My Tapestry of Your Life

What good fortune it was
That brought my post on Facebook to your notice
That I had to be in the same city as you
Looking for someone to share a roof with
What good fortune it was
That I found someone that I ended up sharing myself with

What was it about you that made every daunting task seem easy
That made every challenge seem fun, 
That turned every cause for frown a reason to laugh
The abundance of positive energies that you carried along
or that radiant, warm self that God could show himself through

The day you moved in with your stuff of monstrous proportions
Made me wonder what baggage you must carry everywhere you went
It took me some of those magical times that we spent together
To realise and see how wrong I was
You carried no baggage. No regrets. No hard feelings
Only love, warmth, forgiveness, acceptance
And that sense of humour, clean and dirty, that made me love you more

You carried no weight
Light as a feather - that is what you were
Wish I had told you this on one of those many occasions
When you tried one outfit after another
Running all around the house, checking all the mirrors
To pick your favourite one. The one that made you look thinnest
The one in which you liked yourself the most
But did you realise you had become my favourite mirror?
The one I had no fears or apprehension looking into
Because it loved me for me, without telling me so

Waking you up in the mornings, I would hate to do
Knowing how sleep came to you with great reluctance
Sometime in the middle of all the nights I now wish I had spent talking to you
All those nights when you would give way to your creative outbursts
For all the wonderful talents in you to take wings
All the nights you didn’t let me sleep with your laughter waking me up all the time
Little did I know you would someday give me sleepless nights with your absence

You and Tea. It was a special bond, an inseparable one.
Mornings seemed weird if I didn’t wake up to see tea leaves by the sink
The tea that kept you company when you sang while I was asleep
Milk and Bournvita. How little things gave you so much pleasure, I wonder
I still look for your new Reebok shoes when I get back from work
Those that gave you all the satisfaction and peace when you took your evening walk in the park
Thank god you stopped wearing that darned blue t-shirt
Although I still wonder why you could never let those flowery white slippers go

Yes, I didn’t know Pizza Hut came with a “Hot or Not” policy
Cut me slack you could have, for making a fool of myself on that call
But do I wish I hadn’t said what I said to the delivery boy, No
For I now cherish each such time that I triggered your infectious laughter
The guy who sold us the fridge seemed to like you, who wouldn’t?
You wanted a bigger TV. I am sorry I didn’t let us look any further than we did
“Let’s bring the baby home!”, you said. You had to be dramatic and all na.
We got a decent one, I thought. One that we mostly used to watch Gutthi while we ate
Gutthi doesn’t know she’s not gonna make me laugh this time around.
She’s gonna make me want to see you do a “Aap aaye hain humare ghar mein”
How well you did that! Wish I had made a video

My birthday eve, you cooked me Papad ki Sabji if you remember
Barely were we half way through our sit-down meal when I had to leave
You understood. You decorated my room, you waited for me. And you went to bed.
I’ll do the same for you sometime, I thought. And when I do, I will remember to not add too much spice
Well, I knew you couldn’t deal with pickles. And that Dahi and fruits was your most savoured meal.
Your birthday eve, I was working. Like all the other days I had been working since we moved to the new flat
I apologised for not spending enough time at home. You wondered if you did something to make me feel guilty.
I wish you had done something. I wish I had felt more guilty and spent more time at home with you.

We could have actually made our living room a dance floor.
How many songs we went through to decide which ones you would dance to
At all those Sangeets you attended in all those Anarkalis you wore with matching jewellery
Nothing beats your Chandler dance though. And our imitation of Priyanka’s Exotic.

I’ve lost count of the number of times we watched FRIENDS together.
But we never finished this round of re-watching. Wish you’d come back just to do that.
You never got to wear your fancy purple glasses enough. Wish you’d come back just to do that.
You didn’t get to flaunt your new red Woodland jacket jo “Sale mein mil gaya!!”. Wish you’d come back just to do that.
You had to finish serving your self-imposed punishment of staying away from sweets till you got an admit. 
Dude! We don’t even have one picture together! You owe me big!

Let me now tell you things you’d have liked to hear -
All the Ghewar was still lying in the fridge. You made me eat it always. This time, I ate it on my own..hope you’re happy!
We’ve also made a proper list of bills to pay every month. Something you would’ve been proud of!
To spread happiness and joy was all your life was about. 
It’s not easy to do it as well as you did. But I will try and I start today.

Your life’s not all that different from our favourite show, you know.
Why does it feel like FRIENDS was so short-lived, despite it having lasted ten years, we thought
Pick any episode, there’s no way we wouldn’t like it
It made us yell, laugh, cry, want to dance, sing and live
We were never bored of it. Always looked forward to more.
And we watched it over and over again to relive the best moments and smile.

You, Astha Pareek, are always going to be one big smile-bringer.