The woods are lovely, dark and deep

*********************Disclaimer - All characters are fictional****************

She was always tempted to wander off into the woods while visiting her grandparents in Simla. "Dont run out in the woods by yourself, Suj, its not safe" her ajji would caution her all the time. But she loved running through the wet grass, through the myriad trees imagining herself to be one of the Famous Five characters, out on an expedition. She wished she had friends to go with. But if she couldnt find any, she would still go by herself.

One such day, she had strolled too far away from her house. .......
She comes across a clearing and right in the middle stands a small shed from whence she could hear the sounds of metal. Curious and eager, she tiptoes to the open door of the shed and peers. She sees a bare chested man working and welding inside. He was sweating profusely with his brows puckered and working feverishly on the piece of metal in his hands. She stands there watching him work with wonder in her eyes. After a few minutes, the man looks up and finally catches sight of this young girl in a frock and sandals standing at the door. He smiles at her and shouts "Welcome! What brings you here, little girl?" . "Um, I stopped to see you work" she says. "Thats great, would you like to sit down and watch? I have a pretty stool that I just made yesterday. You can be the first to test it for me." and he moves to the back of the shed and pulls out a beautiful metal carved stool much like the moda her ajji had in jute back home. He places it on the floor with a perfunctory dusting with his handcloth. "What are you making?" she asks.

"Well, my girl, Swamy sir has asked me to make him a bench for his garden. THats what I am making." he says. "Can you make small things? she asks. "Small things? Like what my dear?". "Like a doll." she says. "Ohhh, you are a funny girl. I dont usually make dolls with metal but I could make you something small" he offers. "oh" she says and sits silently while he goes back to working with his furnace and hammer. He watches her as she sits silently, swinging her legs while watching him work. "So, what can I make for you?" he repeats.

"Whatever you like." she says and continues to watch. He walks up to a small cupboard and pulls out some candy. He offers the candy to her and says "If you can come back tomorrow, I'll have something for you. But I have to lock the shed and go for lunch now. You should get back home too, its getting late and your folks will be worried. Do you know how to get back?" "Oh, yes I will come back tomorrow. I can find my way back now. Bye" she says cheerfully and hops out of the shed. He waits for a while till she is out of sight to shut the door and walk away.

"I'm back" she announces as she enters the shed. She is in a pretty pink dress with sandals. "Nice to have you back, little girl." says he. "So do you have my present?" she asks eagerly. "Of course, I do" and he pulls out a red cloth bag from his dhoti pocket. Out comes a miniature metal photo frame carved with beautiful floral patterns. "Ohhhhh" she gushes as her hands try to grab the work of art. "Its so pretty!" she announces after caressing the tiny photo frame in her tiny hands. "I'm glad you like it" says he as his face glows with happiness , satisfaction and pride. "But what do I do with it?" she asks worriedly, as though he might take the precious gift back since she didnt know what to do with it.

"Oh, my girl" he says, "you know, when you grow up into a pretty young woman, a knight in shining armour is going to come across you, lost in the woods, like this. He's going to sweep you off your feet to his land far away. You will make his life for him and when his job makes him go away for long periods of time, what better way to save your love's picture, than in a metal photo frame? You will look at it and be cheered while you wait for his return."

"Yayyyyy!" screams she with joy while clutching the little cloth bag which holds her precious gift. "All right, you run along, my dear, I have work to do now" says he. "Ok, I have to go back, ajja said I have to take the train back home to Delhi soon. But thank you so much, I love it!" says she as she hugs him tightly and runs away. He waits once more to watch her disappear behind the trees.

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"Ma'am" can we take the chest away" asked the burly guy pointing towards the oak chest sitting in the middle of the empty room.

Sujatha turns around, rudely awakened from her reverie. Sifting through the chest had taken her on a joy ride on a time machine back when she was a little girl. Her hands recall holding something small in them. She looks at her right hand and eyes the small metal photo frame. It was intact, in the same red cloth bag that had come along with it, many years ago. She could recall the faint smell of metal even now from the bag. That was 40 yrs ago when she had only been 10. Then she had not known how her life would turn out. Heck she hadnt even known then that it would be 40 yrs later that she would hold the frame in her hands again. Sujatha had grown up, studied till she had a doctorate in bio-technology, an emerging field , in those days. She had moved abroad and had lost track of time when she was immersed in research projects.

She was one of the lucky few who kept getting one good project after another with abundant funding to continue her research and produce brilliant results. Her hard work was paying off. When she entered her 40s, she was a succesful research partner in a reputed firm. She decided to break off and start on her own. She had sufficient skills and experience to do it by herself. 10 yrs later, her company was one of the leading firms producing cutting-edge products and services in the bio-tech industry. Her name featured often in the bio-tech journals and she had authored many books on the subject. She had made a mark for herself.

She was now moving to a new house that she had built along the Pacific coast. It was a multi-million dollar splurge with sprawling gardens and modern day gadgets within. The view of the beach from her patio of her extravagant residence was breathtaking. The backyard of her house connnected to a hiking trail that led directly into the woods, much like the ones she loved to stroll back in Simla.

Thats was the clincher for her to buy this house, the woods nearby.

The oak chest had been with her all these years. For most part, when she had lived in her one-room dorm at the university. She had never needed to open it, except that she had misused it as a seat to dump all her books and clothes upon. But she had religiously moved it from dorm to apartments to her townhouse for 25 years without ever opening it and since it had a good latch on it, there was never a cause to worry. Now, that she was moving out to her new house she had felt the urge to review her existing baggage, to shed the old and unwanted and ring in the new and improved.

While she caressed the photo frame, it dawned upon her.......there had never been a knight in shining armour and she had never been swept to any land far away. She had been so caught up with everything else that she had probably never paid attention to finding these wandering knights. Or maybe she had never come across any.
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Sujatha places a picture of a sunset she had captured some years ago, along the Greek coast in her beloved photo frame . She puts it proudly on her mantelpiece next to a vase of beautiful tulips. Her new home glows with the new lighting fixtures and the aromatherapy candles she has lit all over the house. She sits down on her ottoman and grabs a cup of tea and glances out at the beach, with the sun ready to lie down for the day. She heaves a sigh of satisfaction and picks up her novel.

A frame is meant to capture anything beautiful and as they say....beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.