Pause

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 39; the thirty-ninth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "Break"

There I was, at the railway station. I had ran for about 5 minutes and I was panting like an old woman, a proof of negligence towards health. When I looked at the indicator I realised that the train was late. Hush, I almost said aloud. I had to reach early today (though I don't remember when was the last time I did not had to reach early).

The place was crowded and as a woman got up for the train downtown, I managed to sneak fast to fill up the vacancy. The fan above was whirling and as it swept gush of wind on to me, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude. Now that I had a seat, I began to worry about the train. Our project was near to go-live, the client was demanding one and we were all so short of time. The deliverables had to be reviewed and I had to squeeze time from my work to do those. All this was really taking toll on me. It was exhausting, physically and mentally. Work was on my mind day and night. It didn't leave me alone in my dreams too. It appeared like a snake, sneaking and hissing perennially reminding me of the pile of work unfinished. The thought itself was such a terror. I sighed. Why can't I just pause the whole worry thing for a minute. I needed a break.

I heard noises and realised that the crowd had grown and the whole platform was filled up to the edge. “What happened?”, I inquired to the woman on my left. “Uh?”, she said and I judged her to be kind of creature similar to me, all lost in thoughts of everything else but the present. I just smiled, how hopeless we were. God save both of us. “Some wire is broken at Kurla and so the trains are all held up. And to add to the problems, it’s taxi strike too”, a woman to my right answered. “Oh! When will it be fixed then?”, I said with worry. “Well. They didn't say anything about that but I don't think it will be quick”, she said with coolness which I found very appealing.

So there’s no way I can reach office? And with taxi strike, with all the rush, bus was out of question. I called up office and apprised them of the situation. Okay, they said. Rupa will take up my role for the day, they said simply. Okay? They said okay? I was bewildered. How I always thought that each one is irreplaceable and any absence would mean utter chaos and problems only. But that’s not true! They can do without me. I did not have to be there all the time. The fear in my mind was created by me. It was a futile fear.

So I need not worry, I was telling myself. All these days, I was working so much that it seemed so weird and alien to even think of a holiday. But this is it. I told myself. You are free today. Free! Free!

I don’t know how it happened but all the thoughts about work were simply dropped (it had never worked before even with effort). Somehow the fact that nothing could be done, this resignation, seeped through my mind. My mind became cleared of the clutter and I felt myself relaxing.

I could have returned home but instead, I sat back, looking at life I had never watched before even though I was a part of it, playing my role, only as an absent commuter. But today I was a bystander, one in full awareness, watching and feeling the colours, black, white, dull, vibrant. I could hear the sound that filled the surroundings, hushes, swearing, questions, answers. It was a mess but it was splendid! Situations! It brings so much out of people.

The worried woman to my left looked paranoid and I tried to talk but I guessed it was not about the train, I let her be. The woman to my right was watching closely, cool as a cucumber, the smarty. She had figured the ultimate answer before me. The woman with a kid who was stretching at the edge, was continuously looking in the direction of the rail tracks. The kid was smiling, he had already figured that today would be a holiday. Hurray! he must be thinking. it won’t be wrong to think that he already had the plan of how to spend the day.

I was feeling good. I had never been so close to life. My mind and heart was in full acceptance, fully aware. I watched the young couple who found some extra time for their extra talk. They looked oblivion to the disorder around. I watched the man selling bhel, his face happy with the extraordinary day when he could carry home the extra money. I watched people straining ears, head tilted, to hear every word that the speaker announced, in Marathi first, in Hindi next and then in English. It was fun when they looked at each other and shrugged when they did not understand a word of it.

What a life! Where was I all this time? I was the fool who was cribbing and carrying the burden from office to wherever I went. But now that I realised, I dropped all the extra baggage and accepted the new lesson learnt. The Lesson of life!

P.S : This is a fictional account :)

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The Pursuit: Part 7 (Final)

 

…continued from Part 6. She then began to run around the ruin. He followed and saw she was standing looking something at the ground. He looked down. A closer look revealed that it was a human body.

 

He was interrupted by someone, “Who was it? the tribal man?” Rishi nodded. “Yes, it was the young man”.

 

“When the police investigated, the whole thing was brought to light. Rahul returned to the village after a few days and found what had happened from the girl”.

