Resurrected
Page 13
She looked very frightened and could not speak anything. She was also shivering due to the cool breeze blowing in the lane. I understood that she was too afraid to be alone anymore. She was walking by leaning on me. I took her to the taxi and opened the back door for her. She shut it and opened the front door to sit beside me.
I realized that she was still very scared. I started the taxi and took the route of her home. On the way, I saw a small tea stall and ordered two hot cups of tea and biscuits. I gave one cup to Merlin but she declined.
I insisted, “This will keep you warm.” I gave it to her. She drank it slowly, took few biscuits and ate them. She did not look at me. Her eyes were resting on the road.
I looked at her before starting the cab. She slowly looked into my eyes and said, “I was returning home after meeting my sick aunty. Today I thought of taking a short cut and reaching my home early. Marina Street Lane is a shortcut route to reach my place. As I entered the lane I saw a group of men standing at a corner. I did not give much attention to them and kept walking ahead. As I was walking, I heard somebody walking behind me. I turned behind and saw that group of men following me. In the silent construction area, I had nobody to turn to for helping me. I got scared. I called up Alex but his phone was switched off. So I called you up.”
“Good lord!” I exclaimed and started the taxi. “What happened after that?”
Merlin looked up and smiled with courage. She said, “After I spoke to you, I saw them chasing me again. There were many stones lying on the road. I picked them in my fist and threw them on their faces. Then I ran as fast as I could up to the end of the lane and then hid behind the tree. They kept searching me but fortunately they could not locate me. After hearing your voice, I came out.”
“Praise be to the Almighty for helping you out of the trouble. It was good that I shouted your name before going back from here,” I said softly to myself.
I looked at her and said, “Merlin, now do not worry. Go home and relax. Do not think much. Please call Alex and speak to him about your incident.”
“Okay,” saying this Merlin dialled Alex’s number. She kept trying her luck but all in vain. She looked frustrated.
I asked, “What happened?”
“Iveil, I feel disgusted. Alex is not picking up my phone. He is a real stupid person to always keep his phone on silent mode.”
“Oh, maybe he is getting irritated with all useless calls on his cell phone,” I said recollecting my similar experience.
“Iveil take me to your house, please, my parents are not in town and I don’t want to stay alone in my house. I am frightened to be alone,” Merlin requested.
“My boss will come by tomorrow in evening. You can surely stay at my house. I will speak with my mother.”
I called up mother and said, “Mother, I will reach home very soon with Merlin madam. Please arrange the bed for her in your room. She will stay with us till tomorrow.”
We reached my home and mother opened the door. I introduced Merlin to her. “This is my mother.” I then took Merlin to meet my younger sister who was busy studying under a small lamp. Merlin smiled at her. My sister stood up to greet Merlin and she hugged her.
She told Merlin, “Merlin madam, you can change your clothes and freshen up. I have kept this gown for you.”
“Thanks dear,” Merlin said and went to the bathroom. I went in to the hall and sat besides mother on the sofa. I narrated to her the entire incident of Merlin at Marina Lane.
When Merlin came, mother gave her a smile and said in comforting words, “Merlin, don’t let tonight’s incident scar your mind. Life does throw some problems once in a while, but we need to help ourselves and be confident. Forget the horror of the incident; instead remember how you saved yourself from those men.”
Merlin hugged my mother and began to cry like a small child.
“Come on child, our room is ready. Let us sleep peacefully till dawn.” Mother took Merlin to her room. Merlin had never slept on a mattress before. She had always slept in her separate big room and on a big comfortable and grand bed. Here she quietly slept on the mattress, next to my mother and sister.
Next day, when Merlin woke up she saw that the room was empty.
She went and stood near the window. The cold breeze brought the fragrance of soil which was beautiful. Birds were chirping on the tree. It was a very pleasant moment for her and she got lost in it.
After some time my mother came and stood beside her. They both were silently enjoying the blessings of nature.
Merlin said, “Aunty, I have troubled you enough. I must leave as soon as possible.”
Mother patted her and said, “No dear child. We are indeed blessed to have a wonderful guest at our house. You are just like my daughter.”
“Where is Iveil?”
“Iveil has gone to office. He will drop you home whenever you want. You call him half an hour before you would like to leave, so that he can come back from the office. Now come, we shall have breakfast together.”
I reached my house after work got over. When I rang the door bell, it was Merlin who opened the door and welcomed me in.
I went inside the kitchen and said to mother, “Did you forget to tell Merlin that she should have called me to take her home?”
At the same time, Merlin entered the kitchen. She said “Actually Iveil, I liked your house so much that did not feel like leaving it.”
I was surprised to hear Merlin appreciating my humble home. Mother hugged Merlin and said, “Child, you can come to our house whenever you want. You are always welcome,” Merlin embraced her. After dinner, I dropped Merlin to her house.
Alex had to go out of town for a few months for his business therefore I was assigned the duty of taking Merlin to office, everyday.
One day, I sent a SMS to Merlin, “Tomorrow, you have to attend a meeting at 12:30.”
