They say that the time period between
engagement and marriage is one of the most exciting phases for a bride and
groom to be. I wasn’t feeling any different from the day we celebrated our
Platinum Day of Love. After being in a long distance relationship with Adi
during our courtship period, I felt the urge to meet him and get to know him
better before I could feel confident about him. Who would have imagined that a
couple who got to know each other through a dating platform like, Aisle ended
up getting engaged through a horoscope match also. We both had decided to bury
the Aisle secret and go ahead with the regular proceedings as it pleased our
parents. Once a relationship clicks, who cares if it Aisle or Bharat
Matrimonial. Our relationship was chugging like a steam engine, thanks to those
miles that separated us. True love doesn’t get diluted with distance but we
were yet to discover it. I tried my luck at job opportunities in Bangalore
where he was staying so that I could get to know him more before we were
officially engaged. Adi helped me in finding a paying guest accommodation which
was close to my work place. I wasn’t happy staying at a place which was far
from his house; but he being the more practical one said, ‘Dia, in Bangalore,
if you want mental peace, make sure you stay close to your workplace. Do not
risk your precious time in these crazy vehicle clogged roads. We can meet on
weekends when we can spend quality time together.’
Our story from courtship to being engaged
and then getting married was a strange one because our lovable moments always
had something to do with food. I used to fear at times thinking it could affect
our health but we balanced it well just as we did with our relationship. The
first day I set foot in this city, Adi gave me a surprise welcome with a
bouquet of twelve roses.
‘These are for those months which we have
known each other for,’ he said squeezing my hand.
It was extremely chivalrous of him to
receive me at the railway station at 3:00 AM on a Sunday morning when half the
city was sleeping. Probably he was equally excited to meet me. I had put on my
worst look that morning. Which girl would meet her date for the first time
sleepy eyed and dull? He came close holding the bouquet and we embraced each
other for the first time. It wasn’t an awkward feeling at all. It felt as if we
had known each other for long. As we sat in the car and picked up our
conversation from where we had left on the phone last night, he decided to take
me to a coffee shop knowing that I like coffee. I was wondering if there would
be any coffee shop open at this wee hour. We were lucky that a Café Coffee Day
was open. I had never seen a CCD more beautiful as this; A small garden café.
We had to wake up the poor server boy and ask him for piping hot Café Moccha
which happened to be our favourite. As we sat in a cosy corner by the table in
the garden sipping on our coffee, an aroma of the feeling of first love wafted
into our souls. How could I forget that
morning, as we sat with our hands entwined, sipping the nerve soothening coffee
at the crack of dawn looking at the crimson sky and enjoying each other’s
company! It was certainly a date to remember. Freshly ground coffee beans have
a magic in them. The aroma is strong enough to mask any form of fragrance that
lingers around. It did wake me up my brain from its slumber only to register
the precious moments of my first date with Adi. I finished my coffee quickly
and looked at Adi sipping the last bit from his mug.
He caught me staring and asked, ‘Do you
want some more?’ Just for the sake of having the last sip from his coffee mug I
took it from him and relished it till the last drop. The after effect of it was
something which I had never imagined. The next moment, warm lips, smelling of
coffee had engulfed mine and before I could open my eyes and realize what had
happened. Adi was standing by the car waiting for me to get in. The motto of
CCD is true- ‘Anything can happen over
coffee.’
I had to spend the rest of the day in
tidying my room and setting up things. My first date was a very short one but
the feeling that I was going to meet him again in a few days got my hopes a bit
high thinking that our relationship was getting a chance to blossom.
My thoughts were all over the place the
entire day. I was physically doing the work and arranging my room but my heart
was with him. I could still sense his lips on mine and the smell of coffee that
hit my nostrils when he came close to me. It was having an intoxicating effect
on me and I did not feel normal until the next day when I had to rush for work.
Our long distance relationship continued even though we were in the same city.
We waited for the weekend so that we could spend more time with each other. It
was exciting to plan for the weekend as soon as the week begun. Weekend outings
in the city were just a pretext to meet and get to know each other better. We
tried to go for movies that interested us, visited book shops where we could
read or discuss about our favourite books over a cup of coffee or tea.
We were the so called foodies. That was
the first among the many other common likings that we had. Although, the
cuisines that either one of us liked were not completely the same but in a way
we were able to discover our love through food. Initially, we spoke only about
our favourite dishes, likes and dislikes but when we were together it was
exciting to try out something new. It is said that food has an impact on the
brain directly. The gastronomic delight one gets after having their favourite
dish is equivalent to feeling loved by someone.
At times we took more time to decide as
to where and what we should eat than discuss about each other. One evening he
took me to an Italian restaurant that served the best vegetarian menu in
Italian cuisine. Each date was memorable and had its’ own charm in our lives.
Our pleasant as well as bitter-sweet memories were linked with food as it formed
a vital part of our relationship.
