HER DIARY!!

"DAY 5" - I sat there looking at him. He was wearing a scarf round his neck. I have never seen him wear that scarf before. It was mid October and nobody is supposed to feel that cold. He started coughing after a while. I understood he had probably caught cold.

Are you alright?" Do you need to go back home now?

As usual he did not respond. He didn't even look towards me as I kept telling him about what happened today morning.

Danish didn't have lunch with me. His wife had left home early morning. He said he will come back within lunch time. But he was late and when I asked him to have lunch with me he gave me such a disgusted look. He was very busy I guess. I just ate a pair of bread before coming over to the hillside.

I am wearing a red kurti. Too much show off for a 60 year old woman? Oh who cares! 

He kept his head towards the same direction I have always seen him in. He hardly moves from his place. He looks to be just a couple of years elder to me but he never talks to me. I know he listens to everything I say. I always bore him with stories of Danish and his wife but he never leaves. Maybe he is just too polite to go away. Today I thought he was very sick. He kept coughing and sneezing a lot. I asked him to go back home but he didn't pay any heed to my words.

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"DAY 1" - Today something strange happened. After being abused by Danish's wife, I somehow consoled myself and stayed in my room for the next 4 hours. Nobody asked me to have lunch. When I went out of the room to bring the GEETA, I realized there was nobody in the house. Nobody even bothered to tell me that they were leaving. I felt scared. I locked the door and decided to take a stroll to the nearby hilltop park. I have heard that people of my age go over there every day for evening walks. I thought maybe I shall talk to someone and feel lighter. I wasn't wrong and there were so many people of my age walking down along the park. There were people who shared jokes and kept laughing as they walked past me. I saw couples of my age sharing some nice romantic moments beside the pool. The fresh air suddenly made me realize I wasn't that alone what I assumed myself to be. I kept walking all around the park until I realized I was too old to cover the entire area.. I found an empty bench and sat over there but I soon realized it was my poor eyesight that deceived me and I wasn't the only person sitting on the bench. Another person who looked a bit elder to me was sitting there on the other side of the bench. He looked in good shape and was wearing a track suit and a T shirt which looked more like a football jersey. I tried to follow his eyesight and locate the thing he kept staring at but couldn't find anything interesting.

Hello! The weather is pretty nice today, Don't you think?

Surprisingly, he did not reply back to me. He behaved as if he didn't even hear a single thing that I said.

This is my first stay at the joggers parks. I shifted to Nadia a few months ago due to my deteriorating health conditions. The doctor prescribed this place. I didn't want to move away from Hyderabad but my son Danish insisted on shifting. To be honest, I actually like this place. Such greenery everywhere and what a pleasant climate in this part of the country. 

My name is Devika!! And you are?

He did not respond again. He just sat there looking at something and did not respond to anything I said. I felt a little bit offended so I decided to get back. It was already getting a bit late so I decided to chant my evening prayers facing the setting sun and on doing so, I slowly and steadily got back home.

"DAY 2" - Today I again visited the joggers park. After taking a small walk beside the pool I sat at the exact same bench like yesterday. To my utter surprise, I saw that man sitting in the exact position like he was sitting yesterday. It just seemed like a continuation of yesterday, only just I wasn't wearing my red kurti today. I did not initiate the conversation like yesterday. I waited for the moment when he will start speaking. But he did not. I sat there for about 8 minutes but he did not say anything. In the meantime, the only movement he made was to pick up a piece of paper than accidently fell off from his pocket. 

Somehow I felt that even without talking to me, he was observing me. I did not like the situation at all. I felt insecure with the presence of an old man who quite specifically doesn't move. 

I had to come back home early as Smitha and her husband were supposed to visit me and have dinner at my place. But they didn't show up.

"DAY 3" - It was the same story today. I kind of fell for the entire atmosphere in the joggers park. Wherever I looked, I saw happiness prevailing in every other human being walking around the park. Despite all the stupid situations in our lives, I somehow understood that happiness can be gained only if you search for it at the right place and there I was, standing in the middle of it. 

I saw him sitting at the exact same place like the previous two days, To be honest, I somehow found him interesting and wanted to know about him more. But he never replied to what I said. Today he was looking a bit different. He wasn't wearing the red football jersey. Instead he actually looked more handsome. He was wearing a cute looking full sleeve black and white T shirt and a black track pant. But I was adamant today. I decided not to sit on the bench. Instead I sat on another bench placed straight across the passage. It wasn't far away from his bench. Just as the clock struck 5, I saw him checking his watch repeatedly. He seemed to be a bit restless and was probably looking for something. Just as he was searching for something, we made a very unpleasant eye contact. But....

