Sequels have historically been a failure. They suffer with consequence of comparison, burden of excelling in improvement and challenge of raising the already raised bar. But here I am still. Attempting the sequel to ‘Practical love, Actually‘ Partly because many asked me to complete or alter the story, but mostly because the die-hard romantic in me says if it’s not a happy ending, it’s not over. So I attempt to write the story further. I am alarmed and jostling between what should happen hence- should I write through my hopelessly romantic ink or shall I splatter my overtly practical self? Let’s see. This is what happens…
Have you done it? I feel there are many people who have. So, have you done this to yourself….telling and bewaring yourself about something before you go ahead and do it? It’s not the normal stance of caution or word of concern you get or give yourself. It’s more like a statement you will make in future when you will be talking about this day in hindsight.
She did this. She went in a rigmarole of thoughts and plans while she drew a table of pros and cons, already knowing what made sense much earlier. She told herself “Then don’t cry and tell me later I told you so.” It’s kind of on the lines of when you are not sure what to do- flip a coin. It may not give you the right answer but when the coin is in the air, your heart will tell you what it wants.
****
It wasn’t something she didn’t expect. The new city came with new promises. She liked the initial mess of fresh troubles. She liked how every time the new city showed a cruel face to deter her from staying. Unexpected bad weather, hours of no cabs, clueless on directions, solidarity of weekends. She liked it as for some reason she was sure it was a test and all will later settle to what brought her there. It did. Nothing unexpected. By now she had done the ‘new’ part so much that she could predict it with complete certainty…
…Just the way she could predict for certain that he with her could not be a wise decision. She knew all people in similar situations behave alike. She knew her decision was correct and it will not be long before time will ebb his recurring memory to push other things on shore of her mind. But for some reason, she got in her challenge mode. For some reason, the few despised and few cried-on romantic fictions she had seen took precedence. For some reason, the lucky roulette stopped on “It’s better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all”
And then she lost it. She was in disbelief over things she overlooked. She went in the ‘wrong’ impractical mode. She couldn’t believe she followed the idea followed by whole of this world. She always believed in making your own destiny and doing things despite everything. She always believed in showing up no matter what. She had learnt two important things in life. One, no matter how difficult it seems; If you show up, mostly you will sail through provided you hold on. Two, no matter how different you think your situation is, things fall in sync with what happens to majority. These were two contradictory fundae to infer her situation currently but she couldn’t fathom what made her choose the latter.
So what if this was like a freaking Latin exam she had no clue about. Let alone not appear, she didn’t even glance through the course list. Yes there is no doubt no one can help her pass but she believed in either staying far or if burning, burn to ashes. How did she shy away from mere heat? When did she start living in the safe zone? She got engulfed in the uneasy air mystifying around her. That great feeling of missing the train… Bang on! She felt what she did wasn’t right. She shouldn’t have let go…
Left to her own devices, for no reason in particular, she decided to take the leap of faith…without gauging the depth of fall.
He was fine. Not good not bad. Unlike her fast paced life, feelings and decisions, it had not sink in yet for him. Anyway, true to their nature, the way they felt and loved was also different. She was quick to feel, react and revert. He was more of ‘slowly but surely.’ He was fine…
He was content because he did not give in to temptation. He was waiting for this phase to pass. He was sure she is happy, or eventually will be. There was a sense of gratification in ‘doing the right thing.’ He felt he played a puppet master to move the unaware puppet-only he knew he meant right. Few ideas are behind arguments and rationale. He may not be able to prove or claim for it but was convinced it was right.
“वो अफ़साना जिसे अंजाम तक लाना न हो मुमकिन उसे इक खूबसूरत मोड़ देकर छोड़ना अच्छा”
(It’s better to end a story on a good note in case it cannot be taken towards a happy ending)
It’s not that he didn’t think of a million alternate endings that may have happened… His million alternates. He was in the zone of meeting her one day- many many years down the line and seeing her happy and thankful maybe. He was yet to sense the emptiness she left or the hollow she created. He was back in his routine. Doing what he did with careless discipline…He was fine.
‘Knock knock…’
She had pictured this in her mind repeatedly but it never came out with the ease it finally did. He had often dreamt of such a situation but never thought it would come true. He moved towards the door startled to hear someone knock. His ears confirmed what his eyes doubted…that chirpy voice-
” Coffee or dinner…?
“…I’m starving. Dinner first?”
And in a minute, it was like nothing had changed. They sat and spoke all night over loads of coffee and occasional cigarettes, or was it the other way round.
****
They may have spent that night talking about unimportant stuff like they always did, or maybe they spoke about what they felt. Maybe they cried and cringed or cursed for what was happening… Or maybe they decided to give themselves a chance. Maybe she went back to where she came from or maybe that was a one-way ticket. I don’t know. I can’t finish this story. Not yet. This needs to grow with course of time. I leave them to cities and coffee meanwhile, till they figure it out. I know this leaves one feeling very incomplete…but that’s what ‘Love Actually’ is.
https://opinioncircuitdotcom.wordpress.com/2014/04/23/love-actually/
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