If Only

"IF ONLY" Introduction:1) Anil: - A modern photographer who is world famous for his pictures of nature & his art of capturing live pictures of objects of nature. Being an honest & nice hearted person, he loved the country side & its beauty for various reasons .He was single & was in search for his better half. 2) Maya:-An old minded, village born girl untouched by the modern glamour & fashion, she likes to wear traditional dresses, she is simple & beautiful. She came to the town to find a job in a hair saloon & found it too but in a rather isolated area. She is extremely cautious about her behavior with others, she never wants to hurt others, and she is very sensitive.

The Story It was such an auspicious day that Anil could never forget it in his life time. The sun was bright & high up in the sky, it was spring time & all people were fresh as daisies. Anil was photographing a water fall in the much isolated parts of Nepal, he was always fascinated by the beauties of nature, he couldn’t help but admire the charming view of the water fall from a distance, the crystal clear water flowing as if it had to meet someone far away, the stones near the foot of the water fall were making a loud but soothing sound by the water falling on them, the atmosphere was just perfect to make a start. Just as he was about to capture the beautiful flowing crystal clear waters of the fall, a girl accidentally got in between his lenses and the waterfall and the photograph captured both the girls as well as well as the waterfall. When the girl realized that she had destroyed the

photograph she tried to say sorry to Anil but Anil was just spell bound, he couldn’t help himself from admiring the perfect symphony between her simple but beautiful face and the strong but humble nature of the beautiful girl, then he suddenly was awaken from his day dream when the girl, whose name was Maya, again began to apologies, he said that it didn’t matter and said that it was just a coincidence and there was no need to say sorry, so she bowed apologetically & went away still saying sorry in her soft melodious voice, only then did Anil realize the significance of the occasion & also paid a small bow with a sweet smile on his face. This was the first occasion when both of them met & fell in love instantly with each other i.e. love at first sight. They were separated by circumstances but nature made them meet again by its own ways. On the following evening Anil went to a hair saloon the one & only hair saloon within thousand mile radius. It was very

much developed partly due to its reputation & partly by the ambition of its mistress to make it a perfect saloon. When anil first saw the saloon he thought it to be a little dusty-rusty place where he would have a small seat and a barber to do all the work but his thought were proved altogether wrong when he entered the saloon. On his immediate arrival he could smell the sweet aroma of flowers, when he entered he was partly dazzled by the beauty of the saloon itself, there were many people hovering about to work on a man. He was shocked and surprised by what he saw the saloon was highly furnished as if it was the meeting room of a millionaire, there in the center was a fire place where a little fire was giving the room cozy warmth, on the left side were large vases containing flowers of different types. He was observing all this when he was softly shaken and asked what would he like to do. He said he would like his hair washed. Now coincidently(or we can say by the planning of the great hand) Maya had got work in this saloon recently & the mistress was not quite satisfied with her working style & so Maya was very careful not to do any mistakes, but nature has its

own ways. Anil that day came & Maya immediately recognized Anil as she was lately thinking about this modern lad appraisingly & found him as a good life partner. Anil came & sat upon the chair; Maya's friend operated upon him but during the washing process, Maya took over from her friend & operated Anil with her tender hands & said sorry like a timid little girls who was about to get a beating, Anil instantly recognized her sweet voice which had been stored in his heart after their unexpected meeting. He gave a start & opened his eyes, as he opened his eyes the shampoo went into his eyes causing terrible burning sensation which made him utter a low cry. Hearing it the mistress who was dressed in pure white linen, she was a very fat, greedy looking person; she came & stated scolding poor Maya thinking that it was her fault & not Anil's eagerness to see Maya’s face once more which caused the accident. Anils seeing this scene created in front of him felt a pang of guilt strike him. He thought that due to his silly mistake he might have ruined Maya’s life. He quickly took the blame upon him & tried to calm down the mistress’s anger. After a lot of

persuasion he was able to convince the mistress that Maya was purely innocent and it was his fault and as the mistress had the principle the “the customer is always right.” So she forgave Maya and told her to apologize to anil by operating him again free of cost. Maya readily agreed and did what was told to her rather excitedly which again made anil to look at her as his ideal life partner. During this period Anil was once again struck by the beauty of Maya, her shining tresses, divided into two parts, encircled the harmonious contour of her white & delicate cheeks, brilliant in their glow & freshness. Her ebony brows have the form & charm of the bow of Kama, the god of love, & beneath her long silken lashes the purest lakes of Himalaya, in the black pupils of her great clear eyes. Her teeth, fine, equal, & white, glittering between her smiling lips like dewdrops in a passion-flower's halfenveloped breast. Her delicately formed ears, her vermilion hands, her little feet, curved & tender as the lotus-bud, glittering with the brilliancy of the loveliest pearls of Ceylon & the most dazzling diamonds of

