Love in a dustbin!

The agreement for togetherness

I never had faith in the common phrase that love can be found anywhere, until one day I stumbled upon it in scrap papers.

Yes in scrap papers which were hardly a minute away from being thrown into a dustbin I found love in one of its cutest forms.

It was a real discovery for me, like those viruses which could survive in extreme temperatures of volcanoes, I found this specimen of love which I believe could bear the burnt of today’s high paced life, that too in scrap papers ready to be thrown into a dustbin.

Recently I shifted to a new flat which was earlier inhabited by a married working couple—neighbours say they were hardly seen together, as most of the time either of them would be out on tour or out for some work.

While getting the house ready for myself I found some scrap papers in one of the many drawers of the flat. 

It seems something like a weekly schedule. 

The paper read: 

“Monday— 4 hours

Tuesday—4 hours

Wednesday—1 hour in morning+ 4 hours in day= 5 hours

Thursday—4 hours

Friday—5 hours

Saturday—4 hours in day + 2 hours in evening/night

Sunday— 4 hours

At least once a month you will stay with me for the full 24 hours”

This was signed by two people.

It really fuelled my curiosity and I started reading other such papers in the drawer, though to some extent it was like peeping into the personal lives of those who inhabited my rented flat before me but I just could not help it.

I found several bunch of papers all have some date wise records of timings. 

Day to Day account

One of those papers read:

“18/10/13 to 24/10/13

Friday—18/10/13— 02:00 to 07:00 = 5.00 hours (signature)

Saturday—19/10/13— 1.40 to 6.15 = 4.35 (- 1.25) hours (signature)

Sunday— 20/10/13— 9:35 to 1:25 = 3.50 (- 0.10) hours (signature)

Monday – 21/10/13— 3:05 to 5:55 = 2.50 ( -1.10) hours (signature)

Tuesday (Karwa Chauth) – 22/10/13 – 3:38 to 6:30 + 8:45 to 9:05 = 3:12 (-0:48) hours (signature)

Wednesday— 23/10/13— 2:30 to 6:10 = 3: 40 (-1:20) hours (signature)

Thursday – 24/10/13 – 9:00 to 10:10 + 2:40 to 6:30 = 5 (+ 1) hours (signature)

-3.43 hours (bold in red ink) “

I pondered over it and while connecting the first paper where schedules were decided upon and the these papers where day to day account was maintained. I was really touched by the meticulous effort and urge of the couple to stay together despite busy schedules. In the first paper (what I could understand) the couple decided upon the day to day hours when they will stay together on a consensus and both signed it.

In the second paper it was the account of the hours spent together on day to day basis. The red bold ink which said -3.43 was actually the total deficit of hours on that week, which they should have spent together but unfortunately could not.

In my attempt to trace the origins of this stubborn love whose urge to stay together let them so meticulously keep account of their day to day hours which were spent together.

I rememebered Faiz Ahmed Faiz’ famous lines, 

"वो लोग खुस किस्मत थे,

जो इश्क़ को काम समझते थे, 

या काम से इश्क़ करते थे, 

हम जीते जी मशरूफ रहे, 

कुछ इश्क़ किया, कुछ काम किया, 

काम इश्क़ के आड़े आता रहा, 

और इश्क़ काम से उलझता रहा, 

और फिर तंग आकर हमने, 

दोनों को अधूरा छोड़ दिया'"

But, no these people were not the types of Faiz’s—in his lines Faiz talked about three types of people, one who loved, the others who loved only there work and third who gave up both, after jumping between work and love.

This couple was of some other types, they loved, worked and didn’t gave up either, rather they experimented, devised ways to be together despite the vagaries of life.

Don’t know what happened to them later…whether they too switched to Faiz’s third category and gave up or are they still struggling…