"Ladies and Gentlemen, we would be landing at the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport in 5min. Please fasten your seatbelts". Poorvi looked outside the window. Mumbai seemed more beautiful during the rains. It had been two years she was outside India and she was getting really nostalgic and excited at the same time as the plane was touching down. She was eager to meet her family and she suddenly remembered the last time she had landed here.
----
"Heyy, i have landed. Just collecting my luggage. Will be out in sometime. Where are you?", Poorvi spoke with excitement.
"YEYYYYYYY .... come out soon. Cant wait to see YOUUUUU.", Manas replied back literally screaming inside the cellphone.
And a few minutes later, when Poorvi came out dragging her luggage trolley, Manas jumped the crowd, ran towards her, hugged her tightly, squeezing her in his arms and lifting her off
the ground and taking a full circle with his feet. Then kissing her lips lightly as he placed her down, suddenly realising that he was in a public place. Poorvi was smiling with happiness, a little coy after having being swept off her feet literally in front of a huge crowd in broad daylight.
"How are you my love. You know it was raining very heavily an hour before and ...", Manas said dragging the trolley towards the taxi.
"I am feeling so so soooooo happy to see you after two months. Felt like two years you know", Poorvi interupted him. A tinge of sadness in her voice for having missed her love and a tinge of happiness to see him back again.
"Heyyyyy baby!!! ... dont be sad. Your Manu is always there for you remember. Love you.", Manas hugged her again before getting inside the taxi.
"I love the way you say 'Heyyyy baby'....It just makes me forget all my worries. I feel so secure when you say it my love...Love you too baby. Love you soooo much",
Poorvi replied holding his hands tightly inside the taxi. Manas just smiled and kissed her forehead as the taxi moved on.
----
"Thank you mam. Hope you had a wonderful flight", the air hostess brought her back to the present day.
Poorvi forced a smile stepping out of the plane. Today was different. There was no Manas waiting for her outside, but someone who mattered more to her. Someone who were so important part of her life. As she dragged the trolley outside and spotted her dad and mom walking towards her, she broke down in tears. As she hugged her mom sobbing loudly, she wondered why exactly she was crying. Was it because she had not seen her parents for past two years or was it the past that she had visited a few mintues back. She convinced herself to believe it was the former and cried more loudly, then hugging her dad.
"I wish Shekhar would have come too. Would have been great to see you both together", her mom said.
"He was very busy with work, mom. He too wanted to come.", Poorvi replied.
"Come lets go home", her dad said in his usual baritone moving them towards his car.
That night mother and daughter gossiped like there was no tomorrow. Talking about anything and everything that happened in the past two years. From how beautiful London was, to how Shekhar took care of her as if she was a princess, to how she learnt so many new things there, her new friends, her new hairstyle, her new life! The next few days went with relatives pouring from all parts of the city, Poorvi handing gifts to all kids in the family, showing photographs of London to the neighbours, calling all her friends and letting them know she was in India etc etc. As the days, passed by things returned to normalcy. One such day when she was alone at home, she heard the door bell ring.
"Hello Poorvi !!", said a voice as she opened the door.
"Arjun!! Hiiiii.. How are you!, So nice to see you after long time. What a surprise", Poorvi replied.
A light friendly hug later, she invited him inside. Arjun was Poorvi's best friend. More of a brother from another mother type relationship existed between them. After talking about life in general over a cup of tea and biscuits, Arjun looked at her closely and asked slowly.
"Poorvi, HOW are you"? , Arjun asked looking straight in her eyes.
"Huh...Why suddenly this Q?" Poorvi asked taken aback.
"Come on Poo, you know i can tell when you are faking a smile. Is something bothering you?", Arjun asked.
Poorvi knew she could not lie to Arjun anymore.
"Arjun, I need you to tell me if I am wrong. Its been 2 years since I came to India, and yet when i landed at the airport a few days back, the first thing i thought about was Manas. Its been 2 years since my marriage and in those 2 years, there has not been a single day that i have not thought about him. It maybe only for a few mintues or even a few seconds or even at a subconscious level at the back of my mind. But is it wrong?. I mean its not that i am not happy with Shekhar. He is a darling. He is the perfect husband any wife would want. He is such a good guy at heart. He is such a sweetheart and he loves me so much. And i love him too. I am his wife. But then why do i still think about Manas when i dont want to. Ever since i have landed here and in the past few days, i have been thinking about him. Coming to India, has brought back all the memories which i had tried to keep locked inside my heart. And everyday i think of contacting him, but dont know how he will react. I dont know if i should be contacting him or not. And now that you suddenly showed up in front of me, I just could not help but asking you one question. How is he? How is Manas?", Poorvi spoke nonstop without catching a breath.
