( Sometimes we find an image to compliment a write-up…but rarely it happens that when you click a picture …a story automatically takes a shelter in your heart…I am penning down a fiction that I thought of when I shot this picture….)

He asked her every time –
She would just lower her eyes…look away n opt to not answer his question…he would wait every time impregnated with hope …but every time his question remained unanswered.
over the period of time, all his questions remained stuck in limbo -unanswered .he would simply smile and change the topic gracefully to save her from that awkward situation…he cared ..he really did.
She was not unsure of her feelings but she was scared of confessing them ..scared of admitting her feelings ..scared of losing something that was so beautiful.
“Everything withers with time-so does love ..”-she believed in ..she had already lost so much in life..couldn’t afford to lose any further …
Time flew by…weeks changed to months..months grew into years…and his questions remained questions still.

That day was rather dark n dull..the circumstances were wearing the stiff sheets made out of the fabric of lost hopes…

She was miles away..he sat on the other end… the only thing that connected them was the murky sky…

She sat down to chant for his well-being ..didn’t ask anything for self but only prayed for hours together for a little slice of happiness in his life.

Sat on the other side …he was offering a “chaadar “in her name in a dargah for the same slice of peace and happiness in her life…he asked for nothing for self …the chadar was kissed with selfless love and undiluted emotions before offering …a small prayer was made…

That evening brought a moment of realization..an assurance and faith….she realized while she chanted for him…he prayed for her…
The resonance of her chanting and silent whispers of his prayers spoke the same language-translated the same meaning ….n that evening she could decipher the meaning of those unspoken words…the silence was finally starting to find the answers of his questions…
She realized what else could this be???
Can you give a name to this selflessness?
Call it love?
Perhaps not …that emotion was above all these emotions -love n lust
Love perhaps just connects heart n body but this connected the souls in a very different way.

That evening she was ready with her answer, waited for him to toss the question once …
But that evening something strange happened, e didn’t ask the question ..he just didn’t …on the contrary h,e spoke a few gentle words …he said …
“Today …I have no questions to ask…I need not hear any answers …perhaps I got all my answer …I always had them ..it’s just that today I can hear the silence loud n clear ..can hear your answer hidden in the rhythm of those chants ….”

Far somewhere the flowers offered by her got a caress by the gentle breeze…same breeze that ruffled the chador offered in the pious walls of the dargah…
Both of them had their prayers heard …and somewhere, in addition, god hears another prayer -a prayer that was never offered…
“Kuch is tarah tamam sawalon ko jawab mil gaye…
Kuch jawabon ke humaafar chand sawal ho liye”