Lights of Eternity
Part - 8: The Birthday Surprise!

A loud rumble of thunder rolled across the dark sky as another bout of sudden rain drenched everyone on the road. Several people scurried to nearby shops to save themselves. One boy, however, just turned his face up to the sky as he rode on his bike, he seemed to be enjoying the rain. He stopped near a grocery store and parked his bike. He was thoroughly soaked but didn’t seem to mind it at all, combing his fingers through his wet hair, he entered the shop, flashing a wide grin, and received an annoyed glare from the shopkeeper

Sameer followed the gaze of the shopkeeper and looked down to the floor, water was dripping from his clothes onto the clean tiles, he sheepishly looked up, “sorry uncle”, he held one ear in apology.  The shopkeeper relented, sighed, after all he was a customer, “boliye kya chahiye?” Sameer handed over a list to him, and after 15 minutes, he was speeding back to his home, a bulging bag placed in-front of him. It was 13^th September, his Naina’s birthday, and since the last one week he had been engrossed with the multiple things he had planned. He chuckled, a dreamy look in his eyes for a minute, as he recalled the pleasant way he had landed upon this idea. Maybe I should meet Naina in the chemistry lab often.

Naina kept glancing at the bench beside her, Sameer hadn’t come to school today, a meeting he had said, she felt rather dispirited. She recalled Sameer asking about her birthday, he had made enquiries himself to find out her birthday, as much as she had tried to ignore it, she had been left hoping that he would wish her. Why didn’t he wish me? Did he think I didn’t want him to? Or did he forget because of his work? She sighed, trying to understand why it mattered to her, it’s not like her birthday was a special day. Chachaji chachiji and Preeti had wished her, Pooja didi had called up to wish her, Arjun bhaiya and Shefali had also wished her. Her father, Tauji and Taiji didn’t. In school, Swati had wished her, Munna and Pandit didn’t, but then how would they know it was her birthday unless Sameer had told them, and it was clear to her that he hadn’t. She should be happy, she told herself, Arjun bhaiya was home for a week.

Little did she know that a mini conspiracy had been hatched among her friends, Sameer and Arjun. It wasn’t by chance that Arjun was on a one week leave, it was pre-planned. Munna and Pandit didn’t wish her on purpose, else Naina would suspect. Sameer had no meeting, in fact right at that moment he was busy decorating the living room of his home for Naina’s surprise party. Munna and Pandit rushed off to help Sameer as soon as school ended, Swati also didn’t stay back to chit-chat, rather she said that she was in hurry as she had to go out with her parents. Naina felt gloomy, and the weather was not cooperating either, she loved rains, but today it was reminding her of Sameer, the warmth of his arms as he embraced her. How she wanted to hug him once today, even if he didn’t remember her birthday, that would have been a gift enough for her. Preeti looked at her sister’s dejected face and she itched to spill out everything, but she controlled herself, after all her jijaji had planned a surprise, and given her the important task of dressing up Naina is the dress he wanted to see her in.

“Kya? Tu pagal to nai ho gaya Sameer?”, Munna exclaimed clutching his head and flopped down on the sofa.

“Chenu sahi keh raha hai. Pagal ho gaya hai tu. Abe pitenge woh log hume kuch gadbad ho gai to”, Pandit declared, sitting beside Munna, his legs too felt like jelly.

“Aree… Kuch nai hoga yaaro. Maine sab planning ki hai aur samaan bhi le aaya hun. Hume bas recipe book dekhke banana hai”, Sameer tried to convince his friends, “socho na yaar Naina kitni khush ho jayegi.”

“Sameer, mere bhai… Bhabhi na kharide hue cake se bhi khush ho jaati… Tujhe banane ki kyun sujhi?”, Pandit was bewildered with Sameer’s bizarre idea.

“Haan… aur bol to aise raha hai jaise sirf paani ubalna ho”, Munna added frustrated.

That was right, out of the several brilliant ideas Sameer had for today, one was to bake a cake for Naina. He didn’t think the fact that he couldn’t even make a cup of tea was a limitation. Cake was just mixing things and heating them up, right? If Naina could make the perfect cake in her first attempt, then why not him?

