Chapter IV: The Nest
Ahana
“Amma... Amma...”, I heard my 11
year old daughter Rhea scream. She came running to the kitchen and hugged me
from behind like she always does. “Amma, it is your 16th wedding
anniversary this Friday. I just saw the calendar now.”, she told in all
excitement. I smiled looking at the excitement in her eyes and kissed her
cheeks. “Anniversary? This is the first time in 16 years that your dad is not
with me to celebrate our anniversary.”, I told her. “No amma. Dad told me Japan
is not too far and he will come soon. He will come back with your anniversary
gift. You just keep your gift ready and be waiting”, Rhea said. “Hmmm... If dad
does not come, we will do skype. What say? Now go check what Arjun is doing.”,
I said and she left the kitchen. I went to the balcony.
I started thinking. 16 years
of marriage and I don’t know how time went by. I still remember the day of our
marriage. Just when we were done with all the rituals and we were sitting on
those scattered chairs, Vihaan asked me “What if I now tell you that I am not
the Vihaan whom you were searching for?” and left me shocked and shivering. I
slipped into complete silence thinking about everything that happened in those
2 years. It was like someone was trying to shake the very foundation of my love
and trust. How do I react if he is not the Vihaan I had searched all those
times? How do I react if he now said that his love was fake? I so wanted it to
be a joke even if it made me a fool. He asked again, “What if I tell you that I
was just stalking your profile and tried approaching you and you were the one
who gave me all the inputs to take the conversation forward and finally as days
passed I really fell in love with you?”
Just when he finished asking
me that question, I had tears in my eyes rolling down already. My logical brain
had stopped working to analyze the facts and circumstances. I started asking
myself how do I live with this man when he has broken my trust which is the
very foundation of our love. He just stood there smiling. I felt even that
smile could be a wicked smile. His love maybe true but what if I start doubting
every act of his from now on? I broke down completely. He started laughing
looking at me. I was confused as to what he is upto. “Ahana mad huh? Do you
think I am a random stalker searching Ahana Deekshith on Facebook and asking
you the exact details of school and passing out year? Look at your face. And if I was not the
Vihaan, why would I ask you the explanation for such abrupt separation? I told you I am a prankster.”, he told me still laughing. For the
first time I felt happy becoming a fool. I wanted to punch him on his face but
I couldn’t. I just went and hugged him instead. “You spoiled my makeup, idiot”,
I told him and we laughed.
I think from that day till
this day it has been a fabulous journey which is just getting better with every
passing day. 16 years of marriage, innumerable memories, various emotions and
an ongoing journey, I just thought once. Every time I think about it, I just
thank God for blessing me with such a wonderful life that I am currently
living. Vihaan, Arjun, Rhea and our dream house ‘The Nest’ is what completes me.
As soon as we got married, I shifted to Bangalore and joined the same research
institute I was part of in Ahmedabad. Me and Vihaan were very particular about
spending our quality time together every day. Every morning how much ever
occupied we were, we have always made it a point to spend atleast 30 minutes
over a cup of coffee in the balcony. We used to discuss everything about our
world and the outside world during that time.
A good relationship is built
on the foundation of love, trust, respect and transparency. Whatever happens in
my life, the first person whom I used to tell is to Vihaan and the same way
whatever happened in his life he used to first tell me before telling it to
others. Even when he forgets a family event and comes late, he will not try
fixing it up with a lie but will genuinely tell me that he forgot with a sad
face. Whenever he keeps his face that way, I can’t be cold on him for a long
time. He looks way too cute with that face that I finally give up being angry
on him.
After 2 years of marriage,
when Arjun was born, our small little world had a new member joining in. Our
love had gifted us with a cute baby boy along with adding on more sweet
responsibilities on our shoulders. It was my role promotion from a girl, lady,
woman to a mother now. From the beginning I was very particular that I must
take a break from work after my pregnancy and be with my child when he/she
needs my attention the most. The initial 3 years of a child’s development is
very vital and imbibing the right values at this time becomes very crucial. I
did not want to miss out on seeing my child grow at this stage. Vihaan was fine
with my decision as he knew I know to prioritise and handle tasks pretty well.
Vihaan had also ventured into
corporate training along with his personal counselling. As he was practicing
independently, he used to manage his schedule so that he can get a lot of time
to spend with me and the kid. When Arjun turned three, Rhea was born and she
made us feel complete as a family. Vihaan and me were witnessing every
development of our little champs. After 8 years of break from my research job
and just when both my kids started going to school and got occupied, I joined a
nearby school as a Science teacher for Standard I to Standard VII. Just when I
was scared to go back to a job after such a long break it was Vihaan who gave
me this idea so that I can put all my research knowledge and teach kids in a
practical approach and touch them deep. It was one of the best decisions of my
life as I had a lot of satisfaction doing the job and also it gave me such
convenient working hours that I could devote quality time to my family.
After staying in a rented
house for 10 years we finally started building our own house. We were very
particular about each aspect of the house as it was our dream house that we had
always talked about from our relationship days. I had taken over the entire
responsibility of the designing of the interiors, wallpapers and decorations. Finally
when everything was completed and we were searching for a name, it was Arjun who
came up with the name ‘Our Nest’ and it instantly clicked. ‘Our Nest’ is built
on the foundation of love and passion. We have a wall in our nest which has all
the photos of Arjun and Rhea from their infancy till now. We have another wall
in our nest which has all the photos of Vihaan and me together from the
beginning till now.
