Skip to main content

Piece of Soul.

He woke up before the alarm went off this morning. It was bright and sunny outside. He got fresh, had his coffee, and went to his room. Pulled out the tuxedo from the cupboard, brushed it and got dressed up. He fixed his hair, put on the watch and looked himself in the mirror. He tried smiling, but it felt weird.

He shrugged the feeling off, went downstairs, slipped into his black leather shoes, grabbed his car keys and headed out.

The neighborhood seemed quite silent for a weekend. "Guess summer vacation has driven most of the families out on family trips. Well, good for them" he murmured, as he took the next right and pulled into the parking lot of the local florist shop "Autumn's Florist Corner".

Emma has been running the place since he had moved in to the locality 2 years back, and her smile had never changed since the day they first met. 

Emma - "Well well, look who's here. Good morning Brady. What brings you here so early on a Saturday morning?"

"Hey Emma..Good morning. Came to pick Jenny's bouquet."

"Oh! I completely forgot the date. It's THE day huh. Fresh flowers are back here, am yet to set them up , come on over, let's fix a bouquet for her" said Emma walking to the back of the store; her lemon yellow dress with large floral prints complemented the flowers around.

"Peruvian Lilies, Yellow tulips, White daisies and yeah couple of sunflowers" he said following her. 

"Here let me add a few chamomile. She loves them. Do you need potted daffodils?" she asked brushing her curls off the forehead.

"Yeah get me a couple of those. Yellow and white" he said taking the bouquet from her.

"Here you go Brady. And tell her I will stop by in the noon. I will see you tonight okay?" she said at the billing counter, giving him a tight hug.

As Brady walked towards his car, Emma yelled from the door "You look charming Brady."

Brady smiled and hopped into his car. And George Strait's song played "Our love is unconditional, we knew it from the start" He smiled and hummed "I cross my heart and promise to give all I've got to give".

Another two signals, and he was there. He got off the car, collected the bouquet, the potted plants and the spade from the trunk, and walked towards the entrance.

He met a couple of familiar faces as he walked across the lawn, he nodded at them and went towards her. This tree seems slightly taller than I saw it last time he thought. As he walked across and reached her, he smiled, kissed her and said "Happy anniversary my love". 

He kept the bouquet by her side, sat next to her, and started chatting about work, friends and life in general. 

He got up and said "Let's plant these daffodils, the ones from last year dint make it through winter."

He removed his jacket, kept it aside, started shovelling the ground and planted the daffodils as he continued chatting.

"I never thought I would feel like this again. But with Emma, it's so effortless. I can talk anything and not feel awkward. It's like she always was a part of us although she knew you for just couple of months.

"You know, she looked pretty in yellow dress today. I love her smile Jenny. But I am nervous, she is the only person I have left around other than you, cannot afford to lose her. You think she will like me the way I like her?" he asked looking at her as he patted the soil. 

The light breeze filled the place with the fragrance of lilies around him. He smiled and continued as he watered the plants "Well, she said she will come to meet you. Hey, will you whisper to her few good words about me? You know, be my wingman." he said smiling. 

"I miss you Jenny. I still remember the day you met with the accident, just 3 days before our wedding." he paused looking at the sky. 

"If it wasn't for Emma, I would have been lost. I believe you sent her as my guardian angel, thank you. It's her bday this Friday, am thinking of letting her know my feelings. I am really nervous, but I know you will help me. You have always walked with me." he said kissing the grave.

The headstone read "Jenny Chester - An angel on earth from 3-Mar-1994 to 6-April-2018

"You took a piece of my soul with you Jenny and I will carry a piece of your soul to my grave. No matter who comes in my life, that won't change. I will see you next Sunday, Jenny. Wish me luck.He said as he picked his jacket. 

He headed back to his car, the daffodils swaying in the wind, sun shining on his smiling face and wet eyes.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Zindagi Gulzar Hai - A feast to ones eyes!