Arjun was quiet. Poorvi looked at him waiting for an answer but he remained silent.
"I am sorry Arjun, i know i am wrong. I should not be asking you this. I should not be thinking about him. Infact for the past two years, I have been a good wife, and I was happy there, I was enjoying my life there, I was being taken care by the nicest man on the planet, was treated like a princess. Its just that coming back to India have reopened some healed wounds. Its not that i am desperate to meet him. Its just that I want to know how is he doing, where is he, is he married, is he ..." Poorvi stopped seeing Arjun turn his head away as if to hide his eyes.
"Arjun!" Poorvi continued." I dont know what you must be thinking about me right now. Huh..Ok lets just forget this topic. How is your business going on. I had told you that i want to see your company on the NASDAQ stock market in two years. So is there any good news for me?", Poorvi said stretching her lips to force a smile and adjusting her throat to send out a light chuckle. But Arjun was still silent.
"What happened Arjun?", Poorvi enquired now getting worried. "Are you okay?". Arjun turned back towards her. His eyes overflowing with tears, he had tried to hold on to.
"I was afraid you would ask me this Poorvi. And I was afraid of how I will let you know about it.", Arjun replied. Poorvi waited with her heartbeat getting faster with each second.
"Manas...... is no more with us", Arjun replied holding his face in his hands.
Poorvi was speechless. She kept staring at Arjun silently asking him to take his words back.
"No. No. This cant be", Poorvi finally broke her silence with her heart feeling as if it was pierced with a knife.
She was too shocked to cry after what she had heard. Her eyes had gone dry suddenly.
"When...how...", was all she could blabber out with her trembling lips. "After you left the country, he tried his best to move on with his life. He worked hard at the office in the day so that he didnt think about you and then he partied harder in the nights so that he could forget you. He kept himself busy with new things, new people, new friends. He kept himself occupied all the time so that he could not think about you. It was as if everyday was a challenge thrown to him, a challenge not to let your thoughts come to his mind. And he was winning the challenge or so he thought. But there were days when we drank sometimes, that he would be sad thinking about you. He would talk to me about you. He would shed a few tears, but then would gather himself up and then just go to sit alone for sometime. One night he drank a little too much. He called me to come and pick him up from the bar. So i drove him back to his house. Walked him to his room, to his bed. He kept repeating your name all the time. He kept crying that night. He kept shouting "why did she leave me". I had never seen him so broken, so helpless. So, I stayed with him, till he felt asleep. Ensured that the door was latched up and left. I reached home and went to sleep. A few hours later, I got a call. It was Manas. He kept saying sorry for troubling me and said I was a good friend to him. He kept thanking me. He was still sounding drunk. I was not able to hear him clearly, he seemed to be not in his room, but in some windy place. I asked him where he was. He replied saying he was on the terrace and had called to say GoodBye. I ran outside, into my car and started driving to his house. I was screaming his name, calling out to him, but he did not respond. But then I heard him speak. He had kept his phone away, having forgot to switch it off. I heard everything he spoke.", Arjun kept quiet.
Poorvi was looking at him in a state of shock. Arjun noticed a small tear drop escaping through the corner of her eyes. "What happened Arjun? What was he saying?", Poorvi asked unsure of whether she really wanted to hear the answer to her own questions. "I drove as fast as I could and also trying to somehow get his attention to his phone. Somehow trying to talk him out till I reached there. But he was in his own world. I heard him talk to someone. At first, I thought there was some other person with him, But then later realised that he was talking to himself. Rather, he was talking as if you were there in front of him. I kept shouting his name Poorvi, I tried my best. But before I could reach his house, he.... ", Arjun shed a few more tears before wiping his face. Poorvi waited.
