Nirab took a deep breath, filling his lungs. He had intended to hold it for a while, but the sight of Amaya approaching made him lose his breath. As she came closer, he blurted out, “What color is this?” Amaya hadn’t expected Nirab to ask such a question so soon after seeing him. She thought they would first talk about themselves, given how long it had been since they last met. Besides, she couldn’t understand what color Nirab was referring to. The beauty of not understanding is that you can always ask, “What color?”
Nirab raised his hand, bowed his head, and pointed towards his shirt, saying, “This one I’m wearing?” Amaya was taken aback. After so long, this was the first thing he asked? It was understandable, but wasn’t it obvious? It was the color of his shirt, which Nirab was wearing himself. Amaya lowered her voice, maintaining a sarcastic tone, “You’re wearing it, don’t you know?” Nirab was still looking at his shirt. He felt good to be talking to Amaya in their familiar way. Continuing from her question, Nirab said, “I don’t know, actually. I went to the market the other day. Nahid dragged me there, saying he needed to buy a shirt for a date with his girlfriend. Somehow, I got caught up in it and saw this shirt. I liked it, so I bought it.”
The air was still and hot, around ten in the morning. A hot breeze was blowing. Amidst this heat, they were standing face-to-face, talking. As soon as Nirab finished speaking, Amaya asked, “So? Didn’t you ask the shopkeeper?” Nirab was adjusting the sleeves of his shirt, pulling them down. While doing so, he replied, “I did ask, ‘Brother, what color is this?’ The shopkeeper said, ‘It’s a beautiful color.’ I was impressed by his answer. I thought I wouldn’t look around anymore. A beautiful color is beautiful, isn’t it? Then I thought of you. You have a good eye for colors. So, I thought I’d ask you the next time we met.” Amaya tried hard to suppress her laughter. With as relaxed a facial expression as possible, she said, “Oh really? You only think of me when buying a shirt?”
“Nah, it feels like much longer. Most of the time, it feels like that, almost all the time. Forget that, tell me first, what’s the color?
After so long, the first thing that came to your mind was to ask about the color of your shirt? Didn’t you feel like asking how I was doing or if it was difficult for me to come?”
“It was at first, but everything for us is relative. Whatever question I ask, I’ll get a relative answer.”
“Isn’t the color of your shirt relative?”
“It is relative, but isn’t there a part that isn’t relative?”
“Okay, this is fuchsia.”
Amaya seemed to be speaking in some extraterrestrial language of expression, and Nirb was only now exposed to this first medium of life. He muttered with a small mouth and eyes, “What chia?!” Amaya, in a beautiful, pleasant, and enchanting voice, as if she were really calling a donkey, said in that tone, “Oh, you donkey, fuchsia, there’s a flower with that name too. That flower is that color, so this color is also called that. Because the purple color is more easily understood, everyone mistakenly thinks of the flower as purple.”
“Okay, so Naheed told me I didn’t have to think too much about the color, it’s purple. I couldn’t accept it. You scold me so much for not knowing colors, it’s stuck in my head that a color can’t just be red, it has to be crimson red or scarlet red. Blue has to be navy blue or cyan blue. So I thought I’d wait for you. It can’t just be plain purple. I feel good knowing from you now.”
“It’s good to feel good. There are countless things in this world to feel good about.” Amaya said, widening her silent eyes, *”Oh, Shakti Kakur. Since when have you been on this line?” Amaya stepped forward and stood in front, saying, “I didn’t come to this line, the line pulled me in.”
“Then the line has done a very bad job.”
“Have you ever heard of the good in bad?”
“The good in bad, the bad in good, these are all made-up things. They don’t suit you.”
“Then what suits me?”
“You’re asking a good question. But be a little specific. Everyone’s, or just mine?”
“What will I do with everyone’s? If it suits everyone, there will be a line to garland your neck.”
“There’s no shortage of that already, the story of losing your way on a genie’s night. There has to be a path, a traveler saw that he was standing at a crossroads.”
“That path is not needed, I’ve come so far walking carefully. Don’t burst at the end.”
“Are you saying the boat won’t sink at the shore?”
“I was sure it wouldn’t sink, but if it didn’t sink, then what am I doing burning in this sun with you?”
“This is also a very critical question, the answer…” Without letting Nirup speak, Amaya said, “Forget all that, now tell me, how do I suit you?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“How many marks out of ten is this ‘I don’t know exactly’?”
“I don’t know that either.”
Amaya laughed, looking at Nirav and said, “Do you remember how I used to keep a count of every answer you gave me?”
“You did?”
“Yes, I did. I forgot that notebook along with other important documents in the auto last time. When I came home, I thought, ‘Hey, I don’t have my bag on my shoulder!’ I started crying. When my mother saw me crying, she asked me about the lost bag and calmed me down a bit. She said, ‘You silly girl and so on.’ I couldn’t hear everything properly. That bag was my favorite.” Nirav said, “Oh, don’t cry now, Maya. It was a hideous pink bag. It used to give me goosebumps just looking at it. My goodness, only cartoons would use such a bag. You are a living girl, but a little naughty one.” “You’re making fun of me! Of course, you’ll make fun of others’ misery. If an elephant falls into a pit, you’ll kick it too.”
“But I haven’t kicked you yet, I would have kicked you if both my legs were fine. One is okay, but I can’t kick like a movie hero with one leg.” Nirav had tight shoes on both his feet. The shoes were very dirty, without any polish for a long time. In the corner of the bench where he was sitting, two crutches were placed. He said this looking at those two crutches. Amaya felt sorry for Nirav. Poor boy. Last time, he simply twisted his ankle while walking. Later, his foot swelled up like a drum. The flesh of his foot swelled up so much that everything inside seemed about to burst. He was in a lot of pain. For a few days, he tried traditional medicine, but when it didn’t work, he finally went to the doctor.
The doctor, after various tests, held the report in front of his eyes and maintained a grave expression. He said, “The tendon in the lower part of your foot is torn. Nirav will never be able to walk or put any weight on his foot again. This leg will only remain a part of his body without any function.” From then on, crutches became his companion. He had even given names to the two crutches, but Amaya had forgotten and was hesitant to ask.
Amaya changed the topic, “Are you going to sit here or go somewhere else?” Nirav, lost in his own thoughts, was suddenly brought back to reality by the question. He said, “I was also thinking of going somewhere. Do you remember Sifat from the canteen?”
“Which Sifat?”
“You know, the small Sifat who used to make very good singaras? From his uncle’s shop?”
“Oh yes, I remember. So what about him?”
“That small Sifat is now grown up. He’s even married and now runs his uncle’s shop himself. Shall we go to his shop?”
Amaya said, “Okay, let’s go and see if Sifat still has that old magic in his hands.” Nirav was trying to get up, putting weight on one foot and using his hands to lift his body. Seeing this, Amaya went forward and held Nirav’s right hand, pulling him up. Nirav didn’t like anyone’s help in getting up, but Amaya was different to him. Amaya helped him get up and also helped him adjust his crutches. Once the helping phase was over, the two of them set off towards the canteen, eager to eat Sifat’s singaras.
