Love is Not Blind

"Mom we have reached," he spoke into the phone and the one side of the conversation we heard went like this. "Reshmi's parents have picked us up and we are on our way home... yes Mom... No Mom... the flight came in early Mom... Love you, I will call late in the evening... Yes, I will tell them."

Then he addressed Ma and Baba. "Uncle, Auntie, Mom expresses her thanks for your hospitality and kindness that you are extending to me. And I am very happy to be here and would like to thank you too for having me over."

Ma beamed and nodded. Knowing Nayan couldn't see her, I gently squeezed his hand to let him know that Ma had acknowledged his message. Then I smiled. Whatever concerns Ma and Baba may have about Nayan, lack of good manners, courtesy and politeness would not be among them.

We chatted on as we travelled through fairly empty roads, as we had just gotten past the peak traffic hour. Nayan was mostly silent as most of the conversation was taking place in Bengali, but Ma and Baba tried to include him in the conversation by asking him some questions in Hindi and English.

As we reached, my heart was in my mouth. I pulled out the suitcases, Baba got one of them and I grabbed the other, Ma had my backpack.

I got your bag Nayan, we have to go left, I said. Nayan took out his cane from his pocket, flipped it open and moved to the left, his cane sweeping the floor before him.

Ma and Baba were obviously unprepared for this. I shook my head to indicate silence and started walking beside him, as they followed.

He nonchalantly negotiated the five steps that lead to the lobby, looking left and right as he processed the environmental noise, yet moving in a straight line.

"The elevators are to the right," I said. Luckily one of the elevators came down and the 'ding' sound as the doors opened gave him his bearings. He turned right smoothly.

I pressed the elevator button, the doors opened with a soft whine. Nayan with his cane in front stepped in, moved to the left and placed his hand gently on the doors to prevent them from closing and waited for all of us to enter.

"Hit 6, Nayan" I said. He removed his hand from the door, transferred his cane back to his left hand, and his fingers moved deftly over the buttons, feeling for the pattern and any braille indicators. Then he gently pressed the button.

Ma and Baba were still wide-eyed. "Hey, this elevator is smooth and fast too," Nayan remarked as the elevator went 'ding, ding, ding' while traversing each floor.

He held his hand to the door as everyone got off the elevator with the suitcases, then stepped out. I felt so proud of him, I wanted to hug and kiss him right there, but that public display of affection would have been scandalous behaviour at this moment.

"This way," I said and he followed my voice. Baba unlocked the door, we all filed in, he entered last.

"You can take off your shoes here Nayan, there is a shoe rack on your right, but leave you shoes out, I will put them in later." As he complied, I asked him.

"Do you want to sit for a while or should I show you our home?"

"Your home smells lovely, it feels open and very well ventilated. Show me around, I need to understand the layout since we are going to be here for a while."

Ma and Baba were still wondering what hit them. I took him around, the only cues for him were my voice and the feedback from his cane. I did not touch him at all. I showed him his room, told him he can unpack his things later and that the cupboard was empty.

"Give me a couple of minutes, I need to use the restroom."

"On your left at your 10 'O' clock position," I said, and he unerringly found his way in.

Baba and Ma had followed us, and Baba whispered, "Will he be okay in there? Can he manage on his own?"

"You bet, Baba," I whispered back, "you can go in after him and the bathroom will be just as it was before."

"This boy is amazing, Reshmi," he whispered. I heaved a sigh of relief inwardly, I knew there won't be much resistance now from Baba to my marrying Nayan.

Ma asked Nayan if he would like some tea. I butted in. "Ma makes great 'Chai' Nayan, have half a cup at least." He seemed pleased.

I showed him around the rest of the house, including the kitchen. Then we went back to the living room where we all sat around.

Ma asked me to help her with the tea and I knew the barrage of questions would start once we were in the kitchen.

"You didn't tell me he is blind," she said accusingly.

"Did you even have an inkling that something was wrong with his vision from the airport gate to our lobby, Ma?"

"Honestly no, but I was wondering why you were clinging to his arm. I thought you were just being a little too affectionate. Yet he walks so confidently, he was so caring and courteous at the elevator, how did he punch the right button?"