"I reached his house to see a small group of people gathered around something. I ran towards the group and saw Manas lying on the ground. The watchman heard a huge thud and noticed his dead body, alerted the society chairman who had called the police. I started crying and went near his body. I told the people that he was my friend. I noticed he was holding something in his hand, fingers tightly clenched around it. It was a picture. A passport size photograph. Of you. I didnt know what came over me, but I removed that photograph from his hands and kept it with me. I knew he would have wanted me to do the same thing. I knew he would have not wanted you to get involved in all this. The police closed the case after pulling out the last telephone call." , Arjun said.
"Why did he jump? Why was he not strong? Why did he do this? Why". Poorvi replied crying profusely now.
"I had contacts and was able to get a copy of the last call. I knew you would want to hear it. You will get the answers.", Arjun said removing his cellphone and playing the audio.
"Heyyyyy Arjun." Poorvi felt touched to hear Manas' voice after 2 years but suddenly realised that she was never going to hear his voice ever again.
"Sorry for troubling you tonight buddy. You have been a good friend. A perfect yaar."
"Manas...where are you?"
"On the terrace. Thanks for being there for me man. I just called to say Goodbye, my friend. Thank You.See you in some other life. ByeBye."
"Hello ...hello Manas...Manas buddy ....talk to me....Hello..."
"Heyyyyyy baby...." Poorvi burst out crying. Its been so long since she heard those words.
"I love you so so much. I tried my best baby but i can never replace you in my heart. Life is feeling meaningless, incomplete without you. I feel as if everything I am doing is a formality. As if i am not living my life, i am just existing. As if i am faking my own life, my own happiness. I am not able to smile and laugh how i used to, when i was with you. I tried my best to live this life without you, but i failed. I realised today that my life had already ended the day you left me. I realised today that there is no point for my body to exist anymore when my soul is already dead. Look at you. Still smiling at me. Your smile, your eyes. Oh so beautiful you are. Mmuuaahhh. There i kissed your forehead. Muuuaah.. Muuaaah .. Muaahh,... Muuuaahh... there i kissed you everywhere now. Hahahhahaha. Huh... Hhmmmmm.. Remember baby Your Manu always loved you, always loves you and will always love you forever. And your Manu will be waiting for you. At a place where its just me and you. Just the two of us. No one else. We will have so much fun. We will be sooooooo happy. We will be soooo..... "
Poorvi was left speechless when the audio ended abruptly. Arjun held her hand and she hugged him crying loudly now. "Whyyyyy Arjun, why did all this happen". Arjun tried to console her but could not stop his own tears. After a few minutes, when the tears seemed to stop flowing, Arjun spoke.
"Poorvi. I have to give you something." Arjun said removing something from his pocket.
It was a passport size photograph of her, partially covered with blood stains on it. Poorvi held her hands to her mouth and cried more. Sometimes, when there is so much pain in the heart, the eyes have to work harder to remove it out in the form of tears. And yet, the pain does not seem to decrease. Poorvi had cried so much in those few minutes, as if the tears she had held back for past two years were all flowing out from her eyes at that very moment.
"I dont know whether I should be giving this to you, but i didnt know what else to do with it.". Arjun replied being apologetic as Poorvi took the picture.
"Listen Poorvi... I am really sorry for digging up old wounds. But as a friend of both you and Manas, I felt you needed to know all this. But now, you should know that you have a life. You have a present. Please do not let your past catch up with you. Please keep ahead of it and think about the present and your future. I know it is difficult but you have to bury this memory somewhere and be strong. I know you are a strong girl and thats the reason I said what I had to say and gave you the bloodstained pic. Because I know that you know what your priorities are in life. You may choose to cry for the rest of the day and get soaked in the memories from the past, but remember that when you wake up tomorrow, you have to put it all behind. Manas loved you very much and would not want you to do anything stupid like he did. And if destiny really exists, I am sure that if there is a next life, you and Manas will definitely be together once again." , Arjun said holding her hands.
Poorvi had stopped crying now. She knew she had to be strong. After Arjun left, she went to her store room, Opened a casket. It contained all the gifts, cards, letters, memoirs, everything related to Manas. She was overwhelmed by seeing everything together at one time. She put the blood stained picture in the casket. She noticed there was a picture of Manas inside smiling. She picked it up. She could feel him saying "Heyyy baby" with his eyes. She felt secure. She knew everything was going to be okay. She kissed his picture,her past and put it back inside the casket and locked it up. She called Shekhar, her husband, her present.
"Hello..." Poorvi said.
"Heyyyy baby!!!", Shekhar replied.
