A Letter to Flavia

A LETTER TO FLAVIA

Dear Flavia,
Hope you are fine and as happy, and beautiful as you looked a year back on the train...from Paris to Zurich....We went our ways without ever thinking that we might not be able to meet again, or else we would have said goodbyes to each other, properly.

Maybe then, I wouldn't be writing this letter after all these years. But life is strange. We experience it every single day, that we cannot control TIME, according to our  own wishes and fancy, yet, we make promises.......of meeting again, seeing each other , or spending lives with each other forever......

 

I knew at that time that “Forever” is a very long time. I knew deep down that maybe it will not be so easy for us to walk on the same path with each other for that long a period because of so many differences between your world and mine....You, from a place which was mine centuries ago.....the Land of the Moors.....Spain.......A land which my forefathers  ruled for centuries and then lost it all as if someone loses every precious thing he ever owned in a single round of poker.........Me, from the land of the "Pure".....a country miles away from yours and with nothing in common except the lost battles of dreams and wishes,.......I knew all that....But I had not imagined that we will never see each other ever again. And when I remember your eyes filled with tears that evening, now  I feel as if you knew it. You knew that we will move ahead in lives on our own respective paths without ever crossing each other…yet we made promises


We didn't care about it at that time.....isn't it. You were in Switzerland to spend 7 days to enjoy a short vacation. And I had come from Dubai to Amsterdam, and from there to Denmark, Denmark to Paris and after spending 7 days in Paris, I was on my way to my fantasy land, Interlaken, the two Swiss lakes I wanted to see since I  was 14. Both of us were like small children who were going to their favorite amusement park after weeks of boring schools and studies. And isn't it ironic that I lived for 7 days in Paris, but never met you there...I had to meet you for the first time on my way to Switzerland on that train. You were wearing white peasant dress with a yellow flower in your hair and you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in any of the countries I visited during my long tour. And when I looked at you and smiled, the way you smiled back.....I can forget my name perhaps, if I live long enough, but I cannot forget that smile, for it is the only thing I managed to bring back with me when I left you there at the station.......But before leaving you there, fate had so much in store for us. So many memories, songs, enchanting melodies, magical evenings  and dreamy nights......We met and came close to each other within hours...We had the same dreams, the same likes and dislikes and both of us were ready to fall in love without thinking of tomorrows.....
Can you forget those 6-7 days?? The love we felt for each other and for everything around us?? The way I used to play with your hair sitting near the serene lakes on the grass...for hours. And how are we ever going to forget that magical night near Interlaken, when I played an old Spanish folk tune on the guitar, and you danced under full moon just for one person, just for me. Your beautiful face glowed under moonlight and when you stopped dancing, tired and out of breath, and put your head on my shoulder,  I kissed your forehead, that moment became the most precious memory of my life...The life of a gypsy....
And then we were back in Paris...I was about to leave for Vienna and from there further towards east-Europe....And you had to go back to your art school in Paris and back to Madrid before summer...  It started raining when we got down from the train...I looked at you and couldn't make out if you had tears in your eyes or it was just the rain drops..  For such a long time, we kept looking at each other, neither of us uttered a single word...Then you hugged me tightly and promised me that we will meet again very soon....You even suggested I stay with you for few more days knowing well that I wont be able to do so, but I felt more love for you simply because you asked.........I kissed your wet cheek and said half-hearted bye.. Last thing I remember is, you plucked the yellow flower from your hair, which had become wet  and even more soft due to rain,  you touched it with your wet lips briefly, which left a red mark on the yellow flower, and gave it to me as a good luck charm for my long journey ahead.......We turned around and started our journeys yet again, this time without each other.....all alone...and feeling empty....When I sat in the train at another station for Vienna, I felt im leaving a treasure , my most precious belonging,  my life there in Paris. I was sad for someone who I had not known until 7 days back. You were not there on the station to say bye to me but I knew that you would be sitting on a bench, near river Seine, crying and praying for me.......And so our story ended just when it began............................................

AND NOW WHEN IM ABOUT TO END THIS LETTER,  I AM THINKING, WHO AM I WRITING IT TO?.....BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO SWITZERLAND, OR VIENNA...I HAVE NEVER MET ANYONE CALLED FLAVIA....AND I KNOW IF I DON'T FINISH THIS LETTER SOON, MY ALARM WILL GO OFF...AND ILL HAVE TO WAKE UP YET AGAIN, NOT IN THOSE DREAMY LANDSCAPES, BUT IN MY  ROOM, GETTING READY FOR ANOTHER DAY'S WORK AT THE OFFICE WITH BORING CLIENTS AND FILES.........AND I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTINUE WITH THIS LETTER UNTIL LATER TONIGHT WHEN IM FAST ASLEEP IN MY BED, IN A HOUSE WHICH IS LOCATED, NOT IN ANY OF THE EXOTIC PLACES SUCH AS SPAIN, OR PARIS OR SWITZERLAND, BUT IN A LIFELESS CITY OF DUBAI........................Its going to be another ordinary day!!
GOODBYE FLAVIA
WITH LOVE
Sam

p.s. The author went to Paris several months after writing this letter...but never found Flavia, or any traces of her