 

---

The girl told him her story. She was from the village below the ruined fort. One of the elder man in the photo was her husband. She was married off to him when she had turned fifteen. It was common in their tribe she said but she didn’t wanted this fate for herself. She rebelled and it was during those days that she met Nathu, the young man in the photo. They fell in love. He was from the other village at the top. Their path never crossed and nobody came to know. They started to meet secretly. The husband used to go to the city on Saturday to get the weeks household shopping. He also used to spend a night in the village on the path at his uncle’s home. It was all a routine. In those nights she used to sneak away and come to the pond to find Nathu invariably waiting for her. They used to spend time talking, making vows, repeating the promises and then return to their homes with new dreams for the night. Those few hours filled their lives with immense happiness and hope. They spent the rest of the days and nights waiting for next Saturday when they would be together again.

On the night of storm she had sneaked out before time and after a long stroll enjoying the forest she had entered the pond. How peaceful it was under the water, calm, cold. She liked to swim, in fact she could stay under water longer than normal. It was a second home and she felt like a free pisces under the cold water. After some time it started to thunder. She understood that there would be rain. But the time of meeting had passed and Nathu was nowhere to be seen. She was waiting for him desperately.

 

But then it started to rain and she saw Rahul. He had moved to the small arc but it was too narrow and insufficient to provide any protection in the storm. He needed help and she took him to the ruin. Leaving him there she escaped from the left door. She saw there was light in the adjoining chamber and that Rahul will be safe. Hardly did she realise that the one she was waiting for desperately, was right there in the next chamber. That night she did not meet him. Nor the next week and also the following. With Nathu gone, her life was useless. Her life was ruined for eternal.

 

Days were passing. She continued to come to the lake and wait for Nathu heartbroken. One day she met Rahul again. And then he showed her the photo. She was awestruck to see her husband and Nathu in the same frame. How could that be? Did he knew about their love affair. And when Rahul narrated his story, this became clear to her. Through his story that she came to know that her husband was also there in the same place on the dark night.

 

As Rahul repeated his story and she added her bit to it guessing what may have happened. He mentioned about the small kid. She told him the small kid was her step-son, child from her husband’s first marriage. He had thrown the child’s mother out of the house for some feeble reason. The villagers  must have found Nathu before her and must have confronted him. They must have been warning him when Rahul entered the scene and they had to stall their plan. She said it must have been the child who must have guided them in handling the situation. He had inherited the cunning and selfish trait from her husband. But with these traits what she had noticed was a fatal and precarious streak that was building in him.

 

What Rahul had seen in the fort was an illusion, presented by the men, them as the harmless villagers while Nathu as violent. All the while his only attempt must have been to escape but they had held him back. It was unknown why he did not just shove them and escape. She said she was sure he must have been worried for Rahul, that’s why he wanted to warn him and was trying to talk to him but Rahul thought he wanted to fight him.

 

The men had revealed in interrogation that they had passed fumes of poisonous plant that they had bought for Nathu under Rahul’s nose. Rahul passed out and they were free to carry on with their plan. Seeing Rahul down, Nathu had rushed to him but Ganga, the other elder had brought down a stone on Nathu’s head. It was a fatal attack and he died on the spot. The kid was the one who still had not forgotten about the photo. He tried to delete it but it was too complex for him. He stamped it and threw it in water. They discussed and had a common understanding that a traveller like Rahul was not a threat and that he will just get up the next day and leave the place never to return. The two elders carried Nathu’s body to the back of the fort. They had to struggle as it was bit heavy for them. That answers for the foot prints outside, Rahul thought.

 

The girl was crying inconsolably. Rahul understood how difficult it must have been for her. She kept repeating, she knew her husband was a selfish man but she never knew that he would actually kill Nathu. His eyes welled to see her so anguished. But there was nothing that he could do.

 

“It was so unfortunate. He could have saved a life. Had it not been him, maybe Nathu may have escaped” Rishi’s voice was sorrowful as he narrated the sad end.

 

“What happened to the girl? What happened to the murderers?”

 

“The case is going on. The men have confessed” His voice was getting softer.

 

“You didn’t see her. She cried like…My hear went to her.” Rishi continued. His words struck the friends that it was Rishi, it was his story. He never told them, maybe it was closer to his heart and brought the vulnerable Rishi out. They didn’t dwell on it. Rishi continued.

 

“ When she cried with her face buried in her hands, the difference between us vanished and I could feel the pain she was going through. I felt like someone very close, like it is my little sister, crying over the tragic permanent loss. I couldn’t do anything. All I could do was see her cry. But that day I realised….how lucky we are. We get everything, without any struggle. But still we crib. We take everyone everything for granted.”

 

They nodded, he was speaking the truth. We have forgotten the value of value. Someone asked, “Is she all right?”

