sameer bumped into her, the mask of indifference had threatened to fall off but she couldn't afford to display vulnerability in front of a person who had manipulated her earnest emotions to emerge victorious in a mere bet. When the boulder of treachery marred her dream castle, she waited to be woken up from the nightmare. As reality began to sink,faith cherished by her died a slow painful death and initial wrath frizzled out to pave path for unendurable void. He had tried to call her umpteen number of times, waited for hours below her balcony .Yet it did little to fix the broken foundations of trust.

She had mastered the art of concealing overpowering emotions. Only her pillow had witnessed the anguish of those misty eyes.

Naina tried to brush away the aching thoughts ,allowing herself to be distracted by the algebra equations. Comfort offered by her maths book was unfortunately short lived.A paper adorned with cursive handwriting ,which she identified as Sameer's fell off from her maths book .She was able to connect the dots now. Sameer had deliberately collided with her and carefully placed the sheet in her maths book as she was busy picking up the textbooks.

The poem read -

Jab sunepan ne darwaze pe dastak di

Chaand ne dil behlane ki koshish behadh ki

Par andhere me lipta wo bhi tha mai bhi

Shayad dono ko talash thi us ek sitare ki

Jiski agosh me ehsaas ho rahat ki

Jab ek masoom tare ne roshni lutayi

Bari der ho gayi

Uss ujale ki kadar me

Uss heere ki parakh me

Kaash jata pata,uski ek muskuhaarat ki keemat

Un aakhon me base sachai ki ahmeeyat

Ab jab saath ka abhaas hai,tanhayi manzoor nahi

Jab apnepan ki adaat hai,berukhi bardash nahi

Iss qadar bhi wo humse muh na more

Ki chaand ko bhi hum par aitbaar na rahe

Bharosa uska mahfooz rakhunga

Bus phir wo humara naam pukar le

A surge of tenderness swamped her heart ,unleashing unbridled waterworks.A part of her wished to be the sunrise in his dark world but what if she lost herself to the darkness again?Another heartbreak would shatter her completely . Did the poem mirror his feelings or it was another web of lies? Her dilemma was complex than the most difficult mathematics problem she had ever solved. With many questions lingering in her mind ,she soon drifted off to sleep.

That night Naina dreamt of them watching the sunrise together, soothing each other's pain. Sameer's prayers of their reconciliation hadn't gone unanswered after all .