Chap 24 Happy Birthday Kuchi !!

The sunrise on her birthday brought a pleasant feeling with it. Ghazal woke up with a smile, pleasantly surprised to see her sweetheart doll, Vrinda standing near her bed with a rose in her hand. Hugging her warmly, she handed her the pink rose, wishing her with a secret smile. There was another surprise waiting for her in the kitchen, a delicious breakfast spread on their small makeshift dining table, consisting of a plate of vegetable sandwiches, poha and her favourite choco pinwheel cookies with a kettle filled with hot steaming masala tea. She hugged and kissed her daughter with moist eyes thanking her silently, being speechless at the special efforts to make her day special.

          After finishing their breakfast, they set off to school, Ghazal promising her daughter a special lunch at their favourite restaurant. It was 3pm when they returned home after a relaxed lunch and at about 4pm her bell rang ,with a delivery boy from a bakery shop, standing at her door with a box. She thanked him and took the box inside, it was her favourite vanilla cake sent by Arun. A bouquet of roses at midnight and now a cake, she was quite surprised at the sweet gestures by her husband. It had been years, since they had even wished each other, with that she remembered, he had not called her personally to wish her. Neither had Samar, who had wished her Good Morning and also sent few messages during the day but no mention of her Birthday. Then her cell rang, it was Samar …….

“ Tokulu ! I forgot something . S o r r y ……. S o r r y…….. S o r r y. Happy Birthday Kuchi !!”, he said apologetically.

“Its ok Chiku , thanks”, she replied, her disappointment clearly apparent.

“No its not ok Toku… SORRY SORRY SORRY… I don’t know how it slipped my mind. I know you were expecting me to wish you first and I’m so bad …. Toku ! how was your day ?”, he asked trying to cheer her up.

Ghazal briefly told him about all the happenings of midnight till present.

“Wow !! a birthday cake !! That’s nice Kuchi …cut it now…I’ll sing for you .”He said, feeling happy for his friend.

But Ghazal refused, not feeling good as Arun had not even called to wish her. Samar tried to convince her but she didn’t want to cut the cake. At last he gave up, realising she was crying silently, but could not hide the tremor in her voice. He changed the topic and succeeded in making her smile as always with his fun talk. they hanged up on a pleasant note, Samar giving her a nice warm friendly hug, he always gave her when she was feeling down. This was their special way to make each other feel better and cared for. Both of them shared a special friendship, which nobody can take away from them. Never did they feel the need to see or meet each other, even though they lived in the same city. It was an unspoken and unwritten agreement between them to maintain a physical distance, even though they felt extremely close to each other mentally n emotionally.

            Evening filled the room with shadows of the past, Ghazal’s heart taking her back to her special day, the only birthday, she and Vaibhav had celebrated together after their engagement, six months before the tragedy that took him away forever……