Golconda. Her narrow & supple waist, which a hand may clasp around, sets forth the outline of her rounded figure & the beauty of her bosom, where youth in its flower displays the wealth of its treasures; & beneath the silken folds of her tunic she seemed to have been modeled in pure silver by the godlike hand of Vicvarcarma, the immortal sculpture. While observing her beauty Anil absent mindedly left the saloon in a hurry & left his cap over there which proved even more helpful in their love story. Maya realized that Anil had forgotten his cap & asked the mistress if she knew where his home was. The mistress replied that she of course knew the house as she was a fan of his photographs. She told her the address and asked her what she had to do with it, she told her the cap story and went away that day early so that she could return his hat and also apologize to her once more and thank him for saving her job. She followed the given instructions to reach Anil’s villa which had been converted into a temporary studio. The main gate had

been kept open because he had no watch man9 as he didn’t like to be disturbed so he had no servants either). Maya reached for the doorbell her hand trembling a little; she touched the bell and pushed her soft fingers making the bell sound. Anil on the other side of the door as her was busy developing Maya’s pose and was very much irritated by the bell as he was disturbed in admiring Maya’s superb beauty was his only passion nowadays. He came to the door cursing the person in a low voice he didn’t knew that he was about to meet his only love once again. He opened the door and started to scold the person not seeing who it was and told her to go back and come tomorrow but when he looked at the beautiful face staring at him blankly, he froze on the spot a pose of Maya in his one end and his mouth slightly open he was looking like a kid who was for the first time seeing Taj mahal come alive. Apparently Maya also felt like this and hence couldn’t control a chuckle escape from his little perfect lips, she smiled shyly

at first like the sun's rays coming out of the clouds first a little & then in a blast of radiant light. This happiness in her eyes made Anil smile too though not so brilliantly; then he noticed his cap in her tender hands & understood the whole matter. They introduced themselves to each other & became instant friends & in due course of time deep lovers. Maya noticed that Anil liked every thing to be very well organized, so she kept in mind not to disturb any thing. Anil on the other had found that she liked roses & made it a point to bring her a few every day. He often joked to her about it as “rose like roses, what a wonderful phenomenon!” One day Anil was developing the roles of his camera & found the developing tray empty so he went in the store room to take the acid. He opened the bottle, poured some in the tray & was about to close the bottle & keep it onto the shelf but just then the bell rang; he kept the bottle unclosed & not properly placed on the shelf. He went for

the door & saw that Maya had come with a bouquet of fresh flowers. When he asked why, she said that it was his birth day! Anil was surprised to see this & after wards they went away to a restaurant to enjoy the evening. Next day Maya found the door of the villa unlocked & went boldly inside, as now she had been quite familiar with the house. She decided to give Anil a surprise. So she prepared such a pose that it could become his life’s best pose. She cut her pose which contained her side face & struck it to Anil's pose in such a way as if kissing him. She gave the name of the pose as “the kiss”, she was very excited about this & tried to stick the pose on the wall but it did not. She knew where the adhesive was & headed straight for the store room, she found the bottle of adhesive but a little higher then her reach. She made a little hop for it & shook the shelf which caused the unstable bottle of acid to fall in her eyes. The acid was strong & it caused great burning

sensation in her eyes & she uttered a blood curling scream which brought Anil from the bathroom to the scene. Anil immediately rushed to the vicinity hospital & admitted Maya in the ICU he waited outside the room for the doctor to come. He thought in despair that “IF ONLY I had properly placed & closed the bottle this day would have not come." Just then the doctor emerged bathing in sweat. He informed Anil with grief that Maya's eyes had been damaged & needed an eye transplant to enable her to see. The next day Anil went home & removed the photograph from the wall & wept bitterly. He prepared to leave the town & decided never to meet Maya again. Meanwhile some person had donated her eyes & enabled Maya to see the world again when Maya asked the doctor where Anil was, the doctor informed her of the situation. She wept for a long time & then

asked him who had donated her eyes. The doctor told that it was confidential information and he could not reveal his identity. Maya started searching for Anil furiously, in the shops, near sceneries; but could not find him she then decided to go to the railway station & the airport but searched there in vain. Then she headed for the bus stop & to her relief found Anil sitting there with Maya's photograph & playing with his pet dog Anil had not seen him. Maya was very angry at Anil that he had left her in such a state but as she drew near him a breeze came & blew the pose of Maya. She picked it up & saw Anil fumbling with his hands on the table to find the pose, Maya gave it to him without saying anything & then as if a bolt of lightening fell upon her, she noticed that he had been wearing a black goggle not because he liked wearing it but because he was blind; the ground swept under her feet she felt her whole world crushed by the enormous

impact of the situation. Now she recalled feeling the smooth comforting touch of Anil during the eye transplant operation, a blurred image of Anil was forming before her she felt the cozy & warm hand of Anil during operation. Now understood why Anil had left her, it was not because he thought that she would be a burden on him but because he didn't want to become a burden upon her. Anil had donated Maya his eyes & had quickly moved away & told the doctor not to tell any identity of the donor. He would have left the town if, by Almighty's wish, the bus would not have left earlier expected. Maya wept there wishing that "IF ONLY she had not been in a hurry & had used the stool this accident would not have taken place & they would not have to suffer on this day." Both wept for different reasons & rain came to weep with them & to end this inauspicious evening.

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A poem on love If only I knew it that it would be the last time I'll see you fall asleep, I would tuck you more tightly & pray the lord your soul to keep; If only I knew it that it would be the last time I see you walk out of the door, I would give you a hug & kiss & call you back for one more; If only I knew it that it would be the last time I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise, I would video tape each action & word, so I could play them back day after day; If only I knew it that it would be the last time, I could spare an extra min.or two To stop and say "I love you" instead of assuming you would know I do;

If only I knew it that it would be the last time that you invited me to share your day, I would leave alone my tight schedule & be there the whole day with you.

Surely for some there is tomorrow to make up for the mistakes but who knows what god has in store for us tomorrow so let’s enjoy the present so that we don’t have to repent tomorrow’s we say

"Yesterday is a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promising note. Today is cash.... spent it wisely."