I woke up yet again and looked at the alarm clock. I had set the alarm for six o’clock in the morning like I always did and there was still half an hour before the alarm would start ringing; but for some reason I couldn’t lie in the bed anymore. It was the start of a yet another day of my 30 years of existence but there was something different about this day. I couldn’t put my finger on it but I could just feel it.
**
I looked around the room that I had checked into last night but didn’t have time and energy to notice it then. There was nothing around except the bed I was lying on; just the four walls that were desperately holding on to some amount of paint at some places. There was a window on one of the walls but I couldn’t expect any sunlight from there; for instead of curtains, there was a cardboard with it’s corners nailed to the four corners of the window. Although I didn’t care much about the places I spent my nights at, for I like to spend most of my time outdoors, yet I’d have really appreciated a window that I could use to look outside. I talked to myself, “So what if there’s no window? We’ll use the door instead. Let’s go out for a walk and watch the sunrise. Who needs a window?” I was feeling strangely happy. I wanted to go out and embrace the world.
**
Not once in my last six years of travel had I left a room without checking out. I always used to check in at the last possible hour in the night and check out at the earliest. It was confirmed that there was something different about this day. And all of a sudden I felt like I have felt this before. Was this deja vu? I really needed to figure it out for I don’t like unanswered questions.
**
I got hold of my rucksack that was lying by the side of the bed on the floor, pulled out a clean t-shirt and trousers and put them on. I went out the room to the common washroom and washed my face and found myself smiling in the mirror; smiling for no reason. And then the realization hit me. It wasn’t a deja vu. It had all happened before.
**
Four and a half years ago, in the spring of Mussoorie, I had once woken up with the same smile on my face. There was nothing that had happened the day before that made me happy. There was no pleasant dream that I saw before waking up. It felt like I had woken up into a new world altogether; a more beautiful, a more cheerful world. Like I had woken up into happiness. I laughed to myself while taking the shower. I felt the water touching my skin at the perfect temperature despite the fact that ever since I had arrived in this part of the world, I had complained about the water temperature to myself every single day. I put on the cleanest and the best looking shirt and jeans I could find just because I wanted to look good. Normally I never cared about what I wore. Everything seemed beautiful. It felt exactly as they say I’m supposed to feel when in love with the perfect woman. But I hadn’t met that woman. I had not been in love. It was supposed to be like any other day and yet the flowers were more colorful today; better than the best of the spring. Every falling leaf from the tall oak trees expressed the beauty of the autumn. The sun at my head tanned my skin like a summer on the beach and the cold wind gave me the chills of the winter. I could feel all the amazing feelings all at once; pleasures of all the seasons in one moment; and all I could do was smile. I had to be in love today. There didn’t seem to be any other explanation.
**
The whole day was like a perfect dream. I spent the whole day around the lake talking to people, walking on the shore of the lake, swimming or just sitting under a tree with my eyes closed, seeing more than I could have with open eyes. I drifted into all the things I had read or heard about love and it felt like I was experiencing every bit of it; and more. Was I in love? With whom? And it was then I saw her with the setting sun in her background. She looked divine and it all started to make sense now. She was the reason I was feeling everything that I felt that day. She was the reason I was happy and that too before I had even seen her. It was all leading me up to her for had I not been feeling that way at that moment, I would have never known that I was in love with her. I started to walk towards her and saw a very recognizable smile on her face. The same smile that was on mine. She was also in love; in love with me.
**
I came out of the washroom and almost jogged outside. I was just too excited to be outside now for I knew what was going to happen today. I knew I was going to fall in love. I knew I will see her again after all these years. I didn’t know how and I didn’t know where but I knew, for sure, that it’ll be her and it’ll be today. As I came out I could see the world just turning into a better place; I could see people getting more beautiful with my every step. Today I knew what to expect and I could sense her, I could smell her. I had been in love with her since four and a half years and I was again falling in love with her; falling deeper.
**
I looked at her from a distance. The same smile. She looked beautiful…
**
Vishav is an aspiring writer and a lone traveler who is studying journalism at the moment. He likes to write fiction for fun and fact for profession. He’s interning at The Asian Age and you can find his work at www.wishv.in .
Hey Vishav, Had a surreal experience while reading this story of yours…As i reached the paragraph where you start talking about how you may be in love…i visualized a girl standing with the sun rays falling on her…and there it was, written, as i scrolled down the next para. Bizarre?? 🙂 well written piece though.