Dear Juliet

“God! I am bloody tired of it and I can’t do it again” I said as I stomped into my room. My grandmother looked up from her book and then resumed reading. That was her way of saying, “pour it out, I am listening”. So I went on, “I have spent an entire week on writing this story, and now my prof says, it isn’t good enough, u got to add some spice” I said with a poor mimicry of him.

Gran let me whine for some more time before she put down her book, took off her glasses and said, “Aditi, that’s what happens when you major in English. You have to do better than others. And your professor is a very nice man. Excellent at pointing out ones mistakes in matter of minutes. You had a medal for him when he was all praises for you; don’t blame him now if he wants you to be the best”.

I raised my eyebrows, “since when you signed a pact with the Nazis?”

“They bribed me with cookies” she said with a wink.

“But you are diabetic!”

“All the more reasons to go for the cookies”

“You’re wicked!”

And then we burst out laughing. Gran was the coolest person in the world. Heck! She was funkier than most chicks my age. She always knows a solution to everything. I was the luckiest granddaughter in the universe and god sent her to me as permanent blessings to all my woes. The day she and grandpa came to live with us, ahh! Bless that day.  Grandpa was the total opposite of my gran. He was sophisticated and serious while gran was just a teenager in an aged body. She never looked old. She had that timeless beauty about her. She looked like royalty. Now, coming back to the present scenario,

“So what had you written about?” asked Gran.

“I wrote a love story about a Dear John letter( a letter written by a woman to her beloved in the army who was posted at war saying that she was moving on with her life)… with a happy ending”

“Oh! Writers have a hard time digesting successful love stories. But do you also know apart from Dear John letters, there is another kind of interesting letter too. It’s called “letters to Juliet”

“Really? What are they about?”

“There is a community of women who call themselves “secretaries to Juliet. Women from all over the world write letters to Juliet saying about how they lost their beloved to the situations and seeking advice”

“Wow! That’s interesting”

“But you know you can always talk to sheetal about writing ideas”

Sheetal Gran was my Grany’s so called best friend. She was the only thing I didn’t like about Gran. Sheetal Gran always had some sort of authority over Gran and one could see it. I hated it.

“Please…. I may not be a writer but I am definitely not seeking help from your author friend”

“Honey! Saying those things doesn’t become you. And you don’t know what she has done for me”

“You know what, enlighten me! Today I have all the time in the world”

“If you insist… but before that I need to tell you something. Don’t judge me. Just listen”

I mocked zipping my lip and throwing the invisible key. Also I crossed my heart.

“It all began in the summer when I had just turned 19…” she paused and looked at me, “you are looking at me like I could never have been 19”

“No... I was just imagining what a bombshell you would be back then. I mean you’re still one now”

“Silly girl, anyway, that summer I and sheetal both had turned 19 and we wanted to announce to the world that we belonged to the “ladies” category now. We could taste freedom in the air”

“That was also the summer when I had my first love.”

“Whoa! This is a love story?”

“You know I can’t continue if you keep interrupting me. And what did you expected it to be? She saving me from a fire? Sometimes I wonder if you’re actually my granddaughter. Now keep quiet and listen. You are killing my buzz”

I showed my teeth but decided to keep shut.

She continued, “I fell in love when I saw him in the army hospital for the first time. My dad was in the army so, we could avail the benefits of the army hospital. That man looked like a superhero in his uniform. His height, his short cropped hair, his arrogance and his care. It all took my breath away. He was a fresh recruit, but his actions promised an ambitious career. He didn’t even notice me standing there. It was a little insulting as well as challenging at the same time. You know what I am talking about.”

“The second time I visited the hospital to get my reports, he was there but this time he talked to me. If I said his appearance blew me away, then I must say his personality knocked me dead. He was a gentleman and very very well behaved unlike most guys his age.”

“The third time we met was at a party. And that was the first day he gave me a compliment. After that day, we met frequently. I thought it was coincidence which I later found out was a conspiracy by Sheetal. She was my best friend. I told her everything. And bless her, I was asked on a date by him after few “accidental meetings”. Before I knew, we were in love. And he admitted to it, after I told him that I loved him”

“You told him???? He didn’t say it first?” I asked Gran with wide eyes.

“What are we? Living in 10^th century? And you promised to keep shut.”

“Okay… but still…” from the look of her face I could tell she was waiting on me to shut my mouth. When I did, she continued,

“The love that has passionate beginnings has ardent endings. The motion of events started when he was transferred to a site of war. I remember the last day we met before he left. He held my hand and promised me that he will come back, for me. I was his life. And then he asked a promise in return. He asked me if I would write to him”

“And what did you say?” I asked… as I couldn’t stop myself.

“I told him, “Everyday till you comes back to me””

“Wow! Your life was like a movie” I exclaimed.

“You have no idea!” she winked and continued, “So I wrote a letter to him every day. And gave it to Sheetal to post. I had also asked him to write to me at sheetal’s address. You see, my mom was very strict. Through his letters I came to know what war actually was. It sounded as if everyone wanted it to end but couldn’t. Wars can break the toughest of men, like him. He often talked of coming back, that it was too much blood, but only of the army but also civilians. I gave him what little consolations I could.”

“He couldn’t write frequently, but when any of his letters reached me, I would read it till it got crumpled. Sheetal always warned me that I was playing with fire. She knew we loved each other, but she also knew that my mom would kill me if she ever found out”

“So… I guess she found out?” I asked hoping to be proven wrong.

“Yes she did.” Gran said with a smile. “It had been past two years since he was posted outside. And mom caught me red handed when I was reading his letter that I had received after a long duration of two months. It was a 12 page letter.”

“That man could write! I tell you he is the one” I told her and then I suddenly realized what I had just said. She hadn’t married that man. She married Grandpa.

“When my mom found out, she took the matter straight to my dad. I knew it was over then. After two days, my dad called me and told me, ‘I hadn’t expected this from you. You are to stop it. Starting right now. Forget him’. That wasn’t a conversation. It was a command. And I knew I had to obey.”

“When I told this to sheetal, she asked me one thing, ‘do I love him that much that I can risk everything?’ and then I told her that I planned to spend my life with him. But she knew I had an order to follow.”

“I didn’t write any more letters to him for six months. He wrote four. Sheetal wouldn’t let me read those. In those six months, I tried to write my “letter to Juliet”. I wanted suggestion from someone who didn’t know me and I wanted to confess about the sin I was going to commit. And one fine day, sheetal came up and asked me to write my own ‘Dear John letter’.”

“And then she sent it… and you call this saving your life? She ruined your chance of marrying the one you loved.” I was so furious that I was trembling. I was right. She controlled her life… then and now.

“Honey, you haven’t heard the best part of the story yet… I told you not to judge”

“Yeah and the best part includes you marrying grandpa and then falling in love with your husband? No offence but you would be a lot happier if you didn’t listen to her then.”

“Yes. She posted those, but to the same person. And that person ended up being your grandpa.”

“WHAT!!!”

“Told you! You would be surprised. He realized what was going on and immediately came back. We eloped and married.” She said with a triumph smile.

“How could he come just like that? Moreover grandpa is a doctor.”

“Silly baby, he resigned, and they do have doctors in the army”

“You know I thought you were wicked, but now I know what wicked is, Sheetal gran.”

“Am I listening you praising me?” Sheetal gran entered the room.

“Yeah” I said.

“Well I had to save Snow White from the clutches of her Stepmother”

I looked at Gran, “YOU had a STEPMOTHER? You got to tell me that story too”

And we all laughed.