Tea cups and Memory fronds
Home is not just a physical place, but also a feeling.
Setting up her laptop on a Wednesday morning Roohi looks around her workstation with pride. Its a new day and a new start, she is feeling uneasy but refuses to let it get in her way.
"Hey good morning" Harman beams his cheerful smile at her as he makes his way around the divider to his seat and takes the chair next to her. "You okay" he asks, putting his bag down, "You don't look your usual self"
"I did not know I have a usual self look" Roohi raised an eyebrow, amused that someone had actually taken the time to make such a subtle observation. "Just a minor cold fever situation yaar. I'll be okay. Just need some green tea maybe". Roohi shrugged her shoulders.
"Health conscious madam?" Harman joked. "More like lactose intolerant." They both nod as Herman asks the kitchen staff to bring in some green tea.
"Lijiye madam aagya aapka green tea. Par aap pehle hi patle ho, green tea pi ke gayab hona hai kya?" asked Mohan, the loyal kitchen staff who always greeted everyone with his honest smile.
"Nahi Nahi Mohan bhaiyya, bas thoda gala baitha hua hai islye chaiye, aap chinta mat kariye"
HArman raised an eyebrow as if asking why Roohi did not mention her cold. "C'mon yaar Covid scare abhi gya nahi hai. You and I understand the difference, wo bechare fikar mein dil pe le jaengey. Sweet se waise hain" Harman could not help but agree, Mohan was a soft hearted fellow they did not want to get concerned.
"EEwww" Roohi put down the cup after just one sip. It was bitter than the bitterest thing she had ever put in her mouth, and her facial contortion made Herman laugh a little. "Ye kya kadwa zehar hai yaar?" Roohi continued as she took a sip of water to clear her palate.
"This is the brand they serve here, always" Herman shrugged his shoulders.
"Uffo. Mohan bhaiyya!! Please suniye" Roohi called out Mohan as she pulled out three sachets of fruit infusion tea bags from her drawer. "Lijiye, green tea banakar laiye please. Ek meri, ek Harman Ji k liye aur ek jab Rajiv Sir aengey, unko bhi please de dena" She instructed Mohan authoritatively with politeness. "Pata nahi kaise jhelte hain log ye kadvi si chiz", meanwhile Harman and Mohan could not help but laugh. "Madam green tea is for health, usme taste kaun dhundna hai?" Mohan looked at her questioningly. "They're all supposed to be like that only na" Harman pitched in.
"Life main nafa nuksaan aye ya jaaye, SWAAD pura aana chaiye" Roohi smirked with pride and joined the two in giggles.
Mohan came back with three cups, and after serving Roohi and Harman, he went to their boss Rajiv as well. "Yaar Roohi tum na, Rajiv sir ko kyun bhijwai tumne? Unko pasand nahi aayi to? Band baj jaega sabka bekaar mei." Harman looked tensely over his shoulder, as he sipped some of his rosehip and cranberry infusion tea. The flavour was definitely unusual and soothing to the throat in the changing weather.
"Roz wo kadvi si chai pi ke sadey hue rehte hain aur sabka band bajaatey hain. Aaj kya naya kar lengey. Swaad ni aaya to chai wapas bhej denge aur kya" Roohi giggled like a child, hiding unsuccessfully behind her tea cup.
"Tum na puri pagal ho" Harman laughed as he too found the situation amusing.
As the warmth of the tea filled Roohi on the inside, the grip of her fever wrapped her in a cold sweat and her BP levels dropped. Her eyes started to lose focus and it felt like she had to strain hard just to keep the sight from blurring.
"You don't look Okay Roohi, maybe you should go home." Harman looked at her concerned as Rajiv walked out of his cabin.
"What happened, everything alright?" Rajiv asked. Roohi tried to respond but her face gave away, Rajiv called in Sneha from across the sitting bay to check on Roohi. One touch of hand, and Sneha knew Roohi was running a temperature. Rajiv asked Roohi to take the rest of the day off and go home to take rest.
Back home Roohi propped herself in bed but could only toss around from side to side. All her plush toys and soft pillows were collectively failing to bring her any comfort whatsoever. Having tossed around like a burrito on a pan, she finally picked up her blanket and moved over to her brother's room. The bed lay empty as it had for the past couple of months since her only sibling had moved out to pursue a career opportunity. Laying now in his bed, she could not help her mind wander to the endless fights the duo had had around food share, remote control and which movie to watch. The endless times they had spilled popcorn and gotten an earful from their parents for not growing up from their kiddy stage. As much as she acted indifferent, Roohi did miss her bickering and fights with her brother.
While Roohi reminisced her memories from the good old days, a tear rolled down her cheek making her realize how high her temperature had risen from normal. Pulling out the thermometer from the study table drawer she checked her temperature, it was 102.6 F on the digital reader. Wiping her nose, she struggled out of her blanket and patted around the bed to find her phone. Physical weakness tends to bring out the tender vulnerable side in people and Roohi was no exception to it. She typed a text and sent it to her brother, who was just starting his day, sitting miles away in a different time zone. The siblings texted at length as Roohi feels too weak to go for a call. Feeling like a cry baby she sends gibberish voice notes, suppressing her sobs so as to not worry her brother. Then deletes it before he can access the file. Knowing what cheers her up the best, and thanks to modern technology Vihaan (Roohi's brother) gets her comfort food delivered to their doorstep and sends her funny videos to keep company while he gets busy on his work calls.
Looking at her red nose and tired eyes, Roohi's parents ask if she needs anything or have taken any medication. "Main thik ho jaungi subha tak" Roohi beams with her watery eyes as she folds the leaf the way grandma used to, and struggles to tie it around her left arm using a handkerchief. "Idhar aa, la main kardun. Itni badi ho gayi hai, doctoron main baith thi hai, phir bhi iske Maa wale veham nahi gye" Her father muttered under his breathe in distaste as he gave in her childlike faith of following her grandmother's superstition even though she understood medicine. While the parents had birthed her, it was the grandparents that had raised Roohi and for that they were always reminded in her little nuances of everyday life. The grandparents were long gone and yet, in times of vulnerability their daughter followed the superstitions passed on by them instead.
Roohi picked up her food delivery packages which came with a personalized typed note from Vihaan, and closed the door to rest for the night. Sitting inside, she ate her favourite gravy rice and sobbed herself to sleep for the sense of home she so badly craved, the heraeth that crippled her; was not for a place to call home but for people she felt like home with.
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