The last walk

“I think he is cheating with us..”
“Don’t talk like a human, Cissy. Uncle Messer has never lied in his life.”
“Don’t call me human please”
“Then stop barking mad”
“I am just worried about my child, thats all.”
Cissy wiped a tear off her face by her front paw before turning and going back in to under the cupboard which lay abandoned behind motor garage run by Human Fat Ass(“Thats what his friends call him when he is not looking”, Rocky told cissy once)

Rocky stood still staring at lone figure of Woodstocky standing guard in front of “The Alwa’s” gate. Woodstocy too was lost in thoughts. The rain has affected him less than the Rocky Waggle’s family but still he too suffered a considerable amount. But it was nothing as compared to Rocky’s fate. Cissy chose the same month for birth of three children (Welly,Neil and Vivi) All of them were cute and bore marks around their paws which gave a feel that they are wearing white socks.
“Colors never mattered”, Rocky had announced proudly,”Waggles are not known for their looks, are they?”.
He was true. Waggle family was well known in Dog community or say all wild community for their bravery and wisdom. Rocky has proved to be worthy of this honour and never ever gave anyone chance to question it. But today was different. Today, it was question of life and death of a child.

“Poor Welly”, Uncle Messer sighed(he was a doctor),”she is so young and delicate”.
“What do you mean, sir?”, Rocky’s voice was quivering.
“Rocky, Rocky! This rain, the food crisis had affected this child and as a result she full of fever”. Uncle Messer adjusted his tail and sighed again.
“How much time she have, sir?”,Cissy asked in a voice which shook Uncle to tears. He just tried to cover his wet eye edges.He picked up his bag in his mouth and went to door. He turned his head before leaving, glanced at sleeping Welly over his sholder once and said, “48 Hours at max”.

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No one bothered to close the door behind him. When Neil and Vivi returned from market, they found Cissy and Rocky at same places Uncle Messer had left them. Cissy was little more wet. Neil tried asking what happened but Vivi shooed him out of home and followed. When they were out of earshot of dad, she whispered to Neil,”Don’t ask anything, Neil. Welly is dying.”
“What is dying?”, Neil was looking at his front nails,”Seems a bad thing, I have never seen dad so sad.”
“It must be, I just overheard Stocky uncle speaking to Stock aunty yesterday. He was saying Welly is dying, whatever it means, aunty cried for few minutes.”
Neil looked up at Vivi,”May be it means she will go and never come back. What can be more bad than this?”
Vivi shrugged and tried to put her tail under her body to keep it warm.
“Lets get in, its cold here”, she said and Neil obeyed.

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“Just few paces more dear Welly, just few.”, Rocky helped her to get on to her feet. They were walking from two hours and in meantime Welly has fallen a number of times, helped by her Dad on feet everytime she fell.
“Where…..are……w…we…g..g..goi…ng?”, Welly thought sooner the walk ends, she will be able to sleep peacefully. It was weird, in the evening, Dad just asked if she fancy a walk with him and she agreed. Anyway she was feeling a bit weak from afternoon.
“A walk through grounds would be good for your health”, Cessy assured her with trembling voice.
“I don’t know but something is wrong with mum”, Welly told Rocky as they started walking towards the hill. But it felt a long long ago she left mum and grave looking Neil and Vivi. Funny, she thought, how come they didn’t bother dad for coming with us?

“Lets rest in the soil there, Welly, you will will feel better.”, Rocky was determinedly looking at anywhere but Welly. They sat on the soil. Few minutes passed in silence. Welly broke it with a soft voice,”Is it dark already dad?”. Now Rocky turned to his daughter as his heart gave a jolt at this.
“N…Yes dear, a little. Are you feeling okey?”
“Yeah dad, its…just becoming little dark….I can’t see properly.”
Rocky knew what it meant. His daughter was being silently dragged towards death. Her eyes were only half open. Her breath slow and steady.
“I feel like sleeping, dad.”
“Go ahead, dear, I am here”, he said shortly.

