Lover of the past - Part 1

(A story that I wrote many many years ago!!!)


It was a wonderful evening. All the eyes in the auditorium were awaiting an awesome scene. Vinay was bit restless and tensed. But, he made sure he appears composed. With the President of U.S.A on one side and Microsoft Giant, Bill Gates on other side, how can one rest his feet on earth? How can one’s heart beats only 72 times a minute? And that’s what this little chap was undergoing. He was about to be presented with the “Techy Geek” award, the most prestigious award similar to Noble, for IT. The moment arrived and he stood up to touch and feel the statue. He could see the whole of the auditorium applauding, but could hear his heartbeat on top of that. He could understand that the droplets of sweat were about to fall from his forehead. He saw the statue sparkling in the hands of the President. He couldn’t believe that in the next minute the statue will be sparkling in his hand. As he extended his hand, he woke up with a thud.

“C’mon yaar you are getting late to work”, shouted Sushma with a straining voice. “It’s already 7.30!”, continued Sushma.

“Oh god! My award…”, blabbered Vinay and he appeared befuddled.

“What happened dear?”, said Sushma and smoothed him.

“My techy geek award…”

“The what?”

“My award. I was about to receive it from President.”

“From our President?”, exclaimed Sushma.

“No! From the President of US. I am sure Bill Gates was by his side.”, sighed Vinay and continued, “It was for the data protection technique that I designed for Pentagon and I was about to receive the award”, finished Vinay.

Sushma couldn’t control herself any longer and she broke out laughing like anything.

“I thought you had a worse night mare and that some ghosts were chasing you. But, I never thought that you would have had such a worse nightmare scarier than ghosts and that too with US President?”. Sushma still couldn’t resist her laughter. Vinay felt bit humiliated, but reminded himself that he is a normal chap working in Infy among thousands and thousands and for a client not much renowned in US.

He got up to get ready. As he got dressed up, he kept staring at himself in the mirror for a while and reiterated the dream. He just threw a smile to himself and left to dining table.

“Kelloggs? Today also? Can’t you make something else?”, questioned Vinay.

“Dear, this is very good for health. You should reduce carbohydrate and increase fibre in your food. See, I have added loads of nuts and dry fruits in it. That’s the healthy diet”, smiled Sushma.

“Hmm.. You and your Home Science facts!”

“I am a gold medalist in Home Science. Don’t forget that.”

“Never I will. Not even in my next 7 births.”

“So nice of you!!!”

Vinay just smiled at her and gulped the remaining milk in his cereal bowl.

It wasn’t a busy day for him at work. So he had some time to surf the internet for some news. He read about a train collision near Vijayawada. It was a worst mishap, which swallowed 130 lives. The pictures were intolerable. He felt pity for a minute and thanked god for having gifted him a beautiful life. Then he got back to his chores. While driving back home, he felt fortunate about Sushma. As he was recollecting his funny moments with Sushma, it started to drizzle. He slowed down the speed purposely to enjoy the evening. He was thinking about surprising Sushma with some gift. As he was sorting out various gift items in his mind, the car stopped abruptly. Vinay tried to start it, but no reaction from the car. He opened the bonnet to find out what went wrong. But, everything seemed perfect. All he could do is to scratch his head. He was reminded of Sushma and thought of informing her about this. He got into the car and took the mobile. Before he could dial, he received a call from an unknown number.

“Hello”, said Vinay.

“Hi Vinay. How are you?”, a sweet voice from other end.

“Good! Who is this?”

“Oh… So you forgot me dolly?”, continued that voice.

Vinay froze in shock for a while. The word ‘Dolly’ reminded him everything - his college days, friends, 1st cross street and most importantly Divya. He couldn’t speak a word. Every word that he tried to pull out got buried under his throat.

The voice at the other end is definitely Divya.

“Divya”, uttered Vinay.

“So you got it, huh?”, laughed Divya and the call ended.

He was panicked and paralysed for a minute. He slowly composed himself and called the number back. All it said was, “Number doesn’t exist”.

Lover of the past - Part 2

He kept trying the same number again and again. But, the response remained same.