While dining at the quaint and beautiful
restaurant Adi asked, ‘Dia, do you like cooking?’
I have heard that men want to know if
their would be partner knew how to cook but I had never heard such a question.
It made me feel that this man had a liberal mind set. I smiled at him and
instead of replying I asked him, ‘What about you?’
‘I love to eat and serve with love,’ he
said with a sheepish grin.
‘Wow… I guess I have one more reason to
love you. When do I get a taste of your culinary skills?’ I asked giving him a
gentle nudge.
He gripped my hand and held them inside
his strong, warm fist. ‘You are invited home anytime my lady.’
Our conversation about meal plans
vanished into thin air when the food arrived at our table. A glass of Sangria,
cheesy creamy pasta and jazz music in the background with Adi in front of me
made me feel that I had conquered the world. The combination of wine and pasta
was enough to sooth our palate. As I took small sips of my wine and took few spoons
of the creamy pasta, I felt different. The combination of vodka, cheesy cream
sauce and wine hit my palette and I felt my head was heavy. I could hear what
Adi was speaking and was also replying to him but there was a sort of vaccum
created because of which only his words seemed to echo in my ears. I was
talking to him but not in the way my normal self would do. I think I was high on
alcohol and cheese. How could one get high after having pasta and wine? Later,
when I read the menu in detail I realized that this pasta sauce had generous
amount of vodka and when combined with cheese and wine it makes it stronger in
flavour and its action on our system also is enhanced.
‘I
can feel my head reeling Dia,’ Adi said putting his arms around my shoulder
firmly. He needed me and I needed him for support. We had to take a cab and
reach home as Adi was not feeling comfortable to drive. I could only remember
the pasta and the wine when I recalled about that evening. We got tipsy
together for the first time. There were many such firsts in our lives. But
again the same feeling of parting and waiting for another week made the
experience painful. It gave us melancholy but at the same time we had a hope to
meet each other the next week.
The weekend after that was New Year's Eve. Adi had invited me home to join him
and his friends in the celebration. I had never attended a New Year celebration
party till date. It had always been spent with friends or family either
watching the New Year celebration programmes on television or cutting a New
Year cake. I was a little hesitant in going to his place and being with his friends
but because his friends were also bringing their respective girl friends’
along, I felt a little confident about the whole idea of a New Year’s
celebration. The apartment where he was staying with his friends was a
beautiful one. It was the first time I was entering a house where only men
stayed and I was feeling awkward even thinking about it. As expected, the house
turned out to unusually neat and tidy. It was mainly to welcome the girls I
assumed. Once the other girls also started joining us I was able to be my usual
self. Apart from Adi and the other friends, there was music, good food and
creative homemade cocktails made by one of Adi’s friends. I spent more time in
observing Adi around with friends than talking to anyone much. In fact, his
friends were too excited to know about our relationship. That’s how our
conversation continued. I felt a little relieved seeing that Adi was his normal
self when it came to being with me and his friends. It was one of those
concerns I had which had instilled some doubts in me and made me feel a little
hesitant about our relationship. Not that I had an option to step back. . It was
only one additional reason to feel happy about the person with whom I was
slowly falling in love with.There was no dual personality that he adorned at
least in front of his close ones.
We waited for the clock to strike 12 and
welcomed the New Year wishing each other good luck and happiness. Adi’s friend
threw a challenge at us saying that as we all start our countdown to welcome
the New Year; with each count we should have one shot of Tequila. Since there
were 10 seconds left, we were all forced to have 10 shots continuously. I
think, that was enough for us to not be our normal self for that night. Adi
still seemed a little sane but, I wasn’t. I became extremely quiet and I went
with the flow not knowing how to react. I was never used to having alcohol and
10 shots were not something which my body could take. Thankfully nothing
happened to my health but I swore that day that never in my life would I have
so much alcohol. I have never been so quiet but it made me calm down so much
that it was difficult even for Adi to accept me that way. The celebrations were
almost about to end as none of us could stay awake because of the overdose of
alcohol. Amidst the confused discussion that was happening whether the girls
should go to another apartment and stay over for the night, Adi took his chance
and stole me from the group.
The next moment I was with Adi in the
terrace. The dark sky was illuminated with brilliant colours of the
firecrackers. The chaos caused by the crackers was loud enough get people out
of their beds and celebrate the New Year. But, for some reason I was at peace
at that moment in the terrace as I stood close to Adi admiring the lit up sky.
Adi pulled me close and gave me a tight hug. He cupped my chin with his hands
and lifted my head up so that his lips could meet mine. Our lips smeared with
salt left over after the tequila shots engulfed each others. The strong smell
of alcohol and the taste of salt against our moist lips made my stomach churn
with desire. That day was one of those very firsts when I saw the most romantic
side of Adi. The most passionate kiss to begin with and the firecrackers in the
sky made me feel like life were a fairytale.
