Dev accidentally stumbled about a hidden wooden jewelery box in his closet. A wrapped up gift and still waiting to be given for the past twelve years. He opened it and found the silver anklets he had bought for his lady love then, Suhana.
It was "Pohela Falgun" or the first day Spring in Dhaka when he first met Suhana. It was usually the start of a festival season at Dhaka university after the first exams. A very pretty day, with the westerners' Valentine's day the following day. It was the day when every single girl wore a yellow saree to symbolize spring. The weather with its mild breeze and low humidity in added to the romance in the air. To think back now, Dev could have sworn the Hilsa fish and rice they served in the dormitory did not smell half as good as he remembered it in his head. After spotting her amongst the freshers, Dev soon started to look for her everywhere in the campus and opportunities to talk to her. He had not seen anyone more simple or charming. She mostly wore pastel colors, and let her hair loose. She had perfectly set curls which showed the roundness of her face and set her dimples apart.
What impressed Dev was that she was the only girl then who took part at the Students Union and who was involved with the communist politics. Her visions like her were simple and idealisti. She was an excellent orator, and a rare combination of a person. They soon started talking, politics, sports and academics. There was an open admiration for each other and an undeclared love. For four years, they spent atleast four hours every day together, growing closer and fully aware of what was coming.
When the time came for Dev to graduate, his parents decided that India is the place to pursue a career or his masters degree. Dhaka was getting congested, growing out of opportunities and they definitely did not want the Moslem bahu they saw coming. After relentless arguing, Dev moved to India and started staying with some of his relatives there.
Now sitting in Somerville, a beautiful suburb in Boston he could not relate to the person he had been back then. Life had gotten to him big time. He had graduated with a PhD from Rockefeller University at New York and married. Marriage had not been easy. They had found it very difficult to adjust with each other. Sometimes just tolerate each other. By the end of the first year of marriage they had had a fight about everything under the sun, from money to where each of them would like to sit at the dinner table. His wife was so different from his first love. She wore make-up to work, always ironed out her curls and did not want to be anywhere near politics. She had graduated with a masters in computer science from John Hopkins and taught at a community college in Boston. She argued with him and demanded he do half his share of work at home.
Hearing his wife's footsteps he came back to reality and hurriedly but the box away. "Old memories huh?" asked Suhana looking at his Dhaka University certificates lying about. "Well you have changed so much too, motu" She remarked taking his thoughts a step further than where he had gotten. He smiled, glad they had grown with each other. It would have been impossible to still love the Suhana he had met eighteen years back. He put the anklets away, it had been returned by his father -in-law once when he tried to send her a gift from the states before their case passed through at both their homes. It would be an ideal gift for their ten year anniversary.
