Bookm@rk

5:30 in the evening. she had to shut the novel halfway coz she had to hurry her way to the computer class. she started searching for the deep red bookmark to mark the pages she read last. it was her favorite one but had not used it for long. she had forgotten where she had kept it. perhaps it was lost. she herself did not know why she was searching it in this peak hour when she had to move. she kept on searching ....drawers,boxes,suitcases,even old jars and baskets..suddenly she chanced to gaze upon a shoe box,wrapped in purple shiny colour paper and tied with a red ribbon.

she knew what all was there inside...birthday cards,new year cards,handmade invitations for birthdays & parties,friendship bands, Mohr's salt wrapped in butter paper(which they had prepared in the chemistry lab,& which was labled by their teacher as the best one and the perfect one),balloons,a steel pendant & some hand made ornaments and a diary with a lots & lots & lots of colourful stickers...mickey,Minnie,pooh,Flintstones,Dexter,trigger and many more.

she could see the bright red bookmark,inside the diary,they had crafted it.she(pat),Papit & Riput (nicknames of the trio).she opened the page with the bookmark and everything woke up in her mind.

their high school days,their friendship,their loud laughter at nights,the tiffin time sharing,the pajama party before their scattering . she could see PARI digged in different fonts on the school bench,behind copies,inside text books & files and on the steel pendant which Papit had brought for the three of them....PARI(hindi for angel).. stood for PA-Pat, Papit..RI-Riput(these names were also crafted by themselves keeping similarity with their original ones).. their real names had  less significance..not more than mere names on the attendance register and on certificates....they were PARI.

now names have significance.the angel is no more white,no more serene,no more heavenly.perhaps PARI lost her way. memories were here,there,everywhere..

she found her bookmark back,the deep red bookmark.the bookmark which perhaps marked the existence of the memories of PARI.

PARI still lives..........in some hearts....