Vihaan maybe a 42 year old man
but he is still a child inside. Maybe the people who see him in his
professional life could never imagine how he is at home. They would have never
seen his sensitive side. I have seen Vihaan from Standard IV. But over the
years of our togetherness, I have started understanding that he is evolving in
an unimaginable pace that I feel like living with a different man at each stages
of our marriage. Just when I start labelling him and get a feeling that I have
understood this man, he gives me a surprise. When you realize you have
understood a person completely, you tend to lose interest in exploring that
person anymore. But with person like Vihaan who can surprise you with so many
different characteristics, view points, evolvements, you feel like you are
meeting a new person every time and that is when that man still excites
you.
When we got married, we both
had made a list of our relationship goals and one of them was to go on a long
trip in December every year. It’s been 16 years and we have been following it
like a ritual. Arjun and Rhea wait the whole year for December and tell all
their friends about this trip. We select the place to visit by picking up
chits. Each of us write our favourite destination for the trip and one person
picks the chit and that will be our destination. Only Vihaan will be praying
hard that it should not make a big hole in his pocket. We have made so many
memories together, had great fun, faced many challenges and finally have come
back with different experiences. One amazing family photo from each trip enters
into the photo gallery of another wall of our nest.
I missed him now. We have
always celebrated our birthdays and anniversaries together. This time, he has
gone to Tokyo, Japan on a professional assignment of corporate training. I so
wish he was here on our anniversary day. But unfortunately he would be leaving
only on Saturday. There were still 3 days left for the anniversary. It was 8.30
in the night already. I went back to the kitchen to cook for the night. “What
do you both want for dinner tonight?”, I asked my champs. “Anything Ma” Arjun
replied. The TV was switched on in the hall and the prime time news started.
The reporter started reading the news for the day which left me horrified that
very moment. “Tokyo witnesses yet another earthquake this evening of a
magnitude of 6.6. The earthquake which seems like a mirror image of 1894 Tokyo
earthquake affecting the same places that got affected in 1894 earthquake has
already taken 31 lives leaving 156 people injured. The earthquake has seen
widespread destruction in the affected areas. The communication lines in the
affected areas have been disrupted. For more updates let us get connected with
our local reporter....”
The news was still running and
it seemed like I could not hear anything later. I was shell-shocked listening
to that lady. Vihaan’s hotel room was in the same place which is affected in
Tokyo. I did not know how to respond to this news. “Any update on Indians in
Japan? Have we got any info on this Karan?” asked the news anchor. “No Liny. As
of now the situation is very critical here. There is absolutely no sort of
communication flowing in about this. We need to check with the Indian embassy
for more details.” said the reporter. Tears started rolling down my cheeks
incessantly. Is my Vihaan safe? What has happened to him? Why did he had to go
there first of all? How do I get updates about him? There were hundreds of
questions crossing my mind at the same time. Arjun and Rhea heard the news and
came running to me asking, “Amma, what happened to Dad? I want to talk to him
now.” I din’t know how to tell them.
We started calling his number
every moment from then and there was absolutely no connectivity. I continued
reaching him with the slightest hope that he may be in a different place and
would get connectivity soon. Our internal struggle was our own. I called up
Indian embassy a number of times giving Vihaan’s details and they had the same
reply “We will get back to you”. +81 3-3262-2391 was the number I had by heart
trying it multiple times. Every unknown number call that I received had a hope
and a bad fear as well. I was trying against all odds to be positive and give
the same hope to my kids. 48 hours passed away and even the news channels had
got bored with the news and had started coming up with different news. Our mind
was still a battlefield of thoughts mostly negative. I did not want to talk to
any of our friends and relatives and pass on the same fear. I had stopped
taking calls from known people.
The death toll had risen to 78
after 2 days and the numbers of injured people were 328. After two and a half
days, the Indian embassy In Japan had released the list of Indians who had lost their
life in the earthquake. I opened the PDF list hoping that I should never see ‘Vihaan’s
name in that list. I could not stop my tears at all. The PDF had listed 23
Indians name in that list. My heart did not want to check that list. If someone
had done that for me, I would be really grateful. Looking at it myself was a
really tough job. I gathered all my might and started reading the
names...Rakesh Patwadi, Sandhya P, Nilesh Agarwal, Deekha Nagaraj, Mohammed
Anwar, Vihaan..... I got a call from an unknown number right then. With my
hands shivering, heart giving it up and tears still rolling down my cheeks, I
saw the number. It was from Indian Embassy in Japan. I knew what will be
told by them. I received the call.
The voice on the other side of
the phone told, “Ahana.... Ahana... Vihaan here. I am fine dear. Nothing to
worry. I escaped with minor injuries. The phone lines are disrupted here. So am
calling you from the Embassy. I will be taking the flight tonight. Please don’t
cry. Love you loads & happy anniversary....” I now went back to the PDF list
and read the name. It read ‘Vihaan Sardesai’ and that’s when I realized I had
received my anniversary gift through that call..... It was February 24th.
-Naveen S N
*Final Episode of the Chapter releasing on Tuesday, February 28th*
No comments:
Post a Comment