He stopped calling and started to drown in his memories of the past. After few minutes, he was disturbed by a call from Sushma. He told her that the car broke down and it would take some more time to fix it. He had not disclosed anything about his past love Divya, to Sushma. So, he did not want to do that now either. Out of anxiety, he tried to start the car again. To his astonishment, it started. The air around him seemed to be filled with puzzles and questions. He reached home in next 10 minutes.

“You got our car fixed so soon?”, questioned Sushma as Vinay entered the house.

“Ya, it was a minor thing and I fixed it by myself”

“That’s really nice and my dear, go, refresh soon and come fast. I have a surprise for you”

“Well, what is that?”

“Just refresh and come soon!”, said Sushma and pushed Vinay from his back into the bedroom.

Vinay remained haunted as he was having veg samosas.

“Darling! You seem to be dull. Any issue in the office? You would forget your world for these samosas. But, what happened now?”

“Nothing dear”

“No. Just share your problems with me. If you are dull, you don’t look handsome anymore. Just tell me”

“Nothing. I received few performance issues from my client today. I am little upset about that”

“Well, that’s what haunting you so much? Don’t worry dear. Definitely you are going to get that ‘Techy Geek’ award”

Vinay stared at her for a minute. He recollected the dream and laughed along with her.

At night, on the bed, Sushma was lying by his side and kept talking about a new television program on interior decoration. But, Vinay stayed lost in his thoughts.

“Are you listening?”, shouted Sushma into his ears.

“Oh god.. yes yes”, perplexed Vinay.

“Anyways, you know what breakfast I am going to make for you tomorrow?”

“Don’t say any new flavor of Kellogs”

“Oh C’mon! I am going to make Rava Dosa for you”

“Hey, really? That’s nice”

“Well, no more diet here after. Happy?”

“Are you alright? Something crept in you?”

“Heyyy…”

They laughed, giggled and slept as night started to pour in deeply.

Next morning, Sushma looked excited to make Rava Dosa for Vinay, ‘cos that’s his favourite dish.

She made the first dosa. It became so thick and got stuck with the pan. When she tried to take it off, it got torn into pieces. She then tried the second one. It turned worse.

“Sushma, what happened? I am getting late”

She poured the batter for third dosa and came out to dining area to tell him, “Dear, first two went bad and the third one is awaiting the result. Hopefully this one should come out well. Else…”

“Else what? Kellogg's only”, sighed Vinay.

She went into the Kitchen to see the dosa. It was uniformly cooked, crispy and golden brown in colour. She was very happy to see that. She took it out for him, and made the fourth one. She flew into the dining area to serve the dosa. Vinay was glad tok. More than taking care of dosa preparation, she spent her time watching how Vinay enjoyed the dosa.

“Darling, I am very happy. Tell me what do you want?”, asked Vinay.

“Oh! I am glad that you are happy. You have given your love in excess and that’s enough for me. I don’t want anything else”

“I love you”, said Vinay and kissed on her cheeks.

“I love you too!”, said Sushma and she was overwhelmed.

After Vinay left to office, Sushma wanted to taste those crispy dosas. But, to her astonishment, everything she made was worse like her first two dosas. She couldn’t figure out what went wrong and ended up having kelloggs.

Late in the evening, as Vinay was driving back home, he was reminded of the car breakdown and phone call, the previous day. Again, the car stopped at the same place. Vinay remained motionless and as he expected, he received a call from an unknown number.

Lover of the Past - Part 3

“Hello!”, said Vinay with a trembling voice.

“Good evening dolly!”, said the voice. It is Divya.

“Divya! How are you? Where are you calling from?”

“Why do you want to know where I am?”

“I… I tried calling you back yesterday. But, I couldn’t reach you. So asked you”

“I am glad! You never tried to reach me in these years and now that you want my number to talk to me?!”

“No Divya. It's not like that, but…”

“I miss you so much”, interrupted Divya.

Vinay could hardly respond and the call got cut in few seconds.

