The Rainbow

Muskaan looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was contorted. Her eyes were melancholic, while her lips joyous. She wept, while smiling.

The situation owed its occurrence to what ensued over the past one year and then over the last one month. Muskaan was in love with Roshan, and together they dreamt and planned of a blissful life. Their plan was due for completion in one and a half years. Unfortunately, they failed to plan for contingencies, and consequently, before they knew it, Muskaan was engaged to Kartik, all within a month.

Roshan and Kartik were 2 very different men. Roshan was much older and had a reckless temperament. Due to the age difference, the terms of the relationship were more like mentor and mentee - Muskaan was the mentee who needed guidance and it was Roshan who mentored her on the rights and wrongs of life. Kartik, on the other hand, was about the same age as Muskaan and acted his age. Since the engagement he courted Muskaan like any husband to-be would. Their relationship progressed like a car being tested – one gear at a time, by novices, neither of whom knew how to drive.

While the two men vied for Muskaan’s attention it was she who was in a fix. On the one hand, there was Roshan to whose emotional needs she had to slowly ease off from and on the other hand there was Kartik to whose growing emotional needs she had to cater to. She had to constantly sway between smiling and being fragile. She felt like she was in a trapeze act, swaying from side to side between Roshan and Kartik.

One evening she sat in her room. Muskaan looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was contorted. Her eyes were melancholic, while her lips joyous. She wept, while smiling.

Muskaan felt the cassette of her life stuck between two beautiful songs. And the cacophony that it created blared through her head and upset her own rhythm.

What do u do when you have to smile and frown at the same time? Life feels like an oxymoron then – A smiling frown. How ironic she mused - the smile and the frown are inverted curves of the lips and yet they depict two entirely opposite emotions. Her life was falling apart. Now since the two events are mutually exclusive, and yet they need to occur simultaneously, what happens? The frown needs an alternative outlet – and hence the eyes.. She wept.

Her mind ached. Her heart tried to think. She thought she would go insane. .

She paced restlessly around the room.

Her life was like a day when the clouds weep, but on such a day you could witness a miracle. When the drizzle is just right and the sun rays penetrate the rain droplets, there appears this marvel, this phenomenon.. a rainbow with seven bright colours across the sky.. You can see it over the mountains or lakes or even in the city. It is a symbol that appears during two conflicting conditions.

Her name was Muskaan – meaning, ‘smile’ – so thats what she did – smile.

She used her rainy eyes to create a rainbow - an inverted rainbow - a rainbow that was a smile on her face. The two conflicting emotions showed vividly on her face - her teary clouds and her bright shining rainbow.