She opened the door of her locked flat and came inside. Daaiji had gone out with Rhea to a nearby garden. Dev was at his clinic. Smruti was too tired to call him and let him know that she has reached Mumbai from the IV. So she decided to message him.
‘Just reached home. Very tired. Will call you later.’
She stood still in the balcony. Many things were going on in her mind. Her mind was like a playground. Thoughts were coming and exploring each other. She was tired but her mind wasn’t. It was somewhere else. With someone else. The moments, or she thought as the wonderful moments, which went by were constantly making their way to her heart, her soul. She was unable to think about anything other than the ten days which went by. She had been to QIT’s industrial visit only once before and that was when she had joined QIT. That was few years back. There was no Samrat then. And there was no such incident then.
She took a glass of cold water and went to her room. She was trembling. She sat on her bed. A feeling of discomfort and terror gripped her. She drank the whole glass of water and kept the glass on the table nearby. There was a feeling of being lost and being broken. There was a feeling of having done something wrong. But she felt no guilt. Her brain was telling her that things have gone terribly wrong. But her mind, her soul, her body was not able to believe the otherwise. She was finding comfort in her senses. She was feeling as if what has happened was destined to happen. She touched the back of her neck. He has kissed her there. She touched her cheeks. He has kissed her there too. She could feel him on her lips. She could sense him everywhere. She couldn’t comprehend the things happening to her. But she loved it. Immensely. Truly.
‘Did you reach home?’ He called her.
‘Yes…just few minutes back. And you?’
‘Yes, me too. And I am missing you now.’
She cut the call and threw her cell on the bed. She felt a kind of extreme rage for herself and him. How dare can he even call her, she thought. And why did she reply him?
Samrat knew that she would cut the call. But he felt relaxed after listening her. Her voice always gave him a kind of joy and an undefined pleasure. He sat comfortably on the sofa and was thinking about the days gone by.
He knew that whatever had happened has happened for good. Finally he could have her in his life. He could feel her and be one with her. But then something pinched his throat. He coughed. The dreadful days which went by came in his mind. He started trembling with fear.
He remembered the day at Manali when everyone had gone to a sight visit and somehow he had convinced her to stay back at the hotel.
At Manali…
‘But why? What do you want to talk now? I mean we can talk later if you want.’ Smruti was trying to explain him but he wasn’t ready to budge.
‘I will not get any chance later. Please try to understand me. I would say that I am not feeling well and you would just need to notify them that you will stay with me.’ Samrat said while speaking through the intercom of his room.
‘Sam, are you even aware what people will talk about us then? It won’t look good.’
‘I know but I really don’t bother. And I think even you shouldn’t.’
She had to give in. She went to the room of the tour co-ordinator from QIT, Mr. Gesota and spoke to him.
‘Sir, he is really not feeling well. He said that he has vomited thrice. I think he should take rest at his room and not go for today’s list of places to visit.’
‘Hmm. Should I call a doctor?’ Mr. Gesota seemed not very convinced about Samrat’s sudden illness.
‘No sir. I have already asked Dev and given Samrat the medicine. He just needs to take some rest.’
‘So will he stay alone at the hotel until we come back? I suggest one of his friends can be with him.’
‘Well, sir, I suggest I will stay back with him.’ Gesota had a surprised look on his face. Smruti continued, ‘Actually Dev suggested me to do it as he has given his medicines to Samrat. So in case things go serious then I can immediately take some action by calling Dev in Mumbai.’
‘In that case, you will be troubling your doctor husband in Mumbai a lot. He might be having enough patients there.’
‘Not to worry about it. He knows Samrat and has all time in the world for him.’
‘Ok.’ Gesota couldn’t say anything more. Everyone was waiting for him downstairs as they were already late for the day. He stood and was about to go out when he turned back. ‘Smruti, are you sure you will stay alone with Samrat till we return back?’
Smruti understood the confusion and a series of doubts in Gesota’s mind. ‘Yes sir. Please do not worry. He is my student after all.’
‘Oh yes. Well nothing really but this is an unknown place and you are alone and he is not well. So I was a bit apprehensive. But anyway, I am sure you will manage the case well. Do call me or anyone of us in case of any emergency.’