Munna looked at Sameer’s disappointed expression, “achcha sun, udaas mat ho ab. Hum karenge teri madad. Lekin yaar, tu ek baar Shefali se madad maang leta.”

“Haan, Bhabhi ko bhi to usine sikhaya tha na cake banana. Hum use bula lete hai. Waise bhi bada mazaa aayega woh yahan hogi to”, Pandit added gleefully.

“Chup kar chaman-chooze. Arjun pitega tereko”, Sameer reprimanded, “aur main yeh khud karna chahta hun. Ab meri Naina ke liye main itna to kar hi sakta hun na”, he added with a dreamy smile, thinking of the happiness on Naina’s face.

“Chal be Ponga Pandit… yeh majnu ki madad karte hai,” Munna said with a resigned expression, “waise bhi bhabhi Safari Suit se to kam hi kutegi hume.”

And so, began the precarious attempt of three bachelors to bake a cake, much to the exasperation of Ramdhari, who kept hovering in the kitchen, trying to clean the spilled flour, or rushing forward to save the tumbling water jug. He had been instructed to not help or disturb them, and he had planned to complain every single incident to Naina, who, by now he knew, was going to be his Sameer baba’s bride. Sameer had chosen the perfect recipe for a vanilla cake with white icing, after all, the cake for the fairy of his life, should be as beautiful and glowing as her. Finally, after more than three hours, and several small tragedies later, they had a cake that was perfectly round and golden. The smell wafting from it was rather tempting, and the three boys covered in white flour from head-to-toe, grinned triumphantly. After adding the frosting, the cake looked delicious, from top to bottom. The white frosting was fluffy and sweet, they could not taste the cake of course, but they had sneaked a bit of frosting and tasted it. It was yummy. All of them were proud of their creation, and finally they let Ramdhari come and clean up the mess, much to his relief.

Naina sat on the bed with a book in her hands, but her eyes were unfocused, she wasn’t reading, instead she was thinking, about her mother. She didn’t know much about her, since she was a child Chachiji had been equivalent to her mother, but sometimes she wondered how she was. She had seen a photo once, but she had been very young at that time, she didn’t remember exactly, it was a black and white photo, but she did remember that her mother had really long hair. Since that day, Naina had also decided to grow her hair long, and she screamed every time she was taken for a haircut. As she had grown up, she was allowed to keep her hair long, which pleased her, and the only time she had willingly cut her hair was after a chewing gum had been stuck in her hair, an accidental gift from Sameer. She sighed, her thoughts shifting from her mother to Sameer.

It was all because of him that she was suddenly thinking about her mother. Why did he have to talk about her birthday? She didn’t like discussing about it, because of Taiji’s taunts, but when Sameer had asked she hadn’t been able to lie to him. It had opened a chasm of pain, not sharp, but definitely deep. She wished her mother’s picture was up on the wall, then like her grandparents’ photo, she could see her daily, and then wouldn’t wonder about her. But she wasn’t that fortunate, the only album with her mother’s photo was with Taiji, and Taiji had told her that her own father didn’t want his wife’s photo on the wall. He thought of all these as superstition, and had said that his children would miss their mother more if they kept seeing her picture.

“Naina tu yeh pink wala suit pehen”, Preet’s voice interrupted in her thoughts. The salwar-kameez Preeti had selected was the same one she had worn for Pooja di’s sangeet, and it immediately reminded Naina of the beautiful moments she had shared with Sameer that day. “Nai, mereko yeh wala nai pehenna”, she said stubbornly, “waise bhi hum kisiki shaadi me thodi na jaa rahe hai jo itna sajna pade. Arjun bhaiya ke saath unke cricket coach ke ghar jaa rahe hai dinner pe.”

“Haan to… Arjun bhaiya ka to soch. Tu unki behen hai, woh kitne garv se tujhe introduce karenge”, Preeti said thinking of ways to convince her to wear the dress, “aur aaj to tera birthday bhi hai na, Arjun bhaiya ne keh diya to? Aur tune achche kapde nai pehene to log sochenge ke kaisi ladki hai, apne birthday pe bhi achche se taiyar nai hui.”

