Sanskaar greeted his birthday with far greater enthusiasm than that which a twenty eighth birthday warranted. He had not been able to go to office the previous day, so he knew that there would be two notes waiting for him, and he looked forward to reading them. He also had a feeling, which he knew to be whimsical, that the note would be special, a sort of a gift for him. The schedule for the day had been cleared, there was a single client meeting at the clients office. So he planned to go to office, read the previous day's note, go to the client's place and from there he would go to meet both Niraj and Anirudh for lunch after the meeting. Post lunch the three of them could go to his office where as usual there would be a cake and the note for that day waiting for him. It was brilliant; he felt, a note to start the day and a note to end it.

It was a simple plan, one which unravelled from the morning itself and one which no number of back up plans could set things on the right track.

The first surprise was that Sujata had cooked breakfast; she could cook well when she wanted to, but Sanskaar was stunned that his mother had managed to plan and execute the same in time to serve them, at their regular time. As the whole family joined for the breakfast of hot puris and aloo matter ki sabzi, which were his favourite, it turned out to be a mini celebration party, especially once Mrs Gaddodia brought out the large dish containing mottichur laddoos, which she had made in a quantity that was enough to feed a small army.

Hence breakfast, which was normally a fifteen minute affair, turned out to be a one hour party, with all the members taking the opportunity to give Sanskaar their gifts and indulge in teasing him, the common wish being that if Sanskaar was lucky, his secret admirer might make an appearance. The good natured ribbing continued in accompaniment to Uttara's singing 'Love, love me do...' which she explained would be what Sanskaar would plead from his admirer, to which Dadi Bua stated that it was probable that the letter writer would do so, for Sanskaar did not appear to be falling in love with her. It was to this jolly mood that Ram contributed by stating that he hoped it was a young woman for Sujata might have difficulty in accepting a daughter in law closer to her age rather than Uttar's. And the highlight was Sujata's retort that she did not care about how old her daughter in law was, as long as she could produce the requisite grandchildren. That earned her a glance of applause from her mother in law, Dadibua hooted her approval, and Sanskaar gritted his teeth before smiling at his mother while his sister wiggled in her chair, laughing at him. The only one who did not make any verbal remark was his grandfather, though it was clear that he was enjoying it too.

Sanskaar grinned and bore with all the jokes being made at his expenses; he knew better than to react, for if he let them know that he was being irked the teasing would simply be doubled. However, it was not easy for him to sit quietly either, for the ticking clock kept reminding him that each passing minute would make it difficult for him to stop by his office before going to the client's place for the meeting.

He heaved a sigh of relief when the breakfast came to an end and he could make his way out. His mind was already considering the available alternatives, including the idea of having the office boy zip into his cabin, collect the note and wait for him at the main reception of the building, so that he could simply slip in and pick it up. He dismissed it as soon as the thought entered his mind, office boys were a source of gossip and there was enough speculation about the notes, he did not want to fuel them by making his desperation evident. He checked his watch to see if he had time to make it to his office in the first place and before he could decide, Uttara made the decision for him, "Bhai, will you drop me off at the art school, it is on the way to your client's office so it would not be out of your way."

"And what would you do if I had to go to office?"

"It does not matter, right? You are now going this way so you can drop me off. Or is it that you plan to postpone the meeting so that you can go to office? That would be interesting."

Sanskaar would have loved nothing more than to wipe off the suggestive grin from Uttara's face but since he could not, he shrugged his shoulders and signed her to follow him, hoping that the meeting would not take long so that he could drive to office and then back to the meeting place for lunch. Unfortunately the client did not share his views on punctuality so the meeting started late and extended far beyond scheduled time which meant that he had to rush to lunch with Niraj and Anirudh.

Lunch was a pleasure for neither of his friends spoke much about the notes or the letter writer and Sanskaar relaxed enough to take the change in plans in his stride, decided to simply enjoy being with his friends. He knew those notes would wait for him and realised that there was no point in acting like a petulant teenager.

His buoyant mood lasted till he stepped into his cabin after the ritual cake cutting had been done, he did enjoy the cake, a triple chocolate treat and he looked forward to a few minutes peace as he read the notes.