 

“She vanished”, Rishi answered. “She couldn’t be found anywhere. A missing report is lying in the police file. But nobody cares about disappearance of a poor tribal girl.” He paused, “But she is a brave girl”.

 

Somebody put his arms around Rishi’s shoulders. “I am sure she will be all right” his friend said.

 

Rishi smiled, nodding he said, “Yes. I am sure. She is a brave little girl’ Then he wiped his tears and looked at them, “The lake is close by. We can go there. Maybe she has returned!”

 

The End.

 

---

P.S. After a long long time, I’ve written a story this long. Actually I started for a small one, originally the first part only. But then I went on. I thought about it a very much, so much that when I woke up next day, the first thing that came to my mind was the story. I wondered if I was thinking about it in my sleep too.

I have tried to write the story differently, in all passive tone. I don’t know how much justice I have given to the story this way. But I feel strongly and honestly that the last part could have been better. But with passive tone, I was not able to come up with better way to write it. But maybe when I come back again to this story after some days or months, maybe I have improved and could think how good this story was and what could have been better. Happy writing and Happy reading.

The Pursuit: Part 6

 

…continued from Part 5. He thanked them and left. All was well but a simple fact that the kid was talking the local Marathi language while he refused it’s knowledge on that night. He let it go. He was really fantasizing too much. He continued his way up the mountain taking rest every one hour or so.

---

He now headed to the lake. It was again full moon night when he was at the same place. He was panting as he reached the plain. The dry grass was making swishing sound as the wind played with it. The water was making the slight sounds as it rippled and shimmered in the moonlight. Every thing, every movement was so much same as the last time he was here, that he had that uneasy feeling like the one that deja vu gives you. Everything repeated as if it was the same night. Everything except the presence of the girl. He searched the water surface in the darkness with urgency to see her, with an anticipation but at the same time his heart filled with dreadful fear that he might never see her. She was not there. He sighed and sat down. He decided to spend the night there and continue with the original plan to trek to the top in the morning.

It was when he lied down and closed his eyes that he could feel the presence of another being around. He sat up and looked around frantically. Another look at the lake revealed what he was here for. The girl was sitting silently by the water. She turned to look at him. ‘How can she be a spirit? How can she be my imagination? No she was alive, in flesh and not his fantasy’. He went to her and sat beside her. He assumed she recognised him as she did not move. He felt the solemnity in her demeanour. ‘Was she sad?’ They sat like that for sometime. Then he tried to start conversation. He wanted to know about her. ‘Who was she? Where did she go that night?’

 

To start with he introduced himself. ‘Rahul’, he said pointing to self. He could hear her breathe. There were gasps. She had been weeping. ‘Your home’, he said making inverted V in air. She pointed at towards the valley, ‘down in the village’ she said in the Marathi. She was still sombre. Sensing her sombre mood he stayed calm but inside he was happy to know that she could talk marathi. She can now answer to his questions. Then quickly realising, he produced the photo from his bag and flashed light on it. The men too were from the same village, that may break the ice. But when she saw it, she snatched it from him. Her eyes went wide and fixed on him with questioning gaze. ‘Where did you find him?’ she asked. ‘Whom?” he wanted to ask but instead he said, ‘The shelter, where she took him that night’

 

She stood and started towards the ruins. He ran after her asking why she was running. But she was in her own spell. He followed. In few minutes they were at the ruin. She ran from one chamber to another searching for something. There was nothing to be found. He could not understand her frantic search. ‘What was she looking? Was it the men? What was it?’

 

She then began to run around the ruin. He followed and saw she was standing looking something at the ground. He looked down. A closer look revealed that it was a human body.

 

He was interrupted by someone, “Who was it? the tribal man?” Rishi nodded. “Yes, it was the young man”

“When the police investigated, the whole thing was brought to light. Rahul returned to the village after a few days and found what had happened from the girl”

…to be continued

The Pursuit: Part 5

 

…continued from part 4. The whole thing, the events, the doctor’s revelation, everything was disturbing. Nothing was fitting in. Who were they? Was he accidently poisoned or with intent to finish the eye-witness. Were they on a run? Should he go to police?

 

---

 

He had made up his mind. He decided to go back. Not only to find the truth of the events. But for the girl. He couldn’t forget the girl and it was almost everyday that he dreamt of her. Not that she was very beautiful but the whole extraordinary circumstance that she had appeared and disappeared made him curious. Her face with the silver ornaments shining against her face kept appearing before his eyes. They gentle way that her petite face had rose through the water with rain dripping was not the thing to be easily forgotten. Even then he had followed her enchantingly and she continued to enchant him in the thoughts. He had to meet her. After that he will be fine and continue with his daily life, he was sure.