Vinay slowly drowned into his past. College days are one of the precious memories in every one’s life. It plays an important part of life in moulding a man. Everybody will face all possible emotions in their college life – laughter, tears, sorrow, hatred, crush, love, break-ups and on. And it’s the same for Vinay too. He met Divya, when he was in his second year of Computer Science and Engineering. She was residing in 1st cross street with her parents and this playboy was in 2nd cross street, with his friends in a room. She was a medical student and was highly ambitious. As usual, our hero hates books. At the end of 1st cross street, there used to be a chat shop, which always remained crowded. Vinay had never spent his days without having at least one samosa, from that shop.

One fine day, when he saw Divya, it was love at first sight. Then he started spending more time near that shop in the

mornings and evenings just for a glimpse of Divya. This had increased the income of Chat wala and definitely Vinay holds a major share.

After few months, he intelligently wooed this girl. But, he became serious about this relationship. He started to focus much on his studies. Divya was so sure that her parents would never allow her to marry Vinay. They were very orthodox and not much broad minded. It was a big struggle for Divya to take up medicine, in spite of being a meritorious student. All they wanted is to get her married off to a guy in a good job and with good family background in their community.

It was last year of college for Vinay. He was placed in Infy. He was so sure about marrying Divya soon after she finishes her studies. But, Divya’s parents were not patient enough till then. They started looking out a groom for her. One fine day, Divya disclosed about Vinay to her parents. But, they were not ready enough to give an ear to any such thing. They started to search for a groom seriously. Vinay was helpless. Though he had a job, he is yet to finish his studies. He believed only his parents could help him. He told everything to his mom and dad. Even they were initially bit hesitant about this. But, later they realized that nothing is much important than their child’s happiness. So they stepped forward to meet Divya’s parents.

At last one day, Vinay and his parents visited Divya’s. They tried to convince her parents as much as they could. But they never seemed to be convinced. Divya’s dad wanted her to discontinue her studies and get married. But, she did not oblige. As a result he went up to the extreme of suicide attempt, but got saved fortunately. Soon after that, Divya and her folks left the town and she discontinued her studies.

After a couple of years Vinay came to know that she was working as a nurse in some hospital near her home town. He tried a lot to get back her contact. But he could hardly get any detail. Slowly days rolled by and after four years he got married to Sushma.

He knows how much he treasured Divya. But now that he is married to Sushma and he did not wanted to reveal about the lover of his past to her. It will be hard for a girl to withstand that her husband had loved someone so much.

Sushma is a very enthusiastic girl. She has so many facts in her mind about health and hygiene. She is one of the reasons in transforming Vinay from a dirty playboy into a decent professional. She changed his looks, attire, attitude and what not. Now Divya remained as a bunch of memories and Sushma turned into a treasure for him.

Vinay was suddenly disturbed from his thoughts by a call from Sushma.

“Hello dear! What happened? Late today too?”, asked Sushma.

“Ya. I will be home some time now”

“Alright I was bit worried that it started to rain”

“No problem. I will be there soon”

“Fine. Bubye”

“Bye”

At night, Vinay was having his dinner calmly. It was news for Sushma to see this unusual calmness.

“Any problem at office today too?”, asked Sushma.

“No dear. Everything was fine”

“Then why are you so dull today?”

“Just that yesterday’s things got sorted out and I was thinking about that”

“Oh c’mon. When you come home, stop thinking about your office. It is very bad. Ok?”

“Alright!”, said Vinay and smiled.

“Vinay I got to tell you something”, said Sushma at night, on bed.

“Well… what is that about?”

“Nothing, but I have spoiled one of your shirts. Your favourite white striped one. I unknowingly washed it with your red t-shirt and your shirt got pink patches here and there. I washed that shirt again and again. But, the patch remained. I am very sorry Vinay”, said Sushma in a humble voice.

“Sushma do you know how much I love that shirt? I have told you it was gifted by one of my close friend and I have preserved it all these days”

“Ya, I know that. It was lying in that cup board for a long time. So, I thought I could wash it, press it and then put it back so that it would stay fine for a long time. But, I dint expect this to happen”, said Sushma pleasingly.

