11:11

 ‘11:11’, she texted me.

I might have briefly pondered the meaning of it before I realized she had texted me the time of the day.

‘Okay?’

‘If you observe 11:11 on a day, you will observe it in the coming days as well.’

That was an interesting comment. Not something I believed right away. Interesting, nevertheless.

‘11:11’, she texted me the next day. Is it becoming a thing now?

Twice every day the clock shows us four ones. That day, my eyes caught sight of the second time the time was eleven past eleven.

‘11:11’ I texted her.

It was becoming a thing now. So were we.

Exactly eleven months ago, we were proclaimed as one by our family and friends and the society alike. And throughout the period, I cannot remember any single day where we have been away from each other. Due to the pandemic induced lockdown induced work from home, we have had the privilege to spend most of our time together.

Such levels of close interaction expose a lot of our shades to the other person. Some, they may find amusing. Some, they might find off putting.

Several of her interests made me amused and awestruck  - be it the cute stuffed crochet toys, the groovy songs of Blackpink that makes you tap your feet, or the adorable mini houses carved up from cardboards. And there are other interests that I have not really comprehended - her love to watch K-dramas that I find cheesy, her excitement at the Pokemon game (All I see is you throwing a ball and catching funny animals again and again and again), or even her dislike of raisins. I am pretty sure she has her own list of things that she does not understand in me - my liking for movies like Before Sunrise or Midnight in Paris (she’d rather take a course in Philosophy), my following of football (All she sees is grown adults running behind a ball again and again and again), or my general aversion to being around animals.

And there are things where we stand at different levels and are working towards building a bridge.

As one year nears completion, I would gladly say that familiarity hasn’t bred contempt. As more years go down the lane, I hope to keep it that way. To us.