I don't know what happened. They way he looked at me when he saw me. I don't know how to describe it. But he looked like he got what he was searching for. He stopped looking around for it. He saw me and so did I. Something struck me. I couldn't sit there longer. I had to leave. I saw him get back to his original position as if nothing happened. I was scared even though I wanted to get back to his bench and share a small story. I did not have the guts to look at him again. But why?

"DAY 4" - I didn't go for a walk today. I straightaway headed towards the bench and as expected, he was there. I sat at the end of the bench and managed to look at him but very carefully. He was sitting in his trademark style. I just hoped he would, at least once, look at me and smile so that I feel a little bit more comfortable while talking to him. I was equally irritated and attracted towards him.

"You know I cooked palank paneer today. It's Danish's favorite dish. He used to love it whenever I used to make it during his childhood days. But now Aarti, my daughter in law cooks for him. She hardly cooks though. I had once tasted her food and trust me, I never ever tried that stunt again. They always have lunch and dinner outside. They are very busy people. I make my own food. Today I made some Palak Paneer and Danish asked me to pack it up for him. I did that but he left very early. He must have forgotten to take the lunch box with him"

I realized he was actually listening to me. Despite looking towards a completely different side, I felt like he was actually paying a lot of attention to my words. But I knew he won't respond to me. So I didn't ask him about his opinions ever. It felt good to share your stories with someone who would at least not respond negatively or judge you.

"DAY 6" - 

I am so happy today. It's my birthday today and Danish, Aarti all gave me such a pleasant surprise. Vineeta and her 2 year old brother Rayaz were standing beside my bed with a small pastry when I woke up. All of them started singing "Happy birthday to nani" the moment I woke up. I don't remember when I was so happy the last time. Danish gifted me an off white Salwar Kameez. See! I am wearing that now. How do I look? 
You know Vineeta gave me a small kiss on my cheeks and wished me happy birthday. I am just so happy, I can't describe it to you. Aarti made lunch for me today and I can't believe she cooked such nice foods. 

I kept talking so much but he didn't look back. At least today I expected him to wish me Happy Birthday, but as usual, he did not even turn back to look at me.
I saw him write something on a piece of paper but had no idea what was it. I was too happy to get mad at him. I understood Danish, Vineeta, Aarti all were pretending to behave badly with me so that they can give me this excellent surprise on my birthday. Everything looked so jovial around me. I stayed quiet for a while and looked at him. Somehow I wished that I was 19 and he was 20 and he would wish me Happy Birthday by holding my hands and I'd probably blush a little. Oh what was I thinking. I moved one year closer to my death bed and there I was, thinking about some unrealistic teenage possibilities.

Just as I was about to leave, I thought maybe he looked at me and smiled. I turned behind to check but there he was, unmoved by any story of mine, sitting there in the exact same position as if nothing was said to him.
However the grin on my face didn't get much affected with his behavior as I realized that I don't need to come away from my house every day to search for happiness in a different place.

"DAY 7" - Somehow I couldn't resist myself in coming back to the park. The strange man has successfully made me curious enough to walk up almost 500 meters from my house. That too, to communicate with someone who doesn't respond. I was extremely surprised to see that nobody was sitting there today. I looked around but there was no sight of him. I approached towards the bench and saw a piece of paper peeping itself out from beneath the parralled green benchwoods. I took it out and opened it and there it was written "Happy Birthday to you my lady. You look the best when you are happy. Do not lose this smile. My job here is done. Stay blessed"

I didn't know how to react. I had known this person for a week now and this is the first time that he has actually responded. I did not understand by what he meant to say by "My job here is done" but I felt happier than yesterday. I wished he was there to see me happy. I kept giggling carefully as I got back home and kept the piece of note inside my GEETA.

"DAY 14" - I have not written for almost 7 days now. I went to the joggers park every day and wished he was there like before waiting for me to listen to my stories. But he never showed up. I don't know why he came into my life but those 6 days became very special to me. I shared some unhappy moments with him. He was there and I know, he listened to everything carefully. He was there when I had none to share my feelings. He went away when he saw everything was alright. Who was he?