Till The Sun Rises Again

Till The Sun Rises Again

I threw the newspaper on the floor in disgust: the matter at hand was graver than anything else in the world. There was a marriage-proposal for me. After all the criticism I had encountered, here was someone who considered me worthy of his daughter. Daughters are certainly the most precious possessions in the world, and I consider it an honour if one trusts one’s daughter to me. There were several queries in my mind, a lot of secrets would be exchanged in the days to come.

The opposition to matrimony I had been putting up had lost thrust now. There was a lack of fire in the denunciation of marriage I made as a consequence of the passage of time and the consequent flow of events. The  storm stirred up within me by the forces of  the devil was losing its force:  I had to plunge into the ocean now. I was terrified of the temperature-change my body was going to be subjected to as and when it came in contact with the water; it was going to be a powerful shock, but it would be alright once I get used to the water.

 The truth is that destiny has a large part to play in the game. It is pre-destined and pre-determined who I’m to marry, and when I’m to marry. Everything that happens, even the staunch opposition to matrimony I’d put up till now, and my willingness to take the plunge now were a part of the plan chalked out by The Creator. He has brought me to the individual who is going to herald a quiet and calm evening in my life.

The sun is setting over what has been the longest and the toughest part of my life. There are not many who find as much contemplative pleasure and satisfaction in a sunset as I watched the celestial event in the horizon that day. I turned my face from the spectacle if only for a few moments.

I measured the past years of my life carefully, and revered The Creator for chalking out my destiny in such a wonderful manner. No one can master the trick by which the performance has been orchestrated. Several artists have quit the stage, while quite a few await their turn behind the curtain to enact their part. A momentary turn of the head is enough to show the protagonists who insist on staying on the stage till the final act is enacted: I salute them.

The play is going to be staged even after the sunset. A long and dark night is to follow the sunset: a sunset that can be identified with human decline and death. But this has been reflected in a sunset many hundreds of times before this day. For a change, the setting of the sun is to be celebrated in a manner similar to the celebrations observed at the conclusion of forms of worship. Id-ul-Fitr and Id-ul-Azha are celebrated to mark the conclusion of forms of worship. Likewise, a festival is to be observed as I approach the end of my celibacy.

Matrimony is to mean I’m to find someone who is going to love me and only me. It is impartial and disinterested love that I crave for, and here was someone prepared to give it to me. Here was someone who was going to adjust the view from the windscreen of my life to suit my vision. I prepared myself to make a couple of changes too as I adjusted the optical lenses I use. A change may even be required to the frame of my lenses.

The sunset was followed by a catharsis similar to that when the soul departs from the body. Infact, I can feel quite a few souls departing from my body. My life has been riddled with quite a few episodes of puppy-love. This was going to be the end of all of them. All I can say is that they were not destined to be a part of me.

Fate and destiny had put all they had when it comes to the application of a shaving-razor over my life. They had brought down all stubs and had left absolutely no traces of happiness in my life. There isn’t even a moustache to symbolize a masculine smile.

The aura following the sunset remained in the horizon for a while before fading into the night. The night is merely a transitory phase, I know. There is a lot to bear and strive for as the sun rises again the next day.