He thought it best to sneak out of the house. He had been avoiding visit to his family for the same fear for such a long time, but when they shifted into a new home, he couldn't resist the desire to be a part of their ecstacy. He lived in Chennai and visited his family in Rajkot whenever he could, till they embarked on a mission to get him married. Then he started visiting them less often. They were a close knit family consisting of his parents, elder brother and his wife with their adorable twins. They had sold their small flat to move into a new complex where they had purchased 2 flats for each son, but were presently being used as one unit.
After the initial excitement of his visit and new house etc. died down, his family took out the shortlisted compilation of prospective brides. It was then that the hero of this story, Suveer, left the house in order to evade any questions regarding his marriage.
It was not that he did not want to marry. It was not that he was dating someone, currently. Of course he had met a couple of matches he was interested in but a few dates later they had fizzled out, but he dreaded an arranged match where he would have to take a major, almost irreversible decision after meeting a girl a couple of times. And yes there WAS something else, something he could not himself understand, that prevented him from taking that leap towards "husbandhood".
He pulled himself out of his reverie to concentrate on the complex his family had chosen to live in. It was a beautiful and self contained complex. He understood why they had chosen this particular place. It had all the modern amenities, round the clock security and a separate area for senior citizens to mingle, exercise, a track to walk track etc, and a separate enclosed area for small children where they could run around and play without the fear of traffic. After a walk around the place, Suveer settled down near the small fountain. It was cool and pleasant. The green campus had drawn in many a birds and their chirping brought a smile to his face.
And then he saw her. He didn't get up at once. She was pushing the pram with a toddler in it. She had apparently not seen him. He couldn't stop himself when she passed him again and rushed to her with a "hi."
She stood still for a moment, and then a bright smile appeared on her face. "How come you are here?" she lunged forward and hugged him. "How DID you recognise me after soooooo many years?" She asked and immediately regretted it. Of course he recognised her. That scar on her forehead was so typical, noone else would have a scar of that shape. How could he forget? She saw his morose face and started pushing the pram with "Let's catch up, I will be back in a jiffy, wait for me"
He sat down once again. Reliving those golden days that were never to return. That was the time when vacations were spent at relatives' place. All cousins got together and created a ruckus. It was at one such vacation at Sambhumama's place that he had met Tana. He had not met her on his earlier visits to Sambhumama's place. She had later told him that her family had shifted into the neighbourhood due to her banker dad's transfer.
Suveer and Tana hit it off instantly. Suveer had been the naughtiest amongst them and had found his match in Tana. They enjoyed pulling off pranks on others, making sure they did nothing to hurt anyone. When the gang gathered in Sambhumama's huge compound at night, there would be peals of laughter reverberating in the neighbourhood but if anyone dared try to stop them so that others don't get disturbed, Sambhumama would come to their rescue. "They are creating memories to last them a lifetime, let them enjoy" he would also join them sometimes, bringing the elders out with him when they would narrate stories from their life, reliving their childhood leaving the kids enthralled.
He was transported back to present when Tana returned leaving the toddler at home. Suveer had a smile on his face, which disappeared as soon as he saw Tana. "Let's go to the nearby coffeeshop and catch up" she pulled him by the hand and took him to the coffeeshop. "Are you still feeling guilty about the scar on my forehead?" She asked when she caught him looking at it intently.
It was the last day at Sambhumama's place. All the cousins and the neighbourhood children did not want to part. They went out and had a gala time the previous day because everyone would start leaving one after another the next morning. There were ample memories and a hope of meeting in the next vacation. Suveer somehow felt worse than he did every year. Love was an alien feeling to these kids just on the threshold of adolescence. He could not understand what made him so sad, but he had to relieve his stress and what better way of doing it than to go to the temple by the riverside, sit under the mighty banyan tree and play his flute? He was busy playing, early in the morning after a restless night, so early it was still semi dark, his tunes punctuated by chirping of the birds as they too woke up to his tunes. He was so engrossed in his music that he could not even hear the temple bells. When he sensed someone sneak behind him too close for comfort, he turned swiftly, pushing that someone -Tana it turned out to be - off balance. She fell and bled till she was rushed to the doctor and stitched up.
"It really wasn't your fault" she said, as she had explained to everyone even at that time. Noone had held him responsible except himself. The scar had remained, literally on her forehead, figuratively on his. Then her dad had been transferred and in absence of social media at that time, they had lost touch. She had changed in all these years, but the scar had remained. Not ugly, just distracting on her otherwise beautiful face. A mild imperfection on her otherwise perfect face.
They talked about everything under the sun, except for their personal lives but when a tall, dark and handsome man straight out of a romantic novel walked into the coffeeshop carrying the same toddler, Suveer's heart sank. "Your husband has come" he commented, she looked behind and rushed to take the little chap in her arms. She introduced them to each other and left, she with a big, mischievous smile on her face, he with a heavy heart. Now he had come face to face with his emotions, the love of his life, but rather too late.
When his family broached the subject of his marriage again, he ducked out. He informed them he would be leaving early for Chennai under the pretext of an emergency meeting. They did not seem to bother. His family only seemed to be interested in a dinner they had hosted for his bhabhi's cousin who had moved into the same complex after her husband's transfer from Karnal.
He had not thought he would bump into Tana again, who turned out to be a relative of his bhabhi. He was thinking of cooking up some excuse to leave when his bhabhi introduced her as "my cousin's sister-in-law who has come to help them with the house and the kid while my cousin works on her thesis. Her company allows work from home."
Just then his mother popped in, "she is not on our list of prospective brides as she is bent on marrying the one who has scarred her for life" she winked and left to discuss his marriage plans with the rest of the family. His family had recognised that scar long before he had entered the picture, and had hoped this alliance would work out.
"Oh, in this era I could easily have removed this scar had I wanted to, but I did not, wanting to cling on to the memories of the time we had spent together, and hoping this scar might help you recognise me if ever we cross paths again."