Merlin would normally send a long reply but today she just sent back a short one, “kkk…”
I cautioned her through another SMS, “Merlin, please don’t be late for the meeting.”
At this, Merlin sent an angry reply, “Stop irritating me. As it is I am already frustrated with my life. Can you not taunt me for few days?”
I replied with a smile, “Merlin even the country’s President doesn’t get so serious, relax.”
Merlin replied, “I am trying to focus on my work but I just can’t concentrate.”
I comforted her, “Do not take life very seriously, Merlin. Take life as it comes. Create a stable mind to face any problem that would come in life.”
Merlin replied, “I am in a bad mood because yesterday I fought with my father. We are not on speaking terms.”
“Merlin, go and immediately apologize to your father.”
“No, way! He has blamed me by saying that I am jealous of my cousin’s success whereas I am not.”
I replied, “He is your father. If he is wrong, explain to him that he is. Find out what his reasons are, for believing so. But do apologize!”
Merlin replied, “But I am upset because he leveled wrong allegations on me.”
“He must have his reasons, find them out. Stop holding grudges against your own father, Merlin.” I replied with a smile.
Sometime later Merlin called me up and told me that, after reading my message, she kept her ego aside and apologized to her father.
“Iveil, I have apologized to him. He apologized too. I feel so much happy right now.” She continued,
“My father said, Merlin, I am sorry too. I was too harsh to youand he hugged me.”
Merlin’s two days of sadness got wiped out.
“If we apologize and forgive our dear ones, our lives will be very pleasant,” I replied.
Merlin replied, “Thank you, Iveil. This would have not been possible without you. God bless you.”
CHAPTER 25
One evening after office, Merlin and I went to stroll at the beach. After walking for sometime Merlin said, “Iveil, let us sit on the sand. It is so refreshing out here.” We sat down on sand.
The breeze played with her long hair. The sunrays made her face shine. Her pink lips made her face look so pretty that my eyes got stuck at the sight of her face.
“Very pretty lady!” I said to myself but remembered that Merlin is going to get married to Alex. I am just a good friend to her.
I diverted my sight towards the sea. After sometime, a small boy came to us selling a variety of chocolates. Turning to Merlin asked, “Merlin which chocolate would you like?”
“Thanks Iveil, but I do not like chocolates at all,” Merlin replied.
“Oh, it’s really rare that somebody doesn’t like chocolates,” I said while paying the boy for a bar of chocolate.
“There are so many things in this world which I really don’t like. Forget about things, but I have a list of people whom I hate,” Merlin replied plucking a leaf forcefully from the tree.
I asked curiously, “Merlin, tell me any two experiences of your life due to which you didn’t like a person.”
“Wow! Nice question,” Merlin replied and was soon lost in her thoughts. After thinking she said, “When I was in college, I met a girl called Sejal. We became good friends. She was a friendly and caring person. In my second year of college, I joined extra classes and even she took admission in the same class because of me. Every day we would go together and leave together from classes. Life was going very smoothly but after some days, a few girls started making fun of every student in the class. At times even our sir would join them. Sejal was a frequent prey to it all, maybe it was because she was misunderstood. She got extremely frustrated and sad due to this behavior of the girls. She decided to leave the classes.
When she told me her decision of leaving the class, I requested her not to do that just because somebody made fun of her. I told her that even I will not be able to attend the classes for a month as I was going on a tour with my family.
At this she said, “Do not worry Merlin. You have been such a good friend of mine that I will never leave you in trouble. I will not leave the class. In fact, you had always helped me at every step in life after we met.” But the very next day she changed her mind and said, “Sorry Merlin, but I have decided to leave the classes immediately. How will I tolerate such girls all alone for one month without you? I will be sad and depressed for a month.”
At this I argued, “Sejal, I will be all alone. I will have to face these girls for the rest of the year, alone. Can’t you imagine my condition? I have already paid my fees so I can’t even leave the classes. Please do not go. When you were absent for a month due to your exams I taught you everything which you have missed in the class. Now when I will miss my classes who will help me out?”
Sejal replied, “Merlin, I know I am acting very mean but I can’t be sad any more. Pardon me, but I am firm with my decision.” Hearing her decision, I understood that however much sacrifice you make for anybody; it will not be valued by them. They will take as much help from you but when it is their turn they will turn away their face in a mean way. My heart for humanity was shattered.
Merlin took a deep breath and took out a bottle of water from her handbag. I felt she started drinking water in order to avoid speaking about the second person whom she hated the most. After drinking water she was lost in some thoughts again so I finally asked her, “Merlin, you still have to tell me about one more person whom you hate or because of whom you have been hurt.”
Merlin came out of her thoughts and looking at me said, “The second person who has hurt me was my Zuhang Sir. Back in school, my friend Sasha and I were in search of good classes for our elementary drawing examination course of two years. We couldn’t find any classes in our nearby area. Sasha finally found one class and asked me to join along with her. At that time, somebody informed me about Zuhang Sir in my area. He had opened his classes only one year ago but he still managed to make a good name for his artistic works. One day, I went to meet him personally.
