YOU ARE THE SUN IN MY DARK NIGHT

CHAPTER 8

Durga Puja brings a lot of happiness in our life. We lived in our ancestors' house. My grandmother, parents and my younger sister were happy to see me. I came home after a long time, so grandmother already made my favorite sweets for me. During the festival I was going to be tortured with various foods.

Grandmother said, "you became thinner than last time". She always found me thinner than the previous time. My father always agreed with that and went to market to buy lots of vegetables and fishes. Our hostel used to provide only one type of fish every day. To compensate my father used to buy different fishes throughout my stay.

One day when we were having our evening snacks together my sister said, "dada, you did not show us any photo of your pandal visit that night".

Everyone agreed to her. Although, television shows the videos of every pandal but seeing the firsthand photographs are different experience. I showed them the photos of my night out and introduced my friends to them.

My mother pointed to Nabarun and asked, "who is that boy?"

"He is my roommate Nabarun and he is my friend Nabarupa's twin brother."

"He seems to be a good boy. What does he study?" asked my father.

"He is doing a post graduate degree in mathematics."

"Look, how smart your friends are. Everyone is better than you. I don't know what will you do in future," my mother complained.

I KNOW I AM A GOOD FOR NOTHING. I AM NOT SMART, NOT GOOD LOOKING. I CAN'T SPEAK TO PEOPLE. NABARUN IS WAY BETTER THAN ME IN EVERYTHING.

We had a WhatsApp group for friends. After the vacation started Nabarupa added her brother to our group with everyone's consent. I did not messaged him personally nor did he. But we took part in group chats. Mallika was behaving properly in those group chats. It was possible that she was messaging Nabarun personally. I used to open his profile and look at his smiling face for a long time before sleep.

I am a cow boy. I am riding my horse in a relaxed manner. Cows are gazing here and there. Suddenly one horse comes galloping. It seems to be scared of something and is running crazily. The rider is trying hard to control it. Oh! The horse slips and falls from the cliff. I pull the reins of my horse and go there. The rider is hanging on a rock. I throw my rope towards him and he catches it. With the help of my horse I pull him up. He lies down on the rock with his face down.

I ask gently, "are you ok?"

He lifts his face and says, "yes, thank you."

I become speechless to see his face and everything disappear in darkness.

I woke up soaked in sweat.

IT WAS NABARUN. HOW CAN IT BE?. WHY IS HE IN MY DREAMS? WHAT IS MY RELATION WITH HIM?

I opened my phone and looked carefully at his photo.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME. IS IT ANY DARK MAGIC? OR I AM GOING CRAZY? AT FIRST I WANTED TO BECOME HIS FRIEND AND NOW I WANT HIM AS MY LOVER. I CANNOT MENTION THIS TO ANYONE, NOT EVEN TO MY BEST FRIENDS.

I cried silently in my bed.