“Konsa kisiko mera birthday yaad hai jo main taiyar hou”, she muttered glancing at the clock, Sameer hadn’t called yet.

After much pleading from Preeti she reluctantly agreed to wear that dress, and as soon as she was ready she sneaked out into the living room to call Sameer. Unfortunately, Ramdhari picked up the call and informed her that Sameer wasn’t home yet. She asked Ramdhari to inform Sameer that she won’t be back home until late tonight.

She kept staring out of the window entire time, while the car speeded on its way to Maheshwari residence. She was so occupied in her thoughts, engrossed in wishing that she could talk to Sameer at least once today, trying to think how her birthday would have been if her mother was alive, that she didn’t even realize where they had stopped. Her eyes widened with surprise on seeing the bungalow, “bhiaya, yeh to Sameer ka ghar hai. Hum yahan kyun aaye hai?”, she asked confused. Arjun turned off the engine, “aree woh maine socha Sameer ko saath le lete hai dinner ke liye. Waise bhi maine sir se kaha tha ke apne saath 3-4 logo ko launga”, Arjun clarified, making Naina happy that she would be able to meet Sameer. But her bubble of happiness burst as she remembered that Sameer wasn’t home, and she told so to Arjun, who said let’s just check once again.

Surprisingly enough, the door was open, and as Naina stepped inside, she felt that maybe she was dreaming. The whole room was decorated with ribbons, balloons were strewn across the floor, a table set in the center of the room held a glass vase with the prettiest flowers, a banner with “Happy Birthday Naina” written on it glittered in red & gold on the wall. Disbelievingly she walked up to the banner, when she felt a pair of hands cover her eyes, and a voice whispered birthday greeting in her ear. In all but a moment, her heart kicked up in full gear, at his voice, at his touch, at the feel of his warm breath on her skin, and her knees buckled, she sank into his chest. Sameer was surprised by her instant response, he hadn’t expected it, he wanted to wrap his arms around her, but remembered that several people were watching them, so instead he held her shoulders and turned her to face him, “Surprise!”

This was the cue for everyone to join in, the chorus of “happy birthdays” dispelled the sudden tension that had gripped both of them, and he relaxed. Her eyes became moist, as she realized that Sameer didn’t forget her birthday, and all her friends, including Shefali, were part of this wonderful surprise. Ramdhari also came up to wish her, calling her memsaab, much to her astonishment, while Sameer winked at her. Sameer couldn’t take his eyes off her, it was just like last time, she looked absolutely stunning in this attire, and he so badly wanted to hug her. Naina too found Sameer looking irresistible. Since he had started going to office, apart from school uniform, she had usually seen him in formal clothes. But today he was dressed in jeans and a dark green plain shirt that was tucked in, the sleeves were rolled up to expose his forearms, and a big watch adorned his wrist.

Just when Naina thought that this was all for surprise, Sameer announced it was time to cut the cake and proudly carried the white cake from the kitchen to the table. Everybody oohedand ahhed when he placed the cake on the table, Munna couldn’t control anymore and spilled out the fact that Sameer had prepared it for her and they had helped. Everyone was astonished, Naina looked questioningly at Sameer, who shrugged, but a blush crept up his cheeks. Again, tears welled up in her eyes at his gesture, and she could only mouth a thank you. Sameer smiled, handing over a knife to her, and everyone clapped and sang, as she cut the cake. He fed her a piece of cake, watching for her reaction, expecting a surprised ummm. But instead he saw the expression of delight, turn to confusion, and they dismay as she chewed, and chewed and chewed.

Everyone was staring at her now, and she didn’t know what to do. Looking at her face, Sameer immediately put the remaining bit in his mouth, the taste was great, he couldn’t understand what the problem was, and then he chewed, once, then again and again. His eyes widened in horror. The cake had a consistency of an old tough sponge, and he spat it out on a tissue, asking Naina to do the same. Sameer opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again, looking like a guppy fish, Naina hurriedly said, “it’s delicious, just a little…”

“Chewy?”, Sameer offered, then sighed, “it’s alright, I know it was horrible.”

