The day she was born again

Sun seemed to be having an awfully bad temper today. So was to be the mood of hers. She woke up with a searing headache. The sunny summers were hopefully not going to do any good to her. She wanted it to be dark, cloudy, and rainy even but not all the light! She woke up sweaty and thirsty. Thankfully it was a weekend. She would have hated it even more if she had to drag herself to the office at 9.30 in the morning. Sitting upright on her bed and massaging her forehead she first checked her cell phone. Five missed calls and two texts. Someone must have been trying hard to reach her. She first checked the calls. All were from her friends. Next opening her inbox she found another one from her gal-pal asking her if she had woken up and was she suffering from any hangover from last night. That reminded her of all the wine and weeping yesterday night with her friend. And so the reason of this pain. There was another message, from somebody she used to know. But she left it unread like every other day and headed towards the shower. “It is going to be a long, long day”, she thought.

   

The pouring water on her body was like a relief. She just wanted to stand there forever with her eyes closed humming an old song.. “ajeeb daastan hain yeh..kaha shuru kaha khatam.” It was her favorite or maybe it was just apt for her right now? “naah! I can do a lot better than this”, she thought.

   It was more than twenty minutes that she was standing in the shower when her phone rang again. The ringtone irked her, but she decided to take it anyway. Draping the bathrobe carelessly over herself she picked up the phone. “Where the hell were u idiot!” came a caring but irritated voice from the other end. “Umm, I was taking a shower. Is it too hot today or is it just me?” she answered. “Come out ASAP we need to have some major conversation”. “You got to come. It’s awesome and no bahana! The guys will be there too. Reach our hang out in 30! See you soon. CLICK!” She got no chance to react on it. It all happened in fraction of seconds. But that was okay. Putting the phone inside her robe’s pocket she came out of the bathroom and tossed herself onto the bed again just to soak in some of the hot humid air that the fan was throwing at her. She looked up at the speeding fan. The wheezing sound of it was kind of honey to her ears. “I got to have some biscuits, pop two Saridons, get ready and get going!” she thought.

   

   Thank God she had put a book inside her bag before leaving. They all were late as usual. Her head was still throbbing but the air conditioner was at full blast and that was a sigh of relief for her. She decided not to call anyone and not to order anything till they arrived. Instead she delved into the 9^th chapter of her book. She couldn’t understand what was so important. Though the story was very interesting, she was unable to concentrate like always. At times she also felt like opening that unread message and read the content but then again she mentally scolded herself for two minutes for losing her self control and ignored it. Just then her phone beeped again as if participating in the scolding. A message again. She cautiously opened the inbox to see a text from one of her friends apologizing for the delay and telling, rather complaining about the traffic. She replied back with a smiley saying that she doesn't mind waiting until the café has good music, the AC is in working condition and the waiters doesn't shove her out. “I hope it is something really good and worthwhile waiting”, she thought.

  

  Twenty minutes and 3 and a half pages later, the music stopped suddenly. She put down the book and heard people murmuring behind her. Thinking that the music player must have malfunctioned, she picked up the book and was just about to start reading again when the music started playing again. "Ah there it is".. she said to herself. But wait, this was an unusual song to play in a café! Looking up she saw the four of them coming towards her with a giant sized chocolate cake with a candle on top. Then it suddenly dawned on her that she had forgotten her own birthday! After all the hugs and wishes and cutting the cakes they settled down and ordered the coffee, which was of course on the house on the occasion of her day. “I am absolutely lucky to have such friends. And nothing and no one can ruin my day today”, she thought.

  

  Two hours, two coffees, pieces of that yummy cake each and some variety of conversations later it was time to leave. With the promises of dinner and drinks date with all of them at eight she reached home smiling. She then noticed that her headache was gone! Switching on her fan and closing all the drapes making the room five shades darker than the usual she sat down on her favorite bean bag. It was time to reply to that unread message. It was time to tell the person that it’s over. It was time to tell that she is not coming back after what was done to her. It was time she stopped looking back and dying every day for no reason or no fault of hers. She did not mind the sun anymore as it was a new dawn for her altogether. “Today I am going to tear up this chapter from my life forever. Today is when I will start living for myself again. Today is the day I will be born again.” She thought.