***
He closed his eyes and all the
white turned black. Bright yellow light above his face slowly turned blackness into
shade of crimson. His eyelids lit. He had been here so many times that just by
sound of it he could know what was happening around. Slow movement of wheeled
table, sticking sound of rubber gloves, clicking sound of cuffs and locking
sound door knob, all indicated that it was time. He heard the sound of the
switch and concentrated on the hum of electricity. He could hear tiny mechanical
parts coming to life. A hand touched his temple and left with cold sticky wax. A
smooth but hard metal plate was fixed on the wax. It was like wearing a
headphone but with no music playing. And then with another switch his body
jerked. He could hear screams but was not sure that it was his own. It felt like
a wave passing through his brain, pulsing high and low at the same time. He
could feel his body dissolve in liquid and just the brain floating in air and
he started counting the pulses…1…2…3…and again…1…2…3…
***
The two were left alone. It was 7
minutes after midnight. Balloons, filled and burst, were scattered all over the
place. Disposable plates and glasses left here and there. Half eaten cake and
open soda cans visible around spaces. Small pieces of glitters and sparkles
scattered throughout the floor like it had rained from the fan. Smell of cheese
filled the air. Little, one year old, Avantika was sleeping peacefully in her
small hanging bed in room. Neha turned to her side on the sofa facing Manoj. He
was still facing the ceiling, his eyes closed. ‘It was exhausting’ she said. ‘We
don’t know these people.’ Manoj said without moving. ‘It was your idea anyway’ He added. ‘We need friends’ she said and placed her head on his shoulders.
Manoj have never liked parties. He thought
parties were only for people who like to show off. It’s been few months Manoj
and Neha moved to Pune with their newborn. Manoj’s job at bank had not given
him much opportunity to settle down at one place. But now with a child to take
care, this moving business has become a burden. Apart from few from the bank,
they didn’t know anyone and their daughter’s birthday gave them a chance to
invite few neighbors. To their surprise they all turned up. ‘Isn’t it weird?’ Manoj said opening his
eyes. ‘I mean, someone turns up to your
door and invites for a party and you without knowing them, attend it like a
relative’s marriage’
‘They all need friends I guess’ Neha doubted her own statement. ‘Let’s open the gifts’ she stood up in
excitement and started towards the table which was full of boxes wrapped with
glittering paper. Before she could reach, Manoj shouted, ‘No… We can’t just open them inside the house’
His words echoed into silence of
the night. Neha turned to him, surprised, ‘What
are you talking about?’
‘Don’t you know the story about gifts?’ Manoj threw a look towards
the pile of gift boxes and turned his gaze back to his wife. She turned back to
look at the table and walked back towards the sofa.
‘It was few years back when I heard about this. In another party, when
they started opening the gifts, one of the gifts appeared which they were not
sure was from a person who was invited. They started opening it. In the box
there was nice dress. But as soon as they opened the dress further their eyes
went wide. The box felt from their hand. All they could see was a lemon poked
with iron nails, a black handmade doll, few pieces of bones, and a white flower
garland all covered in red color. And few days after his wife died of unknown
reasons and his son was admitted in hospital. Doctors couldn’t even identify
his illness’
Manoj looked back to Neha. His eyes
still terrified. Neha couldn’t understand whether to get scared or to laugh.
She was not one who believes in ghosts and black magic superstitions. ‘Stop all this nonsense Manoj’ She said. ‘You
said you heard it right? That can be a lie too’
Who
was telling the story? And whose story was it anyway?
The words fluttered and flew in the wind.
The words fluttered and flew in the wind.
Neha
was not in the mood to ask these questions anyway. Leaving Manoj in the hall,
Neha went to the bedroom. She was tired. Manoj sat there staring the gift
boxes.
***
Two decades
back…Kamal
sat on black metal chair facing pale white wall of the hospital. ‘Who could have done this?’ Kamal asked mostly
to himself, clearly devastated on the turn of events. A shopkeeper from
profession, Kamal could not think of anyone who could have hated him so much to
hurt him. As a shopkeeper, his business depended on the relations whom he
maintained and in any case he could not have compromised with his business. Dr.
