Endless Wait.

"Time is endless in thy hands, my lord.
There is none to count thy minutes.
Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.
Thou knowest how to wait."

Everyone walked away just as dawn approached. She sat looking at the still waters of the river.
The morning light reflected on its still surface. The cold autumn wind parted the clouds and welcomed the sun.
The clink of her gold bangles interrupted the silence as she waited on the ghat for the first ferry to arrive. Her brown eyes sparkled in the sun, her pale face turned slightly crimson with anxiety and she waited as though for a lifetime, staring into the depths of the rivers.
The bells were rung at Dakshnineswar Temple but she never glanced back.
The end of her dhakai saree lay limp in the water, her eyebrows knit in anxiety and she waited.

Years ago, She had stared up at the majestic idol in front of her.
The sheer beauty of Maa Durga stunned her as it did for the past 20 years.
She closed her eyes and silently whispered a prayer in her mind, " Maa, Don't disappoint me today.. please"
Disappointment.
She was used to it.
But this year was different. Happiness had crept into her bleak life. She smiled again.
Through the crowd of worshipers, she gave a side way glance to her right, peering stealthily at her reason of happiness.
He stood tall among his group of friends. His dimpled smile,radiant as she had seen it for the first time.
Silently, she smiled.
He understood the unspoken words in her young mind. He invoked pangs of joy in the depths of her soul.
His words made her wonder, made her smile. They transported her to a world she had visited in another lifetime.
A world of poetry, a world of make belief.
All signs of unhappiness disappeared, as she dreamt of his face at night.
They woke up to each others voice, they woke up to each others love every morning.
But the morning of departure arrived sooner than they had imagined.
He left.
Leaving her alone with a box of memories, diminishing happiness, loneliness, longing and an undying fire of love in her heart.
" I'll return on the morning of kali pujo.. If we're meant to be together, we'll see each other then.
I can't ask you to wait for me ... "
" You know that i will ... ", she thought.
That morning, he kissed her goodbye on that ghat. He held her warm hand and as she looked into his big brown eyes, she could see unfathomable love in them. Her bangles clinked as he let go of her hand.
" I'll wait ..", she whispered.
The ferry sailed as the end of her dhakai saree lay immersed in the waters of the Ganges.

The sanguine sunrise splashes its radiance across the horizon .
Today is a new dawn.
The world wakes up to the pillows of wind and gushes of autumn wind.
She stands on tiptoe,staring as far as her eyesight could take her.
It has been 20 years since that ferry sailed from the ghat.
Today, she waits .... as the bangles clink, as the dhakai saree lies immersed in the river waters..

She looks up at the sky once and silently whispers, " Maa, don't disappoint me today...please"
and she waits for the first ferry on the morning of kali pujo.