The station Dadar at Mumbai was filled with its regular hustle. Thousands of people left the city and its multiple came in. Life might go through various shades in life, but the point is, it keeps going. I stood beneath the display that aired the timings of the arrival. I was half an hour early, well the actual arrival always happened based on the famous Indian timings.
I moved on to the platform, placed my luggage and took a seat on the bench facing the big clock. With every tick of the clock, I got engulfed into a whirl. I could sense something heavy within my chest, I could feel my heart cringe within. I had no strength, but I had made it a point to stand strong. I could not go submissive to situations in life. I had to surpass them and knock all of it to stand by myself. Well, I had no choice.
Years ago, I landed at this station with two baggage, a hope in mind, a vision about future and of course love in life. I was strong then, care free and not much to bother. But today I sat on the bench thinking of all those things that abandoned me.
She left without giving a chance to speak. She left without even wanting to listen to the shatter in the heart. I moved here to build myself so that I could have my life with her, but I had to return with the job half done. Her every action, her voice, her eyes had filled my soul and made me complete. She walking away had left me half alive.
Always said, love is not life and it is a part of life, I had a life of my own to lead. I had other people who belonged to the life I had. They were the only reason for me to pull up some strength. The decision to leave this city and to get back to family was not made in haste.
I sat there waiting for the train and letting things sink in. Six months had passed and that was officially the last time we spoke. I had cut contacts with almost all back at Bangalore. Nishanth, I knew was at Bangalore. I had spoken to him once in these six months but had not told him anything about what had happened. I had not heard of Tanmay ever since I had moved from Bangalore. Nishanth also did not feel the need to ever talk about him. If losing people was supposed to be a game, I would have received a gold medal in it. I sighed and checked my phone.
The wallpaper took me back a few years down the lane. The lush greenery around, faint drizzle, amidst which stood Aarti enjoying the weather.
"You will catch cold, come over to the shelter, " I yelled to only be unheard. She did not bother to it and continued to play around. Hopping on the puddles, setting the water on splash, cupping her palm to catch the rain drops, Aarti the kid was in front of me. The green jacket she had worn was happily resting on her waist bearing her arms. She was immensely in love with the monsoon. To her luck, the road was ignored by all. Except for us, there were no one in the visible range. She enjoyed every bit of it.
I yelled her name again, this time to catch her attention. I swished my hand,signalling her to come over to the shelter where I stood. I saw her nose go crooked and her face cringe. She stomped and came towards me. As she advanced, I could see a faint evil smile dress her lips. I started having second thoughts of budging her to move here.
She pursed her lips, came and stood beside me without a word. The silence brought in lot of thoughts. She slid her hand to circle my right arm and rested on my shoulders. I touched her wet head and mocked on it. She chuckled and I gasped.
"You need all this? You will realise only when you fall sick" I was stern by my tone.
" I don't need to worry when you are by my side" she gave a peck on my cheek. I hardly can stay angry on her, with such things, it was even hard. I gave in by smiling nodding my head. I still had the evil smile on her face do rounds in my head. She could definitely not agree to come over that soon. She had something up her sleeve. Well, currently her arms as she wore a black sleeve less top.
"Mithu" she dragged the u, making me cringe my face this time, she took her hand off my arm and started to tickle. She moved forward as I stepped back dodging. I went behind to rest my back on to a tree. As I reached the tree, she shook the thin branch that was above my head making all the dew fall on me. My half wet white shirt was now wet and as as escape plan, I moved onto the road to only get soaked by the pouring rain.
I narrowed my eyes to look at her trip over the scene. Now that I was wet as well, I ran to chase her around. She ran laughing and stepping on few puddles to make the water splash onto my jean. She stopped after a fathom panting and so did I. She turned towards me and hung by my neck. She was happy and at ease. I carried her off the ground.
