An Autumn Sunrise

Dhriti gave the house a last look as she left.

- by Swagata Soumyanarayan

This had been home for two decades but it was time to move on.

She walked out to meet the man who sat in his car opposite. The sun shone and even brighter was his expression akin to having won a lottery. Aniruddh beamed at her, not willing to believe that they were going home together. This was the woman for whom he had waited, it seemed forever.

She smiled, her face radiant taking in his thick head of hair peppered liberally with white, the fine lines around his eyes and childlike exuberance she had loved nearly all her life.

She had been just nineteen when they had met at her cousin Pramita’s school fest. He was twenty three, had enrolled in the army with leave for twenty days. Those twenty days became the most life altering days for her. In them Dhriti experienced an entire gamut of emotions that she hadn't known would be possible. Aniruddh had come from Mussoorie with a close friend on a whim. He had an indomitable spirit, sure of what he wanted in life with a warmhearted sense of humor. He had planned his years in a journal meticulously. Dhriti was clueless about what she wanted the next day, let alone years.

It was vacation at her uncle’s house and Dhriti snuck away with her cousin Pramita who left her with Aniruddh for the day and joined them early in the evening. No one had a clue till the weeks were over. Dhriti felt her heart turn to stone once she realized that they would never see each other again. It was as if they had known each other forever. How could she live a life without him? It was unimaginable!

Unknown to her, Aniruddh had gone to meet her uncle to ask for her hand in marriage but had been turned away. With little time on hands, Aniruddh gave her the contact details of his best friend who lived at Mussoorie too.

At home her uncle sat her down and spoke with her. He knew about her and Aniruddh.