LOVE STORY
And there it was, a glimpse of his silhouette… just as I put my iron down looking at the chirping birds outside who brought him back to me!
Though only for a minute, it felt like a lifetime of happiness, it felt like a void being filled. It feels like yesterday when we went to the boat house and sat by the calm lake for hours staring into the twilight of the sky, watching the world go by!
From all the letters exchanged to all the sleepless nights endured, we couldn’t wait to share our stories with the world. He was a travel journalist and would discover Panama to Peru and would take me on his amazing journeys with his beautiful narration.
Going by the lake and describing his travels to me while I would pen down the words based on the picture painted by his words, he was born blind and was part of a program for the differently abled run by “The Society” a well-established national daily, and I being the associate editor was assigned the task of this quarterly column, of course his travels would be different from the rest of us, which was the purpose of this column, to offer our readers the world in a different view, to experience the world in a different way, the world seemed larger than life it seemed to be the beautiful oasis inhabited by beautiful people.
To make people fall in love with the world, his narrations seemed like love letters, even thought he didn’t see the world, he felt the true beauty of it and fell in love with the world.
“The deep silence of the sea-shore, made me feel a calm sense of belonging, when the waves clashed and echoed the sound of the cold water and the breeze teased its way ahead, even the skies went on to dance and the people finally felt the rains they longed for…..”
It was a once in a life time opportunity for me to chronicle his travels and put it out there for everyone to “see” from their mind, be open to a different take on life, he discovered Egypt as the land built by the mighty, nestled and protected by the Gods of love and war.
We saw Bhutan as the land far far away built by the flora and fauna and the sweet scent of pine.
We saw no colour, experience the language of humanity, savoured the delicacies of love. We discovered the streets of china by crispy tickling fare to the streets of India by the sweet and spicy fare. We felt the culture of politeness and humility of humbleness and civility.
At first we were vary of people not taking to such posts, but slowly we got a lot of people from across the world requesting to cover their land, rediscovering their land, people started hosting him and entertaining him.
This led to him travelling almost 6 months a year and discovering many many lands. He was the new Columbus, one day when he was travelling to one such land (I also did not know what places he went to, the editors made all the arrangements and since I was chronicling his travails, they did not want me to know about his whereabouts to keep the posts as authentic as possible, and I would know about the place only after he narrated his experience and the name would be revealed in the end.) he was reportedly gunned down in a local mafia gang war.
After being on medication for over 24 hours and with no progress his life gave in. There was a lot of anger in his fans when they were told what had transpired, his own world betrayed him, his own mankind betrayed him, the last few hours had been the toughest for him to see that the world was no longer that beautiful, that humanity had defeated him!
His travelogues were discontinued, while it took a while for me to get back to my daily routine and concentrate on my other columns, and from the acceptance of the fact that the person I was slowly falling for won’t be there anymore to make me believe that there is beauty in the world!
I revisited those posts and tried to get in touch with all those who hosted him and wishing to see for myself the beauty I imagined in my mind and for others to read, slowly they all got in touch and agreed on hosting me, they took me to all the places he went to, all people he met and in the end each handed me a letter! A letter he had narrated to the hosts to give it to me, if in case he doesn’t make it back and I get in touch with the host!
I felt scared as much as excited and a deep sense of closure to have found something of him I can have with me for the rest of my life!
I however stacked them in a box, and decided to open them only when I undertake all my journeys. I visited India, China, Peru, Russia, Mexico, Egypt and lastly Cambodia. When I returned I started blogging of all the conversations and stories the hosts and he shared, and took the readers on an intimate journey of the confluence of different cultures. His fans started writing in saying how much they missed him, and yearned to experience the world differently.
I decided to open the letters one by one discovering how much he loved me, he saw the beauty in me the way he saw it in other people, the true inner beauty, he feared confessing this to me, thinking how could I fall for a person who is not perfect, while he saw the beauty in others all he saw in himself were the flaws which I saw as true gifts!
All these undelivered love letters showed me a completely different man, someone I wish I could have discovered while we met at the lake and wrote the columns, maybe he purposely didn’t want to show this side of himself to the world, maybe he feared opening up to me, certain things are best left unsaid, though I am gad to have taken those journeys and receive those letters, he will always be special to me and something that only I can hold on to, something so personal that it makes you feel special, makes you feel like one in a million.
“16, September
Wish you were here, we could experience this journey together, take on the world together, our love would always be eternal in this infinite space that lays between us. If true love is all about wanting to be with each other at all times then I have fallen deeply in love with you, and I wish I could the same for yourself.
I may not be able to provide you with much happiness, I do however assure you that you are my first and will always be the one. I may not be able to love you like others do, but my love for you will always be unconditional and would put your happiness above everything else……………
With love,
from Pananma”
“26, December
Here people are celebrating Christmas and its the holiest time of the year, the candle lit streets sprinkled with the snow is the most beautiful time of the year, even though I can’t see any of it, but the spirit of the people all around me makes it beautiful, the pure love and of course the delicious meals and sweets I get to eat, if you were here we both would to the church, go around town celebrating Christmas and the new year together. Make new year resolutions together…………….
With Love from Prague::
“14, February
They say this is the most romantic day of the year, when you are with your loved ones, when the world slows down, when love overtakes all the hatred and wins wars, there are many lovers who can’t be with their lived ones, but thanks to technology they find a way to be with each other across continents, if only a miracle would happen and make us be with each other.
I would take you by the lake and under the light house would narrate my feelings for you.
I always think of confessing my love to you, whenever I am with you, but my fear of rejection stops me from doing that.
If I was with you on this very day I would definitely have confessed my feelings for you.
As the saying here in Austria goes no one can reject anyone who confesses their love for you on this day, its a tradition which has brought many lovers together over decades and generations………
With love from Vienna”
And just when I broke down, hating myself for not telling him how he made me fall for him each time he spoke! Maybe it was too late but I have the letters to hold onto, the letters where he asked every host to sign off with a dove, the symbol of pure love, and as I finished ironing out those letters and kept the iron down I saw a glimpse of his silhouette!
We had a different love story, a relationship that is hard to explain, but as they say some people come in your life for a reason and when the deed is done there is no need for those people to still hang around your life. It would have been a great love story if it was not for the fatal accident that claimed the life of this world’s last believer, but as they say God always calls his favourite people early, and makes them our guardian angels.
I know every time I have a dilemma or I need someone he is going to be watching over me, he shone like a bright star and he still does when he’s an actual star above the world still looking down and believing in the goodness of this world and showering his love with his brightness.
He was someone you could easily fall in love with also someone you can’t easily get out of your mind especially after him leaving such permanent marks in our hearts… they don’t make such people anymore!!
He had alot to say.
He had alot of nothing to say.
We’ll miss him.
I’ll miss him.
He had alot to say.
He had alot of nothing to say.
We’ll miss him.
I’ll miss him.
We’re gonna miss him
We’re gonna miss him
Standing above the crowd,
He had a voice that was strong and loud.
We’ll miss him.
I continue to travel and discover new places as a travel journalist and chronicle the travelogue with a short documentary on all the places that I visit!
To make people fall in love all over again and make them believe as I also start to believe all over again the magic and the love, some miracles are just around the corner waiting to happen and if we observe closely and look out we are always surrounded by such miracles, with love and magic. its all a matter of when we start seeing and believing and also encouraging people to send in their love letters that they have written to be published in homage to this great man and to keep his legacy alive. As they say things that can not be spoken are always written and that’s where the magic of love letters still works even in this day and age of technology.
The End.
