Chapter 3 A Man in the box
The rain was getting heavier and not a single person was visible on the street. Nandini panicked as she noticed that the man in the box was shivering. Nandini tried to pull the box into the apartment. She continued to pull it and at times tried pushing it too.
'He is so heavy...' Nandini mumbled under her breath as she continued to hold one flap of the pasteboard and pull it. Was it minutes or hours?? To Nandini it was like hours until she finally managed to drag the box to her apartment door. Nandini took the keys out of her bag and with her wet fingers fumbled through the keys as she pried in one of the keys into the keyhole and opened the door.
'Umm..' Nandini heard a mumble behind her and with shock looked back and noticed that the man was reacting in his unconscious state. His face was still turned to the side and the wound was still fresh. Nandini flipped open the door and through the door pulled the pasteboard box into her room. The wet bottom part of the pasteboard box left a trail behind it and she with one hand switched open the lights on the side of the corridor. She pushed the box with all her might until she managed to make it reach the sofa.
She opened the other flap of the box completely and his face was now fully in view. The side profile looked so similar. Nandini gently touched his chin and tilted his face.
'Its him!!!!!! He is so like the man I saw in my dreams!' Nandini's mouth dropped open in shock as she realized that the guy in her dream has come alive and is in her room and in her life. Is it a dream or reality?😕
But then this guy looks very different in appearance. The guy in her dreams had well-combed wavy hair and looked elegant and this guy had his hair falling all over his forehead..his hair was unruly and face unshaven. He looked like he lacked sleep as she noticed a light shade of dark circle around his eyes.
Nandini pulled him by his hand and with all her might lifted him up.
'Ooo he is heavy' Nandini mumbled as she pushed him from the shoulder portion making him sit up. Nandini put his one arm around her shoulder and with all her might lifted him up and somehow managed to make him stand. But he was too heavy and very tall. Nandini looked up at his face and his head was tilted to one side. He has such handsome features. So like the guy in her dream... Nandini thought
Nandini lost her balance and fell and found herself and the guy on the sofa. She has fallen upon him and he seemed to have gained a bit of consciousness. His eye-brows knit in pain due to the sudden fall as well as due to the pain of the injury. Nandini just managed to gaze into his eyes. Was he looking back at her..Nandini was unable to make out. Because she noticed his eyes droop back to a closed state as he once again fell unconscious. Nandini got up off him and saw her dress is now covered with blood. She made him lie down properly on the sofa and ran to her bedroom and brought a pillow and kept it against the sofa and pulled him and made his head rest on the pillow. The blood oozed to the side dropping onto the pillow staining it red.
She rushed back to her room and opened the drawer and took out the box with medicines and a cotton ball in it. Nandini always kept a box of medicines with her because she was clumsy and always ended up cutting her finger with a knife while making breakfast or did something or the other to injure herself. She ran back with the first aid kit and opened it. She first took a clean piece of cloth and started cleaning up his wound. Nandini waited for the bleeding to stop and gently wiped the dust near the wound and the wound was not as deep as she had thought at first and slowly the bleeding was reducing too.
Nandini remembered the last time when she had to face such an incident. Was it 12 years back? Yes it was...Nandini's memory flew to that evening when she was coming back from school. On the side of the road Nandini noticed a puppy lying on the side of the road injured from an accident. It's breathing was fast and it was still alive. She immediately stopped a passing by vehicle and asked for help to take the puppy to the doctor and lifted the puppy into her arms. It was still alive and was half conscious. She tilted up its head and it looked at her and it's gaze was sort of deep that Nandini felt a string pull at her heart...was it attachment? She didn't quite understand. But she hugged the puppy in her hand and patted it all through the drive in the vehicle. On reaching the hospital, Nandini took it and rushed into the hospital and to her veterinarian uncle.
'Chachaji..please isko dekho na...' Nandini said to Murthy with pleading eyes.
Murthyji immediately started the treatment on the puppy and Nandini for the first time with all her heart prayed to her Aiyappa.
'Aiyappa...please save this puppy...please...mere liye...' Nandini prayed as she closed her eyes. Murthy had to do a little operation and Nandini was waiting outside. When Murthy came out wiping his hands there was a serious look in his eyes.
'Chachaji..is he ok?' Nandini asked with bated breath.
'Nandu...he is safe now...but very weak' Murthy said as his serious expression changed to a smile.
