Celena walked out on the balcony and closed the door behind her.
This is the place she loves the most in the house. She placed the coffee cup on
the flat edge and sat facing the half set sun. You can see a stretch of the
city from the balcony on the 16th floor. Celena could see the
children playing in the garden of a house, a woman was picking up clothes from
the terrace, and buses and vehicles were slowly inching towards their
destination like clueless ants. Today is 20th May, 2015. Exactly 3
months back they had come to Kolkata, and in these few months she has become quite
fond of the city. When her husband Michel told her that they have to move from
Marseille to Kolkata, she was apprehensive. She knew Michael’s job involved
fair amount of traveling, but going so far away from home made her uneasy. But
Kolkata has been a pleasant experience so far. She heard the distant jingle of a
hand-pulled rickshaw and let the sound toss and turn in her mind for a while.
The street lamps came up covering the city streets in a
monochromatic haze. It is getting dark now, but Celena didn’t switch on the
lights. She let the darkness settle cozily around her and looked up at the
twinkling stars. Everything seemed so unhurried and at ease, as if this moment
had taken place before and is just repeating itself with practiced grace. Celena
watched the stars sprinkled across the dark sky like magic dust. She followed the
trail of the stars till she caught a glimpse of the moon. And that is when she
saw it! So lost was she in admiring the moon, that at first Celena didn’t even
realise what she is seeing. But then she drew a sharp breath and straightened.
‘Is this even possible?’ She thought aloud.
‘Is that another moon in the sky?’
Just few footsteps away from the real moon, she saw another
moon. “This must be a hallucination, or I must be going mad.” She paced across
the balcony, removed her glasses, cleaned them and wore them back. But once
again she saw it, and this time more clearly. There were 2 moons on the sky.
Just then she heard a click at the door. Michael was back
from work. Celena picked up her cup and hurried back inside. Before closing the
door she threw a last glance at the sky and winced. The rest of the evening
went as usual. They had an early supper and sat together, Michael poured over
his crossword puzzle, while Celena curled up with her book. But her mind was
still dwelling on what she saw earlier in the evening. She cannot disbelieve
her own eyes, she saw it three times, but how can she believe what she saw? She
wanted to tell Michael, but did not know how to say it. She can’t say, “I saw
two moons today.” That sounded so lame in her own head, she wondered how he
will react on hearing it. She fidgeted around, but couldn’t tell him. Before
going to bed, she slipped out into the balcony. She stood there unsure of
herself, and finally gathered the courage and looked up. What she saw
overwhelmed her. The sky was lit by a warm orange glow, and in the centre of
the halo she saw the two moons like long lost lovers snuggled against one
another. They strangely complimented each other through their duality, kind of
yin and yang. Celena rested her head on her palms and gazed at the moons. A feeling of serenity washed over her,
filling her eyes with unsuspecting tears. She didn’t stop them, she let them
flow freely down her cheek. She heard a
click and turned her head. Michael walked into the balcony. He came and stood
next to her and wrapped his hand around her shoulders. Celena stiffened, can he
see it too? The two moons? But Michael looked unaffected. He stared into the vast
sky and inhaled deeply.
“It is a beautiful night.” He kissed her on top of her head.
Celena lowered her face on his chest and snuggled in. She felt strangely glad
that her husband couldn’t see the second moon. That way it stays as her little
secret. She closed her eyes and smiled a deep smile, her lips curving in the
shape of the topaz moon.
**************
Celena woke up with a start. The soft morning rays, jostled
their way into the room through the half-shut blinds. ‘Was it all a dream?’ was
the first thought that crossed her mind. She grabbed her glasses and walked to
the window. The air outside was crisp and fresh. She heard the lilting chatter
of the birds. Everything seemed normal and usual, and to her greatest relief
she saw only one sun in the morning sky.
But last night was definitely not a dream. She changed into her running
clothes, kissed her sleeping husband and left for her morning jog. While turning
around the corner of the street, the soulful rendition of harmonium floated
towards her, accompanied by the sound of a child’s singing. Somewhere in the
house a little girl was doing her morning riyaz.
The cities deep-rooted romance with its rich culture is something that
continually fascinates Celena. She slowed her pace and listened to the little girl’s
sleep-ridden voice.
