Chapter 30
"How are you feeling now, beta?"
Mr. Malhotra patted on Manik's back.
"Yeah I guess I was a kinda tired, I dozed off." Mr. Malhotra pulled a chair across Manik who was relaxing on a lounge chair in the garden, watching the sun set.
"So how's life in Mumbai?" He enquired.
"That's not even a life, confined in those walls and having nothing to do apart from banging my head trying to piece together my past."
"Why don't you shift to Pune? I have an empire here, you could join the office if you like, you could make new friends, start a new life afresh. I mean I am not trying to impose anything on you, but you could think about it."
"But how can I start a new life without knowing what I have left behind..."
"How long are you going to live in the shadow of your past, you have to move on, sooner or later."
"How can you even say that, how can you just wipe away everything? How can you take away my whole life and just ask me to start from scratch? What if, I have left behind something..or someone and they are still searching for me? What if someone is still waiting for me to return...what if..." His voice trailed off. He couldn't explain to his father that he saw flashes at times. Silhouettes of people, silhouette of a couple against the grey sky. But they would run away just as fast as they had arrived, before he could even lay his hands on them. They were recurrent flashes and every now and then he woke up sweating, trying to recall the blurred faces. He saw random objects, that reappeared again and again..a guitar, starts, fireflies and he couldn't make sense of any of them.
"I am not wiping it off Manik beta, I am not the one who has played this cruel joke. I am only trying to help you in coping up with this." Away from manik's sight he was clenching his fist in anger, yet he maintained an easy smile on his face. Who could tell he was hiding so much of anguish inside.
Manik thought for a while. It wasn't such a bad idea after all. If he joined office, it would keep him busy for most part of the day. He would be spared of the devilish thoughts that now tormented him all the time. Plus, Pune was just over three hours from Panchgani, & he could visit Nandini if he got bored here. May be his dad wasn't wrong after all.
"Tell me something dad, before I lost memory what was it that I wanted to be, I mean personally you don't have much idea, but professionally, are you clueless about that too?" He asked innocently.
"What do you think the heir of the Malhotra industries would be aiming for? You have always been way more ambitious than me. You used to come here often to learn the basics of business and it was just a matter of time before you finished college and took my position, rendering me jobless" He tried to force in a little humour to make his lie sound believable.
"Did I not have any other interests? Like sports or...or music...?" The scene from the morning was still fresh in his mind and so was its impact on him. Music liberated him, in a way that words would fail to express. Every cell in his body, ever drop of blood responded to the strums and beats. When music played, he didn't feel lost anymore, in fact he felt as if he was home, as if this was it, as this was who he was. With music he shared a connection too deep to neglect and in his heart he thanked Nandini for bringing upon that realization to him.
"What music?? No no you were never into that bullshit, and you shouldn't even think about it." He was alerted.
Manik smiled to himself. 'Bullshit!!' He ridiculed in his mind. Manik Malhotra didn't listen to anyone unless he wanted to. Memory or no memory, he knew with utmost surety that no one could ever stop him from doing something that he decided in favour of. If music was destined to be his pole star, music it shall be. Period.
He didn't give a shit to what his father said. Yes, he loved him, he loved his father very much but not enough to change his stubborn nature. Only a miracle could do that ... ..only a miracle or she...
Manik got up to return to his room but his dad stayed on.
Mr. Raj Malhotra was the envy of the business world. He DEFINED success.
He didn't bank on the share market, he regulated it.
What Manik saw and knew his dad possessed was just the tip of the iceberg. His dad had billions stacked in away in the tax havens across the world. He owned property in every city worth its name, albeit indirectly. If the police or income tax department got the slightest whiff of it, he would have to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
But he wasn't always this successful or rich. 3 and a half decades ago, he was like any other happy go lucky college pass out, brimming with hope and hopelessly in love with one his very affluent classmates. As is typical of youth, he dreamt of a fairytale ending which sadly crashed even before it could take off. The girl he was crazy for ditched him for someone better..erm richer. This left such a deep gash in his heart, that from a regular guy he was transformed into a money minting machine almost overnight. It became such an obsession that nothing or no-one else mattered to him anymore. By 35, he had amassed enough wealth for the next 10 generations but he his thirst remained unquenchable. Many a alliance had come in for him but he refused every single one of them. Sometimes he ridiculed the girl, sometimes her family, driven by a decade old anger which had burnt the whole of him from inside. And then Nyonika happened. She was and continued to be the biggest mistake of his entire life. At times, When he thought about it now, he felt one of the girls he had ruthlessly insulted in his earlier days must have cursed him. Even a blind or deaf would stay far far away from Nyonika, then how the hell did he fall into her trap.
Anyways, the only good thing that came out of this marriage was Manik and Mr. Raj Malhotra loved his son to death. He could do anything for his son and Nyonika being the devil she was, used little Manik as a bait to suck money from her estranged husband.
Mr. Malhotra indulged his son like there was no tomorrow, he tried to make up with things what he lacked in time and love. But despite his circumstances, Manik lived up to his name. He was a gem, a shining star and was well on his way to become the best singer of India when fate took a turn and the same friends he lived for became the reason for his death..the death he escaped by seconds.
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Should he message her? It was 1 am. She wouldn't be staying up this late.. Would she? Whats the harm is pinging? If she were asleep, she would not reply..simple
"Awake?"
"Hmm"
"What r u doing?"
"Reading a book, u??"
"Nothing.."
"Then y r u awake?"
"Bcz I am insomniac, u silly."
"O, so that's y u like star gazing?"
"Who told u I like stars?"
"I know.."
"What else do u know?"
"Why should I tell u?"
"OK don't tell, I m gonna sleep. Goodbye."
"Acha baba, sorry sorry."
"So tell me what else do u know?"
"That u r a monster"
"Acha????"
"Monster like a beast?"
"Yes"
"N u r beauty?"
"Yes, koi shak??"
"So that makes us beauty and the beast."
"Haww!!"
"But the problem is that beauty is pretty much stuck with beast, for ever..."
Silence...
"Acha lets play a game?"
"What game?"
"Which book r u reading?"
"A walk to remember - Nicholas sparks"
"k, so randomly flip through the page and type the line your eyes fall on. Gimme 1 min, I will download the ebook n I will do the same."
2 mins...
"Shoot.."
" When I was seventeen, my life changed forever . . . "
"I know the Lord has a plan for us all, but sometimes, I just don't understand what the message can be. Does that ever happen to you?"
" Well; I don't think we're meant to understand it all the time. I think that sometimes we just have to have faith."
" Like this journey never ends. Like you were sent to me because I'm sick. To help me through all this. You're my angel "
" You have to promise you won't fall in love with me "
" She taught me everything. About life, hope and the long journey ahead. I'll always miss her. But our love is like the wind. I can't see it, but I can feel it. "
"Find out who you are, and do it on purpose."
" I held her close to me with my eyes closed, wondering if anything in my life had ever been this perfect and knowing at the same time that it hadn't."
"Listen I wont play..."
"Is that a line?"
"No .. U r cheating.."
"Nandini Murthy is jealous of me bcz I am winning and she hs chickened out"
"Shut up"
"Nandini.."
"???"
"How r ur feet??"
"Much better... :):):)"
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I apologise for not being able to reply to all your comments.. next time pakka All i can see after this update is my bed and I am going to dive in...
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