Vinay could hardly say anything. He was disturbed because it was gifted to him by Divya. It was the only gift he got from Divya. He could still remember how Divya surprised him with that shirt, soon after he got placed. Divya was gone and now her gift too. Vinay silently struggled to get some sleep and finally slept.

Next day, Vinay appeared bit upset about that shirt. Sushma tried to convince him as much as possible. But still he stayed upset and left to office. She washed that shirt again and dried it in the backyard. Still there were some patches. She felt bad and just called her friend to get some tips for removing the patches. She was hoping that at least after trying those tips, she could recover the shirt. She rushed to the backyard to see if the shirt was dry. The shirt was dry and there were absolutely no patches. She was astonished.

‘What crazy is happening here?’, said to herself and went off.

In the evening, as Vinay was driving back home, his car stopped again in that place and his mobile rang. It was again Divya.

Lover of the Past - Part 4

“Hello!”, said Vinay.

“Hi Dolly!”, said Divya.

“C’mon Divya. Stop playing. I really want to meet you and know what you are doing”

“Why suddenly? You never thought about me for past few years and now that you want to meet me?”

“Divya, I was searching for you soon after you left the town. But, nobody knew where you were. My parents grew restless and at one point of time I had no other way than to abide by their words. So, try to understand me Divya. I miss you so much”

“Ohh! You married Sushma and you two were living happily. Hardly would you have thought about me and now that you say you miss me”, said Divya and laughed out loudly.

Before Vinay could speak out, the line got cut. He couldn’t digest the fact that she knew about Sushma.

He was building up tension and was sweating profusely. He felt helpless. He wanted to run away to some other planet.

His mobile rang again.

“Hello!”, said Vinay harshly.

“Hi dear! What happened? You sound tensed”, said Sushma humbly.

“Will you just stop pestering me?”

“Why are you so rude?”

“Yes, I am. What the hell?”

“Nothing. Bye!”, said Sushma and disconnected the call.

She felt dejected. She had prepared Kesar Bath for him and was waiting to tell him that his shirt is neat and white. She couldn’t wait anymore and so she called him. But, she never expected that he would behave frantically.

Vinay came home and saw Sushma standing near the window in drawing room and weeping. He understood its his fault. He felt a pain racing through his heart. ‘It's my fate to face troubles for what I have done. Why should she be punished, being an innocent?’, thought Vinay. He went closer to her and said, “Sushma! I am sorry. I was bit rude. I understand that I had hurt you a lot.”

There was no reaction from her.

“Sushma, I love you a lot. Please forgive me”

Still no reaction from her.

Vinay sat in a sofa behind her and closed his eyes to calm down himself.

After few minutes, Sushma came closer to him and kissed him on his cheeks. Vinay opened his eyes and saw Sushma both weeping and smiling. He smiled at her and hugged her.

“I am sorry darling”, said Vinay.

“Don’t be sorry. I love you”, said Sushma and they kissed.

“Dear, I have prepared Kesarbath for you”, said Sushma with a twinkling smile.

“Oh really! I will just refresh and come in a minute”, said Vinay and went inside the room.

As Vinay was enjoying the Kesarbath, Sushma surprised him by showing his favourite shirt. It was dazzling clean. Vinay stuck spellbound. Sushma was smiling at him innocently. He felt he had gone mad for her. He left behind the Kesarbath and took Sushma into the bedroom.

Next day morning, Sushma faced the same Rava Dosa mystery. She was little frightened about all these crazy things.

Vinay started receiving calls from Divya everyday. His car would definitely stop somewhere and immediately a call from Divya is expected. Vinay was growing annoyed about this. But he never wanted to share this with Sushma.

At home, Sushma was surprised, or might be little threatened by anonymous happenings. One evening Sushma was preparing evening snacks for Vinay. She was thinking about making some tea for him. Vinay never likes tea. He always loved Divya’s preparation. So, he stopped having tea ever since he lost her from his life. Whenever Sushma prepares tea, he would hardly drink it.

Sushma prepared spinach pakora and was hoping that Vinay would enjoy it. When she was about to make tea, Vinay reached home. She was out of kitchen for a while and was talking with Vinay about his day at office. When she came back to kitchen, she saw teapot on the stove. She was sure that she didn’t leave the teapot. But she convinced herself that she might have left it.