"He trusts me implicitly Ma and he uses all his senses. He feels the layout of things, the elevator has braille codes which we never notice but it serves the blind so well. He counts every ding sound the elevator makes so he knows which floor he is crossing. That sound is for helping the blind, Ma.

Remember Ma, I told you he is different and unique. You realise now that he is different, over the next few days you will find out how unique he is. Watch him when he eats, rarely will a drop or particle spill out on the table. Observe him pour himself a glass of water, he will know how much of water is in the glass just from the changes in the tone as the glass fills up. And just wait and see, by tomorrow he will be navigating around our house without bumping into anything, unless of course you move some furniture without informing him. He can identify people by their voices, he can identify other's moods by listening to the change in their breathing pattern. He shaves by himself every morning, he maintains high levels of personal hygiene all by himself."

I was breathless with excitement as I continued to describe to Ma what my love was capable off. "Do you know," I continued, "he completed his masters with a recorder for his lectures and text to voice software on his computer? Do you know he can identify his credit cards by the raised numbers, he can identify currency notes with the identifying tag they have for the blind? He delivers lectures to his class, writing on the whiteboard with markers, and no two lines will get mixed up?"

I paused for a while, letting everything sink into Ma. "Yet at times, Ma, he is so vulnerable. He stopped going for morning walks because people don't pick up after their pets litter the pavements and he gets dog poop on his cane. So he got himself gym equipment to work out at home. Now he goes walking every weekend with me, without the cane. He uses so many electrical appliances for cooking, yet he can never use a gas stove because he cannot risk a naked flame inside his apartment. He does not even know the colour of the clothes he wears, so all his clothes are simple neutral colours like black, white, grey and blue.

We take so many things for granted Ma but his world is absolutely dark, yet he lights up every room he walks into, his eyes blaze like flames, he makes everyone laugh."

"He has lovely eyes, I think I said that earlier. Now let us drink tea together. I want to see more of this unique friend of yours, you have painted a beautiful picture that I want to experience myself."

I placed the tea in front of him on the centre table. Baba and he had obviously been discussing something, for Baba was sitting to his right and leaning forward towards him. Nayan picked up the cup, felt the saucer under it. So he placed it back, picked it up by the saucer and extended it towards Baba. "After you Sir," he said and smiled.

Then Ma handed the other cup to him, and he delicately moved his hand till he felt the saucer, held it and set it down before him.

"Auntie, let me guess, this has the strong 'lambi patti' flavour, and is mixed with Assam leaf tea, but I cannot make out the blend. And you have given me almost a full cup."

"Drink," Ma said, "it has 'lambi patti' and if you feel too full after the tea, we can delay lunch by half an hour."

"This devil of mine has turned on his charm," I said to myself, "Lochinvar is going to ride out with his fair Ellen and no one can do a damn fuck about it!"

"Ma, Nayan loves fish," I said while we were having our lunch.

"I shall make some for the afternoon meal tomorrow then," Ma replied.

"Not when I am in this house," I pouted.

"Auntie, when you are cooking the fish, Reshmi can show me the view from the terrace." This guy was now on a roll.

"Good idea," Ma said. I was amused. Ma hadn't realised that when he said, 'view from the terrace,' for him, there is no view.

"But Auntie, I won't be able to eat it if there are bones."

"Don't worry, Uncle will get fish fillets from the store."

"Ma, this is not fair."

"Why not? Weren't you the one who said he likes fish? Did he ask for it?"

I pretended to sulk, but my spirits were soaring.

At Nayan's suggestion, I had picked up a book of Bengali short stories for Baba, and an elegant Bengal Cotton saree for Ma. They loved his gifts. By dinner, Baba and Nayan had become great friends and were talking about everything under the sun. Baba is very erudite, and Nayan was just soaking up everything that Baba had to say.

Nayan slept in the guest room and I ached for him. But I wan't too sure Ma and Baba would approve of our sleeping in the same room before we were married. I didn't want to risk anything, I wanted their consent for our marriage, so I stayed put.

The next morning, we went for our walk inside the complex, showered, had our breakfast, and as Ma began preparing her grand filleted fish curry or whatever she was making, I took him to the terrace.

"Is anyone else out here?" He asked.

"No," I replied.

"Are there security cameras on the terrace?"

