gaspersWorld

On the occasion of Pearl Wedding Anniversary - 4th September 2010

Closing the apartment door lightly I kept the luggage down and slumped into the sofa.

The beads of sweat were beginning to run down my neck in small rivulets. Kuwait’s summer heat was beginning to take its toil. The calendar on the wall displayed April of year 1977. I had just returned back to Kuwait after a long and tiring vacation in Goa -- my first vacation. The Air India flight was delayed and my friend who was supposed to pick me up from the airport got the arrival time confused.

I was about to give my sisters some flashbacks of my holidays in Goa when suddenly the door bell rang.

Who could it be? I looked through the viewfinder of our door, irritatingly.

Rocky uncle our neighbor of next door stood there as usual with his immaculate white banyan, partly unshaven, white beard and stripped pajamas.

“Yes Uncle?” I said opening the door.

“How are you son?” he said and without giving me a chance to respond continued. “I understand you just arrived by Air India flight”

“Yes.” I replied making an effort to cut his conversation short. “Everyone takes a flight, no one comes walking,” so I thought in my mind.

“Is anything wrong uncle” I enquired in a bid to seem helping.

“I was expecting my two daughters coming to Kuwait for the first time – on the same flight. Its more than three hours now since arrival time and there is no news about them. Have you by any chance seen them inside the airport?” I could see anxiety written all over his face.

But this was getting on my nerves. I had never met his daughters nor seen their photographs and how in this world did he expect me to recognize them among the crowd at the airport?

“No uncle.. I was bit in a hurry to get out so didn’t have time to look around and perhaps more than one flight landed same time and that must be taking time at the immigration” I said in a bid to comfort him.

“Oh that could be.. anyway thank you” he said and letting out a sigh walked into his apartment which was next to ours.

If this was someone else I would have made a nasty effort to ask him if his daughters were celebrities or beauty queens that I would recognize them without even having met before. But Rocky Uncle was different. He was one of those pleasant neighbors that everyone wished for -- silent, un-meddling and not concerned what was happening within the next wall of his apartment. He always believed in the saying ‘good fences make good neighbors’.

There were no mobile phones then and I could well understand a father’s dilemma in this situation but there was little I could do to help him. I didn’t bother to enquire if he had sent someone to fetch them. It was highly likely they were lost somewhere since they were new.

I closed the door behind him and headed for a hot shower. Later, after a light meal I switched on the TV for updates of local news that I’d missed for the past month. This was the only way those days as mobiles and internet was unheard of those days. There was nothing major in the news that drew my attention and switching off the lights I headed for my bedroom for a well desired sleep.

I had almost forgotten the incident when suddenly it began coming as a flashback. Two young Goan females on the same aircraft, huh? I began to curse myself for not being more extrovert and looking around. Were they beautiful and sexy? Would life be more exciting to have two young females next door? These and so many other questions kept creeping in my mind but before I could realize I dozed away in sleep only to wake up next morning.

“Utt.. kitlo nidtai?? Goemchi kanser Kuwait kadttai kitem?” My sister standing next to my bed tried to awaken me. “Chol thond dhu, dukonar vos ani kabouz ani il’lem dudh gheun eio”.

I looked at the wall clock and was surprised to note that I’d slept beyond the required hours. I had a quick wash and pulling up my normal clothes headed to our nearest grocery store below our building. As I reached on the first landing of our staircase I saw Rocky uncle climbing up in the opposite direction. Accompanying him was a young female briskly walking behind him.

“Good Morning son” he said.

“Good Morning uncle” I responded.

“Meet my eldest daughter Neeta,” he introduced the young female like any proud father would. “Remember I told you yesterday they were on the same flight as you were? Immigration took them a while to stamp the visas but both of them reached home safely.”