Today I am here to make a much interesting comparison of our current Indian TV industry with our neighboring country’s television industry. Interesting because I never thought I would ever engage in watching any of the Pakistan TV series/movies or listening to their music. My disinterest in Pakistan entertainment was not because of the tensed relationship with the country. But I myself am not a big fan of TV serials. The kind of drama that is filled in Indian TV Channels today is just exhausting and tiring to watch. I hardly follow any Indian TV series. When I visit home on vacation, I join my family in watching the program they watch and that’s how I keep myself updated with what is trending in the TV industry. I love listening to music and I listen to all genres of music. I did start listening to Pakistani music since last few years and have admired their music. Strings, Fuzon,  Kaavish, Jal, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ghulam Ali, Parveen Abida, Quratulain Baloch and many ...

My Favorite Read - 6 - The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev (and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer)

So, now that I want to get into some serious mountaineering activities, I started with reading books on mountains. When you check for top few books on mountains the one that comes up is " Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer " followed by “  The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev" ; both based on the 1996 Everest disaster which was made quite controversial. I started with "Into Thin Air' and while I was reading, I was continuously in conflict with Jon's views. Mind you, my memory is pretty weak when it comes to remembering details of any story - whether its books or movies. I had watched few documentaries and the Everest movie based on this topic; but that was a while ago. when I started reading this book 2 weeks back, I had no background; you can say I was totally new to this story.  And yet, it was difficult for me to understand some of Jon's accusations or feelings.  But nevertheless, Jon's style of writing was amazing; he knew how to keep reader's...

The Year That Quietly Reset My Life.

A lot has happened this year and a lot went unaccomplished. 2025 once again reminded me of how unpredictable life is, how life happens when we are busy making other plans. Life surprises us and life shocks us.  There were many good things this year - backpacking entire Central America for a month and half, meeting new people, reconnecting with old school friends, learning Japanese and many other such memorable moments. But earlier this year while training for dragon boat race competition, I was diagnosed with a idiopathic health condition, that threw a wrench in my lifestyle. All those lab tests, scans for a person who rarely saw a doctor for years was stressful. Although it got diagnosed early because of my attention to health stats; not knowing the root cause for the illness nor being able to determine the length of the treatment plan disheartened me. At the time, I kind of understood a non-smoker’s reaction to being diagnosed with cancer; that reaction of “But I never smoked onc...

Ahamasmi Yodha - My First Tattoo

I finally did it. It isn’t a great achievement to show off, but for me it’s one more item on my bucket list getting fulfilled. So I am very happy about it. What did I do? Oh like I said nothing great – I just got my FIRST Tattoo  :) My first Tattoo Artist I had done a lot of research on it since last couple of months. I wanted to get it done on my birthday, but it somehow dint work out.  For all the first timers, I wanted to list out my personal experience, just in case it helps :) First of all, I felt it will be very helpful if you have some friends who would have got it done already. But I dint have that privilege. So I went through lot of blogs and articles in About.com, Wikihow, YahooAnswers etc… Well Google, the new lord of knowledge :) has all that you need to know. So, in summary, what I got from all these sites were First decide on what you want to get tattooed and where. Go over it again and again, since it is permanent, you will have to live ...

Life... A Blank Page!

Whenever I open a notebook and come across the set of blank pages; my mind goes blank. For some reason, it always reminds me of my life. It forces me to start thinking about my life; about the past and the future. Being part of the age of computers and belonging to the IT industry, I hardly get an opportunity to actually pick a pen and write in the notebook. I write lot of blogs, poems etc… but I write them on the webpage or in Microsoft word in my laptop.  Once in a while I like to go back to traditional form of writing; using the actual pen and paper. And in last few years; I noticed that every time I try doing that for some reason the blank paper gets me all philosophical.         Although I never have that thought while opening the book; but whenever I see those blank pages; I just go blank. I always feel that my life is staring back at me with all those unanswered silenced questions, doubts, thoughts…forcing me to think – What does my lif...

