The Smile

Everyday he made sure that he was there standing across the street at the tea stall by the tree, to see her come out to put the clothes on the line to dry in the sun. Each day she would notice him standing there at the same time, sipping tea.

Sometimes their eyes would meet and he would start talking to the rickshaw puller sitting there. Sometimes their eyes would meet and she would turn around to pick up the clothes from the bucket.

One day he gathered all his courage and as their eyes met, smiled. She quickly lowered her eyes and turned away pretending to squeeze water from the wet clothes so that he could not see her face and smiled shyly.

After that, everyday when she came out the first thing that she would look out for would be the usual place where he would be standing sipping his morning tea or talking to a friend. He would now smile ever so often whenever their eyes met. She never responded. She would simply lower her eyes or pretend to pick up the clothes from the bucket. But she never smiled back at him.

And then one day just like he had appeared below the tree sipping his morning tea he disappeared. She kept looking back at the spot every few seconds, half expecting to see him there chatting with his friend, but he wasn’t there, neither was his friend.

A couple of weeks passed he didn’t came. She heard the news of a war like situation brewing at the border in the north. But she never heard anything about him. Everyday when she came out at her usual time and didn’t see him standing below the tree she cursed herself for not having responded to his smile, and that made her feel worse.

A month later one day she saw his friend standing below the tree looking in her direction. She threw the bucket full of clothes on the ground and ran outside. The man didn’t say anything just handed her a letter. She read it, it was from him and it said that he had gone to some place and was working for a big government organisation now, but didn’t disclose the place or the name of the organisation. She read and reread the letter several times and cried. She asked the man to return the next day and she would write a reply.

She didn’t sleep that night and wrote a letter saying that she was missing his smile and she would wait for him till he came back. The next day she saw his friend standing there again and gave him the letter. This continued for several weeks. His friend would give her a letter and she would write a reply.

Finally she got a letter from him saying that he would be coming back by next week. Next week she saw his friend standing there again, and ran up to him. He said that he would be coming, and asked her to come near the town square clock tower at the same time, next day. She said that she would be there. She could sense sadness in his voice. She didn’t know why.

The next day, dressed in her best salwar suit she went to clock tower a few minutes earlier than the appointed time and hid behind a paan shop from where she could see the square but he would not be able to see her, when he came. She noticed that on the other side of the square was a small crowd and she could see some commotion there. She also noticed his friend standing there.

In sometime a green truck passed her on the road she could see a few army men sitting inside. The truck drew up to the middle of the square and stopped. Someone opened the back of the truck. Some of the men from inside the truck jumped out and stood in an attention position. Then four more army men jumped out of the truck and started to pull out something from the truck. It looked like a huge box to her. It was wrapped in the Tricolor.

The four army men raised the coffin on their shoulders and stood in the middle of the square while the other men standing in attention saluted. She saw a couple of women running towards the ensemble, their screams were painful and they were beating their chest. One of the women fell, the others dropped on their knees beside her. His friend and a few other men ran toward the fallen women and tried to console them. The four men moved forward and placed the coffin wrapped in the Tricolor in front of the women. The women started to cry, beating their chest.

She looked at the coffin and burst into tears. She fell on her knees and cried with her face hid in her hands. She raised her face, looked at the coffin and smiled before giving out a cry of pain looking towards the sky.