The first thing he noted was the absence of the flowers, despite the posies being different, he knew he would recognise Shona's bouquets and could pick hers from a crowd of arrangements. Instead there was a flower pot with a poinsettia plant, a healthy specimen if one judged by its scarlet leaves. He was saved from further contemplation when his Dadibua said, "Do not ask anything, that is the only thing that came and it came yesterday, but there were two notes attached to it. And no, there was nothing today; I have already checked with the main reception and the security too, nothing was delivered today."

Sanskaar took the notes and unrolled them. He kept looking at both the notes in turn, they meant the same, for one was the English translation of the Hindi song, and as he read it, he realised that Shona was a poet too;

_______________________________

He spent a week, one miserable week, a full seven days, where he missed not having the notes to read. He continued his work as usual, he was too well planned to sulk about it when something went wrong but then he could not deny that he was miserable without the notes; he had not realised that he had started to need those notes, notes which a stranger had written and one, about whom he had not bothered to find out. Fifteen days later, he concluded that there would be no more notes and he resigned himself to it and partly regretted not having tried to find out more about Shona. There was no point in chastising himself either; it would be difficult to track down the writer, when there appeared to be no more notes.

He did get some respite from his misery when he utilised Uttara's gift, a hard bound engraved folder with transparent sheets, neatly bifurcated into sections in such a way that each section housed one note with ease. There were enough sheets to file all the three hundred and sixty five or rather the three hundred and sixty six notes. Sanskaar had never been more grateful for his sister's thoughtfulness, he knew that the folder was custom made and must have taken considerable time and effort for Uttara to have it made.

________________________________

Swara, on the other hand, went about her life with a new found confidence; she had completed writing, 'writing,' she exulted, 'an activity that never found favour with her, writing out notes with words that she had to read up. And she had done it without a break, without missing a day, for a full three hundred and sixty five days.'

She could take on the world now.

Three weeks after she had had the last note delivered, she felt confident enough to face her sister, for she knew that she owed Kiara an explanation and an apology. She had also been busy with plans for the business; she was not sure where she had picked up the zeal but she felt confident in making it work. So despite noticing that Kiara was quite worn out with her office schedule, she took a chance of speaking to her sister, "Di, You remember that website plan, where you said we could put in details of our work and samples of my bouquets and see if we can get more orders? I was not sure of it before but I now think I can handle it, I have become comfortable with the net and since I do not have to directly talk to people I can manage. And while we have space to grow more flowers to meet orders and if needed we can also hire more gardeners, we would have to hire at least one more person. I was thinking about Mita; she is familiar with me and so should be easy to train and she loves plants too and that should not be a problem, I hate it when people do not love plants and flowers. Do you remember her?"

Kiara nodded, not saying a word, she was surprised and thrilled that Swara was taking charge of things, but could not help commenting, "well if I had known that you defying me would have such a wonderful result, I would encouraged you to do so much earlier."

"I did not defy you, I only continued against your suggestion that I stop after...you knew, you knew it all these days and yet never said a word?"

Outrage made Swara squeak out the last lines, though it had Kiara laugh, "Oh my sweet sister, you are a stickler for rules, you updated the delivery schedule, both the manual register and the spread sheets, for every day till the three hundred and sixty five days were over. You really do not know how to hide anything and that brings me to the question as to what your true feelings are..."

"Oh di, please do not start off again. I am not falling in love with this SM. First thing I have my feet firmly planted on the ground-"

"I agree with that, which is why I always insist for you being married to a bush or a tree..."

Swara glared, "-and secondly, I am never going to fall in love, it hurts too much. I have seen you, Di, I have heard you cry during the nights when you thought I was asleep. I think even Dida suspects something, which is why even though she is worried about you and your constant refusal to even consider marriage, she does not push you."

Kiara took a sharp breath, one which let Swara realise how close to the truth it was and she continued, not willing to give Kiara a chance to refute it, "It has been almost seven to eight years and it must have ended badly. You do not have to tell me about it if you do not want to, but I know you have not gotten over him and that scares me, Di, that scares me about love. It is frightening that when you love someone you give them the power to hurt you, hurt you for days and years. You are the strong one and you cannot get over it, Di, I would never be able to take that pain. So I am going to be clever and not fall in love. Not that you are not, clever that is, but then..."