Welly curled up for sleeping. Rocky’s eyes filled with tears as he looked at her. Nothing is more painful for a dog than watching his own daughter die in front of his eyes. He cried silently, she even don’t know what the word death means. He watched her breath slow down, her heart slow down from her skin over the bones. Her body stopped moving slowly and he got up and walked few paces towards hill.
“Enigmoo”, he called in cracking voice. Someone ran towards him, black with tongue hanging out he asked,”Is she…? In sleep…? Oh my…? let me see….”.
Enigmoo ran towards Welly and checked her for signs of life. “Gone”, he said shortly. “Its better you brought her up here, Rocky. Otherwise her body could have caused infection to other children. Its for everyones good you know.” He patted on head of Rocky who was stiff like a pole.
“Go home and look after wife and others, Rocks, they need you there. GO!”, Enigmoo steered Rocky away. “Life and death is not in our hands, Rocks, we have to face it.”

Somewhere right to him in dark, Rocky nodded.
His eyes were dry as his lips and throat. Neil and Vivi were standing outside home absentmindedly staring at moon who had just risen over the hill Rocky just came from.

sweetest birthday gift….

It was a rainy morning. Not stormy but rainy enough to make children feel bunking school and play football in grass. Aadesh was getting ready and was looking at his mobile every other minute. “Mom must not be in doubt at any cost”, he kept reminding himself. Once he was out of home, no one will ask what he was doing so long  before returning home. It has been his strategy for nearly two months now and neither mom nor dad has doubted his frequent visits to college campus even it was holiday period.

“Come on!! Ring!!”, Aadi who was desperately staring at his mobile, blurted out aloud.
“You called me, beta ?”, mom came in the room, “and are you going somewhere?”.
“Ohh, I was about to tell you mom, Rohan just called me and asked to come to his room. He has some new CD’s….”, Aadesh was hoping he wasn’t looking too much convincing. Mom cut him and said,” Its your birthday, come home early!’ and she left for kitchen.

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In 10 minutes, he was parking his bike at “Backside Parking” of his college. His heartbeats quickened as he looked at that spot. The spot where he first ate from her tiffin and how by mistake touched her hand and she blushed! Sweet! He smiled. Walking briskly towards the back-gate, Aadesh breathed in the familiar air full of sweet smell coming from white flowers whose name he never learned.
The ground was wearing a carpet of flowers. He walked over them swiftly and picked up a freshly fallen flower. He looked closely at it. “Small but sweet”, he thought, “I wonder if it hurts when I throw them at her….”. His mind again started circling around the memories of last few months. She never stopped smiling and giggling when he showered her with these flowers. She just loved the smell of them. She loved them because He picked them up. She loved everything of him.

He approached the corridor where they sat studying for hours on weekends and evenings. He remembered himself making excuses to come to college on holidays like inventing friends whose parents invited for tea, important Xerox of some article and many more fake ones…. Everything was meant for meeting each other and nothing mattered anymore. The place reminded him how they held each others hands first time when they met in rain one evening, how she leaned her head on his shoulder for first time when he tickled his hand through her hair, how she used to pick up tiny specks fallen on his eyelids with her tongue between teeth, how innocently she used to stare at him listening to his tells, how she had cried when someone used bad words for him, how they always met college principal being alone at back-parking and he never understood why principal gave them a smile while continuing his walk……

Aadesh jumped as the mobile rang suddenly. Leaning over railing of gallery he heard, ” I will be there in few more minutes Aadi, please wait for me”. Rain decided to resume his pace at same time Aadi sighed and thought of going towards canteen. Now he turned towards library instead and found it locked due to holidays.

A cool breeze ruffled his hair. He rested his elbows on the railing and put his chin in hands. He looking intently at hill far far away, at base of which his home was situated. Slowly, two small hands closed his eyes and someone said in his ear in a whisper, “Happy Birthday my love”.
With a rush of joy in heart he turned around and found her trying to regain her balance. She grabbed his hand slightly and made him walk with her, “How come you didn’t notice me coming this time, Aadi?”. Looking directly in her eyes, Aadi replied, “May be I wasn’t supposed to notice!”. She smiled and her eyes sparkled. Aadi’s heart missed a beat.