Naina couldn’t see him disheartened, he had put in so much effort, “I am extremely happy”, she picked up a bit of frosting on her fingertip, sucking it into her mouth, “and the frosting is super yummy.”

Sameer chuckled, “that’s right. But don’t worry, Sameer Maheshwari always has a back-up plan”, he walked back to the kitchen and came out with another cake, this one with pink icing.

Everyone eyed it cautiously as he placed it on the table, asking Ramdhari to take back the first one, he laughed on seeing the expressions on each face, “I didn’t bake this. I bought it, just in case. Turns out it was the right thing to do.”

Another round of cake cutting later, came the turn of gifts, which was another thing she wasn’t expecting. Swati and Preeti gave her a new red kurti, Shefali gave a ceramic pen stand, Munna and Pandit had brought story book for their bhabhi, and Arjun gifted her a new wrist watch. Sameer was yet to give anything. He had already arranged for a movie, which Munna started, he asked Ramdhari to do the dinner preparations, and then whisked Naina away upstairs into his room.

He closed the door and pulled her in his arms, sighing as her arms wrapped around him, and she laid her head on his chest. This was bliss. After a few moments he kissed the top of her head and then pinched her chin tilting her head back, “I am sorry. I thought I could give you a surprise with a wonderful cake, but it was spoiled.”

Naina smiled, “No. It wasn’t. I didn’t expect anything, maybe just a simple wish from you, but you did so much, it was amazing. I am so happy, I cannot tell you in words.”

Sameer inched closer to her face, “so, don’t you want your gift?”, he whispered, his lips an inch away from hers.

Naina struggled to maintain the eye contact, her heart thundered, as she waited for him to kiss her. But he didn’t. He smiled, pulling her further into the room, making her sit on the bed, leaving her confused, and wandered over to the cupboard, pulling out a jute bag from inside. He came and sat next to her, as she wondered what was in the bag. He grinned, holding the bag open, “Pull out one.”

She was surprised, but did as he instructed, the rectangular box she pulled out was wrapped in a golden paper, her eyes shone as she pulled apart the wrapping carefully, she sighed on seeing a gleaming black pen with her name inscribed in bold golden letters, encased in a box with transparent cover. “It’s beautiful, thank you”, she squeezed his hands.

He smiled, “I am not done yet. Pull out another”, he instructed.

“There’s more?”, Naina asked, her gorgeous eyes rounded in wonder.

“Hahaa… Yes, there’s more. Go on”, Sameer jiggled the bag.

Her elation and surprise increased degree by degree, as she started pulling out more gifts, small drawstring pouches containing earrings, anklets or bracelets, boxes of different shapes and sizes, which she opened to reveal treasures of different kind. A crystal ball with a red rose inside sitting on a tiny pedestal, a galaxy glass, a hand-bound journal. A kid’s fairy tale book from the next box made her laugh.

And finally, she pulled out the last two boxes, but now Sameer stopped her from opening them, he was waiting for her to come to these gifts. His heart thudded as he wondered how would Naina react on seeing the contents of these boxes. He slipped off the bed, kneeling on the floor in-front of her, he took her hands in his, as he gazed into her eyes, it was important to make her understand. Naina looked at him in confusion, his expression was solemn, he took a deep breath, “Naina, I kept thinking what would be the perfect gift for you, but I couldn’t decide one single thing, so I decided to give you things that I can relate to you”, he tried to explain.

He took the box of pen in his hands, “you gave me your lucky pen on my birthday. You shared your fortune with me and I wanted to give you this with the hope that just like the golden shines on black, whenever you write your exams with this, your luck shines on it just as bright.”

He indicated the trinkets, spread haphazardly on the bed, “I love it when you wear different earrings or bangles, when you get ready for me. It makes me feel special. I don’t know anything about jewellery, and I could have bought gold and silver for you, but I know it wouldn’t be right, at least not until we are married, so I got these. I don’t know whether they are good or not, but I would be very happy if you wear them at least once for me.”

