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Time is a test, which checks for the strength and faith in love. And love has a strange way of finding its way back home. Except that, in case of Omkara and Gauri, it found its way back in a time, to a home where no one lived anymore.
She saw him- "The Omkara Singh Oberoi" walk along the passage of the food court, with a tray of food in his left hand, while his right hand firmly clasped another tiny hand. "Papa!" the little doll had addressed him. Had it been so easy for him to move on? But then, she had no right to question him. She herself had walked away from him, seven years back. How could she possibly hurt her parents, and go against their wish to marry the reclusive, and then-pauper artist? She had tried convincing them, and she had failed. She had failed to fight for her love.
"Mummaa!" the little boy shook her out of her reverie. She smiled through misty eyes, through cloudy memories. This little boy, right here, was her present and future, and there was no turning back. She fed him that spoon of ice cream, as he kept fidgeting with that tiny rubik's cube in his hand, before gulping down another bite and then giggling amidst squeals about his brain freeze, before running off to the play area.
"Gauri!" she heard her name and she froze. He'd seen her. Slowly, she turned around, and saw him stand there, frozen. "Hi..." was all that she could manage, without looking into his eyes. She feared if he would read that, which she had tried denying in these seven years.
He smiles at her; he is at peace whilst watching her after so many years. "How are you?" he asks, trying hard to silence the sound of his heart being broken all over again. She nods with a small smile, and he knows immediately she isn't happy. Her emotions still reflect in her eyes, and that is why, he knows, she hides her gaze from him.
She doesn't ask him about his well-being. She can see how broken he is; it's as if seven years hadn't passed at all. "That's your daughter..." she says, rather than ask. He nods in affirmation, not wanting to tell her that he had found the child in the orphanage, and she'd had become his hope to live, after the love of his life had chosen to walk away from him.
He's found his refuge in the little girl, and now he understands the emotions of a parent. He would never want his little girl to marry a man who was a mere poor artist. He has forgiven the woman for abandoning him; he's forgiven her parents for snatching away the dreams of a beautiful future he would've had with her. Riches were unknown to him back then. But the future was unknown as well. Luck had been on his side that he had struck gold with his paintings. Art, which was merely his passion, had become his profession, and his fortune.
"She looks like you..." she spoke again, and he shook his head. "Not really; she looks like her mother." Omkara said, and Gauri nodded, feeling her heart squeeze in pain, not knowing that Omkara always considered Gauri to be his little girl's mother.
"Your son looks like you." Omkara said, and she smiled fondly at that. His greedy-in-love heart found that pain return. She should have been looking at him, and his little girl that way. A family that would have been. His eyes roam over the lanky little boy who calls out to her, and she waves out to him. She has certainly moved on and is happy in her world, he muses, painfully.
"Papa" the little girl comes running towards him, "Can I have another ice cream?" she pleads. Gauri smiles wearily. Wasn't that the same way how she would plead him for another plate of golguppas, back in college.
"Om, please... bass ek plate... please?"
"Ri, bilkul nahi!"
The girl pouts and Omkara closes his eyes. "No, you've had enough for today!" he warns the little girl, and Gauri finds herself smiling. Some things never change, she muses nostalgically.
"But Papa..." "No, Gauri. Not today!" he says, and she returns to the play area, dejected. Omkara looks at the woman in front of him. "Gauri?" she questions, and he nods with a sad smile, "Gauri... Gauri Omkara Singh Oberoi" he says proudly, looking at his daughter, and then at her. A name that could've been hers...
A lone tear slips down her eye, and she chuckles sadly. How twisted was fate of life. She then hears him ask about her husband; the man she married seven years ago when she broke up with him, helplessly. A smile forces upon her lips. "He's in the gulf; comes down once a year. He'll be coming down next month." He feels his chest tighten in a dull ache, but he smiles with a nod.
Gauri smiles sadly. She would never tell him how her husband returned from gulf every year, only to torture and beat her up. The only happiness she received from that forced marriage was her little bundle of joy; her son. Neither would she tell him that he had found another mistress at his work place, and that he would finally divorce her this year. She would finally get rid of those shackles.
They both watch from afar, their children playing with each other. She looks at him, and finds him staring at her. This could've been them; this could've been theirs. Had fate not played so cruelly, life would've been different. The thought brings back a lot of pain; a pain that slowly becomes heavy to bear. His eyes turn glossy, and she looks away to wipe her silent tears.
"We must leave..." he says, and calls out to his little girl. "It was nice meeting you..." she tells him, and he can see she is genuine about it. "Likewise..." he says turning away, just to hear his name from her lips, and he turns around to look at her again.
"Omkara..." she says, and before he could respond, her little boy replies, "Yes, Mumma..." Omkara feels the earth come to a halt. "Time to leave, Omkie..." she says lovingly as she ruffles the boy's hair. "Five minutes more?" he pleads, and she shakes her head in refusal. "Okay..." he says in a sullen tone, and runs to bid farewell to his friends he'd just made.
"Omkara?" he questions her in a breathless tone, standing rooted to the ground. She purses her lips and shrugs her shoulders with a sad smile, and through teary eyes, she says, "Omkara... My Omkara..." Her boy comes back and hugs her, worried about her tears. She shakes her head and smiles at him, while Omkara watches them in silence.
"Bye Om..." the little girl says, and the boy replies, "Bye Ri..." A bright smile on the lips of the children bring about a feeling of melancholy in the hearts of their parents. Om... Ri... Life had come a full circle.
With nothing else left to say, they walk in opposite directions, with heavy hearts, glassy eyes and a smile on their lips, wondering about if anything would've been different had destiny not separated them seven years ago.
If only things were different... If only they'd fought for their love... If only they hadn't given up so easily... If only they'd have hope and faith... If only they'd spoken their heart out... If only...
Iss martaba karke ibadat tera,
Agla janam bhi tere naam kiya...
Channa mereya... beliya... oh piya...
***
And they lived happily ever after, in two separate worlds, with only memories to hold on to, and prayers of happiness for each other...
Udne Ki Aasha