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She stopped on stairs near library with a corridor behind them which was very dark and damp. He felt her hand trembling a little and turned to look at her.
She was standing two stairs up than him and that brought their heads at same level.
“What?”, he felt himself shivering on finding her so close.
“Happy Birthday my dear Aadi”, she repeated in a voice barely a whisper this time and Aadi found her closed eyes very near to his. He felt like closing his own eyes and he did so.
Both of them tightened the grip on each others hands as they came closer and closer and closer.
In an instant their trembling lips met.
Her body shivered from head to foot and so did Aadi.
For a moment both of them pulled back to breathe and again kissed. This time it was a firm. Aadi put his hand on her back and pulled her little close. She wrapped her tiny hands around his neck
First kiss in life has its own effects.
And Aadi was having his sweetest birthday gift ever.

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Was it a dream? Really?

“Good night mom”

He threw the the mobile aside pulling the blanket over the head. It was a very dark night. Presence of clouds in sky made it so dark.
Being alone in the flat(“partner went home yesterday”, as he told his mom) was not a very interesting thing to do. No one to talk for 2 whole days(face to face) makes you feel weird sometimes.

***************************************

He was feeling chilly air rushing and ruffling his hair. “Ohh, where is my winter-cap?”, he thought and without noticing the wind stopping suddenly, stretched his hand to his right and picked up the cap. Pulling it over his head he looked ahead and gave a start. He was facing nothing but black. It was like going blind. Also there wasn’t any noise at all. Nothing except his heavy breath. Suddenly, he realized how hard it was to breathe there. Desperate for air, he violently waved his hands and tried to throw the damn blackness away.

In a moment he felt fresh air-breeze soothe him. but it was different from previous one. This time, the freshness made him close his his eyes with pleasure. Or may be his eyes were never open at all. The thought felt weird but he wasn’t bothered about it as he breathed in this air.
“This air”, he asked himself, “isn’t it familiar?”
He tried opening eyes and closed them again as bright light blinded his vision momentarily. He tried again looking for the light source. This time he found no blindingly bright light. Things were very dimly lit. Opening his eyes fully, he noticed that there was a half-spherical lamp hung to a porch with big doorbell button under it and a wooden polished door beside it.

It took a moment for him to realize what he was actually looking at. It was front door of a house.

A very familiar house!! “Hang on!”, it was his home!!! Wasn’t he the one who installed this light? How can he forget it!!!
He was only a step away from his own home. He was only a step away from his mother who probably will pull his cheeks any moment asking why he was late. But something felt wrong. Somehow, he was feeling blank. He remembered nothing. His mind felt numb. Nothing was stirring. After a moment, he tried looking at his left to check for the gate of stairs leading to terrace was closed or not. Unaware of his own action, he again waved his left hand in the direction he wanted to see.

“Noooo!!!”. Head buzzing, breaths heavy and heart thumping like it never did, he was shivering from head to foot. His heart beats were now audible even over his own heavy breaths.
“No!!! It can’t be real. I was in my flat last moment I remember. No. It can’t be true, how can I…!!”

Something was buzzing, vibrating, making noise. He never realized when view changed and now he was looking at nothing at all. Stretching his hand for the object that disturbed the silence, he closed fingers around a small vibrating object emitting white light.
“Ohh, its just my mobile I threw on the Nik’s bed….”, he thought.
As soon as he reached the words “Nik’s bed”, suddenly, way too much noise penetrated his ears. He gave a start and woke up. Opening his eyes for real first time this night, he found himself in his bed, in a room at least 200 Km away from his home. Sweat trickled down from forehead, his head completely wet with it.

***************************************
His heart was still thumping. He looked around him. Clock showed 02.00 am. His blanket was lying at bed’s feet, his winter-cap hanging about-to-fall on his wet head, the Ceiling fan spinning itself madly making quite a racket. Anti-Mosquito liquid machine on wall front of him shone very brightly, the only light source in the room.
He switched the tube-light ON.
Drinking some water from his bottle, a very creepy thought twirled in his mind…,

” Was it really a dream????”

