Sharmila's Song

They always sat in the corner next to the window which overlooked a bush which had two pretty geckos which Sanjeev had named Laila and Majnu , a humming bird which he called Humie and several unnamed ants and dragonflies. Sharmila at first thought it was quite weird but she slowly grew to like his eccentricities which were more peculiar than hers but certainly more refined and subtle.

"Move your bag", said Sharmila .
"Because of you I have to keep Bob Marley on the floor..."replied Sanjeev picking up his black bag which had a photograph of Bob Marley printed on both sides. "What?" asked Sharmila confusingly.
"You're slow aren't you?" was Sanjeev's reply and this was his reply every time she did not get his humor as a matter of fact anything which made him laugh.

"Yea , whatever" was her reply. Sometimes she felt as if he overdid it and did feel offended but never voiced it as she knew he loved her, which was something which she was also afraid off.
Sanjeev gave her a glance and then stared out of the window for a while to look at the bushes and feel the faint morning breeze. He never said it but whenever he met Sharmila he could get a whiff of this breeze from her or maybe it was just the way he felt when he was with her.

"Sanjeev werent you supposed to take me somewhere today?"said Sharmila at to which Sanjeev looked into her eyes and said "I didnt think you were ready for it..." and he looked away.
Sanjeev was quite mystical at times and long ago he had told her about some of his occult connections which he had in him since childhood. "Where did you want to take me?Could you at least gimme a hint , dude!", she said to him almost cryingly. "Erm.. well to the movies but they are showing Ice Age and you are too young for it!!" he replied quite mockingly.
Sharimla pulled his nose and laughed her head off at his lame joke.

Laughter was something she had completely forgotten for long, for the world she lived in a loving family with caring parents and a charming elder brother. But, for her it was a house where a mother kept on nagging her and trying to make her feel less emancipated than she wanted and a father who was never at home . Her brother was a person who had maybe one day in his mind decided to ruin everything good in his sister's life. He would taunt her, throw away her things or just be down right nasty with her.

She cried herself to sleep almost every night to the point she stopped eating and grew quite thin. It was only when she joined college and met Sanjeev she got her life back.

Sanjeev too was riding in a similar boat his father was out of a job and his mother was a teacher. His brother too was an exact copy of Sharmila's brother. At times he used to jokingly say that if both of them turned gay they would be the perfect couple.

"Next weekend !" Sanjeev said breaking the air of silence which had settled soon enough. "What do you mean? would you be courteous enough to explain" she retorted. "well I am taking you out too Surajkund for the mela , you need new weird stuff to hang around your neck" he replied.
Sharmila loved wearing beaded necklaces, handcrafted rings and earrings. Sanjeev was more of a minimalist , he did even wear a watch and used Sharmila as his personal watchkeeper .