Next, he picked up the crystal ball with rose, “I wanted to give you lots of flowers, because you brought beauty and fragrance in my life, but they would have withered, and I wanted you to have something that would be forever with you, at least from this first birthday celebration. This encased rose will stay with you forever, reminding you of my love.”

The stars in the galaxy glass glittered in the light, as he revolved it on the bed, “the night in Mt. Abu we spent looking at the stars is something I will never forget. I should have realized then what I truly felt about you, but I didn’t. I was almost too late to realize my feelings, and I nearly lost you. But I like to think, that, sometime during that night the stars granted my unspoken wish of having you in my life forever. I want you to remember that night always, and I promise we will have many more nights like that in our life.”

Naina was on the verge of tears, she had thought these gifts were random, a surprise for her, but now she was getting to know how deeply he had thought about each of these things. He picked up the journal, opening it to the first page, Naina saw that he had written something in it, she tilted her head to read. It said, ‘Naina’s First Story’, and Sameer had jotted down the story she had recited on whim in Mt. Abu to prove it to him that she can indeed write stories. “I had given you four words and you spun a beautiful tale out of it, just like you befriended a lost boy and transformed him into a responsible person with your love. This story about you, me, love and family, is my destiny which I want with you. It will be our story. And so, I want you to write more stories in this journal, stories of hope, stories of love. I want your stories to be read by the world one day, it is my dream for you”, he looked into her eyes which were now glistening with unshed tears.

He wanted to kiss those tears away, but he controlled himself, and picked up the fairy tale book, his fingers trailing on the cover, “the day you gave me the sweater you had woven for me, I wondered which fairy tale had you come from, because I thought it was impossible for a human being to love someone so much, so you must be a fairy”, he laughed softly, “I guess I was right. You are a fairy, my personal fairy sprite, who filled my world with so much love that I feel as if I am the luckiest person on this earth.”

She started to say something, but he put his fingers over her mouth, shaking his head in a no. Finally, he pulled forward the last two unopened boxes, “I know why you or your family never celebrated your birthday, but this day is special for me, more than my own birthday, and I want to celebrate this day always. I cannot change what happened, but I hope these would replace whatever bad memories you have of this day”, he said handing over one box to her, indicating her to open it.

Her hands shook as she unwrapped the blue paper, it held a photo frame, a single black and white picture of her mother, the same one Naina had seen when she was small. She didn’t even realize she had started crying, until she felt his hands wipe the tears from her face, she looked at him and saw tears in his eyes too. “Arjun sneaked it for me”, Sameer answered the question he could read in her eyes, “I didn’t see any picture of your mother at your house, so I thought you might like to have one”, he looked down at the photo, “she was beautiful, just like her daughter.”

He placed the other box in her lap, and she opened it to reveal a small wooden music box, she lifted the lid, and a soothing melody drifted from it. Sameer traced a fingertip over the box and her hand, “It’s a lullaby, that’s the only good memory I have of my mother before I was sent off to hostel at the age of 5. She would sing it to me every night, I don’t remember the words, just the tune. For me, it represents my mother’s love, and I wanted to share it with you.”

Naina couldn’t hold herself anymore, the tears flowed freely, she didn’t even have any proper words to voice out her feelings. Sameer got up, sat beside her and eased her into his arms, letting her cry. His shirt absorbed the unspoken grief of eighteen years which fell from her eyes, he didn’t say anything, just kept stroking her hair, her back, assuring her of his presence. Several minutes later, when the sobs subsided, he cupped her face, tilting her head back, and captured her lips gently, taking the last of her sigh in his mouth. The kiss was soft, undemanding, a promise of togetherness, an assurance of love, and it was brief. It didn’t set her heartbeat racing, but rather calmed it, calmed her. He pulled back, and touched his lips to her forehead, holding her against him. There would be time for more, for now this was what she needed, this was enough, for her, for them.

As they went back downstairs, their fingers linked, Naina knew that she would forever remember her 18^th birthday, Sameer had not only given her happiness, but had also replaced every taunt and bad memory with tender gestures of his love. The unexpected rains falling from the sky, bringing in the smell of wet earth, seemed perfect to her, because she was enclosed in the warm bubble of love.