just let me leave

The platform was empty other than very few early morning passengers. No one was looking at me. Across me, Lavanya was staring at station’s front gate behind me. Her face clearly showed signs of anxiety and hope.
Abhi noticed her expression, “Forget it Lavanya, she doesn’t know he is leaving today…”. Lavanya jerked her head towards him and added in a voice barely over a whisper,” and forever! moron!”. Last word was for me.
Everyone looked up at me. I felt my head burning. It was very hard to face them. Rohit sensed my condition. Being my room partner, he knew me.
“Come on Hemant, lets check the train timing”, Hemant got up and left with Rohit.
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Lavanya was now looking at me with same expression she looked at the front gate. “Don’t go, Suda. You don’t need to go”. I looked down at my feet, ” I ….I can’t…La…avanya”. My voice failed me due of lack of usage in last few days. ” I can’t live here, Lavanya. Not now after….”
Lavanya continued to stare at me but Abhi asked, “Why?”
I looked at him and thought for a moment. Why? Why was I leaving the place? I found my answer.
“Abhi, I just can’t imagine my life without her. No don’t roll eyes like that. Its not that simple as we used to think”. Abhi’s expression became serious, “Explain please!, for me”.
I sighed,” Simply, I can’t bear the life here. I remember her every moment. Miss her everywhere. I miss her sitting on the chair at my study desk. I miss her walking down the college lawn towards me. I miss watching her circling me on her bike. I miss her hand shuffling my wet hair. I miss her touch when we met first time in rain. I miss her…..”, my voice failed again. No. I must not remember these things now. She was your life, was , now you are free,  Itold myself.
My body was shaking and hot. I got up and went to edge of platform.
*****************************************************
A Bell rang somewhere behind us. Train was due in few minutes. I heard Hemant and Rohit checking my luggage. In few minutes, I was sitting at window, Lavanya controlling tears, Abhi silent, Hemant instructing me something and Rohit standing back with his hands on his hips. The engine gave a final warning horn. Rohit suddenly darted forward and handed me some silver wrapped thing. I took out a glittering pen from it.
With a little jerk, train moved. Rohit looked in my eyes and said, ” Write for me, dude. I want to read you”. I grasped his hand, “I will friend, I will”.

The train gained speed. I looked back. I was leaving the city who witnessed golden period in my life. And I was not going to return here. Not for at least few years. I felt a surge to jump and run back. But instead I said quietly to the air, “Just let me leave….”.
*****************************************************

Rain…. I love you

A headlight flashed around the distant corner of road. I stared in the light……. I stared until it dazzled me enough to close my eyes. Opening them I found myself looking straight in eyes of young lady. Water tickling down her face….. Small pearls of water drops shining in her curly short hair………a distant source of light was making them tinkle. The rain was clearly enjoying our meeting and was rewarding us with careful small small drops.Even the eyes fixed each other, She smiled. Little of her cheek moved to reflect the distant light again. I was hearing my heart thump louder and louder as I made a move close to her. Slowly and little shaking, I touched her hand resting on the handle of her scooter. She shivered…… I was now feeling her heartbeats racing mine.

And it happened, I felt all sounds except rain die, as if someone has closed my ears with invisible hands, leaving us in soft rain having a wet sensation feeling inside hearts. She was shaking a little and so was I. It was the first time ever I (and also she) felt like having someone so close, so lovely, so warmly refreshing in life. The life never has been so beautiful. The moment made us realize our love without any words. The moment was going to be etched on hearts and was going to remain there forever.

The only sound I could hear was her breath and two hearts pounding. Few moments passed without words. Actually every moment passed without words……….. Suddenly, a breeze from nowhere, brushed my hair and the the invisible hand were taken off my ears. I felt the the surroundings. We were standing right on the main road, hands closed and eyes fixed with each other. Someone was coming from behind the building beside us. I didn’t heard anything, but something made me to say her,” Go, Love, its time to leave.” Reluctantly I backed, hand still feeling her wet skin. She hesitated a moment and with a start, she raced her scooter off leaving me in little darkness.

The rain was still consistent at his pace.
“I love you!!!”, I whispered as her distant figure disappeared around corner, “I really do”.

“Hey, why are you standing in rain?, come inside boy”…. my uncle just came round the building. He ushered me inside and I was really numb at the thought of uncle catching me….. well love handed………

Sweet rain, I love you.