The Fireworks Within

The Fireworks Within
Gates of Lucknow Metro coach slid open as the train pulled into the station. A lot of people got off the coach, and one of the faces belonged to her. A typical ecstasy ran through me whenever I saw her in my past, and it visited me once again after a long time. I didn’t know what her plans were after her adventures on the Metro. I had to hop on the metro to go home, and found myself facing her on the platform. I’m sure she got the biggest surprise of her life that day when she found me standing before her.

Looking at her was like looking at a waterfall from a distance. It was rumbling and roaring while it enacted its show, but from where I saw it, it was as silent as a mouse. Thousands of crackers must have exploded at the same time within her while she stood before me, she made a herculean effort to hide all that was within her, and succeeded to some extent.

She had created a lot of tumults in my heart once upon a time; many of them had brought thunder and lightning to a calm and quite clime. I’m dead sure her heart palpitated wildly at my sight too; there were some distinct sounds manifested on her face in the form of a faint frown. they confirmed all this, but, like a waterfall seen from a distance, she was quite calm and quiet while she was before me.

The Metro coach I entered was also calm and quiet like a waterfall seen from a distance. There wasn’t space enough for everyone, and yet everyone was on board to go somewhere. The city began to whizz by in a few seconds, it reminded me of all that I had been through in the past few years. All of it was a part of my history quite like the landmarks in Lucknow that were being erased in a jiffy by virtue of the Metro’s speed.

Had I been able to pause the speeding train, I am sure I would have seen quite a bit of my past quite clearly. We had met in a similar train about an year back. I had her face in my mind because of her typical eyes: they uttered words a lot louder than her silence. She was quite chirpy and outgoing when we met last time, while I remained in a shell, like I usually do. There certainly wasn’t an element of commonality between us, but this was precisely what pulled us together.

She told me about her entire family without my enquiring about it. There were quite a lot of elements of tension and turmoil in the ranks of her family. I did listen to her words, but they aroused a curious dissonance within me. At this point of time, I looked forward to looking out of a window to see a calm and quiet ocean without any rumbling waters or stormy waves. The portrait she painted of her family wasn’t what I wanted to look at. I didn’t want to have anything to do with her, but she kept inching into me. I don’t know why, but I gave in.

She stood before me again today reminding me of the earlier contact, but her silence made it different today. I began to wonder what caused the difference. Without knowing it, I began searching for her earlier avatar in her today. I shall never find it again: it is lost in the mists of time, I know.