Manu….. Manu……..
Manu heard some one calling him.
He would have been in a deep sleep, but still felt the sound is familiar.
Manu…
Again he heard the call.
He could recognize the voice
And this time he was able to open
his eyes.
He could see her standing by the
side of his bed, with that vibrant smile.
“How long I have been calling you,”
she said as a complaint.
“I must been have been on one
deep sleep”
He could not come out of his
surprise.
“Where have you been all these
time?” he asked.
She laughed and replied
“I should be asking you that
question. I been searching you for a long time”
He tried to get out of the
blanket and sit on bed
He wanted to ask her so many
questions
She put her point finger on to
his lips, smiled and said
“I know you want to ask lot of
questions, we have lot of time, first let us go for that journey which we
couldn’t complete”
He still wanted to ask her many
things, but she just grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his bed
“Hey, let me change my dress” he
said as a complaint
“You are perfectly fine in that
night dress. And if you see, it matches
with mine” she replied
That might be the 1st
time he was looking at her fully, out of his surprise
She was wearing a white sari and
she was looking like an angel
Suddenly a thought came to him...
No, this cannot be real... she...
“Hey come on” she pulled him
along the corridor
He could not stop himself, he
walked along with her
“You know what, this time I got
my car and I’m going to drive”
He just smiled as a reply
---
The cold breeze was hitting on his face
He closed his eyes and kept his
head out of the car window to enjoy the breeze more
“You were always like this,
finding happiness in simple things of life” she told
“You were not different” he
turned and looked at her
He still had that question for
her, which was in his mind from the time he saw her
“You didn’t tell me...” he asked
“Where was I all this time? “ She
completed his question.
“Hmm” he nodded.
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you the
whole story”, she smiled and increased the speed of the car
Manu started looking at the hills
again, the morning fogs were kissing those mountains.
The visibility of the road is
very minimal
He slipped into his memory
---
It was one December early
morning, when Manu went for his morning walk, he saw her for the 1st
time. Any one could easily notice her,
as she was wearing a cotton simple sari, and had one thick shawl to cover her
for the cold whether. She had one bindi made of sacred ash, which stood out on
her face.
When she came close and was about
to cross Manu, she looked at him
He smiled at her, as if to greet
a fellow morning walker
She smiled back
That gave enough courage for Manu
to start
“You seem to be new to this
place” he asked
“That means you are pretty old to
this place and you notice all the new people here” she questioned back
He smiled
“Not like that, I come daily this route for my walk, and I
have not seen you. And this is a pretty small village and many know each other
here” he explained
“Hey, I was not questioning you, you
sounded like a village head, and my reply also came spontaneous to that” she
also explained
Both laughed
“You can say, I’m new, but not
that new also to this place. I have been here from couple of months. Some one
told about a Shiva temple up there. So thought of changing my morning walk
route and have a darshan also” she said and looked at him.
“And I’m pretty old to this
place, and most of the tea estates you see in this valley is owned by my company,
so sorry if sounded like a village head. You can take a left turn to go towards
the temple”
They both laughed again and
parted their ways.
Next day on his morning walk, it
was her face which was coming to Manu’s mind.
When he reached the same spot,
where he saw her yesterday, he stopped.
He thought, whether he should
wait for some time, if she comes this way or walk down the road and hope to
cross her. In this thought, couple of minutes passed. He looked ahead of the
road to see if any one is walking up the road and in the morning fog and he
couldn’t see much after a certain distance.
He thought of walking, suddenly a
voice came from behind.
“Looking for some one”?
He turned to see her walking down
the road from temple.
“I was trying to make sure that yesterdays was
not an illusion” he replied.
“That, I should be asking, just
because yesterday saw some one new, the village head is waiting to see her
again” she smiled and replied back.
“That is quite normal, 90% of the
men would wait, if they seen some one like you on pervious day” he given a
wicked smile.
“And what about the balance 10%”
she was also not letting it go.
“They must be gays”
They laughed and walked together
down the road.
--
It’s almost two weeks now since
Manu had met her.
Manu felt there is some
connection developing between him and her.
It was a feeling which he never felt before for any one. Meeting her in the morning became a routine.
He also realized, she brings so much of freshness into his days, life.
“You seem to be in some thought today,”
she asked while walking with him.