Why "Wake Up Sid" movie is my favorite :)

I am very selective about the Bollywood movies that I choose to watch. I don’t like the typical commercial, masaledar movies without any storyline, characters, screenplay and acting. Most of them are ruled out just by looking at the Name of the movie, its banner, its actors and director. And some which pass these filter criteria get eliminated when I watch their trailers. Very few end up in my watch list. And some movies I end up watching forcibly with my family or friends. Wake up Sid was one such movie, that I came across because my friends chose to watch that movie over tea 4 yrs back. We never completed watching that movie; couple of them found it boring and we got deviated from watching the movie into some other matargashti . I think 2 years back, when I was finding something to watch, I picked up this movie – just because I wasn’t finding anything appealing to watch. And I simply fell in love with this movie despite of its weak story. Konkana Sen is a talented actress ...

Don't let the tamed ones tell you how to LIVE!

I came across this image on someone’s Facebook wall; and I couldn’t resist it. It triggered various thoughts in me that I was compelled to write a blog. I spent major part of my last decade trying to get things settled in; to plan for a backup with a backup so I could do something seriously adventurous. But it was not until late last year that I realized I should no longer wait for a timeline to stabilize professionally, financially, personally to pursue my interests. I don't need to follow a linear approach.  I don't think I can ever have enough savings to quit the job and pursue hiking/travelling/painting full time (and well, I am not a lottery person either). And I don't think I want to quit the job in the first place, I want to continue supporting my needs.  One thing that I did, last few years was try and pursue my interest whenever I got a chance. But what I started doing since last 6 months is, to create those opportunities to pursue my interests; and align...

My Brightest Star

You were very different from the others. The way you spoke about stars and universe, it was like you were part of them. I never understood your language, but I always enjoyed listening to you. It was so romantic when you spoke with such passion about universe. That friend of yours, Hubble, the way you discussed it's findings with so much excitement, I used to fall in love with you over and over again. The way you waited like a child outside the tent in freezing nights, to get the glimpse of milkyway, would always make me hug and kiss you. The nebulae, constellations, meteor showers, comets and so many such words, that I never knew before I met you; I started learning about them from you. For me everything was just a twinkling star in the dark night sky. You introduced me to them with names, like they were your friends, like they all were talking to you, like they all had some purpose. I thought you were crazy, but then I understood why you were so crazy about them. I still s...

5 Things to Learn from a Child

I spent last 3 days of my long weekend with 3 different kids of slight different ages but all under the age of 5 yrs. One 8 months, another almost 3 yrs and the last almost 5 yrs. I am always fascinated by kids, their outlook towards life and their definition of happiness. And I have written more than once about how they impact my thought process. But here’s few new take aways from my weekend spent with these kids. What’s on the inside is what’s outside. You cannot train or force the babies/kids less than 5 years, to like or dislike someone. You can try, but they will hardly follow your instructions. They will smile at you if they want to. Else they will just walk past you never caring for any consequences.  They are selfish, and they don’t hide it. They will love you, because you will play with them. Or because you will give them goodies. They will do what you say if they want something you are offering, and they aren’t ashamed of displaying selfishness openly. For th...

That night and This morning.

He woke up to the constant buzzing of his doorbell. A sound that’s almost disgusting for a saturday morning.  He knew it wasn’t any of his usual suspects; the maid, the cook, the delivery boy or his crazy friends. His saturday morning was going to be uneventful. Precisely why he was up until 3 AM previous night, binge watching a Netflix series that was long due.  And when he had finally gone to bed, after cleaning a bowl of instant noodles and beer, he had no intentions of moving any part of his body till late that afternoon. So this constant buzzing was not just a mild discomfort but a breach of code, an unforgivable act of crime. He thought to himself... The person was either foolish or sadistic. No one in their right mind would think of waking up an office going guy on a saturday early morning 8 AM without prior notice. As though the damn corporate finance job was not enough to squeeze the life out of my soul, here comes Lucifer, the devil himself to wreck my weekend...