 

When he reached the foot of the mountain he remembered the person who gave him lift last time had mentioned about the tribal village. He decided that he will make his way through it. The reason was that he had something that had added a thin possibility of discovery of the truth of the whole mystery. While changing the mobile phone he found that the memory card was undamaged. The photo he had taken of the tribal men was intact and he had brought a photo print with him. He was filled with apprehension as he saw the small huts that dotted closely on the mountain slope. Should he back out? What if the men in the photos were really goons. Was it that he was a fool who wanted to step in the lion’s den? Even as he thought his feet kept walking and he found himself facing a group of men under a large tree.

 

He skimmed the faces and as he eyes reached the last of them, he recognised. The two elder were sitting there. They had smile on their lips, it was clear that had recognised them too. The young guy and the kid were missing. He was glad about the absence of the young guy. He wanted to ask about that night but stopped when he realised that it would be vain as they would not understand anything he would say. Ram Ram, he greeted them. Ram Ram, he heard the greeting from behind, he felt his strength draining as the thought of the youth and his aggression passed his mind. He turned reluctantly and sighed as he saw the kid. But he noticed that the kid had greeted in common local language and not tribal. They smiled at each other and he gave a chocolate bar to him.

 

When they talked the kid told them about the night. It so happened that they had all dozed off to sleep and it was him, the kid who had woken up in the middle of the night and had found out that the storm had passed and the sky was clear again. He then woke up the rest. The kid then tried to wake up Rahul too but he was in deep sleep and did not respond. So they left him to rest.

 

Rahul sighed. It was all simple and he had been a fool to thing the other way. Probably he had done too much thinking. Or probably he was fantasizing a little too much. He wanted to ask them about the girl but remembered the reaction last time he had tried to talk on the matter. He thanked them and left. All was well but a simple fact that the kid was talking the local Marathi language while he refused it’s knowledge on that dark stormy night. He let it go. He was really fantasizing too much. He continued his way up the mountain taking rest every one hour or so.

…to be continued

The Pursuit: Part 4

 

…continued from Part 3. He tried to sleep but the last event warned him against it. But his body was too tired and refused to cooperate. His eyes closed and his mind into oblivion forgetting about the storm, the fierce youth, the photo and the mysterious girl.

---

As Rishi stopped, the others said in unison, “Then what happened?”

He woke up to find himself alone in the ruin. It was already morning. The sun was up in the air.

His watch indicated 11 am. His stomach was twitching and he felt sick. He ran outside. As he threw up, he saw something in the puddle of water to his right. It was his phone. There were number of random footprints around. He picked his mobile and tried to remember how it landed there. He tried to recollect if it fell out when the guy came to him for the fight. But it was in his hands and it did not fall, he could remember it clearly. Maybe they tried to steal it. When he tried to operate the phone, he found that it was ruined and was useless. As he handled it, a possibility flickered in his mind.

 

“Were they some thugs, the villagers? Did they do him something that he doesn’t remember anything?” someone asked interrupting Rishi. The others shushed him.

 

Rishi shrugged and continued, “The last he remember of the previous night was the queer smell that he felt. He couldn’t remember if it was real or just a dream”. He went on.

 

Rahul thought about the comrade, they could not be thugs. Coz all of his belongings were with him. But then they had tried to either steal or ruin his cell. Could that be because of the photo? Were they some wanted murderers? He shuddered at the thought. If that was true, he should thank God that he was still alive. But how believable it was that some murderers left a defenceless witness back. It could not be true. Maybe the kid took it and may have thrown it in the fear to be caught.

 

He collected his bag and started walking. Feeling weak physically and with the stomach creating issues, he decided to back off. He took lift on his way. He was relieved to find that his helper could speak his language. After talking to him he found that there are two tiny tribal villages. They speak their own language. One was some kilometres up on the mountain and the other was downwards and was close if you take go around the mountain. But that was all that the man knew.

 

“Did your friend go the village to find out?”

 

“No. He was frail, his health had worsened. And apparently there was no reason to go back. All his belongings were good, except for his cell”, Rishi answered. He continued, “After reaching home, he recovered. The doctor found poison in his blood, possibly entered his body through fumes.”

 

“Ohh!” there were sighs from his friends. They were hooked. Rishi continued.

 

The whole thing, the events, the doctor’s revelation, everything was disturbing. Nothing was fitting in. Who were they? Was he accidently poisoned or with intent to finish the eye-witness. Were they on a run? Should he go to police?

 

He had made up his mind. He decided to go back.

…to be continued