“Hmm” he acknowledged.
“I was wondering, you never
talked about your family,” he asked.
“Oh! That’s the issue bothering you”
she asked back.
“Not really, I was thinking
something else” he looked at her.
She laughed.
“Even you have not told anything
about your family”.
“Ok, I’m also a culprit” he
smiled.
After a long pause, he started
again.
“ I was thinking, in the last two
weeks, we spoke so much, yet didn’t mention about families, anything more about us or about people we
know in common, yet there is an amazing comfort in each others company” he
looked at her to confirm he was right.
She smiled at him, took a little
time to reply.
“Do you think those things really
matters? When we connect ourselves with
people, things like which family we belong, who are in family, what others say
about you or me, really matters. We connect
ourselves with the way we interact with each other. The way you behave to someone else actually does
not matter to me.
She looked at him, laughed and asked,
“Did I speak too much?”
“No, just realized, you think
almost like me” he smiled.
They kept on talking and walked
down the road. When they reached the junction, where they divert to different
directions, they stopped.
She looked at him; smiled and
said “Well, then see you tomorrow” she started walking
Suddenly Manu grabbed her hand
and stopped her.
He realized, while grabbing her
hand, he broke few her black bangles she was wearing.
He took his hand back and with a
nervous face said, “Oh I’m so sorry, just wanted to ask you something”.
“You ask questions after breaking
bangles’?
Her smile, relaxed him.
She looked at him, to give the
nod, to go ahead and tell.
“Can I take you somewhere
tomorrow? We can be back here by afternoon,” he asked with a doubt in his mind,
how she will react.
She thought for a second and then
replied with a nod to give a yes.
“I trust you” she smiled and
walked.
--
When Manu drove his jeep down the
valley and reached, where he meet her daily, he saw her waiting for him there
already.
H e looked at her and looked
around and said
“Some one is looking beautiful
today”
She walked towards the left side
of the jeep, got into the jeep.
Looking at him, she said.
“Some one else is also looking
good today! Did you guess that I would be wearing white today”? She asked.
“Why” he looked at her giving a
stare
“Look at you, I never seen you in
a white cotton shirt”.
They both laughed.
“You didn’t’ ask me where I’m
taking you”.
“Do I need to”?
She shook her head and continued.
“No, I don’t want to know, I
enjoy it like this, not knowing where I’m going, but deep inside knowing myself
that, there is a beautiful destination, or beautiful people to meet. The happiness or the joy what I’m going to
get reaching there, I don’t want to spoil by knowing it now”.
“How you know, it would be a
beautiful destination,” he asked.
“It’s all written on your face
Manu. I can easily read” she smiled.
“You trust me so much?” he raised
his eyebrows and asked.
“I trust myself” she kept her
hand above his left hand.
That moment Manu felt like
telling her all his love to her.
How much her presence gives freshness
to his life, the eagerness in every day morning to see her and when seeing her,
feels like an energy flow into self. It was a feeling that he never experienced
before for anyone.
He looked at her.
She smiled at him.
--
“You seem to be lost in your memories,”
she asked.
Manu came back from his thoughts.
“I was on our last trip” Manu
looked at her.
“Where did you disappear that day?”
he asked her confused.
She smiled looking at him and
replied as a complaint.
“Was it me or was it you. You had
gone into a shell, where I was not able to find you at all”.
“But I could not find you anywhere”
he replied.
“I was searching you all these
days” she replied with a sigh.
“Hmm” he nodded.
“You know where I was taking you
that day,” he asked surprised.
“You are there to guide me, more
over I can listen to your heart now” she smiled.
Manu slipped into his thoughts again.
Shall he tell her what he could not tell her last time? Since waiting to reach
for the destination, he was not able tell her last time. This time he doesn’t
want to wait till reaching there. Though he knew that, she knows about his
love, he wanted to tell her how much he loves her. Tell her that, he wants to
take her to the Shiva temple she goes on hill top, put a thulsi garland on her.
Tell her that he wants to live the rest of his life with her. Tell her...
“Manu...” she called her.
“You seem to have lost in your
thoughts again”.
He looked at her, smiled and said,
“I want to tell you something. Something which I wanted to tell you last time
also, but couldn’t”.