'Thanks a lott chachaji..don't worry...I will take care of it and I will make it regain strength. Can I keep it as a pet?' Nandini asked with puppy eyes giving her chachaji a little hug. 😳
'Chachi ko dogs se darr lagte hai..magar koi baat nahi..hamari Nandu ke liye...main teri chachi ko manaa loonga. You can keep it' Murthy said caressing little Nandu's head.
Nandini dressed up the wound and noticed that he was shivering. She placed her palm on his forehead. It was hot.
'Oh no!! He has a fever it seems' Nandini thought. Nandini gave him a medicine to bring down the fever and brought a bowl with water in it and applied soft cold dabs to his head trying to bring down his fever.
'Pa...ni..' a whisper escaped from his lips.
'Kya?' Nandini asked as she looked carefully at his lips trying to read what he said.
He licked his lips again as he whispered again with half open eyes... 'Pani...'
Nandini ran and filled a cup with water and rushed back to sit next to him.
'Ye lo pani..' Nandini said and noticed that he was trying hard to open his eyes. He looked at her with half open eyes and Nandini propped him against the pillow in a semi-sitting position and took the cup to his lips. Suddenly his arm shot up as his fingers totally gripped hers which was holding the cup as he with thirsty eyes looked at the water. He pulled her and the cup towards him as he started greedily sipping the water from the cup. It seemed as if he had not eaten or drunk anything. Nandini's heart didn't know what she felt at that moment...was it nervousness? was it sympathy? was it something else? But his tight grip on her fingers was the first time any hand has gripped her this way. It was a passionate hold. Dhruv never held her palm this tight. It made her heart beat faster. Nandini noticed that he was losing control and was about to fall backwards. Nandini made a quick move and placed her hand behind his neck holding him in place and he continued to sip from the cup. The cup was emptied real fast.
'Aur pani...' he said thirstily looking with half open eyes at her.
'Wait laati hoon' Nandini said as she rushed to refill the cup.
Nandini returned back and found him lying back on the pillow and and he was trying to keep his eyes open.
'Ye lo..pani' Nandini said as she noticed that he put his pressure on the sofa and tried to lift himself up but lost strength and fell back again. Nandini rushed to him and helped him up and he again caught her arm and started to drink from the cup greedily.
'Tum kaun ho?' Nandini asked him softly 'tumhaara naam kya hai?'
He didn't answer but continuing to drink the water. Was he listening? Nandini thought as she noticed that he barely looked at her. All his focus was on the pani and his hold on her palm grew less tight as his thirst was getting quenched. He finished drinking and Nandini made him lie down back on the sofa.
Nandini went back and placed the cup on the dining table and returned back and his eyes were no longer open. They were closed. He was sleeping.
'Ok...let him rest a bit...I will ask him when he gets better' Nandini thought as she sat on the carpet on the floor next to the sofa looking at him.
Nandini remembered the last time she saw somebody with a fever like this. It was Dhruv. He had not come to school. Nandini walked to Dhruv's home that day and it was the first time she went to a friend's house.
'Kya Dhruv andar hai?' Nandini asked meekly to the lady who opened the door.
'Haan beta...usko bukhaar hua hai..magar abhi thik lag raha hai' Dhruv's mother said as she invited Nandini into the home.
Dhruv smiled feebly as he lifted himself up and sat propped against the bed seeing Nandini in the room. Nandini walked over to him and sat on the chair next to him.
'Tumne mujhe miss kiya na?' Dhruv asked feebly with a smile.
'Haan...' Nandini whispered looking at him with a smile.
'Maine bhi...' Dhruv's reply at that point made Nandini feel something she never felt before. Was it love or an attachment? She couldn't understand. But Nandini at that point realized that Dhruv was important to her, perhaps more important than anything else in the world.
Nandini rested her head on the sofa as she closed her eyes and the image that came into her eyes...was that of Mani...Mani whom she missed the most. She lost him 9 years back...but the bond she had with Mani...she had with noone in her life.
'He looks so like Mani...' Nandini thought as she looked at the face of the man on the sofa. His lips had curved into a little pout and his large eyelashes fluttered a little..was he dreaming? Nandini thought as she placed her head against the sofa.
"Am I dreaming too? Is this all real? It's like a fantasy story...a total stranger is in my room..lying on my sofa and this is the man whom I saw yesterday early morning in my dreams.Who is he?' Nandini thought and she didn't realize when but her thoughts pushed her into a slumber and will he again come in her dreams tonight? Only Aiyappa knows.😳😉
Edited by priakachan - 9 years ago
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
Anupamaa
CID
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
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