Eight years back, right after I got married to an arranged husband, within fifteen days of tying the knot, we went to Seattle – the city where Deepayan was based in at that time. He chose British Airways and the route was via Heathrow so that Seattle would be our first landing in the USA. Anticipating that we would have more luggage than an ISI Kolkata newlywed guy would like, the plan was made this way to avoid domestic flight travel within USA. It took us almost 23 hours to reach his lake-facing studio apartment in Seattle from Kolkata.
I was wrapped in tiredness from the long journey which made it easier to land in an unknown apartment, with an unknown person, in an unknown city, in an unknown country. There was no expectation and no contemplation but just giving in to the situation.
I remember we had reached in the evening and after a bath we had gone out to get dinner from a small road side shop called Eastlake Teriyaki. I heard Deepayan ordering something which did not register because my senses were blurred by the cold and numbness. The man on the other side of the counter said “to go?” and Deepayan nodded. I remember I had asked what the phrase meant as it was new to me then!
I don’t remember when and how I went to sleep that night. When I woke up probably at four in the morning it was still dark outside and the only sense that was triggered was the smell of a brilliant coffee. I turned and looked up and found Deepayan reclined beside me with a steaming great smelling cup of coffee.
I woke up that morning to nothing…no work, no job, no planning, no life, no known emotions, but just a cup of coffee. The first sip prepared me for the unknown and I sank into it. How I wish I could wake up to that feeling of “unknown” just one more time!
Sunny Side Up 