A tall guy with big dark eyes, thick eyebrows, wheatish complexion, broad brownish lips, and oval shaped face was waiting for me. When I went inside the class, he welcomed me with a cheerful smile. I guessed that he was Zuhang Sir’s assistant, maybe. So I started the conversation saying, “Hello, my name is Merlin. I want to join Zuhang Sir’s classes for my upcoming drawing competition.”
He smiled again and said, “Merlin, the next batch will be starting after a month. Timings will be 9AM to 11AM. It will be thrice in a week. You will be further informed about it through SMS.”
I interrupted him saying, “I have my school exam till the first week of the next month. I will miss classes for about 10 days. Anyway, I will speak personally with Zuhang Sir regarding it.”
He calmly replied, “Merlin, do not worry if you miss any class. I assure you that it will be taught to you again. Every lecture that a student misses out is covered up here.”
“I need to speak with Zuhang Sir personally. When will he be coming to the classes?” I asked patiently. “I also have to pay him the fees.”
The man took out a receipt from his bag, looked at me and said “Merlin, if you have got your fees you can pay to me right now.” I got irritated because this silly assistant didn’t understand that I was not interested in handing big amount of my fees to him. What if he doesn’t give it to Zuhang Sir but instead ran away with it?
I lost my temper and in angry voice shouted, “I have got my fees but I will hand it over to Zuhang Sir after speaking with him personally.”
The man looked at my angry red face but without losing his patience, he smiled and said, “Merlin, I am Zuhang Sir.”
“What?” I shouted in astonishment. I never expected such a young man to be my teacher. He looked only about five years elder to me. I kept staring at my future art teacher. I was thinking that in spite of being young he still made such a good name of his classes. I quietly paid him the fees.
He gave me the receipt saying, “Just fill your details on this receipt.” He then started searching for a pen in his bag but he couldn’t find it. So he finally picked up a pen which was left inside a desk by some student. He gave it to me. I took the pen but saw that it was leaking. So I gave it back to him. I stood up and took out a pen from one of the pockets of my jeans. I quickly filled up the details and gave him back. He signed it and handed me the receipt. He told me, “If you have any question, feel free to call me.” He smiled again.
“Okay Sir,” saying this I left the class but when I was going down the narrow stairs my head hit the shutter of that building. I didn’t want him to see this funny sight. I looked behind and saw him on stairs staring at me as if giving mental signals to move slowly and carefully on the narrow stair case.
When I reached the road the memories of shouting at him kept bothering me. On top of it, I had not even apologized. It made me feel worse. The funny scene of running on the stair case and getting hit also made me feel stupid.
I called up my friend Sasha and spoke to her about getting myself enrolled with this class. I told her to also join these classes.
She said, “Merlin, I do not trust such new classes but since you have joined I will go for a trial lecture and then decide on it.”
“You should not judge any classes based on the years of its establishment, but on the quality of their teachings. Zuhang Sir is not very experienced but I have heard he teaches very well. Request him to allow you to sit for one of his classes in the ongoing batch.”
The next day Sasha and her mother met Zuhang Sir. Sasha attended one of his classes and was satisfied with his teaching skills. She too joined the classes.
In the first year, he prepared all of us for a national level drawing competition. I was extremely satisfied wi
th his teaching skills, and immense general knowledge which he would share with us. He was very humble or maybe he was just pretending to be too good. He always carried a smile on his face. However, there was one thing about him which I didn’t like.
He was a very partial person. Though he mostly had girls training under him, he would focus more or give much more importance to the few selected boys in his classes. I never used to like it specially when I started sharing up new creative ideas and he didn’t pay any attention to them. He made me feel as if I didn’t exist. He would only ask his favorite boys to share their ideas. It used to anger me and I was hurt deep inside. I wanted to tell him this but how could I? So whenever he would teach us painting, I would pretend that I never paid any attention towards his teaching. Though I just pretended, he felt it was real.
It went on but after a few days it didn’t matter much because I was used to his partial behavior. Our competition was round the corner and Zuhang Sir would tell each one of us to practice hard. I did not pay any heed to him because I felt I will win the contest even if I will practice at the last minute. Days went by quickly.
One day prior to my contest, I realized that I had almost lost my grip on drawing and classes were also over since a month. I finally called him and said, “Zuhang Sir, I have my contest tomorrow and I do not have proper grip on my painting. My drawings are not up to the mark”. Zuhang Sir replied, “Don’t worry. I am there to help you. Just reach my place in an hour. I will make you practice till you get a hand on it.”
“But sir, I do not know where exactly do you stay. I may get lost in your area,” I replied in a helpless tone.
“Okay, I will come to pick you up from your home. Just be ready,” He replied. He came in his car and took me to his place. I was nervous because I had no practice in my paintings at all, and was sweating even in the cool rainy season.
Zuhang Sir quietly noticed my nervousness. He said, “Look at this wonderful rainy weather.” I looked at the window and saw heavy rains on the road.