This was the first time I met her, I was startled by her beauty--though beauty isn't precisely the right word in that it connotes certain culturally accepted aspects of form. In the eyes of our culture, she was probably more cute than beautiful. But what I felt was sheer beauty. Something emanating from deep within her touched something deep within me. I remember, I could hardly speak at first instance. My mind went blank for moments, creating awkward pauses. She must have known how stunned I was by her very presence. The cool morning breeze was hitting lightly on her face and her hair fluttered in the air running down her neck creating magical waves. She smiled back – a very typical Goan smile that almost shattered my heart to pieces. Love at first sight? I don’t know but it certainly did not demand that I walk by a second time.

Yes ! that was how I first met my soul mate of 30 years. I know my children today would be dancing at this revelation as they had done a lot of investigative work to find out this secret but without success. A shy person by nature that I was but apparently those days my biological hormones were at peak working overtime and from that time on I knew I had found a partner whom I could trust for the rest of my life. Barring the numerous problems we faced for the next 3 years, during our courtship, we finally took the plunge on 4th September 1980 determined to have and to hold till death do us part.

“So what’s the big idea behind this whole history?” Everyone reading this are sure to say. Well, there is nothing extraordinary, no filmy scripts no fairy tales. This could have happened to any ordinary person. But hold on.

4th September would crop up again and we would be celebrating our ‘Pearl Wedding’ -- 30th wedding anniversary this year - 2010. It got me thinking. Have I anytime said “Thank you” to her during the past 30 years for being there when I needed her most? Am I taking her for granted? A million dollar question but no answers.

“You don’t have to. She didn’t say that to you as either.” A devilish voice was prompting within me.

Shrugging off my darker side I remained persistent. This year I thought I should muster up the courage to do it, perhaps who knows, another opportunity might never come.

I reached for the pen to jot down the bullet points I would tell her. I planned to let her know ever since she walked into my life, I have been smiling. And I am glad that she came into my life. I planned to thank her for our 3 beautiful children she brought up, for her soothing touch during my illnesses, being understanding, loving, caring, faithful and most of all someone who accepted me for who I am. I wanted her to know that she was the person I was looking for and that instincts told me that she was my princess when I first met her on the staircase landing.

I wanted to thank her for not thinking twice when I asked her to be my wife and want to reassure her that there could not be, anyone better than her out there for me. I want her to know that these 30 years are the finest years I spent on this earth. Finally, I pray to God everyday to bless us with everything we deserve until the end of time.

The ‘bullet’ list was endless with more negative than positive points which I painfully omitted but when I finally finished it, I was surprised at how many things we shared in common and I never bothered to wink back in appreciation. Was I being philosophical now? To an extent, yes. But still, if there are husbands out there who think like me that “Thank you” is not important and taking your wife for granted is our birthright then its about time they did contemplate for a while. Come to think of it again. Probably the wife is the only other woman after your mother who would still remember your thick black hair and handsome face 30 years down the line.

“You are wasting your time. This is not important and not required. She should think the same way too,” The devil was again butting in. I could see he had done his Ph. D in home-breaking.

“Oh Yeah?” I fought back. “Does two wrongs make one right?”

I had to do this quickly or else my darker side would overtake me like a total eclipse. I was beginning how to convert my thoughts into actions on this anniversary and what gift I should give her. With the past 30 years I had almost run out of ideas. But if this was a “Pearl” anniversary then a Pearl necklace would be perfect and fitting. Pearl diving has been Kuwait’s oldest profession and Kuwaiti pearls are famous worldwide. As my mind began to log into my NBK bank account I began wondering if there was enough balance to suffice my idea and if not, how to cover it. I was deep into thoughts when I heard.

“Helloooooo …. Dad???????.” The screeching sound pierced my ear drums. I opened my eyes.

Alisha, my daughter, the only person whom I have a soft corner and the only person who can manipulate me easily was standing next to me in our bedroom.

“Hello !!!!” she said once again. “Wake up, mum is waiting for you to have breakfast.”

Saying this she turned around and walked away. As she reached the bedroom door she turned around again and in a sheepish voice said, “Next time, dad please wear a watch when you go to sleep and stop dreaming.”