Revival

Life is a gamble. It’s like an invisible cloak embracing one’s knavery and veracity. It’s like flipping a coin, whose outcome has equal probability…dark as well as light; and nobody can predict it. Life is uncertain, zealous and furious; lusty, charming and destined at the same time. Some people call it luck and fortune, some call it fate while some describe it as hard core and harsh reality of life. Life is just like this – colorful but yet dark. And life gambled similarly with Aditi.

June 2012
The sun up and it was yet again a normal day. Aditi had to meet her friend Leela today. It had been almost five years that she hadn’t met Leela. But today life compelled her to do so.

Aditi drove to Mumbai from Pune in her red car. She looked pale today. She was nervous. She reached at Leela’s at two in the afternoon. She climbed up to the second floor and gaped at the white door for five minutes. Her hand was shivering to press the bell, but at last she pressed the bell. Leela opened the door and welcomed her in.

Both the ladies walked to the hall and sat on the dining table. Leela served tea and began.

“I know that I had promised for Ananya’s better future, but……..” she stopped.

“I do understand,” Aditi held Leela’s hand “I mean you are more or less going through the same that I went through and I can’t make your journey tougher…..”

“She is adorable though…” Leela’s eyes glistened.

“I hope she would adjust with me….” Aditi showcased anxiety over her face and the cup in her hand fell down.

“She would, she promised me” Leela condoled with her.

“Nobody knows the truth….” Aditi stared at the floor.

“I hope you keep it safe.” Leela said slowly.

“I will try…”

“It’s all my fault, I couldn’t stop Nitish…”

“Oh no!” she revolted “It’s was always my fault, I dragged you in.”

Suddenly a small girl of six walked with a suitcase in her hands. She was very cute and had long brown hairs.

“Time to go….” she said sweetly. Aditi smiled and took her with her back to Pune.

Two years later…
April 2014
Pune

Aditi was living in Pune with her mother and Ananya. Ananya had gone to school. It was the beginning of a new year for her. She was in fourth grade now. Aditi was in her balcony sitting with her mother who was knitting a sweater.
“Do you think I made a right decision by taking Ananya’s custody, mama?” she asked the old lady.

“Well, I think so it was a right decision to help out Leela,” she said “How on earth would have she managed a chid without any job and a divorced life.”

“Hmm..”

“You seem confused Aditi…What’s up in your mind?”

“Nothing….. Tomorrow is PTA in Ananya’s school..I am just tensed due to that.” She said in awe.”It’s difficult to handle these school people…. they ask such weird questions…Already Ananya has left two schools…I am worried.”

“Don’t worry…..” she held her hands and solaced her.

The next day, Aditi accompanied Ananya to her school. She reached her class and met her teacher Mr. Shivam. He was a charming man, in his early thirties, dark brown eyes and black hairs. He was well built and had a glow on his face. For the first time in her life, Aditi felt something different after so many years.

“Please have a seat ma’am,” he said gently and caressed Ananya.

“Shivam?” Aditi laughed and removed her glasses.

“Aditi!” he got up and hugged her. She could smell him and she was mesmerized. “How come you here?”

“Well life…”

“You were in Srinagar, if I ain’t wrong?” he said.

“Yes, but…..” she stopped and looked at Ananya “Ananya beta..Go play in the garden, aunty will be back soon.” Ananya left.

“Aunty!” Shivam exclaimed.

“It’s a long story” “I have time, you are the last parent…if you don’t mind…”

“I won’t, but now I have to leave….”

“Oh come on! Stop acting childish like before,” Shivam wailed.

“I seriously don’t have time now, sorry,” she stood up and left him.

He held her hand and dragged her towards himself and said “Are you still engaged to Dhruv?”

She couldn’t utter a word. Her eyes turned red and watery. “No….”she whispered dimly and left him alone.
She picked Ananya and went back home. She was enraged, happy, sad and all together cathartic. She didn’t know how to react. Her mother saw her and called her out in the kitchen to have a talk.

“What happened Aditi?”

