Throughout the flight I wondered, how was Sumit concerned about Rohit or Mama. We reached within two hours. It was a completely changed airport. The one I had arrived after my marriage was a small one with only domestic flights. Now it was much bigger catering for international flights too. All the modern facilities were there. It was bigger and cleaner too.
We took a cab and I felt very nervous to enter the same lanes, the same house and then face the stares and whispers of the neighbors. I looked at Sumit in a query mode and inquired, “How do you know the exact address?” He gave a smile and said, Asha dear I am the director of a famous company and whenever I travel, I collect all the information before departure.”
With a sudden jerk and a squealing sound of the tires the cab came to a halt. The glow sign on the multistoried building read as Jeevni Hospital. Before I could open my mouth to ask a question, Sumit descended from the cab and the driver opened the door to let me out. Sumit held my hand tight and softly whispered, “We have to meet Rohit who has been admitted here.”
I was speechless and horrified. Within a minute we were facing a room which read, “Special ICU” A nurse guided us to an annexe where we washed and scrubbed our hands, changed into sterilized gowns, put on a mask and entered the adjacent room.
It was a dimly lit room with a propped up bed in the center. There I saw mama sitting in a corner on a reclining chair. She wearily lifted herself up and met both of us. Then taking e few steps to the central bed she touched Rohit’s arm and whispered near his left ear, “Open your eyes Rohit, look who has come to see you?”
A frail emaciated Rohit lay on a propped up bed in a supine position. He was only skin and bones. An oxygen mask on his nose with multiple wires and tubes dangling around it. Eyes were sunken, lips parched and papery dry. His cheek bones were unusually prominent due to loss of fat. His breathing was very strenuous, despite the monitors connected to regulate his vitals.
I was horrified to see him in this pitiable condition. But his face was recognized by me, as the once upon a time, handsome face for which I had fallen at first sight.
Mama held Sumit’s hand and said, “ thank you for calling me every week and extending moral support. Even the specialist whom you had sent for assessment of his kidney functions declared it as a gone case and irreversible condition. No chances of renal transplant too because of liver damage. When you last called we had just transferred him to the i.c.u and all doctors said it is a matter of time now”.
Then she held my hand, slowly took me to his bedside and kept my hand on his forehead, saying in mono articular syllabus, “Asha forgive him fully from the bottom of your heart and release him to pass off peacefully. He is probably waiting for that.”
What was colder, my hand or his forehead was impossible for me to differentiate? I felt his icy cold skin and as if some vibrations had been transmitted, his eyes blinked slightly, his head turned towards the left, the side of the bed where I stood. Then there was a dew drop like tear which rolled down the outer angle of his left eye, and wet the pillow cover of his bed. I compassionately wiped that rolled down stream of tears, and said, “Rohit, past is past, gone and forgotten. Just relax and concentrate on Almighty. He will lessen your miseries.”
He took a final gasping breath, and became completely flaccid with his face turned to his left. My scream came involuntarily, “Call the doctor.”Mama shook her head in negativity; Sumit held me by my hand and seated me on a chair. I just stared aghast, with a blank expression on my face. The doctor was already standing at the doorway probably anticipating the inevitable to approach. He came in and auscultated the heart for any signs of life, up turned the eyelids o confirm any reflexes, and finally shook his head. He covered up his face with the white sheet and said in a low tone, “My friend is gone.”
I was literally trembling. I could never believe Rohit was really waiting for my arrival and then leave this world. The lady for whom he had left me, beating me to death, was nowhere near him. The money for which he had planned all the forgery and deceit was nowhere with him.
I felt sorry for him from the core of my heart. I stared with a blank face. Sumit caught hold of my cold clammy, trembling hand and softly whispered, “You have to be strong for mama.” He kept a hand on mama’s shoulder and said, “We are staying back till all the rituals are performed. Then we are taking you along with us to Mumbai. You will not feel Rohit,s absence. I think you can understand that Amit will not be able to leave his studies and reach for all the rituals and the last prayers.”
She just nodded her head in agreement and then added, “I will not be able to go with you. I have a huge family of spiritual followers whom I cannot abandon; they shall be coming here as soon as the news reaches them. I would stay here and continue my pursuit of spiritualism and social services. That is the only way for me to maintain my peace of mind”
Fallowing three days were very hectic and emotionally painful. I can never forget the scene which was described to me . When immediate relative was called to lit the funeral pyre, it was Sumit who came forward and performed all he final rituals. Everyone present there sang laurels of his greatness
. Mama was more than relieved and did not feel the absence of Aman. I wondered who these bonds are created between two unknown persons, who hardly knew each other, who had never met, and who would probably been ardent rivals of one another. I was the only common link between the two of them.
After performing the last prayers in a temple amidst a large gathering of people we planned to return home .Respect for Sumit in every ones mind had risen many fold .I felt very lucky to have him in my life.
Seeing me sad and depressed on our way back home, Sumit held my hand tight and said, “ I did not tell you anything about our trip to Lucknow in advance because I did not want you to get into un necessary tension. I was in constant touch with mama, and when she showed her desire of your meeting Rohit once, I took the decision of taking you there. According to her, Rohit was literally waiting for you, which proved to be true. I did everything for her happiness.”
I was listening quietly to all that he said and murmured, “Believe me Sumit, I never cursed him for what he did to me, I never wished anything evil for him either. But I had developed a strong hatred for him and for the marriage, but his suffering was far too much and I feel sorry for mama who, despite her goodness had to bear all these sufferings. Had it not been for her spiritual strength, she would have collapsed long ago.”
He nodded his head in agreement, and said, “ You know Asha, the day I first met that lady, I could judge her clean heartedness, her repentance for being helpless regarding you. There was no reflection of any deceit in her nature. It was probably her maternal instinct and her love for her son which tied her up even to his wrong and deceitful actions. But she wanted to see you happy.” Then he gave a soft slanting smile, brought his face near mine and whispered in my ear, “ I promise to keep you happy till I am alive” I encircled my arm around him and softly uttered, “thank you for everything.” I loosened the mantle of insecurity that had engulfed me. Then I reciprocated in a soft loving whisper, “ I am excited, I’m happy, I’m overwhelmed and secure in your hands. “ then we moved on and on and on.
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Marriage Of Deceit Page 15