Idiosyncrasy of life

It was a quiet evening; Sham was all by himself in his suave apartment in deep thoughts, when the phone rang. It took a minute to get a hold of him, as he maneuvered across to the phone. He was in silence as he heard the shuddering voice on the other side. He walked back and slouched down on the beige leather sofa in his living room. He made a few hasty calls before he walked in to take a shower. He was plunged in thoughts as the cab driver drove me through the familiar streets of the city he had made his home. Today, he had to leave immediately to his country, to keep a promise he had made 2 years back.

As the cab approached the drive way, he was quite content, having arranged his travel to India in a short notice. The travel was in the cards and he had been making arrangements to get his vacation sanctioned, but this call was too sudden and he couldn’t bother about the nitty-gritty of work. This is an emergency; he had to take the next flight out to make his life meaningful.

On board, the instructions of the flight attendants echoed in the background, his focus was on only one person. As the flight took off, soaring high, making its altitude, his thoughts spun backwards into a distant past. He was young and a careless teenager who went to college for a past time. It is in those hours of travel to his college in the trains, he saw Nisha. He was perched precariously onto the train, swaying in the wind, when she glanced at him. The glances turned to glares that made way to a typical friendship on the trains.

The dark clouds that he was staring into, being a part of the blue sky, took him to another time, the monsoons in Kerala. Heavy rains were lashing out in the state; they were caught in the gusty weather by the shore. They ran to the shelters nearby, stood in silence, letting the breeze sway in their ears. In those silent moments, their expressive eyes revealed love, stealing their hearts, with the trickling rain drops being the testimony.

“Seat belts on” He looked at his wrist watch another 15 minutes to land. Engulfed in the pleasant thoughts, he knew he had a task ahead, his future was at stake. He was pondering hard, in another few hours, he would be meeting Nisha’s dad, and her wedding was fixed with another groom and is scheduled to happen in 2 days. What would he tell her dad that would change his mind? How can he convince him to let them marry? He had to get his approval, there was no time. Nisha was in shatters and she needed him now, more than ever. As his thoughts were spiraling into a web of intricate knots, there was sudden loud noise, the aircraft spun out of the run way. In a split second, his thoughts evaporated in a gulf of thick fumes, before he could comprehend the situation, plane hit a blockade and tore to pieces.

Nisha was awaiting sham’s arrival to start a new life.

[Dedicated to the people on board, the fateful Mangalore bound flight. Each soul has a story to say. Love and Light. ]