The Titli...Part Three Page 14 updated 20 Aug - Page 11

"How is that possible?" Ashutosh was totally dumbfounded. "Or...Is it that my eyes are playing tricks with me? Am I missing her so much?"

The last few words were probably audible to the woman standing next to him.

"You know her, Dr Ashutosh?" What a question to ask!!

Ashutosh was too stunned to react. Of course, he knew her! She was as vital to him as his next breath, his next heartbeat, his very existence...but how was all this possible? Anjali had said that she had walked in the Raymond's shop and then the blast...the bomb had been placed in the shop and the shop was fully destroyed. The police had said that there was no chance for anyone in that shop...anyways they had never found enough of anyone to ask for a decent funeral. And here she was very much alive.

His titli was alive!!

"But...how did she..." Meaningless words, echoed around him as his throat clogged up.

Alkaben cleared her throat, "She was found unconscious on the road after the blast. I got her to the hospital run by the NGO, wherein she regained her senses but was too dazed to remember anything else, and kept on repeating "Red tie...Raymond's...Anjali..." I believe she had walked in that ill-fated shop at the ill-fated hour, and then walked out of the Raymond's shop at the last moment to check the shade of the tie in natural light, and that's what saved her from being blown to bits...For quite some days she kept on drifting in and out of consciousness, and I didn't know who to contact...you see, she had nothing on her to identify her. Even today, I don't know her name, or where she came from...She herself doesn't recollect anything. And I am mightily relieved that you know her?"

"Well, she is my..." Ashutosh's words were cut off by a loud squeal from one of the kids. He had obviously discovered the Principal as their audience. The game took a new dimension now, as the frolicking children widened their sphere of operation to include Alkaben and the visitor.

"Hey...look out" was all that Alkaben could muster, before the tsunami of excitement hit her and she overbalanced heavily against her visitor. Her visitor was also equally taken aback and counter-overbalanced against the blindfolded woman, who promptly re-established her visual spectrum.

"Nidhi..." Ashutosh whispered and the woman frowned in vague recollection. Why did the man seem familiar? The school principal, whom everyone addressed as Alkaben, shook herself and addressed him,

"Dr Ashutosh, hope you are not hurt?" There was a flash of lightening and something clicked in the tired brain, a robust memory of one's soulmate, their love, wedding and the life beyond.

"Dr Ashutosh..." Recognition was slowly flooding in the woman's eyes as she clutched the man's lapels tightly, as if to not let go.

Alkaben took in the sight with sheer indulgence and cleared her throat.

"Dr Ashutosh, I believe you have found the missing piece of the zigsaw called your life?"

Dr Ashutosh smiled gratefully, a smile which reached his eyes, which were overflowing already. He had found his titli at last...