With a bright smile he shook my hand to say “Hi Rajesh.” Their conversation sarted;Karthik: How long it has been Amudha, it has almost 5 years whe...n I met you and Ravi.Mom: “Yes Karthik. How is your wife, and your kids ?”Karthik: “They are fine, and they are in Chennai.”Mom: “You have changed a lot Karthik, clean shave now, last time you used to have a big beard, me and Ravi used to tease calling you “Devadas.” Now look at you, you have turned out to be a handsome man.”Karthik make eye contact. I tried to convince her that things should get better but she was not agreeing. That day passed by watching a movie on her laptop.We went to sleep after having dinner from outside. We did not talk much as she still appeared to be sad. I woke up in the middle of the night and went to her room to check if she was okay. She was very much awake and I asked why she had not slept.To which she mentioned that she is not aware why she is not able to sleep either. I sat next to her on the bed. She asked. God, that perfume!“Give me fifteen minutes,” I told her. I had to at least change from my dirty work clothes. Maybe shower the stink off, too. Handling automotive parts all day is not clean work. Even if they are mostly boxed – there’s still sometimes handling the customer’s old parts to find a part number.I was showered, shaved, teeth-brushed, and dressed in my nicest slacks and sports jacket in fourteen minutes. A record, I was sure. And before I left the bedroom, grabbed that remote out of. The world was mimicking our emotions, forcing us to listen, forcing us to feel its mighty power. The rain enveloping us still, was saturating our skin with its life and enflamed us even more. We frantically yet ever so slowly pulled the bindings of our clothes from our bodies and were now laying in the comfort of the hammock as life started out, vulnerable and naked, no hiding. The cold rain brought with it warmth, a release from fear, a feeling of life and an awaking to something more than.