Also to her astonishment, Vinay had tea that day. He himself was not sure how that happened. He was reminded of Divya and the way she prepares tea for him. He became nostalgic and had the cup full of tea.

Other day, when Sushma was dusting the attic, she saw a book lying at the corner. It was Vinay’s favourite novel by John Grisham. He treasured it not for the story, but it was gifted by his friend who died in a road accident. He had been searching for this book for a long time. Sushma herself remembered that she looked into the same attic many times for the book. She is now thrilled to see it lying obviously at a corner.

That evening, Vinay was very much happy to see that book. He saw his friend’s signature on the book and wept. Sushma pacified him.

Two months had gone by with all those web of mysteries around them. But these didn’t bother Sushma much. Vinay and she were married for two years and in a month, they will be celebrating their second anniversary. But, they don’t have a child yet. Though Sushma sounded euphoric all the time, deep in her heart she had a longing for a baby. They were a happy couple and her medical tests also proved that they are normal. But, still she couldn’t conceive.

“Sushma! Sushma!”, called Vinay as he was removing his shoes near the door.

“Ya dear! I am here”, said Sushma and came running.

“Hold on! How many times do I have to tell not to run?”

“No… just like that... well, what’s the matter?”

“Here are the train tickets for our trip next month to Coimbatore. My leave request got approved. We can happily relax one whole week there”, said Vinay and smiled at her.

Sushma looked little upset. Her in-laws, parents and all their relatives are in Coimbatore. They will be looking forward to hear good news from her.

The day of the journey arrived. They were all set to move off. As Sushma locked the front door and set out, she felt a total blackout and turned unconscious. Vinay panicked. He took her on his lap and soothed her. Soon she was alright. Vinay wanted to cancel the trip and take her to the doctor. But, Sushma convinced him that she had loads of work that day and was restless. Vinay got pacified and they were off to Coimbatore.

Lover of the Past - Part 5 (Final)

Sushma and Vinay were happily spending their vacation with their near and dear ones. Vinay did not receive any call from Divya during that week. Still he was reminded of her at times and stayed disturbed.

Final day of vacation for Sushma and Vinay arrived. They were feeling little upset to go. But, still they have to go on. As Sushma was packing her things, she felt uneasy and fainted again. Vinay was terrified and this time he decided not to listen to Sushma’s stories, but to take her to the doctor.

Everyone in their family was worried. Sushma was taken into doctor’s room for examination. Vinay and few more were waiting in the lobby. He couldn’t digest that Sushma was sick. He wept, but made sure no one noticed. After some time, he was called into the doctor’s room. He appeared puzzled. His heart was pounding out.

After ten minutes, Vinay came out of the room. His family was eagerly waiting to know what happened. He was weeping and now everybody noticed that. Behind him came Sushma and she too was weeping. Vinay slowly looked at them and smiled. Everybody were puzzled.

“I am going to be a ‘Daddy’ soon”, shouted Vinay, laughing out loudly and ran to his mom and hugged her. Everybody turned very happy on hearing this. They blessed Sushma and Vinay.

Back at home, it was a joyous moment of celebration for them. Long awaited good news had come now. For Vinay and Sushma it was a fabulous moment, next to their wedding.

Everyday turned out to be very meaningful for them. Vinay tried to spend much more time with Sushma. And Sushma became very very particular about her diet. They were feeling the baby growth and spent their moments talking about the baby.

A couple of months before her due date, Sushma had been sent to Coimbatore. They had a very grand baby shower celebration. To-be grandparents were busy in sorting out the names for the baby.

Vinay was alone back at home, just counting the days to see the baby. He was hardly reminded of Divya in past few months. Also, he did not receive any calls from her either. He decided not to think about her anymore and wanted to concentrate on the baby solely. He started buying various dolls, dresses, cradle etc., for the baby. He allotted a separate room for baby and decorated it with all that he bought. He was just cursing the time to fly off quickly.