“Oh mama!” she hugged her and cried.”I met Shivam….I don’t know what to do…he is so adorable, I can see a hope for revival in him, a brighter future, a merrier one”.

“Oh my child…” she patted her back and silenced her. “You should take rest, we will talk about it later.”
Aditi went to her room and sat on her bed. Suddenly her phone vibrated. She opened her phone and saw her messenger. It was Shivam.

“Hey, should we catch up sometime tomorrow?” he texted.

She just stared at the screen and didn’t reply. There was a sudden flashback of memories in her mind and she couldn’t decide what to choose.

December 1999
Mumbai
It was the last day of college. It had been over three years that Aditi and Dhruv were dating. There was intense passion and love between them. They had a mystical bond all over. It was a bright day. Both of them were sitting under a tree amidst the ground and talking about their moments.
“Do you remember the night you proposed me?” Aditi said lovingly to Dhruv.
“Yes, it was so special…”
“Yeah!” she kissed him on his cheeks “Those red flowers, that delicious food and that sonorous guitar. You just stole my heart.”
“Anything and everything for you, my love,” he kissed her back.
“Oh dear!” she said “I am so lucky to have you…it just feels that I should never let you go, it feels that I should hold you by my arms twenty four- seven and never let you away from my eyes.”
He kept on staring in her eyes “Your love has made me stronger, I fear nothing now, I don’t care about anything now…..I just desire for you…”
“You know what,” she began “Shivam gave me a gift today.” She removed it out from her bag.
Dhruv turned red. “Oh look you are jealous!” she said.
“No I ain’t,” he sniffed “just see what’s in it and then throw it away.”
“That’s rude,” she said and opened it. “Oh!” she was flabbergasted ” Such a beautiful brooch!”
“Show,” he snatched it from her. She found a love letter attached. She went aside and read it.
“Oh Shivam!” she exclaimed “You are putting me in a difficult state..”.
Suddenly she felt a tap over a shoulder. It was Shivam. She got scared at first but then he hugged her. She couldn’t resist his charismatic approach but she realized that it was wrong and she pushed him aside.
“Shivam, I just can’t fall for you over again after what you did!” she shouted and cried and turned away.
He held her tight “Just look through my eyes, can’t you see my honesty, yes I know I misbehaved and broke your heart in the past; but it was just mere naivety, do understand the gravity of my love..”
“You very well know that I can’t resist you Shivam…but please leave me…We had a past, but now I am very happy with Dhruv.”
Dhruv eavesdropped their conversation and then there was a big fight between the two. There was bloodshed and Aditi had to drag Dhruv out. She firmly told Shivam to go away from their lives.After that Shivam never turned back. Dhruv and Aditi got married and shifted to Srinagar in 2002. They never saw him again.

2015
Aditi was pondering over her life. She was filled up with tears and she wanted to talk to her mother.
“Mama,” she whispered “I am in a worry, I want to confess something”
“You already have confessed about your love life now what more is awaiting?”
“It’s about Ananya!” she said “She is…she is my….”
“She is your daughter.” The old lady said firmly and completed her sentence. “I already knew it.”
“But how?”
“I am your mother…” she said coldly “And don’t worry, I am with you…Woman like you are hard to see, don’t let your spirit die.”
“It’s dying mama,” she kept her head on her lap “I don’t know what to do about Shivam?”
“I suggest you to tell him the truth…”
“But what if he denies to join me in my life,”
“You surely can’t live a life full of lies….you need to be honest with him!”

