Rendezvous

Rendezvous.

noun

a meeting at an agreed time and place.

How on earth, does this possibility and probability work?

Do the great mathematicians of the past and future have any idea about what I am rambling here?

They say the world is filled with 7 billion people.  And each of them meet new people in their lives, everyday. Some come as interesting and intriguing. Some flames die out after a while. Some merely make it into the next hour of their memory. Some last a day, a week, a month or an year. But some have this unique identity and a peculiar intimacy, that can persist and etch an imprint on their memory for a lifetime or even beyond into the after-life. (if at all, something like that exists)

So what were the possibilities that these two ran into each other on that day, that transformed their lives forever?

It was a dull, monotonous day for him.  There was nothing exciting happening around him, either in the work or in his life. The same usual paperworks and files in his desk, mounting to an everest high, slowly but steadily, submerging him under an avalanche of boredom and apathy. The same familiar people around his life, gradually depressing him to an impasse and equally competing with his professional misery with a relentless downpour of emotions and suppressions. Coffee by the day and wine by the night, he survived. But he intended to live and love. He needed some fresh air and some new people.

He looked at the clock on the wall. The day had just begun. It was an 8 hour shift for him, 6 days a week. He had just survived the one hour mark of a brand new week.

 “ Is it too early for a coffee?”, he enquired his nearest colleague. 

There was no reply. Just a scornful look, peeped out of the opposing desktop screen.

“Alright, lets invent something more meaningful. What could be more essential than a coffee?  Yes, I know the answer. Its so obvious! Restroom!”, he practiced his self conversation skills, efficiently.

He stood up and walked out of the hall, crossing all the curious faces, questioning his early awkward movements, safely in their minds.

Round across the corner of the exit, he walked and almost stumbled into someone.  The corner had blinded his field of vision, conveniently. It was her.  Their eyes met in a close range and now it was almost a point of no return. Neither of them wanted to return, anyway. Even if they wanted to, where would they? The past was a locked treasure chest, they agreed upon, not to reopen those doors. The future was an enigmatic promise, they agreed upon, not to wander over there. The present was empty without obligations and compulsions. So they had to choose the present and they did, pleasantly with a smile and a doubt.

The smile was such a genuine one. Not the ones, people throw as alms to the strangers passing by, with their masks on. This one tore up their masks into pieces such that it could never be reused again. How could some people have such a tremendous impact on others? Just a few seconds ago, he was rushing to the restroom to escape the mundanity of his life.  And here he is, clueless to what’s happening to his insides and how his facial muscles are in rebellion against his nervous system. 

“This must be some kind of magic”, he thought to himself. That thought also pulled him back to the reality and the fact that they haven’t yet greeted yet. But their’s was not a relationship built entirely on greetings and formalities. So they kept gazing into each other for more meaningful moments of silence, without a single spoken word.  And strangely, it never looked awkward for both of them. Everything was so natural and in perfect equilibrium, until the exchange of words, which had to happen, eventually. 

The hands spoke first with a matching wave and the voices followed thereafter with some incomprehensible vocabulary. The long moments of silence had parched their throats, dry and the confused centers of speech weren't exactly helping them either.

“how are you?”, she blurted out finally.

“I was pretty bored that I had to fake going to the restroom, not to relieve myself but relieve me off the boredom, basically. But that was a minute ago, not anymore”, he grinned with a silly face.

“No. How are you? I mean, how have you been?”, she reiterated with an intense stare into his soul.

“Oh. I think I am fine. But, hmmmm, I don’t really think so.”, he replied with an uncertainty.

“Okay. But, how are you, now, at this moment?”, she asked again.

“I don’t think, I need to answer that. You can visibly gauge me, right?”, he responded with a bright smile.

“Oh yes. I can see everything, right from the debris clinging on to your incisors, to your warm heart clinging on to the yesteryear’s memories”

His heart raced its pumping rate suddenly and the blue was changing gears to the red. He searched for the debris, that embarrassed him, with his tongue and let it pass into him, as simultaneously his mind was searching for a keyword to keep the conversation flowing.

“Memories huh? I finally learnt to make peace with them in a positive way and here you are, with a mission to revoke them, just in time.”

“aren’t we all just in time for a purpose, greater than our’s, that’s been covered up from our selfish eyes?”

“There’s a word for it. Rendezvous. We didn't agree to meet here in this corner of this universe, at this crazy time. Whoever runs this game from above, did it perfectly, I guess.”

“I guess too. Sometimes I wonder about all the people who were meant for each other but never met again for the second time. Maybe the cosmos didn't conspire enough for them sufficiently.”

“You know, what’s more crueler than that? People who knew they were meant for each other and met again for the second and third time and still refused to accept the simple fact that only a key could open a specific lock.”

“Do you want to re-open the doors?”, she asked, dangling her keys, she had picked in time, from her pockets, clumsily. 

“Who wouldn't desire some fresh air?”, he replied with a question and a deep sigh to let out the air, that’s a minute old and perhaps symbolizing his intent, clearly.

“Are we lost? I have a feeling, we are drifting away with every wave of our words.”

“I think, we are re-discovering our ruins and being lost is the best way to be found. So, what if we are drifting away? I have learnt that this earth is perfectly round in shape and that means, we are bound to bump into each other anyway.”

“aah, you and your philosophical answers! Are you sure, this is not a parallel universe or some dream inside a dream sorts?”

“Yeah, I have my doubts too. This is so surreal and everything we do is so effortless, just like our first meeting!”

“aren’t we losing track of time?”

“I think, time stopped existing the moment we ran into each other”

“Oh God! Why are we so silly and poetic, every time we do this?”

“maybe because that’s what we are meant to be..”

“I wish we could run into each other and be silly more often ”

“You know what’s more exciting about this? 

This wasn’t our rendezvous. This was the universe’s.”

They both walked away from each other after some more silly lines, as a curve decorated their lips for the rest of the day just as they decorated their lives for the rest of their times.