They say life is short, and it is almost impossible to see most of it in just one single go.
We are born, we die, and only if we are lucky, we can see lesser than half of what this life, this world has to offer.
But I like to think otherwise.
Agreed, I haven't seen much of life, but so far whatever I have seen, I believe it is more than enough to dwell on the hope that all's not lost, though life may put you think like it is.
I have always been a happy go lucky guy. Taken everything thrown my way with a positive stride. I have believed in bonds, friendships, also love.
But not more than few months ago, I also saw beliefs break, trust shatter, relationships die.
I saw a strong man break into shreds.
I saw a beautiful soul suffer at the hands of the evil.
And I saw the faade, the mask unveil an ugly truth of this world-
Sometimes, everything is not what it seems. Sometimes, a person we once knew to be good, could be toxic. Sometimes, trusting too much could cost too much.
And the repercussions of it all, I could see reflect in the demeanor of the man I loved to worship at work, and looked up to, as an older brother.
I am DD, and it breaks my heart to see my sir, someone who I always treated as my older brother, ACP Neil Khanna, become this walking dead, who was only breathing but not living, for his life, his wife, who also meant so much to me, still does.. Avni Bhabhi, was not around anymore.
It has been 6 months.
But it felt like 6 years.
There wasn't a single day when I didn't pray to God to bring her back to life, wake her up from the slumber she was pushed into, all because of the havoc caused by Juhi and Vidyut in the lives of sir and bhabhi.
It panged my heart to see how one tragic night convoluted the entire course of all our lives together, causing a damage that perhaps didn't have any control.
But more than anything, it broke me entirely, every single day, to come to work, and see this stone called ACP Neil Khanna, who was only physically present around us, his visage depicting a stern expression throughout the entire day that he was in the police station, but mentally- he was not even remotely close to any of us.
It was hard now. To decipher what was going inside sir's mind. It was as if, his focus was subjected only to solving cases, wherein he was devoid of any emotions, neither laughing, not flinching at the sight or sound of anything.
But I also knew that no matter how dead he looked, a part of him was still alive, in the form of a tiny ray of hope that made him visit the hospital everyday early morning at 6 a.m. just to be close to Avni bhabhi, speak to her, and tell her to wake up, because he was waiting for her.
Now and forever.
If only she could hear.
.
.
I could never forget that day when sir had almost choked a nurse in the hospital to death when he had overheard her speak something to a ward boy that still vexes the hell out of me.
'Poor guy, visits the patient daily! He should know she is already dead. Her breaths are all due to the life support system. Take it out, and she's anyway gone! He should seriously say his goodbyes to her.''
Neil sir was uncontrollable that day, as he had lashed out of the room, his nerves throbbing as raw anger took over his entire being, and he cornered that nurse, almost strangling her with his bare hands.
'HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT MY AVNI IS DEAD, EH? SHE's HERE! Do you GET THAT?''
He had averred like a man possessed, and if I hadn't reached there on time, I am sure sir would have unintentionally committed a murder, going against the very law that we vow to abide by.
That was the first time I had witnessed a strange, unceremonious side to Neil sir, something I had never witnessed before.
Violence.
Sir was anything but violent, but that day, this was yet another facet of life, a side of sir, that only Avni bhabhi had managed to herald.
I know sir was still punishing himself, keeping himself in a violent custody in his own head, perennially, for he considered it to be his fault that bhabhi was in this condition.
Ever since that tragedy happened, sir could never face a day without hating on himself, for reasons uncountable.
Yes, one of them was surely the fact that he had trusted Juhi, just on the ground that she was someone he had once loved dearly.
And the other was perhaps the fact that he had committed a big blunder when he had let Avni be a part of the whole plan of getting Mishti away from Vidyut, since sir and bhabhi both had believed Juhi's lie that Mishti was Neil sir's daughter.
This was my 10th sigh of frustration as I sit at one corner in the police station, going through some files, but my attention is only on Neil sir, who kept looking at his laptop screen, his lunchbox barely touched.
I knew it very well that he must be looking into bhabhi's picture. It wasn't too hard to guess.
But all I knew was, this was getting intolerable for me now. I could not see someone who I considered to be my big brother, suffer at the hands of circumstance to such a grave extent.
Even Khanna House was so different now.
The mansion, which one breathed positivity and mirrored congeniality was now just about an abominable lull. All because of whatever had happened six months ago.
My blood would boil so often thinking, hoping against hope, if I could go back in time and kill some monsters with my own hands so that the ones I held so dear to me didn't have to go through this day today. But who was I kidding?
Could there ever be a person who could turn the hands of time?
No.
If that wasn't all, Neil sir had not spoken even once to even Neela Ma'am ever since that incident. Although Neela Ma'am had tried her level best to help sir see things differently, but sir was adamant on his belief that the fiasco that had now clouded their lives was just because of him, and he was ashamed that he couldn't fulfill the promise he had once given to his Neela Maa. Of always protecting Avni Bhabhi, fulfilling her dream of a happy family, and never hurting her.
It was a bizarre feeling to be honest.
Everything, I wanted absolutely everything to become a surreal blur, these entire six months, and wake up to the fact that Avni Bhabhi was all fine now, and things were back to normal.
Maybe it was wishful thinking, but even after all this, I still had my faith.
Because not just this turn of events but so much more had just cemented something in my mind forever, and that was, Neil sir loved Avni Bhabhi more than anyone else in the world. And if sir was still holding on to the hope despite everything that fell apart that Avni bhabhi would be all right, then I was sure as hell, Ganpati Bappa won't let him down.
This phase also made me come face to face with another fact. When the two-faced Juhi hadn't made her way back into sir and bhabhi's life, and we had all believed her to be dead, once during an argument, sir had scolded me saying after losing Juhi, he could still move on, but even the thought of losing Avni bhabhi ripped him to shreds.
Little did I know I was going to see his hypothetical inference turn into a living reality barely few months away from then.
I couldn't stop the lone tear that rolled down my eyes, reminiscing the good old days when sir, me, and bhabhi would often work on a case together and look into the stark contrast that was our bitter reality now.
I was only getting further lost in my thoughts when the shrill tone from Neil sir's cellphone broke my reverie, and I instantly looked at him, getting up from my seat.
I could see his expressions change from trivial to alarmed, and it didn't take me long to guess, it was a call from the hospital.
A chill ran down my spine and I prayed fervently in my mind, to not let this be another dreadful day of sir's life and mine too, and the very next second all I could hear Neil sir speak out loud was, 'JUST TELL ME AVNI IS FINE DAMN IT!'' before he stormed out of the police station and rushed towards his car, with me following him from behind.
**
