TO THE DUSK AND THE NEW BEGINNINGS

Sitting by her balcony, on a comfortable rocking chair, Aruni was appreciating the ever beautiful sunset through her eyes. It was going to be a week now that she had quit her job. She had never felt so relaxed in five years. Her life was this job. Actually, she had no other choice, it had to be.

Though the orange sky kissing the darker brown horizon was nowhere to be seen, instead, all she could see was some tall buildings through which the bright sun was as if playing a game of hide and seek with her. She was enjoying it immensely just when Yashoda, her part-time maid brought her that steaming cup of ginger tea with oodles of milk and cream. She liked her tea that way. The smell of ginger mixed with the air and with the whiff of Yashoda’s mogre ka gajra was giving Aruni a heavenly feeling altogether.

Sipping her hot tea she looked at her balcony. A small, cozy place with 3 potted plants; a rose shrub, a fir and dried tulsi plant. Some nylon ropes with clothespins hanging high by the walls to put clothes to dry. A tiny table to keep her tea cup and a half open laptop playing soulful old hindi songs. It felt like ages to her when she had last seen a sunset. She was always inside that air conditioned room throwing chilled breeze at her all the time. By the time she would come out of the office it would be 7, which meant dark starless skies and endless traffic honking from everywhere till reaching home. This seemed a lot nicer than the earlier.

She could hear Yashoda humming in the kitchen while doing the dishes. It made her feel the presence of a friendly soul nearby. Yashoda was a widow with two kids, a young daughter of five and a son of twelve. She had to work in seven odd houses from morning till night to make a meager amount so as to make her kids go to a school and eat a handful every day. Aruni admired her courage and helped her in every possible way she could.

She had quit her job for a reason or maybe it was just an excuse to escape. She had this plan, the plan that was initiated a long time ago in her early twenties.  Now it was the time to execute it, and what better time than the lovely sunset and the natural breeze playing with her hair. She had the stage set; the characters ready; the plot made; all she needed was the call for the ‘go’ and it would start her new journey.  But that wait was what worried her a little. What if the call never came? She got very aware that her mobile was nowhere to be seen. It must have been in the bed by her pillow where she always kept it, to see the time or to snooze the alarm.

Suddenly it looked like she was losing daylight. Sun was going down fast and her stage would be left in total darkness if she didn’t hear the sound of the ‘go!’ soon. She started to panic inside her head. Chaos, utter chaos! What if she took a wrong decision? What if she never should have left her job that gave her steady money if not satisfaction? What if her plan failed and left her with nothing more but dejection? Her indecisive state of mind was abruptly broken up by Yashoda’s question asking if she needed more tea which she calmly answered in negation. Yes, nobody ever knew about the storm inside her head.

She looked at the setting sun waving her goodbye and felt a searing pain in her chest. It was as if her plan was leaving her side too inching away from her bit by bit every second. As she was just about to regret her decision the phone started ringing in a distance. She heard Yashoda running swiftly to the bedroom and bringing her mobile out to the balcony to receive it. Aruni composed herself and held the phone in her hand. The screen said “publisher”. She now dreaded to pick it up but gathering her last left courage she touched the screen and put it near her ears saying a mild hello.

“Hello?! What took you so long to answer it? Anyway, your raw manuscript has been approved by the editor and we would love to make it into a book. BTW the editor loved your story, it’s fresh and delightful. He says it would become a best seller in no time. But do not keep your hopes up too high okay! Now you start writing the fair script as soon as you can. I will come and meet you in two days to discuss the further proceedings. Congratulations! And all the best! Bye.”

Aruni was left speechless. The storm had subsided. The sun was now fully set and moon was rising up slowly from the west. It is going to be a full moon night. The street lights below her flat flickered and came into life. It was nearing a dark. But for Aruni the setting sun and the upcoming dusk brought her a new life. She lifted up the laptop with her trembling hands and opened it up. The light from the screen made her face glow or maybe her natural glow was back. The white screen of her MS Word was about to get filled with black colored alphabets. She called out for Yashoda and asked her to make two cups of ginger tea. It was time now to pull up the curtains and start the show.