She stood beside me beaming out of joy. Listening to my instincts,
"Miss Aarti Sanon, the first day we met, you had asked me to sing a song. Well, I had dodged it that day, and yes, I am dodging it today as well. If you want to listen to me singing, you might have to push yourself a bit more. All you got to do is, bear me till my last breath. Stay with me forever, I will make sure every day of your life is spent listening to songs of our life, " I went on my knees and held the ring of my key chain. Looking at me, she went all red and her mouth formed an o in shock. She had no words to utter, she pursed her lips and just nodded and allowed me to slide the ring on to her finger.
I was thrown back to the reality with the honk at the station marking the arrival of the train. Sliding the phone back into the pocket, and gulping the lump with in I stood to take leave from a place that should have been something in life but became a life turner.
I knew I would not be in a position to leave behind the memories, well if they were that easy, they wouldn't be termed that. As I picked the luggage, the two years I had spent went in reverse to get stored deep down in my soul. I was inked by this incident in my life, an ink that would not get erased even with an eraser called death. As the train departed, I folded this chapter and sealed it with no intention of reopening it.
A twenty four hour journey mixed with a broken future, sad present and a past was all it would take me to reach my home town.
I took a taxi to reach home from the station. Two years, and Bangalore had changed. Buildings had grown to touch the sky while people had fallen beneath the ground in terms of humanity. I could see greenary around, well definitely not the garden green, I could see the large dust bins in green and the waste outside more than inside. The air had less freshness and more dust, the city could seldom be called the garden city. I almost took two hours to reach home, all thanks to the narrow roads and the even narrow minded drivers on the road.
I stepped outside the house to hear mom's voice nearing the door. She opened the door with a smile and tears in eyes. I dropped my bag down and bent to touch her feet. She stopped me in between to gibe a hug. I smiled noticing that my mom was getting on with the pace of the society. Dad stood behind her, still handsome as ever. I moved in to give him a hug. I had missed the feel of my dad ever since childhood. The tight hug sent shivers with in which made mg nerves go weak. I retreated soon to avoid crying.
"Get yourself fresh. I ll plate you food and you can rest after that," mom rushed into the kitchen.
"Mom, let's all eat together" I asked uncertain.
"of course we are having together," dad assured. I smiled at him and opened my door.
The room still had those posters I had hung when I was a kid. I placed my luggage on the bed and opened my window. I took a deep breath and settled on my bed. On the table was a photo frame of the famous triad. The pic had stories to tell. The bond we shared, the smiles that the pic emoted was all down the lane as a memory. I stood up placing it back. Sam was not to be found. Well, that one relation of mine had not worked as well. I sighed taking out my stuffs and went to take bath.
The family settled on the table and I could see my mom more than excited to have me home. She seemed happy and the happiness reached her eyes. As we finished the lunch, dad and I settled on the couch watching his favourite news.
"Dad, I have come here bidding a bye to my job. I need some time before I start off with anything new," I paused to see him react.
" You have grown into a responsible man, my son. I know you can take your decisions well. I have no questions to ask. Do what you feel is right. " he patted my back and handed over the remote and left to his room. Distance had its play. I was happy on this note.
I went back to the room and set myself on the bed, I wanted to meet Nishanth and Tanmay badly. I wanted to hear them. I had missed them more than regular. I heard the door open and I saw mom come in.
I slid up and rested my back on to the wall. She sat next to me with a smile on her face. Her eyes intently looking into mine. I feared those eyes, they could easily sneak into me and find out what had gone wrong. The fear slowly pushed my past in front of me and made tears roll down. I had made myself a stone these six months, but mom and her one look had made me weak. She placed her hand on my head brushing my hair.
"Failure is a part of every life. What is important is, what you take from it. Past shall bring only tears, future will bring a smile. My Prince is hurt, I agree, but not weak to go submissive. I can't see you this way, remember that," I hugged her and let tears roll down.
"Nishanth keeps coming home every fortnight to see me. Hope you told him you were coming back." she raised a question.
"No, even he never told me, he came every fortnight to see you " I answered her.
"you both need to grow up, now don't sit and sob. instead, go meet him. See the new Bangalore, " she stood up wiping my tears.
Mother is the best creation of God. I smiled at her as she left. I took my phone to dial Nishanth, but something stopped me.
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