Hope Believe Magic

The first Sun Rise

Ananya changed into something comfortable and sat on her bed with the laptop. She placed her phone beside her and started working on her final planning for the shoot. She noticed her phone blink. She looked up and smiled looking at the message. "Is 5am too early to pick you up. We can watch the sun rise and then proceed. My jeep is all cleaned up and filled up ☺️" She smiled and answered, "Sounds perfect 👍 Does bun butter jam sound good for breakfast?" He responded with a "Bun and Sun sound good 😉" She giggled but sent a message, "Mokka thaangala 🙄 😂 GN now." He answered, "GN maa. Take care." He placed the phone beside him and smiled to himself.

He quickly packed his things before heading off to bed. Shantanu was a man of his words and was at her gate at sharp 5am. Ananya quickly knocked the door of her parent's bedroom and whispered, "Bye darlings." A few seconds later the door opened and AK stood there. His hair was a mess and his shirt unbuttoned half way down. Ananya took a peek into the room to find Shivu fixing her nightie and tying up her hair before marching towards the door. Ananya giggled and said, "No extra curricular activities kiddos. Be good." She just managed to escape Shivu's smack while AK gave his wife a quick peck on her cheek and winked at his daughter before hugging her. Shivu hugged Ananya but glared at AK saying, "Ava thaan arivu ketta thanama edhayo olararana neegalum ava kooda serndhu.... Anu kutty Jaagardhaya poitu vaa da." Ananya kissed her mom and dad quickly and said, "Naalikki vanduduven. Rendu perum chamatha aduchukaama irungo, ok? Naan front door a lock panikaren. You guys go back to bed."

AK and Shivu stepped out to the balcony that was attached to their bedroom. Ananya jumped into the Jeep and looked up to wave at them before they drove off. AK and Shivu stayed there until the Jeep disappeared out of sight and then AK wrapped his arm around her leading her back to the bedroom.

Ananya stepped into the Jeep with a chirpy "Hi" and he reciprocated by imitating her. She frowned and said, "Unakku onnu theriyuma? I am not at all a morning person but I didn't want to be rude. Adhu thaan ok sonnen but enakku ippo kooda thookam kalayale." He smiled and said, "Seri Appo nee thoongu. I will wake you up to see the most beautiful sight ok?" She agreed and promptly extended the seat to turn around and go off to sleep. The breeze helped and it barely took her a couple of minutes to doze off. After a while, Ananya woke up realizing the Jeep had stopped. She found the driver's seat empty. She quickly raised the seat to sit up. The vision in front of her was gorgeous and something she had never seen before. They were at the beach witnessing the sun just rising. Shantanu was busy capturing this beautiful scenario on his camera. The water was glistening like gold. It looked as though the sun was peeking from under the sea.

Ananya was gaping at the beauty. The color of the sand was quickly turning orange. She stepped out of the Jeep and walked towards Shantanu saying, "Wow, this is absolutely gorgeous. Thank you for introducing me to sun rise." Shantanu smiled behind the camera and mumbled a "you're welcome". She plopped herself on the bonnet of the car, watching the sun rise. Shantanu turned around and took a few clicks of her. After a few more minutes, they headed again grabbing coffee on the way. While sipping her coffee, she said, "Seri Unna pathi konjam sollu. Shantanu Bannerjee ku eppidi ivaalo nalla Tamil pesa varudhu?

He looked at her and flashed a smile which gave her butterflies in her stomach. He cleared his throat and said, "Enga Appa Shoumitro Bannerjee, an army officer, who was in Chennai during Tsunami. He came along with his rescue squad to help the people. My mom, Meenakshi, ran an NGO and she and her team were helping those who suffered in the Tsunami. For dad, it was love at first sight. Mom took her time. They worked for months together to restore several house holds. Finally, Amma fell in love with Baba too. Both the families were against their marriage so they went to the court and registered their marriage. They started from scratch. When mom was pregnant with me, dad was summoned to go to Kashmir. He died a martyr. My mom raised me as a single mother. She never remarried. She says that there is no man on this earth who could love her or look at her like my Baba did. She says that he had the most romantic eyes." He looked up at Ananya who literally had tears in her eyes and in trembling voice, she said, "I would love to meet your Amma. Wow! Such a solid woman."

He smiled and nodded, "Yes she is wonderful." He realized Ananya was a little emotional so he said, "By the way, Amma says that my eyes are just like Baba's." Then he looked at Ananya and said, "The most romantic, you know." Ananya instantly smiled.

Brinda Subramanian