A Letter from Guddu: A Journey Through Our Memories

A Letter from Guddu (A Journey Through Our Memories) Anyway, my poetry is simply a collection of lines without much poetic sense. So instead of writing a poem, I decided to write you a letter. This letter is from Guddu. This letter is not filled only with big surprises in our life. It also contains many small and simple moments. But I believe every one of these moments will give a feeling similar to how our legs feel in a dry riverbed when the first monsoon water gently touches them. Please just try to feel these memories… don’t think about anything else. It is difficult to arrange memories perfectly. So I decided to arrange them based on the places that roughly mark the timeline of our life together. ________________________________________ Salem – Where Everything Began They say the first impression is the best impression. When I saw you for the first time in your home, I immediately felt something special. Your smile made a very good impression on me. That moment was enough for me. I didn’t even look at the next girl. My soul simply said, “She is the one.” Even today, I believe that was one of the best decisions in my life. You may not believe it… but it is absolutely true. During our engagement, you looked like an angel. Your face from that day is still very clear in my memory. Of course, it is the second best picture in my life — after my screen saver. After the engagement, we sometimes travelled in the same bus. Most of the time you travelled from Salem to Bangalore, while I travelled from Salem to Chennai via Bangalore. One day in the saree shop, with a little shyness, I asked for your mobile number. Once, you were trying to keep the house clean, so you threw away the bill for my shirt in Kannentheri… haha… I still remember your innocence when that happened. For our wedding, I gave you a poetry gift. You may be the only person in the world who accepts me as a poet. And I will never forget the first birthday gift you made for me after our marriage. You spent so much time and dedication making it. That gift was very close to my heart. ________________________________________ Bangalore – Our Shy Beginnings I still remember the day we sat in front of McDonald’s in a mall. With a little hesitation, I asked your permission to hold your hand. Once, I travelled by train just to surprise you on your birthday. You were really surprised and didn’t know what to do… actually you did know what to do… you hit me! Our first movie together was Rajini’s Petta. That was our first cinema memory together. You also took me to Nandi Hills. That trip remains a very memorable one. And honestly… we probably stayed in almost every OYO room near your PG during those days. ________________________________________ Chennai – Growing Together When I was submitting my PhD thesis, you helped me a lot. My PhD supervisor always treated you specially and addressed you respectfully as “Madam.” The first time we went to the beach in Chennai, I didn’t even touch the water. You couldn’t believe that. We also used to roam around IIT Madras on the same cycle. I showed you many parts of the campus, and we even spotted deer together. Those memories are always sweet to me. I also invited you to our wedding from my hostel room. You smiled at me and said you would come. ________________________________________ Nainital – Our Honeymoon During our honeymoon, we visited many beautiful places. But one moment always stays in my memory — the place where you were sitting and gently swinging on a net in the lawn of a building on top of the mountain. I can never forget that moment. ________________________________________ Canada – Learning Life Together When we were travelling to Canada, you comfortably slept across our two seats on the flight. But after we reached there, the cold weather shocked us so much that within a week we were thinking of returning to India within two days. It was difficult to surprise you for your birthday there, but I somehow managed to get you a painting set. Sometimes I tried to cook rice, sambar, rasam, and poriyal before you woke up. In Canada, we learned many things together. We learned cooking. We learned parenting. We learned how to manage life together. I loved muffins, and you loved cheesecakes from the Canadian Superstore. We had a very nice friendship too. I remember once we dropped Shuba at her room and then went back again after five minutes just to appreciate her good heart. We also learned how to live with a minimal salary. You even cut down my Tim Hortons tea habit. That small change really helped us save money and still helps us manage our expenses well even today. You introduced me to many English movies. I mostly watched them in Tamil dubbed versions. Usually, you would fall asleep in the middle of the movie. We watched Pandian Stores together… and somehow it is still going on in our life. You were also like my personal assistant during my postdoc job. You drafted so many good emails. And sometimes you treated m