She was sitting amongst the crowd. The crowd which consisted of many old people, smartly dressed men ,and women of her own age and above.But more than that, she was surrounded by feelings, memories, emotions and loneliness, the feeling of being alone in the crowd.
There was a complete silence in the ground, except for the momentary sound of clapping.The smartly dressed man on the stage was announcing the names, and this was followed by someone from by the crowd going up there to receive the award ,amidst a huge round of applause. This routine had been continuing for past 1 hour or so.But indifferent to all this,she was lost in her own world,her world of beautiful memories and glorious past.She was silent , completely silent, and its her memories that did all the chattering.While she was reminiscing the past, her facial expressions displayed an entire range of emotional variety. At some point of time, you could see the glow in her radiant eyes,and an instant later, you could feel the streak of pain flowing in the same and once radiant eyes.Perhaps she was thinking of the time when she first met Him,their courtship period, the small tiffs and the cute moments.Perhaps she was thinking of her wedding day and the blissful life afterwards or perhaps she was thinking of the time,when one day suddenly he was called to resume his duty disregarding his granted leave.It had been only a few days since their marriage,and He was asked to resume immediately.She wanted to stop him , but then she always knew that “DUTY Comes first” for him.He knew exactly what she felt like and thus he promised that he would be back soon.Days passed like this and all she did was to wait, wait and just wait.
Back to present, she was waiting here also, waiting for the moment she had been waiting for,both willingly and unwillingly.She was still lost in her own world,when the man on the stage announced “Major Veer Pratap singh”, Those 4 words brought her back to senses, to the harsh reality.She gathered strength, stood up , took a deep breath and stepped towards the stage.The bare 100 meter distance seemed to her to be a lifetime
journey.It seemed her legs had jammed, and an ultimate amount of energy was required to move them.Battling the journey between emotions and reality, she finally stepped on to the stage.This was followed by the same procedure, which had been happening till now. She was given a medal, an award for the valor and sacrifice of applause amidst the huge round .Yes…she was the widow of Major Veer Pratap singh, son of the nation, who had endowed his life to the nation. She had a mixed array of emotions.A part of her was sad, sad at the loss of her beloved and yet another part was proud, proud of Him, and proud of being his wife.Standing on the stage, she could see her empty chair,feel the void in her heart and sense his presence.She stepped down off the stage,walked on the soil, which had his blood mixed in it, breathed in the air which had his fragrance and fragrance of their love and the proof of their togetherness….
Heart Diary 