All these years he tried to drink his pain away, over the loss of Ankita his only love. He always used to sit for hours at the bar with his full bottle of Jack Daniels , sobbing after each peg questioning the nature of fate, why her? She was a good person ,yet she got mugged and stabbed to death by the robber who snatched her necklace. He wasn’t there when she took her last breath , he was not there when she succumbed, he failed to see her for the last time before the light out of her eyes went out and she got lost into the giant oblivion.
He always use to question why good people always get screwed up? Why good people die, why they have to go through pain and sufferings, yes he was suffering a lot and he could only linguify his suffering under the influence of alcoholism. He spent his savings on drinking, sold his car, shifted to a shit hole apartment , broke all social connections with people even his own parents, they insisted him to marry again, consoled him that it is the destiny, everything is written and scripted in this little place sandwiched between hell and heaven, maybe she has gone to someplace better, paradise they use to call it and all the dead persons are brought up there, atleast the good ones.
Even this night was also like those other nights Karthik arrived at 7 pm sharp in the bar, took his usual seat, ordered Jack Daniels, insisted the bartender to leave the full bottle. Except for this time, he had company, there was a man with brown over coat collars up, with a hat, tall and well built with a dense stubble one his face and a cuban cigar in his mouth sat next to him. He contemplating the papers in his hand, some sort of writing and was chatting with this young and beautiful bartender. He turned towards Karthik and asked, “isn’t she cute?”
Karthik ignored him and continued drinking. the man handed his papers to Karthik and asked him to keep a watch over them, still no response from Karthik. He saw those papers inside the big brown envelope and it was addressed to Karthik. For a moment he thought thought it might be other Karthik but he was shocked to see the address on it, Karthik Dubey 10/33 andheri west mumbai-400069.
He immediately opened the envelope and stared at those papers, there was a name list, as he read the first two names Bahadur, Shilpi, he immediately heard some gunshots as he turned around only to find out Bahadur’s lifeless body, the bouncer of the bar lay on the floor with blood spurting out of his chest and then the perpetrator took a headshot on Shilpi, the young and beautiful bartender that guy on coat was talking about. Soon the perpetrator was shot dead by the next bouncer and was found that he was none other that the ex boyfriend of Shilpi. Karthik’s heart came into his mouth, due to adrenaline rush his intoxication got decapitated, without reading the other names he reached to the end of the page only to find out one sentence which made him lose his temper as well as terror caught grip on his nerves. ” List of persons to be dead as per The Holy Script”.
He stuffed those papers back in the envelope with his trembling hands it took him a couple of minutes to put back those papers accurately and close the envelope. With holding that sh*t storm in his hands he looked around to find that tall creepy as**ole who made him land into this condition of adrenaline rush which he used to like in his sober days. Then a thought came right to his mind , he might be hallucinating all these stuff, well he was wrong of course as he turned around to find that tall man with a creepy smile.
” You think this is funny? Huh cu**face?” he shouted as he shoved back the envelope right back to him and stormed out of the bar. Who was this tall guy anyway? how did he know who’s gonna die? And what in the hell is the holy script? He pondered all way walking towards his apartment. He went inside double checked the lock, shut the windows , switched on the squeaky and creepy window air conditioner, closed his eyes and slept. For the first time in these five years he slept sober.
He walked lonely road in the dark , he saw a car closing in from behind and stopped beside him. “Get in?” a voice commanded from inside and Karthik followed. He saw this same tall guy in the driver’s seat and freaked out.
“Calm down Karthik , you are just dreaming” and he snapped his fingers and the just teleported to same different location. Karthik and the tall guy just spectated as the scene unfolded.
” where are we?” Karthik asked with curiosity ” and who the hell are you”.
“My name is Amrit, and I am the guy who carries soul to Yama , you poeple call me Yamdoot others call me a reaper, death reaper” replied the man.” We are in past five years back February 17th 2010, Shanti nagar kanpur”.
“And what are we doing here?” asked Karthik.
“Have patience son” said Amrit smiling weakly.
As Karthik pondered he came to know the date and the place , it’s where he lost Ankita forever. As the scene infront of them progresses , he saw three men sorrounded a poor soul , an innocent girl Ankita and one of them swiped her golden chain, she rebelled so the other one drew his knife and stabbed her in the stomach.
” No you mother***ker I am gonna kill you , I am gonna snap you f***ing neck” he ran shouting towards them but they seemed unaffected .
“You cannot touch them , you don’t exist here you are a mere spectator” said the reaper holding his shoulders.
