The Moonlit Beauty

It was a mid-summer evening when Ranjan had arrived at his latest posting at Dhar. The horizon was beaming gently like embers of a devastating fire. The wind blew, albeit slowly, bringing some relief to the parched land. Ranjan managed to reach his accommodation, a humble 1 BHK apartment opening up onto a terrace, arranged for by his office colleagues. It was not long until he was all fresh, resting in his armchair on the roof, sipping his Coorg coffee, imagining what lay ahead of him in these lesser-known environs.

It was a full-moon night that day, brighter than usual, bringing some coolness to a rather burning atmosphere. This was when Ranjan caught a glimpse of a lady dressed in all white, on a roof behind the house situated diagonally to his, dancing with a grace he had hitherto never witnessed. He was mesmerized. His fixed gaze was interrupted when he received a call, an important one at that. It was from his immediate senior, with all the briefing that was needed for his first day at work tomorrow. Everything was forgotten amidst the work that had already started to pour in.

Work kept Ranjan busy, making him forget the incident of that night. It was indeed an adventurous land up North, with its language, culture, and people, which kept Ranjan amused. But, lo and behold… Ranjan found himself sipping his Coorg coffee again one fine night, staring at the starry sky when those tinkling anklets caught his attention again. This time he didn’t want to be disturbed by any phone calls, he was all focused on the dancing lady, the epitome of grace. He was indeed enchanted. He wanted to talk to her, talk about her, know her deeply.

So, he became determined to seek out that lady anyhow and thus found himself sitting on a bench in a public garden just in front of her house, hoping to get a momentary glance of her and hopefully a chance to strike a conversation. He was lucky perhaps that today the earthly goddess bestowed some glances at him as she passed with the grocery bag and entered the yellow house, her house as he had rightly guessed. He was stupefied beyond words; he perhaps forgot what speech was.

He saw her entering the house and walked behind to talk for a minute or so if that was possible. As he reached the main entrance, he found an elderly couple coming out of the house. He stopped to greet them; it was here that he caught a glimpse of the world inside the four walls. Some cleaning was going on, a vigorous one at that. What he saw next shook him to the core. It was the photo frame of the girl he wanted to talk to lying near a chair and other furniture, with a garland around it.

Ranjan was aghast. He started breathing heavily, he couldn’t believe what he had witnessed. Whom did he see on the terrace then? Whom did he see a few minutes back? Ranjan hurriedly left the locality that day itself, and that day itself little Raju was scolded heavily for playing around with the garlands brought for the evening puja.