It was a Friday morning. Vinay was hurriedly getting ready to office. It was last day before a small vacation. Sushma’s due date was on Wednesday and Vinay will be off to Coimbatore on Saturday itself. He wanted to stay with her during the whole course of wonderful moments.

In the Evening, he started little early from office, though he had ample time to catch the train. As he was waiting in the signal, he saw a friend of him in a car beside his car. He was happy to see him and beckoned him. Buddies having met after a long time went to a coffee shop for a small chit-chat. It was Anoop, Vinay’s room mate. He was a good friend of Divya too. They talked about their job, family and past memories.

“Those are crazy days, which I can never forget”, said Vinay.

“Ya! Our Tyson is also getting married next month. Good to see everybody settling down”, said Anoop.

Vinay wanted to ask him about Divya. But he was bit hesitant. Still he wanted to know about her.

“Anoop, I want to know something. How is Divya?”, asked Vinay.

Anoop froze. He appeared shocked. Vinay couldn’t comprehend his reaction.

“Anoop, what happened?”

Anoop relaxed and continued, “Viany don’t you know anything about Divya?”

“No I don’t”

“She is dead. I am sorry!”

Vinay stayed immobilized. He felt a thunder above his head and quake below his feet. He couldn’t stop the tears rolling down his cheeks.

He regained and continued, “Is that true Anoop?”

“Ya! It was a miserable death. After discontinuing her studies, she went to work in a hospital as nurse in her native town. His parents were compelling her to get married. But she denied. They threatened her. Still she did not agree to them. Then one fine day, her father attempted suicide. He was saved, but got paralyzed. Divya was totally collapsed. Somehow she made up her mind to get married at last. But, before that she wanted to meet you at least once. She lied to her parents and somehow managed to come here. But unfortunately, the train she travelled collided with another train and she died miserably”

Vinay couldn’t say a word. He was word struck. He felt his heart to be very heavy.

“When did this happened Anoop?”

“It was almost ten months ago. Do you remember the Vijayawada accident? Divya was one of the victims”

Vinay couldn’t withstand anything. He recollected those pictures he saw in the news article. He remembered Divya’s phone calls. He remembered all creepy things that happened. He felt as if he was about to burst out into pieces. But he was disturbed by a phone call from his mom. Sushma had severe pain and had been admitted in the hospital. Also, she was expected to deliver the baby anytime.

Vinay could do absolutely nothing. He could not digest what Anoop said and could not react to the call from his mom. Anoop understood what he was going through. He pacified him and made him to just calm down. Then he told him not to think about Divya anymore and to leave to Coimbatore soon.

Vinay gained strength and drove back home slowly. His car got stopped in the usual place. He started to sweat profusely. He kept staring at the mobile. After a while, he received a call from an unknown number.

“Hello”, said Vinay. His voice was trembling.

“Dolly, I guess you now know everything”

“D… D… Divya”

“Dolly, I was not interested in marrying anyone. I wanted to meet you once for all and go away somewhere. I have been living with you in my dreams. I could always feel you within me. Your memories stayed afresh. There could hardly be any moment that I forgot you. I am sure I cannot marry anyone else. So I decided to run away from my home. No one had a clue. I was just hoping to see you and did not think anything beyond that. But, I never thought that my life will stop with all those hopes in my heart and all those dreams in my eyes. I always wanted to live with you. You were annoyed by those mystical things happening at home. It was all me. I tried to live my life with you, at least after my death. I have been longing for your love and care. And I am going to get that back soon Dolly. Yes. I am going to be re-born. I am going to be re-born as your daughter. Now you rush to Sushma. I will be there as a small girl awaiting your love. Love you!”, said Divya and the call ended.

He sat still for few minutes and drove back home. He packed his clothes and rushed to catch the train. He raced through all that happened till now. ‘Divya! I am always there to love you and care for you. I would never let you down. I promise’, said Vinay and promised himself.

After reaching the hospital, he saw Sushma on the bed and lying beside her was a pretty golden baby. Everybody was celebrating the joy. It was a baby girl. Vinay took the baby in his hands, kissed on her cheeks and said ‘Divya!’ into her ears. The baby smiled at him!!!

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