When love is true, nothing else matters.

RADHA

It was on August 15th 2008 that life changed for Radha; or was it yesterday she wondered because the timelines remain a happy blur. It was a long weekend and she was living every bit the single happy-go-lucky life. Having made two terrible life choices in the past, Radha didn't really care about getting into a relationship or even falling in love for that matter. She was happy with her little asides, a fling here, and a kiss there and more than that she was living it up with her friends. Growing up, she was mostly a loner because she couldn't identify with either the humour or the interests of her school and then college friends. She was never a part of a gang or group. When she was older and ready to mingle her husbands, both of them thought otherwise. In her first marriage there was a lot of socialising but they were all her husband's friends, even the ones she knew from her childhood became his friends. If she tried to make friends of her own she got beaten and cursed for it. She ran away from him. In her second marriage, they had no friends because her husband insisted that having friends would ultimately lead to extra marital affairs and divorce. Well, even without friends, she ended up in a divorce. Things were different now. She was finally free and hungry for friendship preferably platonic. She believed that a man and woman could be just friends and she had ample proof of that.

Over that long weekend Radha decided to invite all the friends she had made over the few years of her single life. The idea was to party through the entire weekend. Her friends list wasn't very long but it was enough to fill her small two bedroom apartment to capacity. Plus, friends of friends were also invited and so the list grew. That's how she met Krishna. He was a friend of friends and he walked in through her front door. She was almost 45.

KRISHNA

It was on August 15th 2008 that life changed for Krishna; or does it also feel like it was yesterday she wondered and then decided that it does, for him too. He tells her so every day. Krishna had just moved to India having lived abroad all his life. He was eager to make friends. In his quest he met Ashwin and Ramesh at a coffee shop in a five star restaurant. It was where people hung out after they had danced the night away and some amount of inebriation made friends out of strangers. Ashwin and Ramesh were not only Radha's friends but were also her room mates and had been so for a while now. She had offered them her home as a temporary shelter till they found new jobs and apartments.

Krishna fortunately hadn't made terrible life choices and was single apart from the asides, a love affair there and a fling here etc.. He had a natural charm about him and spoke the most romantic language in the world, French. During his school and college years he had a lot of friends and one proper girlfriend before Radha. Like Radha he wasn't particularly looking for a relationship and was happy to have girlfriends some on a platonic basis and others with whom he was open to exploration.  He loved adventure and the idea of new and infinite possibilities. On the night of the weekend long party, Radha's two roomies went ahead and invited Krishna over knowing that Radha would only be happy to meet new people. She was happy and in retrospect, very happy that he walked in through her front door and into her life. He was 28.

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

The party was fun and in the course of the singing and dancing they kissed. Even today, Radha insists that it was Krishna who kissed her first and Krishna of course insists that the opposite is true. When Krishna invited Radha over to his house that night for a cup of tea she bolted and for the next week found all the excuses in the world not to meet him. She was afraid that he had only one thing on his mind, she assumed like most men did, whereas in his mind he really had only tea and conversation. He loved both tea and talking and most of his love for adventurous exploration with the opposite gender was getting into deep conversation with his wide variety of Chinese teas first and then seeing where that led. How was she supposed to know this?

After the first week went by and Radha saw that he didn't push her, she began to get curious and wanted to take him up on his offer. After all she could refuse him, beat him, scream and run out of the front door if he acted fresh. She was strong enough to do that and he was skinny. Just as she was planning to gather the courage and offer herself up for a visit, he planned a house warming party at the new apartment he had shifted into. He invited everybody and she offered to help with the cooking and shopping and firmly believed that destiny set this all up. Why else would he have a house warming party six months after he had shifted in? Perhaps it was an elaborate ploy to finally get it done, a lustful pursuit. Radha's dramatic mind conjured up all possibilities but since her self defense mechanisms were in place she decided to take the plunge. She rang his door bell; he invited her in politely and actually offered only tea and conversation. It was she who later fell asleep in his bedroom while he decently stayed in the living room until it was time to wake up and welcome the others.

The party was fun and the menu was vegetarian and chicken burgers. There was wine, beer, music and the time came to play the truth or dare game. The idea was to spin an empty bottle and the person towards whom the bottle stopped had to choose to tell the truth when asked a question or perform a dare. The bottle stopped spinning and pointed towards Krishna. He chose to perform a dare and was asked to kiss the girl he was most attracted to, on the lips. He walked round the circle looking at every woman and he stopped, in front of Radha. He knelt down on one knee, drew her close to his chest and kissed her elaborately, passionately and boldly in front of everyone. This time around Radha couldn't bolt. She succumbed to his embrace and kissed him back with equal vigor. This time around she was sure that it was he who kissed her first and he agrees.

When Radha was eighteen years old, Krishna was just two. By the time he finished college, she was already a mother and a first time divorcee. When they met she had begun her pre-menopausal phase. Sometimes, quite often actually, she is referred to as his mother and that irritates both of them but they have learnt to accept it. They can never have children together and they have accepted that too. There are less than a handful of people who understand and accept this relationship; and that doesn’t bother either of them. There have been times when Radha has gasped at the almost seventeen year age difference between them and has questioned her ability at being a responsible adult. It doesn't bother Krishna because he doesn't recognise it as something to pay attention to. Radha has since stopped gasping. His age is exactly at the half way mark between Radha and her daughter and yet she happily calls him her step dad. Radha's son and he are more friends than anything. Krishna came walked into Radha's life and a readymade family. He has had to deal with teenage issues without even having been a father first and he has accepted it and adapted himself perfectly and in every way. Radha's children have done their part in whole heartedly accepting a new man in their mother's life. They listen to him and treat him as though he is their biological father.

In these six years, Radha is looking younger and he older. She has full blown menopause whereas he is in his prime. The age gap has melted into a molten heap of inconsequence. There is passion, friendship, family, laughter, space, and togetherness, everything that Radha desired to have in her life.

Was it in 2008 or was it just yesterday when Krishna met Radha. She thinks about this very often and the answer doesn't matter because the timelines continue to remain a happy blur; for both of them.