Swara stopped, she knew she was rambling and if she continued she would not make any sense, further, she did not want to hurt Kiara anymore by reminding her of what she must be trying to forget. And she knew that Kiara was still hurting, for she changed the topic to the business plans that Swara had.

_____________________________

Anirudh and Niraj had enough of Sanskaar being desolate, though he did not show it, they had been friends long enough to know each other quite well and two months after the last letter had arrived; they met up in Anirudh's flat. As the friends relaxed over cups of coffee, the topic stayed close to what they planned to do with the mysterious writer who had apparently waltzed in and out of Sanskaar's life.

It was Anirudh who had the brainwave; he took out the phone, pulled out the photographs of the bouquet he had taken during Sonal's reception and mailed them to her father, with a short message. Though they were relieved that the reply came almost immediately, Anirudh who had called Kedarnath Singh, did not appear happy, in fact he appeared to be uncomfortable too, as he listened to what Mr Singh had to say and once he finished the call, he spoke out, trying to be careful about what he had to say,

"okay, we really hit the jackpot with that, he recalled it immediately for it seems that Sonal had thrown a huge tantrum, his words, not mine, insisting that they be engaged for doing up the flower arrangements, which he refused for he did not think them to be capable of handling such a huge order. Sonal still sulks about it so there is no way he would forget. So though he remembers the name, he does not have any other information about them, but he did say that he could ask Sonal about the address. However, before we go ahead, you guys should know the name, it is Kiara's Kreations'.

As their expressions darkened, Anirudh added, "could be a coincidence but then it is your call, it has been..."

Sanskaar nodded even as his jaw tightened, all his interest in finding out about Shona evaporating, "...eight years and it is like her shadow never leaves us, do you think she is the one behind the notes too?"

There was silence, as all of them thought the same and hoped it was not so, a silence broken when Niraj made his reluctant contribution, "I am not so sure, from what I recall, Kiara was always into numbers so she might not be Shona, however, I would prefer us to be cautious, anyone related to Kiara could turn out to be like her and cause the same heartbreak."

Anirudh agreed. Kiara had destroyed one of them, so that meant she hurt all of them; her name haunted them till this day and if Shona was even remotely connected to Kiara, she was to be approached with caution; they had enough heartbreak to last a lifetime. Yet they agreed that it was possible Shona might not be Kiara and that the only way they could find out was to get in touch with Kiara's Kreations, which posed another problem since they could not get either the address or the contact number, for Sonal was travelling abroad with her husband, her father promised to find out the next time Sonal called, but they knew that is was unlikely to get any further information from Kedarnath Singh.

Sanskaar did not press further, Kiara's name had dampened his enthusiasm though he was reluctant to let give up the idea of finding about Shona. Finally Niraj made a decision and taking a chance, decided to search if there was a website for Kiara's Kreations hoping that it would give them a lead and a clue.

The website was simple and though it showcased a number of the sample bouquets, it gave out only a few details but considering that it listed Swara Bose as the sole proprietor along with the address and contact number, it was deemed sufficient for Sanskaar and his friends.

Anirudh made the calls and took an appointment, sounding professional and curt. He was being true to his objective, which had been to call up and enquire if Kiara's Kreations would be able to supply quirky arrangements for a photo shoot, which was also a fact, he could do with flowers for props.

___________________________________

Sanskaar had taken his time to plan it out, since Anirudh had outlined only a tentative plan, he took his time to work out his strategy, which considering the limited information he had, was a bare outline. But it did not perturb him, he was a master strategist and could make plans and revise them too, at a moment's notice. However, he took advantage of his near anonymity to take in the house and its surroundings.

It was a small house, an old one but one that seemed to entice visitors and exuded warmth. The large veranda was filled with flowering plants; bright gold to deep red, sparkling white to pale pinks, dark purple to rich orange, the pots were bursting with colour. He did not know the names of half of the plants and they were randomly placed resulting in a chaotic mass of hues and shades, heavily scenting the air around. And the sunflowers; he had never seen such large ones, deep velvet brown surrounded by rows of brilliant yellow.

