Short Story – THE SILENT STROKE
Photo credit: gbh from morguefile.com
I was then working in a private firm as an Assistant Manager and was recently transferred to another city. The burden of packing the utilities and a traumatic divorce loaded my otherwise thin shoulders with new responsibilities( if I was to remarry). My new abode lay in the midst of scenic beauty and a humble neighbourhood.
As I unloaded my luggage, a fresh breeze touched my body and soul and I was suddenly under the spell of a belief that my not-so-good days ( I try to avoid the words like bad etc. As I feel that usage of such words only fills the mind and heart with more negativity especially if you are going through one of those oddities of life that seem to make you more intimate with God Almighty) were finally coming to a temporary halt and I could breathe a fresh life.
As I completed my task of unloading the luggage and opened the door of my new abode, I felt a sort of emptiness in my life and with a sniffle I consoled myself and as I turned around to close the door my eyes met those two anxious, tiny eyes that gazed at me, holding the window grill with those tiny hands. I smiled at my cute, little neighbour who was trying to make desperate attempts to break open the window, to meet me. I believe that children are like the rescuers in the sea who brave the waves wholeheartedly to save you when your vessel leaves you, all abandoned. I stood at my door watching the child till the child withdrew reluctantly in pursuance to his mother’s call and left the window.
I never knew that in the coming months , the child was to be a part of my distorted life, to bring solace to my inner storm for he never left a chance to smile at my mere presence. He would run to see me going to my workplace and wave his hand animatedly to assure that in this over-populated world, there was one soul which cared to chill and thrill me with his childlike body language. Soon I started realizing that I was coping with life and its day-to-day turmoil with much peace in mind and pleasure at heart. I had found my angel without whom I felt completely incomplete and inert. And the best part of our incredible communion was that WE NEVER SPOKE TO EACH OTHER.
Meanwhile my friends from Canada visited me on a month’s vacation, thus prompting me to take leave till their presence in India. In the coming days we all were to tour India , covering as many tourist places as possible. My focus shifted from my little friend to the grown-ups and I engaged myself completely in the making of the plan for the tour. Soon we set out on the tour and I FORGOT MY LITTLE FRIEND.
Our days were filled with fun and frolic and my friends were amazed to see my former form when I was in College and far far away from the madding marriage. How happy I was when I was without the burden of marriage which I felt was like an untimely premium paid by my family . My marriage did not last even two years and one fine day (for the betterment and bitterment of both of us ) my better or I can now proudly say bitter-half packed my three months old child along with the other luggage that solely belonged to her. I declared myself AN INDEPENDENT AND SELF -PROCLAIMED ELIGIBLE BACHELOR AGAIN.……without realizing that even the word bachelor has an ACHE in it.
I opened my eyes and found myself once again alone at home after dropping my friends at the airport. All the way it had been drizzling and the weather forecast predicted heavy rains for the next few days. It feels really good when one has shaken off all responsibilities and lies under the cozy quilt with hot beverages in hand accompanied by sumptuous savouries. Life is so beautiful until we make it complicated and leave out the very essentials of our existence – Live and let live. If only life could be a hammock………we would all forget everything and rest peacefully to be one with oneself.
The heavy downpour soon overcame my pleasant thoughts which often pass through the mind when it is made idle ( people call it so because one hardly experiences the beauty of a mind without the thought-process). I opened the window which faced my neighbour’s . For the first time I awakened with a realization that my busy-ness had stood like a wall between me and my little friend and that I had not seen him for almost a month. I soon got ready to go to my workplace and found my mind now battling with the work that was pending at the office in my absence. I was greeted like a son-in-law in the office for it was I who had skillfully managed to convince my superior and earned a break away from the office for a month. All at the office wanted to learn those extraordinary tactics with which a person successfully wins the soft-heart of the tough- nut(the boss). I was now the CYNOSURE OF EVERY EYE in the office.
That evening when I returned home, I saw my little friend at his window, smiling at me. Before I could even attempt to make any gesture, a lady dragged him and closed the window. For many days , I couldn’t get a glimpse of the boy and considering it as my childlike behaviour, I evaded the very thought of the child. Soon I fell fast asleep after a heavy supper. However I woke up very early in the morning and decided to do some yoga and meditation before actually meditating on my household chores. With the first ray of the sunlight, the milkman alarmed me with the doorbell and I came out to collect the milk. The milkman was a person of a few words but that morning he asked me whether I knew that my little friend, the boy living opposite to my house, was hospitalized due to high fever. I simply nodded in ignorance.
I was very restless in the office. I did not have any communication with my neighbours and the small boy as well. How could I get the information on the health of my little friend!!!!!!! I had never found myself in such a pensive mood – even when my wife and child were separated from me. It was a very dark moment of my life. However I completed my day’s work and started for home. Reaching home, I found the opposite window closed and there was a big lock at the door. A telephone call late in the evening brought another not so good news that my father was very sick and that the family members awaited my presence in the hometown. I informed my superior and left for my village. I don’t know why all those sad melodies come to a person’s mind when he actually needs some sort of inspiration or solace. Amidst all this turmoil, I reached my village where my father was actually found to be in the very best of his health.
It seems that an elderly gentleman from my village had advised my father to feign sickness and call me and my wife as well for reconciliation. All this looked like a boring drama to me and my son’s presence also could not make any impression on my thoughts which were totally engaged in knowing about my little friend’s health back in the city. A heated arguement followed as I refused to budge from my stand and accept my wife and child back into my life. My wife shed a few crocodile tears ( I felt so ) and amidst this high voltage drama, I left for the city. In my boyhood, I had often heard my friend’s father make this statement ,’ Known is a drop and unknown is an ocean.’ Today I wanted to tear the depth of this mystical statement and ask myself what I actually wanted in life!!!!!!!!
I pressed the door key into the lock and entered the room. It was past midnight when I had reached my dwelling in the city. I was extremely tired both physically and mentally and soon retired to bed. The next morning I got up with a severe headache and desperately awaited the milkman’s call. The milkman did not turn up and I left for the office, cursing the entire existence of the human beings and above all the milkman for proving that when you need something desperately, it is always held back. I spent the whole day miserably in the office and while leaving the office, a good samaritan from my office followed me to ensure that I safely reached home. We reached home and I looked at the window ,where my little friend always awaited me, but there was nobody at the window and as usual the house was locked. My thoughts were interrupted by the call of the milkman who was standing behind us. I gave him no time to make excuses for his absence in the morning and abused him , completely forgetting myself and the samaritan who looked at me in awe.
‘Saheb! The boy next door died last night and I had gone to attend his funeral. That’s why I did not come in the morning.’ …………..
I stood there speechless for a moment and then feigning complete ignorance on that matter as if it did’nt mean a thing to me, I invited my colleague inside the house. We chatted the whole evening and he left as it was getting late for the supper. I bolted the door after he left, came to the washroom, opened the shower and wept loudly as I had never wept even in the worst situations in my life. I never knew that I had become so attached to the boy. A sudden fit of rage seemed to encourage me to bring back the little friend from the ashes. I wept almost for an hour and a look at the mirror projected my image with red burning eyes and a swollen face. I gazed at the mirror for a long time and then felt a sort of enlightenment in my soul. I called my friend over the phone and told him that my father was hospitalized and I needed to go immediately to my village.
I boarded the first bus to my village and the next twenty four hours of journey found me in the grip of my familial bond. I astounded everybody when I declared that I had come there to take back MY WIFE AND MY CHILD.
O’My Dear Departed!!!!!! If I could ever personally THANK YOU for making me LIVE IN YOUR DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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