I had to push him away just to breathe and absorb myself into that
moment. We did not speak but our eyes gleamed reflecting the bright colours of
the sky.
Realizing that it was quite some time
that we had spent in the terrace, we both rushed downstairs just to make sure
the others did not realize our absence from the scene. I had to go with the
other girls to their apartment to stay over for the night. I had no heart to
leave Adi and go but I had to. He had left a desire burning inside me and I
needed to wait till the next day in order to extinguish the fire.
I wanted to text him and describe to him
about my feelings but did not have words to do justice. My head was reeling
with passion and my palate was burning because of the strong shots of Tequila.
It took liters of water to flush out the intoxicating effect of the alcohol
from my system. But how was I supposed to stay normal after what Adi had done
to me? All I could remember about the previous night was the strong salty kiss
which lingered in my senses throughout.
Every time I met him I felt a strong
sense of attraction towards him. I was slowly able to gain confidence in him
and felt that getting engaged to him was not a bad choice at all. The long
distance courtship had taught us trust more than love. Love, was something we
were discovering throughout.
The next morning I did not wake up with a
headache but instead wasn’t able to talk. My throat had a severe congestion and
my voice had become hoarse. I texted Adi about my condition and he reached
immediately to take me to the doctor. The doctor advised me complete voice rest
for three days.
‘How am I supposed to select our marriage
ring this way?’ I wrote on a chit and showed it to Adi.
‘Don’t worry, I can do the talking. You
write to me in a piece of paper as you did now,’ he said handing over a small
note pad to me.
Immediately after consulting the doctor
we went hunting for appropriate rings. Since, we were travelling together from
the same destination Adi took me on his bike. It was one of my firsts again.
The evening breeze was just perfect to go on a bike ride. I sat as a pillion
holding him tight and all those romantic songs kept playing in my mind. I
couldn’t speak, so every time he wanted to know if I was doing well he would
look at the rear view mirror and ask, ‘Are you feeling alright?’
‘I would tilt my head to the side so that
half of my face could be seen in the mirror and give him a smile with thumbs
up.’
The weather in Bangalore was supposed to
be equally unpredictable, just as the traffic on the roads. We were about to
reach the jewellery shop when out of nowhere dark cloud hovered above us and
the weather was indicating towards a thundershower. To make matters worse, we
were stuck in a traffic jam which could easily take about twenty minutes to
clear. As expected, within minutes is started drizzling and by the time we
crossed the signal it was a heavy downpour. We were completely drenched. Not
knowing what to do I slid even closer to Adi and held him tight. I also felt
slight shivers in my body.
‘Dia I am going to park the bike here. We
can wait there till it stops raining,’ Adi said pointing at a petty tea shop where
there was enough space for the two of us to stand. I was in desperate need of
something warm and a hot ginger tea that we had in that shop was all it took to
open up my senses and give my throat some warmth and relief. The combination of
heavy rain and ginger tea has always worked wondered to sooth the throat. I
couldn’t talk but that day I learnt the art of communicating with Adi through
my eyes. Probably he understood how much I admired him for the care and concern
that he was showing for me. Ginger works perfectly in soothing a troubled
throat. Despite all the throat pain and the doctor’s advice not to talk, I took
the courage to whisper in Adi’s ears, ‘I love you.’ Before he could scold me for talking I sealed
the irritation with a peck on his cheek.
We couldn’t get our rings that day but
because we were drenched completely and I was more prone to fall sick because
of the existing infection, Adi took me shopping and also promised to take me to
his house in the evening. ‘I hope you are feeling better after the tea,’ he
asked rubbing my forehead and caressing my wet hair. After asking me to rest
for a while he vanished into the kitchen. His friends had gone out for a movie
so I felt even more comfortable in lying on the sofa and slipping into a short
nap. I was woken up by Adi with a bowl of Pongal and chutney.
‘You made this?’ I exclaimed in my hoarse
voice forgetting that I wasn’t supposed to talk. I saw a hint of anger on his
face but it faded soon seeing me happy. I was having the home made pongal after
almost months and I wonder how Adi knew exactly about that. The softness of the
rice and dal with a hint of pepper and a dollop of ghee on top made me feel
even better. My nose was watering, my throat was burning from inside because of
the ginger and pepper in it but it had served the purpose. I was slowly being
relieved of my throat pain. My eyes almost welled with tears as I was finishing
the pongal. I had not only found a future partner in Adi but I had also found
my parents in him.
********
The trail of thoughts that were going
through my mind were disturbed suddenly.
You want some more of this? Adi asked feeding me and our little one in
the making a spoon of chocolate brownie with ice cream. We were at the same CCD
at 1:00 AM, where we had met first. But this time we were sharing a sizzling
brownie with ice cream, thanks to the midnight cravings. A spoonful of hot
chocolate over soft and warm brownies with vanilla ice-cream was enough to make
me fall in love with Adi all over again.