After Michael left for office that day, she searched on web about
any recorded phenomenon on two moons. But there was no record of anyone seeing
two moons on the night sky. She also spoke to one of her friend from
Johannesburg who is a resident astronomer at one of the leading star-gazing site
of the city. He told her that he has never come across anyone who has seen more
than one moon in the skyline. However, there has been instances of people
spotting two moons through a small telescope, but that was due to lens flare or
reflection in telescope. If the telescope is a
reflector, then it could be a collimation error, i.e. the primary mirror is not
properly aligned with other parts, leading to multiple paths of light forming
multiple images. But none of this was making any sense to Celena. She didn’t
see the moon through a telescope, so there was no chance of reflection
error. As the day waned into dusk,
Celena kept pacing across the room and nervously looking through the window. She could hear the mothers calling for their
kids, who were engrossed in their hopscotch, hide and seek or three-legged
races. Finally the street lamps came up and Celena walked over to the balcony.
She kept the lights off and looked up at the sky. Soft velvety clouds covered
the sky and she could almost feel them close around her, as if comforting her
in her time of distress. After what felt like an eternity the clouds cleared
and Celena gasped.
A single silvery full moon
adorned the night sky.
**************
“If Heathcliff and
Catherine were soul mates then why did Ms Bronte made no effort in bringing
them together.” Celena asked the question while carefully adjusting the leather
bound books in the shelf at the old bookstore - Books Old & Older. This shop is run by an expat Mr Collingwood,
whose family had settled in India during the early 1900s. Mr Collingwood is a
true bibliophile and has dedicated his life in collecting rare and uncommon
books. His store in College Street, Kolkata’s oldest book para (locality), is the only place in the city to sell original
editions of rare books. Celena is a regular to his shop, and has lately started
helping the octogenarian with cataloging and organising the books.
“Well soul mates have bigger purpose than just being
together for one life.” Mr Collingwood said, while passing on another book to
Celena. “Some believe that soul mates are united in more than one life. But
even if they are not physically together, you can sometimes feel your soul
mate’s presence around you. As the soul can transcend physical and material
boundaries, so true soul mates can connect across ages and geographies.”
Celena quietly listened to the humming sound of the rusted
ceiling fan. “But how do we know we have soul mates?”
Mr Collingwood smiled his wrinkled smile, “The universe
sends us signs my dear. You need to be careful young lady, there might be a
sign lying just around the book shelf.” The old man’s piercing blue eyes
twinkled like the sun-kissed sea.
Celena looked at the watch, it was quarter to three. She can
stay back another hour. Spending time amidst the old books makes her happy. She
kept thinking about what Mr Collingwood told her while arranging the old
volumes in the topmost shelf carefully. How does the universe give us signs?
Then was the moon a sign from the universe? Though it had been a fortnight
since she had seen the two moons, Celena cannot stop thinking about it every
second of every day. Why did she see it? And why can’t she see it anymore? All
these unanswered questions made her heart heavy with grief. If only there was
someone with whom she could share everything, someone who would understand
her....a soul mate.
As she was about to step down the ladder, her eyes fell on a
yellow envelope lying at the far end of the book shelf. A fine layer of dust
has gathered on the envelope. Someone must have kept it here by mistake, she
thought. She picked up the envelope and carried it down. Celena walked towards
the window with the envelope. The orange glow of the setting sun made the dust
look like a trail of pixie dust. She wiped the envelope with her hand and
looked for some address or name, but there was nothing written. She reached
inside the envelope and brought out a book. It was a hard-bound first edition
of Gitanjali - a collection of poems
by Rabindranath Tagore. The book had not been opened for a while, and as she
flipped over the cover, a swirl of dust slowly curled up like wisps of dream.
Very carefully she turned the pages over. The pages had a rusty red hue and
smelled of stars. On the cover page was written a quote in a flourishing hand
writing:
"Whatever our souls are
made of, ‘yours’ and mine are the same"
Just as she was about to close the book, a page fell out of
it. It was a lose paper on which someone had drawn. Over time the drawing has
faded in places. Celena looked at the drawing closely. What she saw sent
shivers down her spine. It was a sketch of a village path on a starry night,
with cotton ball like clouds floating around two moons! She clutched the paper
tightly and looked more closely. Something was scribbled at the right hand
bottom corner of the paper. On examining closely, she saw a date, 20th
May 1905.
And below it there was a line:
“Someday you will see it too, and that day I will be with
you.” ~ SS
***The End***
