Silence of the heart

On the day of arrival, Karan stood beside the exit gate with a parking gate counter in the proximity. It was late in the evening, there was pale gloominess around other than the overcast sky outside the basement area. Karan had been waiting for his wife, who would join him after using the rest room. 

There were voices in the corridor, couple of women parking attendants briefing about the cars that were parked in the parking zone. He was drawn into their conversation. He made no intention to look towards the women, but just imagined them come to life from their voices.

One of the woman attendants, tired from the day's work seemed eager to hand over the change of shift duty to her colleague, who had just arrived. As the tired sounding woman interacted with her colleague, she spoke about the number of cars that were still in the parking lot. 

She told her to keep her eyes wide open as the cars come in,

"Its your eyes that reveal the nature of the car".

Karan who had been overhearing the conversation take place in the background, decides to turn around. With his eyes closed, he slowly turns around to face the talking women. He had been listening to the entire act all the while. As he slowly opens his eyes, he sees a woman standing at the parking gate counter and another one preparing to leave. 

His vision is a bit hazy as he clears his eyes.

He had imagined a tired sounding, sad woman, and was startled by the pleasant looking plump lady, full of energy with a bag over her shoulder and ready to leave. 

Why had he thought of the lady as sad and tired? Must be because she was longing to get home after the long day's work. But here she was, brimming with energy. 

As the other woman who joined for work with a frown on her face, seemed to lack the enthusiasm. She had her eyes towards the number plate of the cars that were lining up to register the parking ticket. Karan thought for a while on the words that the plump woman had for her colleague - trust your eyes with the true nature of things around you.

A hand landed on his shoulders, it was his wife Naina who was ready to accompany him towards the exit gate. Naina was deaf and dumb. They were returning back from the neighboring city where Karan had an eye operation. He had been blind earlier and this operation gave him a whole new meaning to the world around him. 

Naina, who Karan had imagined until now with his sense of touch (neither had he seen her nor heard her), was standing right near him. The comforting hands that served him over the years was visible to him.

Karan looked into her deep eyes that was filled with joy as they rushed towards the exit gate. Both of them where anxious to get home and meet their young child. He would be seeing his child for the first time. 

As they reached home, Karan with his new found knowledge embraced his child, while Naina stood beside with tears of joy in her eyes. But neither of them spoke a word - the child was not of talking age and Naina never spoke. But today they looked into each others eyes, as words overflowed.

They had been earlier living in a world where vision did not converse with sound. Now Karan could see his deaf-mute wife and child. His heart beat raced faster as he longingly held his wife and child. 

The communication gap had been reduced, yet they were feeling rather queerish. 

While the trio embraced this moment, they seemed content with what they had been used to. It was that something which still had not changed - the silence of the heart.

Well, Karan had a realization - he had adapted to understand his deaf-mute wife with his blindness. It was the language of the heart that he understood better, beyond visualization. He could interpret the heart that beat silently. When he got his sight back, he felt misplaced among words - the words that his eyes spoke and which was not spoken verbally. 

As Karan took a moment, he cherished this realization of his. He then slowly closed his eyes, the silence now felt golden.