It was thus on a summer's day, or rather evening, surrounded by colours and scents, with the soft warm breeze wafting around them that Sanskaar first saw Swara as she stepped out of the veranda when she noticed him at her gate. As she walked towards him, Sanskaar tried to take in her features; she could be called pretty but for the scowl that adorned her face and despite the fact that she was wearing mud streaked clothes.

__________________________________

Swara had been in a bad mood the whole day.

Her newly joined assistant, Mita, was a good worker, make that very good, when she put her mind into the work. Mita loved plants, had a good knowledge of them and was eager to learn more. The catch was that while things worked out for the best when she put her mind to gardening, for more often than not, Mita's heart was focused on her boyfriend and it irritated Swara. Swara did not grudge Mita's love life but was infuriated when Mita's dreams and fancies interrupted her work and upset her schedule.

Swara rarely had a schedule and did what ever work she felt was needed and it was invariably that when she needed Mita the most, Mita would decide to skip work. That morning, Swara had woken up and decided to sow the seeds for her summer flowers; crown daisies, corn marigold and gazianas, a plan which had been ruined when Mita had not turned up and which Swara had continued to do so, too stubborn to change her mind. She was been tired and was not in any mood to meet Anirudh Sharma or his assistant who had taken an appointment and was now quite reluctant to give a tour of her garden.

She was polite when he introduced himself as Sanskaar Maheshwari, 'as though he as some celebrity that she would recognise him the moment he told her his name'. She realised she was right when there was a flash of disappointment on his face that she had not recognised him, which somehow made her gloat. And when he insisted that he would like to see her nursery right away, she bristled; hers was a garden where she nurtured plants, not a place where the plants were planted only to be sold off. She bit her tongue; it would do no good scaring off potential clients, especially those that promised a profitable contract even if they were too idiotic to not know the difference between a garden and a nursery.

Swara grimaced as Sanskaar had followed her to her garden; it was her private refuge and she disliked anyone entering it, more so because she was convinced they would trample on her flower beds or worse, try to pluck the flowers. She could see that Sanskaar was careful as to how he walked through the narrow paths but was not in a mood to be generous, in fact his careful walk only infuriated her further. She muttered under her breath, 'I wonder what Sanskaar Maheshwari thinks of himself. Saunters in as if he owns the place, wearing shining shoes and a white linen shirt. Who wears white? The next thing would be that he pulls out his white handkerchief, which would have his initials SM embroidered in one corner. Just what I need to see, initialled...'

She connected the dots and at the moment it clicked, shock held her mind; Sanskaar Maheshwari was SM, he was the man to whom she had written those notes, a man whom she had never thought she would meet, his expectation to be recognised now made sense. As shock changed to horror, she whirled around and Sanskaar, who was close behind her as they passed the open shed, took the brunt when her elbow connected with his ribs. The suddenness winded him and he reached out for the rickety table beside the pathway, in an attempt to stop himself from slipping.

It was a mistake. The table was an old one, had four legs of slightly different lengths and shortest of the legs rested on a brick, in a bid to even out the lengths. It was also the table that Swara used to prepare the mulch for her seedlings and where she would transplant the tiny seedlings into tiny mud bags. Sanskaar went down like a sack of potatoes and Swara screamed as the freshly prepared mulch rained on Sanskaar and a few of the mud bags too landed on him.

When he could make out exactly what she was screaming about, he shook his head, trying to make up his mind about her. He decided that Shona, or rather Swara Bose, was a bumbling, clumsy and confused woman, there was no doubt about it. She was dressed in old jeans and a blouse , both of which were faded to an indecipherable shade, her hair was put into a bun which needed multiple pins to hold it in place. And currently she seemed to be cursing him. Yet he could not deny that she was charming.

He smiled at her, rose up as gracefully as he could, salvaged the mud bags as far as he could before Swara swatted his hands away. He then tried to dust off the dirt and gave up the attempt when he realised that brushing the shirt only seemed to make the mud stick to the fabric.

Since he could not offer to shake hands, not when they were covered in grime, he smiled at her again and said, "Enchanted to meet you too, Miss Bose."

____________________________________

That is how and what happened When the Earth met the Sky - a long winding narrative but I hope it held your interest till the end. Do let me know your view and opinions, I would love to know about them all.

And if you are wondering what would happen next, it is easy to guess, especially when the next update is "The Earth Dreams of Love"

Love,

Nyna