He turned around to see the body of slain Ankita , he wanted to hold her but he could not , he cried a lot like a baby , his face wet with tear,she can feel the raindrops falling on the crime scene, the he saw Ankita, her spirit standing near her body contemplating it and then she looked at Karthik and smiled, whispered “I Love You” with tears in her eyes, Karthik ran towards her crying but it was too late , she held the hands of the reaper and disappeared forever.
“That was me five years ago” said Amrit smiling weakly pointing towards the reaper. “Death indeed a beauty, where a person goes after he dies is a mystery, and that mystery makes it beautiful, that’s the cycle of life, we are born, we live , we die and the cycle goes again everything is scripted in our holy script and the profound writer is our own father god and he kept the best part of the story, a mystery which is revealed only after you die is in itself a beautiful art.” as he was going on his speech he got a punch on his face.
“You son of a b***h, why did you bring me here, knowing that I cannot change anything, just have to watch her die, lights going out of eyes? Your death is not beautiful, it brings misery to life of others, take your s**t speech with you and shove it up your ass” words stormed out of Karthik’s mouth automatically as the maniac within him got awaken.
Reaper got up,” all of your life , you drank thinking to see her face for the last him, to feel her for the last time, to hear he voice for the last time, so this is it, take it or not, this is what written for you in the holy script, now it’s upto to how to live your life now on because He fulfilled your wish, you saw her for the last time and I am telling you are responsible for your miserable life right now, and i guarantee you that your death will have to wait for ages , so live your life just move on because he cries when he sees his children suffering” Armit said.
” then why did he kill her?”
“That’s the beauty of his art , mystery but know one thing she is in paradise right now happy , reliving her happy memories, and keeping a watch over you, and she would never want this for you”.
The reaper snapped his finger again and Karthik woke up in his bed.”That was hell of a dream” he pondered and looked around. He was in a strange room and found a letter ,”Karthik , I am giving you another chance go and save her quick, get her back, good luck and by the way you are not dreaming.”
He slapped himself and felt it hard, it wasn’t a dream indeed. he checked out, he was really in kanpur, time 5 pm in the evening five years back in time , he have just four hours to make arrangements to save her.
He knew kanpur very well. He rushed directly to his home in Shukle Ganj. He was supposed to be out of town at this time five years back, so he maintained a low profile, he broke into his own house and stole an illegal sniper gun with a scope. He belonged to a political prowess family and was quite used to in using guns. He had snacks at Pandit’s restaurant and rushed towards the location, found a vantage point , a water tank, climbed on it and waited. When time approached he saw the miscreants , had clean shots and executed them efficiently, Ankita was saved ,she stood there shocked thinking who took those shots, thanking god for saving her dear life. All set and done.
Karthik waited hidden figuring out how to go back to the present , then stormed in Amrit and snapped his finger they both ended up in an airplane.
” Where are we ?” he asked ” 19 feb you are returning back from your trip she is there to pick you up, why don’t you start up your life from here? relive those five years with her?” and Amrit just vanished into thin air.
” Thank you, Amrit” said Karthik to himself. As Karthik moved out of the arrival terminal, he saw Ankita standing across the road, his eyes filled with tears,” Hey baby” she shouted and started running towards him , at the same time a speeding pick up van closed in and hit her hard, she tumbled upon it like a rag doll and landed unconscious on the ground. Karthik ran towards her holding her into his arms, tears in both of their eyes , she smiled faintly and passed away.
“No!!” he shouted , there came the reaper to reap out her soul.
“Why ?” asked Karthik.
“That’s destiny, it doesn’t matter which path you take, how long can you prevent it? They destiny is inevitable because it is written in the holy script, and not even him can change it, he tried it, gave you a shot but could only fulfill your one wish ,well, congratulations you saw her smiling for the last time, heard her voice for real, held her for the last time, cried with her, saw her smiling, so you just have to move on son, the script is crooked and mean in it’s own ways but it’s all written and been executed perfectly all of is a part of the play and we are mere characters, if we have misery right now definitely it’s gonna be taken care of later, life will be happier, merrier later, that’s what the writer does he fixes up the storms he brings in the plot because in the end the factor of all rightness will be reasonable”
he snapped his fingers again and Karthik just flew back to present in his own apartment, Mumbai, a weak smile over his face, opens his curtains for the first time, dumps alcohol bottles, cooks omelette for himself, gets ready, and makes a call to his mom, ” It’s a new day to start”. He says smiling.
__END__
