Standing on the balcony that oversaw the massive lawn, frowning, feeling low without any attributable reason. Arik, an epitome of what a person with a perfect life would look like. A single child born to rich parents meant he would have way more than, he was capable of spending,; frankly speaking , there is no amount, however big, which is impossible to spend, one just needs to have unquenchable lust for all the cardinal desires and you can prodigally , splurge an entire country’s budget, Without breaking a sweat. However Arik, a judicious person, who seem to have no fascination for the riches that he got on a platter. To be frank, it is more idiotic than judicious, to not go crazy over the crazy sums of money that you were going to inherit, without having to lift a finger .
Another major flaw was his irritating , insistence to manage his own expenses, which he managed to do, wait for it, by a highly successful import-export , business ,he had built from scratch. As a child every Soap opera, had a protagonist who did “Import export” business, lived in big mansions, but never went to work, would be inevitably at the receiving end of some machination to usurp his business, house, life and wife. But in reality the business entailed immense caution, calculation and hard work.
Coming back to the frown, one referred to, as there was no single reason to justify the intense sense of void that he felt, I mean he could fill any void with a mindless spree of debauchery.
As a child and now as a young man, he had no underlying reasons to feel that way, no sexual or physical violence, completely healthy relationship with parents, who recently had done an intervention, misconstruing his sadness to his being gay. They were this typical modern parents who loved to be overly understanding which was more a curse than a blessing. And, yes, he was not gay either to which his parents had no reservation as long as he was satisfied in his life.
It is very weird, how capricious once destiny could be, he was depressed despite complete absence of any rationale. He just felt incomplete , as if something really important was missing in his life . One could predict , it was a romantic relationship, which he had quite a few in the past.
Sometimes, people feel sad and incompleteness inspite of having no reason for the same, as society, we need to be sensitive, but buggers here would instead launch into didactic lecture about how one should be positive and happy as though, there is an on and off switch to be flicked, in your head. Come to think of it, you never no ,in future we might as well have one, it would be the “breakthrough” of the year, people would line up in long queues to get one installed.
One needs to understand where we stand today, that’s impossible however what is a bigger
impossibility looking at the way we are going is society developing empathy for the fellow brethren .
Anik, once driving to work saw this young child lost in despair, her body language manifesting hopelessness, one could tell she had resigned to being impoverished , disrespected, discriminated, for the rest of her being .
It’s surprising despite the apathy, and not withstanding the social and financial backgrounds , two people, in pain do connect on a human level.
One at least had a feason for being the way she was, Arik on the other hand was yet to figure out the cause for the subliminal sadness.
In his case, not having a reason pricked him more than the people who just want you to dive into toxic positivity; just be happy, the worst thing ,you can hear from a person, when inwardly, you are going through an excruciating struggle.
Life changed for him, even though, the popular belief was no change is necessary. A human being is the most evolved species on the face of this Earth . We are going through a transformational process, on a continues basis, once that grind is on, upon realising something needs to be changed fundamentally , even if you have no clue, what that thing might be?
Do we need to remove or include or exclude something . The realisation, itself is a gargantuan step in the direction, when you are determined to not be at the place, you are, in your mind.
Ahanya, pumping the overflowing commode, frantically. The 50 -odd years old house ramshackle at best. Ahanya, an old soul in a young body, suffering from obsessive Compulsive Disorder, leading her to maintain her status-quoish life style, get off from the same side of the bed, putting the left foot first,brushing the teeth squeezing the same amount of toothpaste and everything else that needed to be done in a specific manner for her to be comfartable mentally.
Having lost both her parents, she lived alone in the massive house. Having received many an alliances on a bid to marry her money more than Ahanya.
Beautiful, looking a little less than her actual age, whch she did not like revealing, but one could guess, she was in her early thirties.
Yes, I know this sudden meander from one character to the other seems odd at best and weird at worst. But both of their lives were soon going to cross paths, as they say opposites attract, I don’t about attraction but they were surely poles apart each other.
The two hit it off, quite literally, when Ahanya ran her two-wheeler into Arik’s car, by standers ran to help Ahanya and manhandle Arik. This rich entitled brats, think they can get away with anything , said one which was followed by a volley of expletives .
A punch landed on Arik’s face, as soon as he stepped out of car, he held his face in pain.
Another man started jostling, just when, he heard the voice, which was going to complete him, be the person who fills the vacuum , that had him worried for so many years. We human beings communicate more with our energy and the exchange of vibes. When you are looking for answer with a sense of perseverance , The Universe cannot help but respond.
The stinging cheek turned red, another blow was on it’s way, when Arik heard a voice more pious than any hymn possibly can be, reassuring, comforting, a person intervened, to be frank, there is a lot of pressure on man to be the conventional indian male, who is more the protector than the one who needed protection . I had no qualms, in accepting that I was not virile, macho, string or any of that.
I thought, the next day’s headline would announce ,somewhere in a small corner of the local newspaper
, a boy falls victim to road rage , and was saying the good-byes in my head, I was the one who collided wkth him, he saved me by applying breaks, otherwise , it could have been worse.
Frankly, by this time, I did not remember any of it; this is the thing about reflexive actions, they happen so fast, you actually need a replay, to discern what happened , when things go from normal to ugly in a matter of few seconds.
Ahanya came in the front, shielding me.
I was happy to take shelter behind her, to my surprise, I felt the same comfort and warmth, a child feels in the lap of his mother, I knew my saviour had arrived in the nick of the time,I was happy to overlook, I had landed in the situation because of her.
I am really sorry, she said, I rammed my vehicle in your car, damaged it and to top it all, I got you roughed up.
I did not want her to stop talking ever, my apprehension, she would leave after that. I will pay for the damages,
No need, you did it inadvertently . And in any case, I was thinking about buying a new one, you just expedited it.
I had never felt so much peace ever, I felt in control of myself, with her. I just knew I needed to be with her any which way.
Letting her go would mean, throwing away the only chance I have at retaining my sanity.
Coffee, he blurted out, would you like to have a coffee, Arik said sounding desperate, but could not care less, he was willing to stake everything .
She was a little surprised at this sudden proposal, but she looked at the damaged car, and realised, he had been more than accomodating, he also seemed like a decent.person.
As we sat opposite each other, I was sure this was no ephemeral infatuation, I genuinely felt what I thought I did for her. It is so strange that, in any of my past relationship , even after a considerable dating period, I never felt this.
I wondered what she thought of me,as we walked out, I did not have the audacity to ask for her number. And after 20 minutes of awkward silence, asking for number would mar, whatever little hope I had.
This is my number, please call me, if you change your mind about getting it fixed , she said referring to the car.
I said , sure , yes I wanted her to fix my life, I thought.
We said bye, I did not feel, she thought much of me, but I comfartted myself, I at least had her number,
that’s one step forward.
Ahanya, a broad smile on her face, as she left, for the first time after her parents’ death, she felt this emotion. I hope he calls, I am not sure if he would want to pursue this, but I hope he does, Ahanya, thinking to herself.
Love can help you surmount any damage, life may have inflicted on you.
The beginning .
Written by Rohan Mukesh Shah.
About Rohan: a quirky , sardonic person with a knack to see humour in the most serious of situations ; IELTS instructor by the day and writer by the night is here to titillate your funny bone.