November 2005
Ten years ago…
Aditi was a young girl of twenty three, newly married to her love Dhruv. Life was very easy going and merry for her. The couple resided in Srinagar, away from their family, due to Dhruv’s job as a military expert. After years of struggle, she was successful in marrying to Dhruv and now she was just waiting for a baby to complete her small family.
It was the auspicious night of Diwali. Whole of the Srinagar was emblazoned up with dainty lights. Aditi was busy lighting up the diyas in her house. She was dressed up in a pink lehenga with her long curly brown hairs resting over one side of her shoulder. She had put on light mascara over her cheeks, baby pink lipstick on her lips and dark kajal in her eyes. She was just looking phenomenal like a goddess. She was waiting for her dearest husband.
She stared up at the clock. It was 7 p.m. She was desperate and eager. She couldn’t resist herself. She took her cell and called him up. The phone rang thrice and then was cut. She tried again and again, but he didn’t pick it up.
“He might be busy…” she said to herself and walked out of the door.
She went towards the verandah and gazed up at the sky- beautifully colored with numerous crackers. She heard the happy voices in her neighborhood and then she closed her eyes. She slowly opened them and stared at a diya which was flickering. She ran towards it and shielded it from the winds and then suspired.She locked her door and walked out of her house towards the Dal lake. She saw the people on her way celebrating life and she felt sad. She reached the lake and then gazed into its deep waters.
“He promised to come home early….” she whispered.
Chilling winds were blowing all over. She could see herself in the water, standing alone with the dark sky which was occasionally being colored. She shed few tears and then all of a sudden she felt a jerk in her stomach and she puked into the water.

2015

It was a cold night. Shivam had texted Aditi to meet him tonight for dinner and Aditi happily agreed for the same. She was sure in her mind to clear some stuff out.
She reached at Shivam’s home at 8 p.m. Shivam looked handsome in the black suit and has his incessant charm along him which made Aditi blush. He gave her a hand and invited her in. She seated on the table while he brought the food.
“Ummmm…” the food is so delicious. “It just reminds me of Dhruv.”
“You never told me what happened at the end….” he said.
“Well it was a sad ending,” she added after having the salmon “Dhruv never came back, apparently he got shot by militants and I never saw him alive again. His body did came back, but there was another news which came to me.”
“What?”
“I was pregnant with his child.”
“So what did you do?”
“That is why I am here to tell you the truth,” she said “Listen carefully, ”
“Okay.””he said “But before you tell me anything, I want to confess something….”
He went over his knees and saw in her eyes “Will you marry me Aditi?” he produced a ring before her.
“Oh!” she said “You need to hear me out first…..”
“It wouldn’t matter to me because I am so much in love with you…” he said and kissed her fervently.
“Wait…” she said after their intimate moment. “I can’t drag you with me in a lie…”
“What lie?”
“Ananya is my..my daughter…”
“What? How?”
“I had given her to Leela, she had promised to look after her. After all after Dhruv’s death, it was impossible for me to raise her, but destiny brought my daughter back to me. She doesn’t know the truth nor does anyone else except Leela and mama and now you….”
Shivam took a deep breath and stayed silent.
“Did your feelings for me just changed?” she asked him “Speak up Shivam…”
“Let’s not talk about it today, it’s very late, you should leave…”
“I get it….but I am sorry this time to break your heart….”
She left the door and cried the for the whole night. She knew that she had lost him and the chance for another marriage.
Her mother sat beside her and said “Life will give you more options Aditi, don’t give up..”
“But mama, I just can’t get up again,” she cried “I am too scared to fall in love again, I lost Dhruv and now Shivam….I can’t fall for another guy……It will just break me..”
“Everything will go fine…..”
She willed herself to not check her phone to see if he had replied. It had been about three days now. She hated that she was constantly checking his ‘last seen at’ status and yes, he had logged in just five minutes ago. Yet she couldn’t stop herself. This sinking feeling to find absolutely no communication from him was becoming unbearable, almost torturous.
And then, just as she sat down in her chair, her phone vibrated. With her heart thudding in her ear, she unlocked her phone and stared at the screen. Finally! It was his message.

But when she opened it and read it, she nearly stopped breathing. She didn’t know if he was joking or not. What was this?
She ran towards her mother and screamed.
“Oh mama! look what he has texted…”
Her old mother read the message out loud “It doesn’t matter, what matters is that we love each other more. When should I come to meet your mother to talk about our marriage?”
“Oh good lord!” the old lady cried. “It’s the most happy revival ever!”
“Yes!” she said “the revival of my life, my dream, my small family.”
She hugged her mother. After a month they both got married and lived happily ever after.
–END–