“I know” she replied.
Manu started, “I want to tell you
that…”
Suddenly a truck honked and
passed them.
Manu had to stop hearing that
loud sound.
He looked ahead and the spot he saw
reminded something.
He asked her to stop the vehicle.
Some vague memory was coming to
his mind.
Looking at her, he told, “Yes,
this was that spot”, she smiled and asked, “Are you trying to find something?”
He did not reply.
He started walking down from the
road toward the valley, as if looking for something.
She followed him.
He walked further down, madly
searching for something.
Then he saw…
A cloth piece, behind a bush ...with
blood stains
He stepped further to get a good
view…
He could see, the cloth is part
of a white sari, with lot of blood stains
He could see little down a
women’s body full of blood.
With lot of scare, Manu stepped down
to see the body.
He got a shock, when he got a
glance of the face
“What is it Manu?” She asked from
behind.
He turned to her.
She was standing little far
behind from him.
Pointing towards where he found
the body, he told her,
“It’s you”.
Manu suddenly felt a severe chest
pain.
His vision was going blurred.
--
A nurse ran and came to Dr Abey
Mathew’s consulting room.
“Doctor, Please come and see,
looks like patient in room 113 got a cardiac arrest,” she told.
“Oh Lord”! Dr Abey exclaimed.
He got up from the chair and
rushed along with the nurse.
“What happen Doctor Abey” seeing
Dr Abey in a hurry, Dr Arun who was passing him asked.
“Looks like that patient Manu who
was out of his Coma after almost a year, got a cardiac arrest”.
“Oh God” Dr Arun uttered.
He also rushed along with them to
the room.
--
“Manu………. Manu…….” She kept on
calling him.
Manu opened his eyes.
He was lying on her lap.
He smiled at her.
“What happen, what did you see”? She
asked
He smiled again and said” Now I
know, what happened to us on our last journey”.
--
“Sister, give him the oxygen, get
ready to give him the CPR” Dr Abey told the nurse.
Dr Arun was along with Dr Abey to
help him
“Get the operation theater ready”
Dr Abey looked at another nurse and told.
While performing CPR, Dr Abey
whispered, “I don’t know what I will tell his mother. I called her today to
tell her that, her son is out of Coma after almost a year”.
Dr Arun could not control his
curiosity and asked, “How did he go into a coma”?
“As per his mother, he was bringing
a daughter in law for her, but on the way his Jeep met with an accident fallen
to the valley” Dr Abey paused .
Dr Arun took Manu’s hand and
checked his pulse…
He then looked at sister and said,
“Check his BP now”
Dr Abey continued doing the CPR…
--
Manu…..” She called.
He realized he was lying on her
lap.
“I have always dreamed of
this. Lying on your lap, looking at the
clear blue sky, feeling the morning breeze” Manu looked at her and told.
She took her hand and slowly
touched his face.
He smiled and whispered, “I feel
like sleeping now”.
She bent forward and kissed his
forehead.
--
Dr Abey shook his head in
disappointment and said, “We lost him”.
Dr Arun came forward, patted on
his back and consoled him “You tried your best”.
They both walked out of the room.
“I don’t know how I will face his
mother,” Dr Abey said giving a sigh.
“Hmm, do you know them for a long
time”? Dr Arun asked.
“Yes” Dr Abey replied.
“Doctor, you didn’t tell me what
happened to the lady with Manu on that accident” Dr Arun was curious to know.
Dr Abey continued where he left
on that topic, “When the workers found, Manu, he was seriously injured. Due to
his head injury he went into a coma stage”.
“Later from his mother people
came to know that there was a lady along with him and they started searching
for her. The whole day they searched, but they couldn’t find anyone down the
valley”.
Dr Arun gave a surprised look to Dr Abey, “Later
they tried to find out who was that lady, who travelled along with Manu on that
day, but no one had any details about her.
They also waited to see if anyone gives a man missing case in the
nearest police station” Dr Abey sighed and looked at Dr Arun.
By then, they had reached the car
park area.
Dr Abey opened his car and got
into the drivers seat.
He could see a lot of questions
in Dr Arun’s face.
He gave a pat on his hand and
said, “We still don’t know who that lady was with Manu. And if he was alive
now, we could have known”.
He smiled and drove away…
