13:02. Chittaranjan Shiva Parvati Temple. Chittaranjan city hadn’t witnessed a more anxious 21 year old until that june 30th.

13:12. Crossing road no 36. “Where are you?” She couldn’t find him. But then she guided him through the lanes and the cows were the navigator for that day.

One month stood motionless at 2.05 metres. She smiled, relieved. And knot-in-the-stomach feeling enhanced. And when they held hands, it felt like they were finally at home. After a month of flirtatious messages and getting to know each other online, he was headed to her town finally. Though stucked into some strict COVID guidelines, they still managed to hold each other’s hand.

In that moment, even though unknowingly so, two almost real-life strangers had found something. Something that poets and proses were yet to truly define. And so were they. Later that day when a strong wind blew her hair as they both sat under a tree, he was trying to arrange her messy hair. His hands, gently in her hair, hers upon his chest. Wind- eddied, swirled and ambient – lifts her hair into a dance. As he watched the strands at their confluence of tether and vortex, a sense of calmness comes. He held her hand tight, as if he’d never let it slip away. Again. There, they found it again. Love is walking in the rain together. With the rain came the doors of heart that banged, the rain that creates a beat upon the blacktop sidewalk. People pass as if in accelerated motion – all except two people whom have let their umbrellas fall to the wet street and be blown by the wind. They are bound in a kiss that is so tender the world should stop on its axis and take the note of their love. Then they walk and in hand , droplets beading their hair. Heavenly. Those who say only sunshine brings happiness have never danced in the rain. Never kissed in the rain. Never seen his girl’s face dripping with the wintry gifts of cloud through the rare mirror of his vehicle , tucker smiles, and glances toward the sky that promises more rain to come, their sweet sound as a round of applause for love and romance.

If raindrops sound beautiful to you then remember you are in love.

They found it at a park bench, in the busy hand of him, while clicking the prescription to upload it in Appollo 24*7. She found it in his responsible being. He found it in her childishness. She found it in the petals if a red rose , worth a little girl’s dream in Beliaghata market, in between the lines of a softly hummed indie song and under the faint light of a waning crescent moon. They found the love at 2 am at terrace while hugging each other. They found it in the leaf of a white wild flower while sunset.

They found it in a train ride while he lied on her shoulder and she adored him and they shared the food.

MIDDLE BERTH – UPPER BERTH, Two hands, two human being, one soul. They found it in a hotel room while crying together.

They found it in an impromptu slow dance amidst a maddening crowd of stars, a long walk taken barefoot, a humble plate of food shared ( but not the dessert :'[ ) and a late night gossip about their childhood memories with eyes half- asleep, and a kiss on his forehead. He is sleeping calmly. He seems so cute.

She found it, she found it again while sits beside him at late night . He’s totally home to her. The depth of the sky’s blue is as their love , that only over the year to they notice the strength of the hue. Up close it is as clear as pure water , yet when they see the miles it is the blue of fairytale dreams.

They found it again in the depth of 5’6. Under water. Waves merging in their souls. Her hand in his shoulder and his on her waist , together they twirled around in the deep blue hue of the shallow world. Closed eyes. She giggled while her not so long hair kisses the whirling surface of the blue water. Dripping water droplets from the edge of her hair strands. She was laughing like a child, as she found it again in his lap. And he found the love in her smile, in her aura.

Come morning, their subdued voices made away for silent prayers. With hearts colder than their coffee and a last slice of pizza to share, this time they wanted to conceal it, just like their tears.

13029 Down express.

For the last time , in a long pause at the station, in a rather filmy scene, they found it again.