Rant 163: Sublimation

“Sir, how much?”. The diesel bunk staff asked. 

“2500 rupees”, I handed him my card for payment and opened up the fuel tank. 

The fuel indicator showed close to full. How easy was it to refill a tank, pay and refill. I wish refilling emotions was this easy too. Refilling zeal, ambition, positivity. I would have paid any price to have kept it at maximum.

I drove out of the fuel bunk and stopped my car by the highway. Where should I head to? I just kept thinking for sometime. While I looked around, my eyes struck on something – on my dashboard. 

“Let’s keep it here”

“Where? On the dashboard? No no! No way! Not here!”, I resisted. 

“Eh, let’s try no, it will look cute.”, she asserted. 

We fought over this little thing for 20 minutes that evening. Finally when we reached the party venue we were already behaving like strange people and our friends knew we fought again. They brought us a big bowl of icecream and asked us to eat together. Everyone in our circle knew food was the only thing that could blow out anything between us both. 

I saw the icecream bowl and knew what they were planning to. I stood stern and did not take the bowl in my hands. She took it instantly. Before I could even think, she was already on it. She had the typical grin on her face when she looked at me while having her ice-cream. 

I put my keys back into the ignition and started. I knew where to go. 35 km from the town was a farm. Fruit farm, you can say. There are wonderful vines and large trees and lots of cattle and young ponies. It is really a place to be on weekends when you simply want to rush out on the weekends away from rush and the mechanical hush. 

After 45 minutes of drive along the highway, I reached this place. I am coming here alone for the first time and I don’t know how it’s going to feel. It is so different to be coming to a place where you have come always with your close people around and then to come to that place again, all alone! I parked my car in the parking and went and stood near the small gate that separated the vine and the  guesthouse. 

“Can you jump over this?”

“Yes, ofcourse. Why do you ask?”, I asked.

She smirked and said,”I don’t think you can”.

Without a second thought, I’d taken a jump on the gate which was barely a meter high. The landing was disastrous. I was all over the ground and I had landed on a small calf, which was just on the other side of the gate. Poor me. Poor calf. 

I laughed at this. The security took a cautious look at me laughing while standing on that gate. 

“Whom do you want to meet?”, he asked. 

“No one”, I replied. 

He looked at me with an eye, not most people throw on me. I went close to the gate, opened it and entered the office of the guesthouse. I took a ticket and then entered the vine. Went straight to our favorite place. 

At the end side of the vine, there was this small property fence and then an open pasture land for distance and then a small lake, very small lake. Maybe a pond. But that small thing made the entire landscape look so beautiful. The reflection of blue sky among the greens. This is where we would mostly sit, once we were done with our farm walk. 

“Shall I ask you one thing?”, she asked me while we both looked onto the sky. Blue,wide sky. 

“Um hmm”

“What do we call this?”

“Umm . what?” I asked back.

“This thing that we share.. Like you and me, what are we? Who are we?”, she sounded lost. Lost in nature. Whims and the blue sky.

“We are human beings and for the who, I am not sure. Neither was Mahatma Gandhi at our age, so relax!”

“Urrgghhh, shut up! Why do you have to bring your 7th class humor here, that too when I am asking something really serious.. Dont do this….”, she blasted! Haha.. 

“Okay, okay man! Relax! I was joking.”

She looked at me with the fire look. 

“See, let’s not try to find out no, who-what-where-why! Let’s just enjoy what we have now. Be happy where we are, what we are upto. Let’s enjoy these little things.”, I replied in a serious tone. 

It was calm. Just the both of us. Blue sky. Green environment. Slight breeze. A bird on the tree next to us. 

“I sometimes feel we are suddenly going to change our state, from lovebirds to strangers.I don’t know why, but that makes my heart break.Feels like choked.”, she sounded serious. 

I took her hand in mine and held her tightly. 

“Don’t worry. That won’t happen! I am right here. Beside you.”, and I held her tightly. 

“By the way, do you know what the direct conversion of matter from solid to gaseous form is called? Sublimation!”, I tried to ease out.

“Arghh, you and your 7th class humor. Oh GOD! I really want to run away from you when you do this”, she barely toed her anger line. 

I stopped smiling. Looked at her. Held her hands for a few seconds and let it go. 

“That is sublimation!”

Always Ranting, Rantzaada.