Bijlani, also his closest friend could not answer. What he could do was, keep
his hands on Kamal’s shoulder and say, ‘everything will be alright. World is
full of psychopaths’
Kamal drove home. His son Minku sat
in the back seat of the car holding the pot of ash. His mother was dead. The
priest of the cremation ground had asked them to perform few rituals at home
before taking it to Kshipra River. In the mirror he looked at his son sitting
at the back seat of the car and a drop of tear appeared into his eyes which he
brushed off.
***
Few days back his was a happy
family. It was tenth anniversary of Kamal and his wife Sudha, when it all
started. When all the guests had left, behind them they left hall room full of
flowers and gifts for the couple. As soon as they were alone Minku started
galloping around the gift boxes, pleading with his cat like eyes to open them.
Amused with their son’s enthusiasm they started opening the gift boxes,
starting from prettiest wrapper. Sudha picked up the box which didn’t have any
name on it. Secret admirer or forgetful
fool? She started opening the small but elegant looking box wrapped in
golden paper. A red band beautifully turned into some unknown flower. She took
away the lid and her eyes widened by the sight of what was inside it. A hand
written note appeared on top of it. Sudha took out the note, while both Kamal
and Minku looked at her in disbelieving expression. It said, ‘I have returned’. Just by reading it
Sudha had a shock. She was unconscious for hours before Dr. Bijlani had asked
Kamal to admit her in hospital. Dr. Bijlani knew about the abortion which Sudha
had gone under. It was immediately after their marriage and both Kamal and
Sudha were not ready for a child yet. Though Sudha was reluctant at first but
she herself was not sure that she was ready for motherhood. Dr. Bijlani had
told them it was a normal procedure and since she was in just 6 weeks of
pregnancy, there was no danger of any kind at all.
The guilt remained till their son
was born after 3 years and soon they all forgot about it until this very event.
Other things with the note were enough for Sudha to believe. The small handmade
doll, in the box, covered in vermillion, became her dead daughter. Kamal was
devastated. He had always thought something of this kind can never happen to
him. He would have laughed if Sudha had not reacted the way she did. He had
thrown away the lemon, bones and garland into Kshipra River but he was not able
to throw the black doll, which Sudha thought was her dead daughter.
Sudha was not responding to any
treatment. Dr. Bijlani soon realized that the guilt of killing her own child
was so strong that it was almost impossible for her to fully recover. He
advised Kamal to take her home and bring her to hospital only for the sessions
which were prescribed by the psychiatrist.
Soon the house turned into a
nightmare. Kamal’s seven year old son, unknowingly, became part of it. Sudha
started preparing breakfasts and lunches for 4 instead of 3. On dining table
there would always be an extra plate with food and the doll would be kept on
the chair. Kamal had tried stopping her but the screams and wailing of Sudha
was unbearable. He started playing along and made his son play along too. He
was OK as long as everything was normal. But soon he started seeing changes in
his son.
And then one day, he saw his son
talk to himself. ‘I am talking to my
sister’ Minku explained and his mother smiled. Kamal lost it all. He took
the black doll and threw it away. Sudha kept screaming whole night. His son
kept crying for his mother and his sister. ‘I
want to go to her’ Sudha kept shouting the whole way while they took her to
hospital in the morning.
After two days Dr. Bijlani walked
to Kamal with the news. ‘Her heart had
stopped working. We have kept her on ventilator but biologically she is dead’
Dr. Bijlani said with sympathy. Kamal knew that this was coming. He cursed
himself for celebrating his anniversary and cursed the person who did this to
his family. He will never be happy.
***
Back home, he took the pot of ash
from his son and put it on the dining table. ‘Are you hungry?’ He asked his son and he nodded in yes. Kamal took
out a plate and gave him the leftovers from the night before. His son looked
into the plate for few seconds and said, ‘for
mom and sister?’ Kamal losing his mind, slapped him as hard as he could. A
heart trembling wail broke out of his throat and all became silent.
