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| Jaigarh Fort, Jaipur (Courtesy: www.tnstravel.com) |
The old fort where the party was
being held did not really have any legends attached to it. At least none that
she knew about. Maybe Google would throw up something or asking some locals. Not
that it mattered.
However, its location atop a hill
allowed one to view unmatched panorama of the old city spread below. But it was
night, so that picture was cloaked in darkness. The revelers had to pass
through twisting passages, laid out with electronic red carpet, to reach the
inner courtyard where the dance floor, the food and the booze were. They were
advised not to step off the path to explore the unlit part of the fort.
So, she left the lit passages and
walked through one of the doors along the path. And emerged into an open space,
high above the ground and under a vast blue, grey sky. Moonlight created a
comfortable shadow play. Her hands, when she extended them, were awash in a
silvery blue and if she tried very hard, she could feel a cool tingle in her
fingertips.
The shadows in the corners were
shy, gathering within themselves. She was tempted to go coax them out, explore
them, learn their secrets. Were there any stories hidden within their soft
folds?
Later, she decided. This hushed
light had its own story to tell. While it was silent all around and any noise
was too far away to be heard, occasionally she heard the voices of her fellow revelers
passing on the paths to the party.
She ignored them. She was drawn
towards the high boundary walls. The city lay hushed and spread below her like
some covered feast. All she had to do was extend her hand and scoop the
darkness out, laying bare the lives that were cloaked. She turned back to the
unlit, moonlit terrace. She was beginning to feel a little cheated. Disappointed.
Where was the grandeur of the moment? She might never come back here. And she
deserved something special. A memory that belonged to her alone, transcending
time and history.
Suddenly, there was a twinkle in
those cornered shadows. It caught her eye. She was intrigued but also a little
wary. She had wanted something special, hadn’t she? This could be it. She was
both hopeful and trying very hard to be pragmatic. Hope fluttered and quivered
in her belly, threaded through a vague, unnamed fear. In the end, she walked
forward. Curiosity and imagination had always been her salvation and her doom.
It twinkled again. She was now in
the extreme corner of the terrace, where the shadows were most bashful. Her shoes
echoed, muted in the stillness. The night remained cool, fresh, flowing through
her unbound hair. She reached.
She stooped down and extended her
hand. It touched a papery, wrinkly silver foil of some candy.
Disgusted, disappointed, relieved,
she muttered under her breath. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
Stupid tears stung her eyes. In helpless
anger, she picked up a small stone lying next to the deceitful foil. It was
uneven with pointed, jagged edges. She tested the edges and threw it with all
her strength into the shadows.
Getting
up, she spun on her heels, leaving behind the dust of some unnamed, unrealized
romance.
Sometime in the night, from some
where in the soft , trembling shadows, dropped and rolled onto the silver
stones, the muted tinkle from a broken, silver anklet.
