“Kshitij, please clean your room and one more thing, it will be better if you could organise your book shelf there are many of your old books!”, said Sudha to her eldest, who had returned after getting his appointment letter.
Everything was same in the house but something had changed what was it. There was a time when staircase was used for hopping rather than climbing. Dining table was a perfect sneaking place during hide and seek. Lamp shades have sighed many times when missed a ball. An unused swing’s rust had a story of it’s own. Gradually he entered his room and saw his college bag in a corner. Why was he feeling as if life will never be the same now!
He opened his cupboard and among some Jee/IIT books he found a history book which was definitely not his property. It had a pink heart next to the name ‘Priya’. He sat on the floor and started turning the page by page and started recollecting her eyes, which were angry with him for choosing science instead of Arts.
He smiled as he saw the tic tacs in the corner of pages, O’s were replaced by hearts with a wink. Gandhiji wore a scribbled hat and mughals had penned guns, he remembered her habit of scribbling. By the time he reached the last page it had a list of something which he never noticed before a list.
‘List of things you owe me’, he smiled and mildly rubbed his finger on the words written as if to get a feel of hers.
It was pretty long list enough to make his heart ache for her.
He continued reading, “you owe me 6years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 3 days. You owe hundreds of sleepless nights, the nights when the fear of being rejected from colleges haunted you. You owe me the handkerchiefs which were tear stained when I missed you. You owe me unanswered letters, mails and texts. You owe me an equipment which could mend my broken heart.
Last but not the least you owe me the love I gave you.”
After this the paper was a bit stiff as if it was earlier soaked in tears.
It was high time he needed to set his priorities straight.
“Hello!”, said a voice which made him nostalgic instantly.
“Hi, I am here to clear my debts and if you don’t mind can we skip to the end of your list, so if it’s okay can I meet you over coffee”, he uttered this along with a sob in the end, he was sure he sensed a smile on the other end of the line.
Sometimes removing the dust off things can help us feel the emotions which were buried deep in our hearts.