"There is one that covers the entrance to the terrace from the staircase, but no cameras here, I know what is on your mind and this is the tallest building around here, no one can see us..."

His cane clattered as it fell, he pulled me to him and we kissed and kissed and kissed, like it was the last day of our lives.

We were panting. "Oh god Resh, we haven't kissed since we left home yesterday, that is more than 24 hours."

"If I get a few more positive signals from Ma today, I am going to sneak into your room tonight."

"I would love that, but don't risk it Reshmi, give them time to accept this, don't dump things on them."

"It started off well, they were impressed at the airport and first impressions are lasting impressions."

"Your strategy paid off."

"What strategy?"

"Reshmi darling, has it ever occurred to you that my heart beats inside yours and they are always in touch?"

"You knew what I was doing?"

"Okay, to be honest, not initially, but after being close to me right up to your apartment complex, when you left everything to my white cane, I caught on. Hitting the 6th floor button in the lift was well orchestrated."

"We really are naughty devils, right?"

"Imps, we are up to a lot of mischief."

Now he got bolder, he rubbed me over my jeans as we kissed and made me cum. Then I got frisky, pulled him out of his pants for my protein fix.

"Come with me," I said as I dragged him behind the water tank on the terrace, where it was nice and shady. We sat there, enjoying the breeze and whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears, till Ma called to tell us the fish was done.

Ma was at the dining table preparing to chop some vegetables. Dad was fetching things for her from the refrigerator. "Chop the Okra for me," she ordered.

"If you want it chopped into small round pieces, I can show you a quick way to do it," Nayan volunteered.

Ma looked amused. Nayan looked in my direction and mimed the act of whispering a secret. I brought my ear close to his lips and he whispered instructions.

I went to the kitchen, brought the potato slicer used for making wafers and chips. I adjusted the angle of the blade for half inch thick slices and merrily started slicing the Okra.

Ma, not to be outdone, picked up her knife and the Okra and went chop, chop, chop on the chopping board at extremely high speeds. Then I started slicing two at a time, Ma went chopping four together and the two of us were laughing like cretins.

Then I turned to Ma and squealed, "Look at this guy Ma, in the end he didn't lift a finger, we did all the work."

"He is our soon to be 'Jamai Babu,' isn't he?" She said, using the Bengali term for son-in-law. "In our Bengali culture we only pamper our Jamai Babu, we don't ask him to carry out household chores."

My jaw dropped. I looked at Baba, he was grinning, I looked at Nayan, his open mouth could have swallowed an elephant.

"Maaa!" I screamed as she pulled my face to her and kissed me on my cheek.

"How did this come about Ma?" I asked in a daze.

"My daughter thinks her parents are idiots," she was still grinning."She thinks we do not recognise the signs of love in her and her boyfriend's eyes. Have you ever looked at Nayan's eyes closely Reshmi? He cannot see you, yet his eyes will go soft every time he looks in your direction. And this apple of my eye, she only talks about how different and unique her friend is. We are your Ma and Baba, girl, don't we know you won't settle for anyone who is not unique?"

"We made up our minds last night," Baba interjected. "It took me just a few minutes with Nayan when you and Ma were in the kitchen, to know how honest, sincere and caring he is. Yes, initially we were very flustered about his being blind, We even thought that our daughter was actually horsing for a life as a care-giver. But it was not the fact that he is so independent and capable of looking after himself that impressed us. What impressed us is his mental toughness and the efforts he and his family must have taken to re-learn even simple tasks that 5 year olds would perform casually. We knew we would be giving you away to a wonderful person and a wonderful family."

Nayan stood up and extended his hand in my direction. I walked around the table to him, and he held me close to him. Then he spoke.

"Thank you sir, and thank you ma'm. I need to clarify something. You are not giving away your daughter. You are entrusting your treasure to me and my family, and we are her custodians. As we grow older, one day, both sets of parents will inevitably be our dependents. No one knows what a family means better than I, and we want both of you to be with us. Your responsibilities do not cease after we are married, you need to be our guiding light always. And could I add, in a lighter vein, thank you so much for making Reshmi 26 years ago."

"Well, there is still much left to be done before lunch can be served." Ma wiped a tear and smiled. "Nayan, talk to your parents. We still need a formal proposal from them, seeking our daughter's hand for their son."

