ओ रे पाखी ओ रे पाखी
कैसा यह तेरा फ़साना
ढूंढे हैं क्यूँ
डारी डारी
नया ठीकहाना
~Swanand Kirkire | Shantanu Moitra
"You don't think we are meant to be?" Anuradha asked, absolutely flabbergasted that she was even asking this question. What did he mean by they weren't meant to be, why were they even together if he didn't believe in it. She stood there stunned by those words and not knowing how to react. Well she knew how to react, but somehow she had lost the will to gather the energies to mouth any more words, so she stood there in silence and felt everything around her stop for some time. When the world started to flow again around her, she sighed out the words "what do you mean, you don't mean that, do you?" In that sentence she had asked him a question, she had answered it herself and then went on to refute it as well.
Anuradha and Karthik were a rarity. That was for sure. She was all sorts of madness, a force unstoppable, she wasn't meant to follow the rules of the world. Or rather, she was not meant to follow the rules of a society, least of all an Indian society. She was always looking for an adventure. There was not a single decision of her adult life that she had not taken on a spur, trusting her gut and her instinct to guide her. If something did not call out to her, she did follow it. Karthik, the exact antithesis of Anuradha, was someone who ticked all the boxes of life and those of society. While Anuradha was prone to booking flights last minute and flying out, to explore and to escape, Karthik was someone who planned minute details of his life. While she would be the quintessential Hindi heroine who'd run from across the field and jump into Shahrukh Khan's arms, Karthik would try and avoid any such drama that attracted more attention that was absolutely necessary toward him.
And yet when they met, there were sparks. Anuradha looked at him and was shaken from her usual confident self, there was an immense quiet that dawned on her, and yet the inner her was whirling away like the dervishes, to an invisible song. Could her hear it too? As he went onto speak about this & that, she tried really hard to maintain her focus, while balancing the inner and outer worlds that for some reason were out of sync right then. The next couple of times she met him, she felt a little more calmer and could have a sane conversation with him. He grew on her. She knew immediately he was totally her opposite, was that what attracted her to him? There was some deep quiet around him, like nothing could shake him, he would stand resolutely in the face of a storm, with a smile on his face even. What did he remind her of ? Shiva. That ability to hold your own in chaos was Shiva, that grounding stability was Shiva, that calm patience was Shiva, that magnetic pull was Shiva, that very slight smile was Shiva. It was no wonder then that all her Shakti aspects were so attracted to his force. A space, an anchor that made her feel at once rooted and free. She recognised that nurturing presence. Shiva, the Consciousness that really is everything in this Universe.
Karthik felt her draw too, after all, she was all aspects of Shakti, all that creative power, all that utterly fearless, uninhibited energy bursting forth, making what she wants of her life. She was beautifully radiant but he recognised that she could unsettle everything, her moods could be as numerous as the reflections of the moon. Her abundant energy rooted in the firm belief that the world was full of possibilities. Hre aura that of nourishment and restlessness - a promise that she will be stay and a surety that with her no two days would be the same. For what is the energy of Shakti - the creative power which manifests in all that we see in the world- all that is beautiful and all that is not, a hunger that wants to see all that is there and yet a hunger that motivates to keep searching and keep discovering.
Almost as if they were playing out the roles of the divine energies that they embodied, it was Anuradha who pursued Karthik, because she couldn't let go of this powerful field that she has encountered between them. And she was not naive. She had been in love before, she had walked out of relationships and people had walked out on her. She knew what attraction is, this what she felt with Karthik, was not just attraction, it was a call that she needed to follow, because it made her spirit dance. Karthik, embodying Shiva's energy was an observer, a witness almost, seeing how things would play out. It wasn't like he was not excited, but he was prudent and he never responded to calls of passion - rationality, the more the better. And yet with warning signs flashing about her, Anuradha seemed to him, a rational bet.
But alas, he was no Shiva, and she was too much Shakti.
इस गज़ब
दिल ने भी
ज़ुल्म यह क्या गज़ब किया
बेइन्ताह जिनसे प्यार
बेइन्ताह उन्हें ग़म दिया
कैसा था दिल का नज़राना
ओ रे पाखी ओ रे पाखी
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