It was 11.30 a.m. and Karan was lying on his bed. It wasn’t a Sunday or a holiday so it was unusual that he was still sleeping. His phone started buzzing, it was her’s, the love of his life – Neha. He hurriedly picked up the phone and before he could say anything Neha said in an insipid voice ”It’s over Karan, please stop calling me,” and hung up.
Karan sat there like a lifeless statue, he felt like someone had ripped his heart out and smashed it on a rock. He couldn’t believe what was happening. A month ago it was all perfect. For him, everything was perfect ever since Neha came in his life, he had a thousand reasons to be with her, a thousand reasons to celebrate his relationship with her but when Neha left she didn’t give him any reason as to why she was breaking up. Karan spent the whole day in his room, scrolling his phone’s gallery looking at their pictures, every picture had a story and every picture reminded him of his relationship. Every nook and corner of his room reminded him of her.
He finally began to cry hoping it would lessen his pain. Karan’s best friend ‘Rahul’ called to check on him. Karan picked up the phone and said ”She said it’s over, I can’t live without her Rahul. I wish all of this goes away all the memories I have I want them to go away, when tomorrow I wake up I wish I forget everything, I don’t know what will I do now.”
Rahul offered to pick Karan up and go somewhere to take his mind off Neha but Karan wanted to stay alone. Life seemed to be meaningless without Neha. He didn’t want to lose hope but it was too late for him to convince her. Later that night Karan became so depressed that he decided to take his life but it was too late to go out and buy something poisonous. He was scared to jump off the terrace, he thought to himself ”What if I jump and survive with broken legs and hands, that would be worse.” He brushed that thought away and due to lack of options cried himself to sleep.
The next day when he woke up everything was unusual, Karan opened his eyes and couldn’t recognise where he was. He jumped off his bed and tried to figure out what was going on. He tried to remember what his name is and where he was the last night. A chill ran down his spine when he thought of being kidnapped by someone. He panicked and rushed to find his phone, he scrolled down his contact list and called his mother. When he dialled the number no one picked it up, he then dialled his father’s number but it was switched off. His mother’s absence made him feel helpless. All he wanted to do at that time was to hug her and cry.
There were so many other numbers in his contact list he couldn’t recognise. He started rummaging through his stuff to figure out what was going on. He took out all of the documents from his cupboards and found his license with his photograph. ”Karan Mittal D.O.B. 12-09-1990” it read. It seemed like he had no memories, no recollection of anything related to his life. He started feeling suffocated and ran outside. His building’s watchmen greeted him and said ” Karan bhaiya kahan the kal? (Karan brother where were you yesterday?).”
Karan didn’t reply, he felt as if his life had come to a standstill. Everything felt so strange to him, he couldn’t take it. Suddenly his phone rang and to his astonishment he found himself sleeping. Yes, he was dreaming and thanks to Rahul’s phone call his nightmare came to end. Karan took a minute to figure out what had happened. He was no longer thinking of Neha or attempting a suicide. His nightmare somehow managed to show him there was more to life than a girl, much worse could happen than a break-up. What his life could be if his parents weren’t there with him. He felt guilty for the selfish thought of suicide and the fact that he didn’t take his parents into account before thinking of suicide.
He picked his phone up and called his mother and said ”I love you Maa! thank you for being there at every step of my life.” He chatted with his mother for an hour after so many years. After hanging up he called Rahul and narrated the dream he just had. Rahul laughed and said ”Kyu dukhi ho raha hai? tu hi to kal bol raha tha I wish I forget everything dekh wahi hua sapne me. The universe gave you what you wanted. ( Why are you upset? yesterday you said that you want to forget everything and that is what happened in your dream. The universe gave you what you wanted).”
–END–
