A Journey into Love

“I turned back to wave them goodbye for one last time, she never let her hands go off him…….”

I had come on a breath taking trip to Kashmir, a land I once thought never existed. But now I was right there in the heart of Kashmir, in Srinagar amidst all the political tension and chaos it still was a breath taking city, I must agree. We were gearing up to go to Gulmarg, or the apple town like the natives call it. We were 2 people trying to get hold of another 2, just to get a fair share on the cost of the ride we paid for the whole jeep taken for rent. I looked around from the shores of Dal Lake, when I saw them for the first time.

A young Muslim couple were strolling on the shores and coming towards us. I did understand that they were looking out for something and as they approached me, I asked them if they were interested to see Gulmarg, since we were waiting for another 2 to share the cost. At first none of them answered, and then the lady who was in her early twenties whispered something in his ears and the guy slowly looked up towards me. I saw that he wore dark sun glasses and as he spoke to me, he saw is a direction which was no where even near to where I was standing…. At that very minute I understood he was totally blind. The lady was fair, looked very lovely and had a very graceful smile; the guy was in his late twenties and had a very shorter look and just didn’t fit fair to any of the girl’s physical attributes.

I looked at her with awe while she was negotiating with the driver in Urdu, and I looked at both of them again and again with swings of emotions flowing all over my mind, and I was truly in a state of disbelief on what I was going through. She was such a great negotiator and she has skills to beat hands down in convincing people they weren’t right. Finally when the rate was fixed, we all got into the jeep and the journey got started. I slowly started a conversation on their being and found out that the guy was a practicing lawyer and the wife was helping him with everything that moves around his life, from house to the court house.

While my driver was telling us about the history of Gulmarg, I sank in my own thoughts, I was just thinking deep of what love was all about when I see people like this who have given all what they can for just the best being of the one they love. Just love and trust is all what’s flowing in between her and the him. He was a finicky little man, who used his law skills in everything he wanted to achieve and in he stressed meaning into every word he spoke and for me sometimes I felt it was crude to express in ways he did.

I really wanted to know more of “Shiney”….. the young little angel who thought me life is not about perfections and riches but its about what you give out the most from you and still feel lush at heart. At first thought I really didn’t know what went into this little girl’s mind when she held the hand of a man who will hold on to her for his every next step of his life. I can’t even imagine what her heart whispered into her mind on what she was doing, may be the world just call’s it Love…… But am sure, it’s not like the way we’ve known it to be…..

For me love was like we were taught from the dictionaries right from school “A strong positive emotion of regard and affection on someone who has pulled the strings of your heart”…… Well if that was what I learnt about love, I was just looking at her face trying to capture my moments of mistaken meanings of what I’d learnt of love. By this time we reached Apple County and I ran across the road to see the apple trees full of red ripe apples, while I plucked one and eating it, I turned to see what she was doing, and I was heart filled for one more time, with a few cautious steps she took him near a small apple tree and lifted his hands near to an apple to pluck it from the tree and she made him to feel it and then she gave him a bite and saw his expressions flow on from there. I looked at all of this from far and I had no words to say how grateful I was to God for having made such beautiful human beings who just make your heart blow away like a feather in the breeze. While we were exploring Gulmarg the temperature dropped down to a low of 4`c and it was freezing cold, I had 2 jackets on me and I was still feeling cold, I looked at her and she was shivering in the cold, she just wore a salwar and no jackets for this terrible cold, and I asked her if she wasn’t feeling cold, she gave me a petty smile and asked her man if he wants to wear a jacket, he replied saying he enjoyed the cold and didn’t want to wear one, she silently smiled back and kept the jacket back into her bag.

I didn’t realize what was going on but for some reason she just didn’t answer my question at all… When we were crossing the small streams in horses, she kept talking to him all the time, telling him how tall the trees were, how beautiful the streams were and the beauty of the valleys which followed. I was just following their horses, and listening patiently to the endless talk of expressions she was feeding him on every step the horse took.

Finally the trek came to an end and it was evening, while the temp now was 2`c and it was more than freezing, when the guy asked her for his jacket, and she gladly gave him, and while he was wearing it, she took hers and wore it minutes later. I now knew what that answer was….. She walks in life with him and for him, not a step front, and not a step back, but beside him and beside him for life. By now my admiration for her was sky high, and even though she didn’t talk to me much, she had somehow managed to teach me some of the most valuable lessons in life in way’s I’ve never known before….

Love for them was in each step they take, every step forward was holding on to each other, for him she was his eyes, his beauty of the whole wide world came from the very words she chose to say and for me there’s never been a time I’ve come across a more admiring woman in my life ever…. Shiney a young girl as she looked switched roles from wife to mother to house maker to a career assistant for every single day which followed and till now, beyond the limits of her age, she has managed to take it up with will and loyalty for the man she has devoted her life to. I know they both have a long way to go and I know in every single step she’s there for him like a guiding light showing him the way and the beauty of life in ways only she can explain…. Her love, her devotion and her companionship truly mesmerized me beyond imagination and I silently realized that life is not about the beauty which we carry, nor the attitude which we behold, but life is a small portion of events which doesn’t endure on ideals but on true expressions of love, happiness, sharing and compassion all put into one bowl called “The Spirit of True Life”

We reached Srinagar back again and it was a chilly night when we landed up in front of our hotel entrance, I moved slowly because of the load of emotions which was running wild in my mind… I didn’t know if I have to tell her how much I admire her beauty of life, but I didn’t know what words would mean right, for the thoughts I shared of her. While it was time to part, I wished them both a very good night and told them I’ll keep them both in the dearest of my prayers, and I moved out. Deep inside I just adored the woman in her…. “I turned back to wave them goodbye for one last time, she stood there in that cold night, still; never let her hands go off his….” I was filled with bliss.

I might like to share with you some words which have sustained me through long, dark nights of peril, loss, and heartache when I don’t have answers for a few moments of happenings in my life, and I quote it from the famous book “A Testimony to Life” by Sir Martin Luther King:

“Your life is a beautiful gift, unique to yourself. There is not other person who is like you, or who shares the best of what’s yours alone. Which is why the values and the thoughts I’ve shared here are not important; the important thing is what you take away from it. Even if some of my thoughts may be useful or interesting, what really matter’s is how they lead to your own reflection of the lessons which you’ve comes across in your own sweet lives. Nothing ever works better than that. And more than just living your life, the capacity to behold it is even more beautiful than life itself……”

** Shiney who is now 23 and her husband Rehman 29, reside in the beautiful city of Coimbatore in South India, where Rehman practices law in the local high court, Shiney who is a science graduate accompanies with him for all the court proceedings and also assists with all the office and paper work every single day. At home she takes care of their 2 children who are now in school. Apart from living in a joint Muslim family of 14, Shiney takes equal and absolute care of her disabled husband, the house hold, the office and the care taking of their children and the other 6 children of the house.

For a moment of celebration called “Life”