"Auntie, Uncle, I need to see both of you," Nayan said, and he moved forward and lightly ran his hands over their faces one by one. Then with his impish look he declared. "Reshmi has your nose and chin, Auntie, and Uncle's cheeks, of course without the stubble."

We laughed as we all hugged each other.

Lunch turned out to be fun. I found the Okra delicious. Nayan sliced a small piece of fish with his fork and speared it. Then he held it in my direction.

"Reshmi, taste this."

"No! Never!!"

"Mildly spiced Illish, also known as Hilsa, inundated in a mother's love. You are missing something."

I tentatively moved forward and gently put my lips around the morsel.

"It doesn't smell either of fish or mustard oil," I exclaimed.

"That is the perfect way to cook fish, think you can master it?"

Ma was looking pleased. It was good that he couldn't see the look I gave him. But I love him so much.

I spoke to Nayan's parents, "Auntie, we did it," I squealed. "Ma and Baba are waiting to welcome you here."

"Congratulations and calm down my child," she replied, "we will soon fix up a date for the meeting. Text me your mother's number and I will speak to her."

Ma took me aside that evening and asked me. "Are both of you together back home?"

"Yes, Ma, but Nayan wanted a commitment from me that I would marry him before we made love. It was our first time for both of us. We love each other Ma."

"I hope you are taking all precautions?"

"Yes, Ma, we have no plans to have a baby out of wedlock, in fact as of now we have no plans for a baby. I have a career, Nayan has to complete his PhD. Both of us are financially okay Ma, neither of us splurge. He has a salary that will increase substantially after he gets his doctorate, he also has a fellowship for his research. We have worked out how to manage our finances, having individual accounts with a joint account for our common expenses. He is very particular that not only must we save for our own apartment and our future, but also for our respective parents."

"You missed him last night, didn't you?"

"Yes, Ma, very much."

"You don't have to miss him from now, she said with a wink."

"Ma, I am sorry I didn't tell you everything right at the beginning."

"You did right, if we had known earlier, we may have reacted adversely. Meeting him and seeing both of you together made us think a lot of things differently. Life will not always be smooth, but I know both of you will keep the fires of your love burning very brightly."

We freaked out the next three days. It was festival time and I wore a different dress every day, A 'Ghagara Choli' one evening, a beautiful silk saree in traditional Bengali style on another, a tight fitting 'Churidar Kameez' on the third as we went down to the huge 'Pandal' where on one side the huge idol of Goddess Durga was placed for worship and the other side held a stage for music, dance, plays and other activities. Nayan wore ethnic stuff, 'Kurtas' on all days, either with a pair of jeans, or a 'Churidar' or a 'Dhoti' borrowed from Baba.

I held on to his arm, as we met many of my local friends, neighbours, acquaintances and friends of my parents whom I have always addressed as an 'uncle' or an 'auntie' and I proudly introduced Nayan to all as my boyfriend whom I would be engaged to shortly. Many wished us well and said that the Mother Goddess has blessed us, some tried to keep a straight face when they noticed his cane, but we had no care in the world.

We made love. Every night seemed different, and now that we knew we would soon be married, we were ecstatic.

The night before we were to return, as we lay together, my head on his shoulder, his arm around me, I told him I had a special request.

"You know this well Reshmi, if there is anything I can give you, I will, no questions asked."

"On the night of our nuptials," I said, "I will wait for you in my bridal finery, wearing all my jewels. I want you to undress me slowly, remove every piece of my adornment, except for my 'Maang-Tikka,' my 'Mangalsutra,' my wedding ring and my engagement ring. I will help you of course."

"Then?"

"Then when I have just these four pieces of jewellery on me, you must make love to me, with just your wedding ring and engagement ring on you."

He stroked my bee stung lips with his thumb. "No condom?"

"Absolutely none, I will choose our wedding date so that it is not during my peak time. But if by chance you manage to impregnate me on my nuptials, be sure we are going to keep the baby and all our plans will change to include the baby."

He wriggled against me.

"What are you doing?"

"Can we start the rehearsals without the props?"

Well, all I can say is that we woke up the next morning with very deep and inflamed marks of our love bites all over us.

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