Monday, October 12, 2009

And They Lived Happily Ever After - 2 - The Transformation

Mahesh was glowing. I found him humming romantic songs of Kishor kumar all the day.

One day Paro came to me when Mahesh was not with me.

She asked me “where is Mahesh? Now a days, I find him roaming alone without you.”

“He must be busy with some activity. Why?” I asked her.

“I wanted to tell you that I found Mahesh following me on his bicycle”: she

“I think there is some misunderstanding, Mahesh can not do this”: me

“I caught him red handed twice and asked him why he was following me but he did not answer and ran away, I think you must tell him not to do this again or….. ”: she was serious. I was worried. I spoke to Mahesh but he was not keen to listen to me. Then the day came I always feared. We were at chemistry lab; I went to the teacher to show the color of my solution after titration. I could see Mahesh watching Paro. Paro went to her friends and spoke with them for a while. Then she returned with 3-4 girls accompanying her. She reached near Mahesh and started speaking something. I sensed something wrong. I could hear her voice but did not understand her words. I rushed towards Mahesh. When I reached there she was gone. Mahesh was red faced and trembling. Boys and girls were laughing at him. I took Mahesh outside the lab with me. “What happened?” I asked him. He was not able to speak. That was the first time he had that dream and woke up in sweats.

Mahesh was totally changed. His smile and the glow were vanished like a drop of water in hot summer. Humming of songs was replaced by deadly silence. His sleep was gone; whenever he tried to sleep that dream woke him up. First semester result were declared, I passed but Mahesh failed miserably. His parents were informed. They came and were shocked to see Mahesh. Mahesh lost weight and with dark circles around eyes, he was unrecognizable. His parents were ready to take him back to the village, as they did not want to lose their only son. I tried to explain that he would be fine within some weeks and they agreed.

One fine day I sat with Mahesh and asked “Mahesh! Tell me just one thing, why did you come to Jaipur?” He remained quiet. “Didn’t you want to be an influential person? Didn’t you want to be a respected person in the society? Didn’t you want to make your parents proud?” He was shaking his legs, stretching his fingers. The sound of his fingers was the only response from him. Now I lost my temper, I stood up and blasted “Don’t answer me you coward! You are running away from your responsibilities; don’t ever dream of becoming something, OK? Go back to your small village and live like a villager throughout your life. Let the people make fun of you.”

“Ye……sss! I am a stupid villager. I am a coward. I don’t want to live here anymore. Nobody understands me, nobody respects my feelings. I am wasting my parent’s money. I will go back to village and help my pitaji in farms.” He was crying and struck his head on the wall of the room. I stopped him, he turned, blood was oozing through his wound. I held him close, he kept his head on my shoulder and cried inconsolably. I let him cry for a few minutes and then made him sit on a chair. I wanted him to flush out all his sorrow and anger through his tears. I applied pressure on his wound and stopped bleeding. “Kkrish! You too consider me a stupid villager?” He asked. “No, I know you are more intelligent than others but you need to become smart,” I told him honestly. “Mahesh! I am ready to help you by all means. You can answer all taunts and mockery by doing that, which other people expect the least from you.” We were talking for almost all night. He was now a different person.

Contd....

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