Part 16
One year later, at the Commonwealth Games,
The hot favorite, Viraj Singh Rathore was getting ready to take his final aim. A lone tear escaped his eye. He quickly brushed it aside and wore his shooting glasses. He hit the bull's eye. And the Gold Medal was his. He had gone on from strength to strength in his shooting career during the past one year when he had entered active sport again after recovering from his paralysis. First the State Shooting Medal, then the National Medal, the SAARC Shooting Medal, and now the Commonwealth Games.
Brushing aside the buzzing journalists who were hankering for a personal interview or an exclusive photo shoot, he got into his car. He had lived someone else's dreams for him all these days. But what about his dreams? Why did she leave just like that without leaving even a trace behind?
Everyone, including Ma, Kabir, Sunaina, and her family said that she did not exist. Except He and Ramesh Uncle. After all how could she die when his heart was still beating in his chest? That meant that she was still there somewhere lost among this crowd of faces. He would find her out. Even if it meant turning the whole world upside down, he, Viraj Singh Rathore would do it.
At the Jaipur Jail,
The Jail Warden: Sir, you've been here countless number of times. But he still refuses to tell you anything. Do you really hope that he will tell you something this time either?
Viraj: Yes! He will tell me one day or the other where she is.
Shekar was brought by some police men in handcuffs. He had lost none of his evilness or animosity towards Viraj Singh Rathore. Even though he was behind the bars, he knew he had the last laugh. The great Viraj Singh Rathore despite all his success was a broken man. At last he had had his revenge against him. He heart felt as cool as ice though he knew Viraj's was burning like molten lava.
Shekar: Here you keep coming again and again though you know it is futile.
Viraj: Why Shekar? Why? If you had anything against me, you should have punished me. But why her?
Shekar: Because she was yours.
Viraj (with tears in his eyes): Please tell me at least that she is alive somewhere in this world.
Skekar: I feel so sad for you my friend. So I will tell you something. She is alive. But even if she is alive, she has no use for you or your memories.
Viraj(shocked): What are you saying?
Shekar: All her past memories are gone. I erased them completely before I left her on that lonely roadside. Wherever she is or whoever she is, she will not remember you. Your love for her is doomed to die a silent death. She will never be able to recognize it or remember it.
In a posh bungalow in Mumbai,
Arthi just woke up from her slumber. How does it feel if you are a stranger to your own self? She knew it very well. She would spend nights and nights pondering over her true self until she was forced to sleep by taking sleeping pills and sedatives by Akash Bhaiyya. He was her only ray of hope in the black days and nights she spent. He was the sole proprietor of the Akash International Chain of Hotels.
She started staring at the V mark on her hand again. What did it mean to her? Bhaiyya told her that she had a knife wound of that shape when he found her. What it meant, he had no idea. She was clutching a withered crown of flowers and a diamond engagement ring as though her very life depended on it. She opened the closet in which they were kept and started thinking very hard but to no avail. An empty blankness descended upon her whenever she tried to think too hard about them. What could V stand for? Did it mean or Victory' or...
When the television news ran like this:
V- for Victory and V- for Viraj Singh Rathore.
Viraj keeps his unbeaten record intact at the Commonwealth Games.
Arthi thought, "Who's this Viraj Singh Rathore? And why is my heart beating so rapidly at his mention? This is the first time I've felt as though I've known something. But why? Should she meet him and talk to him? Could he help her out? Anything was better than this ignorance and blankness which tormented her."
Udne Ki Aasha
Kumkum Bhagya
