It was late afternoon when we were getting ready to head out to Cochi - my achi veedu. It was like a four drive from Pallakkad to Cochi all the way in NH-47. I was sure that the four hour drive would be really long and tiring especially since it was the day of my wedding. After our wedding at Guruvayur early morning we went to my house at Pallakkad as per our custom and then from Pallakkad back to the girls house for first-night, that too as per custom. If things were at my hand, I would have skipped all the travel and stayed in Guruvayur itself, but customs…..
We were accompanied by my brother and his wife and then my wife's aunt. It was my brother's wedding the previous day. We had rented a Toyota Qualis, a minivan. The driver was given special instructions to turn off the AC when the bride or the groom were not present and turn it on only when they were there and in our presence he turned it on full blast and I was sort of shivering.
They wanted us to sit together and so we occupied the seat next to the driver and her aunt-uncle occupied the second row seats and my brother and sister-in-law sat at the last row. They were not considered as newly-wed (atleast by me) not only since they got married earlier to me but also since they were engaged for like 6 months. We did not have an engagement or a formal 'penu-kannal'. All we did before marriage was chat and occasional phone calls and that too lasted only for couple of months. The seat next to the driver was really congested and only one more person other than the driver could sit comfortably. We were sandwiched between the driver and door. My new wife complained (yes! Already, within hours!!) that she was sitting too close to the driver and suggested that I scoot a bit....but I had no where to go... so I held out my arms around her shoulder and pulled her towards me..... that was the first intentional physical contact I had with her. Every pot-hole and whenever the driver applied the brakes, was an opportunity for me to hold her close to my heart and whenever that happened our emotions would rise and fall like the waves in the ocean. She would occasionally look at me as if looking out the window and I too did the same. I had to look over my shoulder to see if her cheriamma (aunt) or my brother were looking or noticing anything odd. They were immersed in their conversation, at least I thought so. After around a couple of hours drive, her cheriamma noticed my occasional 'over-the-shoulder' looks and enquired if we wanted to comeback and if it was tight there. I was feeling uncomfortable that I had to hold my wife like this.... So, I told my wife that if she felt tired, she could keep her head over my shoulder and sleep and as I wanted to hear, she asked me what if she fell on the driver, and I told her that I would hold her to make sure she does not fall. That settled my embarrassment.... now I could hold her tight to my chest. But how long could I just hold her, I too decided to sleep and I acted as if I was disinterested and started looking outside and slowly closed my eyes and then I laid my chin to her head, like the proverbial cat that drank the milk closing it eyes hoping nobody notices. I do not know how or when we reached Cochin or anything..... all I was doing was holding her soft hands and occasionally pressing her fingers and she too did the same.... she would act disturbed and snuggle and come closer.
When we reached her house, we opened our eyes to the bright lights and a night sky decorated with stars hanging like jasmine flowers. The river filled with our emotions and boat filled with stories of our love stopped flowing. A journey I did not want, ended up with wishing for more. Do I have to wait for a life time to take this journey again?
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