‘He is in shock’ Dr. Bijlani told Kamal in the hospital while Minku
slept in the ward. ‘I am afraid, in his
innocence he had believed that both his mother and sister are not dead’ He
continued, ‘We need to make him believe
otherwise and make him understand the facts. This might be a long process and
may require multiple psychiatric sessions. For now just play along’ Kamal
wept on himself. ‘What is my fault? What
have I done to anyone to go through this pain?’ he cried while all Dr.
Bijlani could say was, ‘everything will
be ok’.
Nothing turned back to OK. On the
outer side it all looked normal but Kamal could hear his son talking behind the
closed room. He had stopped asking for extra plates but he also started leaving
his food uneaten. Kamal doubted that the leftovers were for his sister or his
mother. Seeing no improvement at all, Dr. Bijlani suggested Kamal to take him
to Mumbai for better opinion and better treatment, though he had already
consulted with bests he had known. Kamal liked the idea, also because Sudha’s
parents were living in Mumbai and this would be an opportunity for both of them
to get some change from this terrible situation.
Doctors in Shivaji Memorial were
not so friendly and the dean of the medical institute immediately suggest for
shock treatment before it gets too late. Kamal shivered just by the thought of
his little kid going under the shock treatment. He tried to pursue them. Called
Dr. Bijlani back in Ujjain but it turned he was too reluctant to suggest the
same and that might be the best way forward.
That night when Kamal heard his son
talking to his mother, saying ‘I want to
be with you’ he decided there was no other way. With support from his
in-laws he signed the application form, approving the best treatment suggested
by the doctors.
Kamal left for Ujjain. Medical
expenses nearly broke him and he could not afford to sit home any longer. Shop must not be closed for long. Sudha’s
parents, Sudha being their only child, were more than happy to keep their
grandson with them.
Days started passing. With
improvements, number of sessions decreased from week to month and then eventually
to none. Kamal visited Mumbai every month and saw his son doing better not just
in personal front but in studies and sports. ‘Bringing away from Ujjain must be best thing I might have done to him’
Kamal thought.
Soon it all became a distant
memory. There were no more treatments and no more sessions. By the time he
graduated, he was no different than any other student. In fact his brilliance
in academic and sports made him better than most of the students. When he joined a reputed bank as an assistant
manager after completing his MBA, his grandparents were dead, only one remained
to share the news was his father. After few months his father died of cardiac
arrest. Dr. Bijlani said he didn’t suffer much. Minku remembered the last talk
he had had with him before his father died, ‘I am very proud of you, Manoj’ He
had said.
***
Neha woke up to the ringing phone
and found front door of the house to be open. She could not find Manoj
anywhere. As she picked up the phone, she realized there were no gift boxes on
the table. ‘Hello’ she said on the
phone.
‘Neha, look outside’ said a neighbor’s voice from other side of the
receiver.
Neha walked out of the front door
and phone fell from her hand. Manoj was sitting across the road opening gift
boxes desperately. Shining wrappers were scattered all over street and torn
boxes and the gifts inside them, were thrown here and there. A chill ran
through her nerves and she ran towards Manoj. He looked up as if he didn’t
recognize her. ‘Did you see my Sister?’
he asked her in his innocence and started removing wrapper from another box.
Few neighbors came to help Neha.
They took Manoj back to the house while he kept asking for her sister. Neha
took him to the room and locked it from outside. Manoj kept screaming and
shouting to let him out to search for his sister.
‘Hello…Dr. Bijlani?’ Neha spoke on the phone. She knew, only person left
who was related to Manoj’s family, was Dr. Bijlani in Ujjain.
Dr. Bijlani and Neha stood outside operating
room of Shivaji Memorial hospital, watching from the glass window. A team of
doctors were busy preparing electric machine, calibrating its intensity, while
Manoj lay on the stretcher, lights burning just above his face. They put the
electric cord across his temple and with a jerk his whole body started shaking.
She could not hear his screams but could see the rubber log stuck between his
teeth shudder like a railway track when the train passes through it. Thick viscous
saliva drenched his face and neck. Hands were tightly clenched in fists and
legs were stroking the cuffs around it in a rhythm as if counting…1…2…3…and
again…1…2…3…
***