‘Sure. You all enjoy.’
Gesota left from there and Smruti heaved a sigh of relief. Gesota was working with QIT since past fifteen years. He was the placement officer at the institute. So he was a favorite among the students as he was the catalyst in attracting large number of IT companies and other organizations to QIT for recruitments. This was the first time that he was made the tour co-ordinator of the industrial visit.
Now…
‘Sam’. Samrat’s mother, Dr. Heena Joshi came with a dish of snacks and a glass of milk. Samrat started feeling uneasy all of a sudden. A sense of horror gripped him. He started sweating.
‘What happened? Any problem?’ Heena spoke as she saw Samrat sweating profusely.
‘No. Not really. Actually, I am really tired. Need to catch up some rest.’
‘You should. Look at your face…as if you haven’t slept for days and months. I hope things were alright at the IV.’
Samrat wanted to tell her that yes, mother, I could really not sleep for many days. A mother understands her child’s mind so easily, he thought. But he couldn’t speak any such thing.
‘Yes mom. Don’t worry. Everything is alright.’ Samrat could somehow show that things are fine. But deep in his mind, he knew that they were not.
His cell phone started ringing. It was Smruti.
‘Sam, no phone calls for some time. Take some rest dear.’ Heena said while going back to kitchen.
‘Yes mom. Just five minutes.’ And he received the call. Smruti was crying on the line.
‘Hey, why are you crying?’
‘How dare you even ask that? After all that happened, can you rest with ease? I have got 102 F fever right now. I trembling with fear thinking about whatever happened at Manali. Never thought that we could get to see such a worst part of our lives over there.’
‘Relax ma’am. It is not only you. Even I have seen all of it. In fact all of us who had been to IV, had to endure the mess. Nobody could have thought that things might go so wrong. Even I am trembling here. But we can’t help ma’am. Whatever has happened has happened. Should I come and see you there?’
‘No. Please, don’t. That would add to my illness.’
‘My presence would make you more sick…is it what you want to say?’
‘Yes. Because it reminds me about those moments which we spent together and those would make me sicker. They would make me love you more.’
‘What!’ exclaimed Samrat with joy. ‘Say it once again. Please. Just the last line.’
‘Shut up. And bye.’ Smruti cut the call and had a sweet smile on her face.
But this moment was also short-lived. Dev came inside the room with a confused and shocked look on his face. He had come home early that evening. He knew that Smruti was going to come back by the evening. He was on his way to home when he received Smruti’s message on his mobile.
He looked at Smruti and hugged her.
‘Are you alright, baby?’ Dev asked her while kissing her on her forehead. ‘You are not. Look at yourself. You have got a high fever.’
‘Yes. But don’t worry. I am alright. Did you come to know about everything?’
‘Yes. Your cell was busy so Mr. Gesota had called on the landline phone. He told me everything. I am terribly shocked Smruti. Rajashri was such a bright girl. Why on earth can anyone do such a thing with her? That too, at Manali, college IV?’
Smruti started crying. She broke down completely. Dev tried to calm her down.
‘I couldn’t believe what I had seen. It benumbed my mind. That sight of Rajashri lying on the floor with blood scattered everywhere on the floor was like a death for me. I got really unconscious then after seeing that sight.’
‘Calm down, Smruti. Think of her parents. She was their only child.’ Dev said while holding Smruti very close to him. Smruti digged herself in Dev’s arms and was weeping like a baby. She felt at ease in his embrace. The days which went by had stressed her a lot.
The next morning Samrat woke up early. He couldn’t sleep the whole night. There were two reasons for it. One was Smruti of course, and second was the incident that had happened at Manali. And more emphatic reason was the latter one. He was continuously thinking about that day and the things which followed. His mind couldn’t rest even for a moment. He was feeling uneasy the entire night.
He came out of his room and stood in the balcony. It was a pleasant sunrise and Mumbai’s roads were already filled with the people. There was a cool winter breeze flowing to and fro. And then he heard the doorbell. The newspapers have come.
He opened the door of his apartment to take the newspapers in. As he took the newspapers on his dining table and held The Times of India in is hand, he was shocked. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The incident had already taken place as the cover page story on the nation’s one of the most popular daily. It read -
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