MAKE BELIEVE WORLDS

Evening

in the twilight moments

I pedaled my cycle,

to the nearby junction

for having my daily cup of tea.

On the way

by accident

my eyes flew to a

roadside house

and my looks got fixed on

a girl in her early twenties

clad in shining white nightie

standing erect on the terrace

she looked like a marble statue

watching me with a smile

a mischievous smile it was.

Taken aback

with shyness

I cycled along looking straight

to the junction

a few metres away.

I couldn’t forget the angelic green-eyed lass

her face shining in the yellow sun

like a halo around her head.

I got inside the tea-shop

and ordered the tea.

After the daily cup of tea

without waiting for my

friends

to have daily friendly chats,

I cycled along

to my house in a hurry.

I wanted to see her

again and again

wanted to know whether she was there or not,

I was asking myself

with thumping heart.

On reaching in front of her house

my eyes flew to her

she was still there standing with her

hands crossed across the chest.

The twilight sun was

still shining on her face

upon seeing me going back to my house

she waved her hands

smiling, fascinating it was.

Each day

while cycling along to

the junction

I saw her

in her shining white nightie

and saw her smiling

and upon return

she waved her hands

with broad smile.

I thought she was loving me

I thought I was in her

mind always

I thought she was dreaming about me in her sleeps

I thought she was waiting

for me only daily in the evenings

and my mind jumped and jumped

with delight.

She came to me in my dreams

she was becoming my dream girl

I built a castle of dreams in the sky.

But friends,

I was mistaken.

I later came to know about

her smiling to everyone

waving to everyone passing by

and all lived in their make-believe worlds.

One morning

I saw her waiting

to catch the bus

at the bus stop

attired in top and jeans

glancing at her

I gifted her a smile

she cared not

and like a stranger

she looked in the

direction from which

the bus was about

to come and halt

at the stop.

Friend I am confused now

whether she was ‘that she’

standing on the terrace

my God….