Mr. Bond flitted in and out of my life for the next few days. His calls were unexpected and scattered. He was busy on the weekdays so our conversations lasted for only a few minutes. One day, we discussed our favorite colors. His were yellow and orange, mine were pink and green. And then he amazed me by telling me the exact times of the day when I had been thinking about him. He was correct every time! A good guess, I said. No, he said, no guessing, I know. And the way he said it, I knew he was telling the truth. He had felt it.
On another day, we talked of his college days. How he had been hard up for money and it had been difficult to get through the day. How he took the DTC bus home from college everyday and didn't have the luxuries others are so used to. His passion and hard work had led him to success despite the struggles he had to face. While I got to know him better, my respect for him kept growing.
I didn't hear from him on the weekend. Each night I woke up around 2-2:30 am and stayed awake till early morning, my heart beating so hard that I couldn't breathe easy. Tossing and turning became like the usual thing until the third night, when I just couldn't take it anymore. I didn't know where he had disappeared. So I called him up, twice. No answer. Desperate for some news, I left voice messages on his phone and tried to sleep that night with no luck.
He called in the morning. What happened? he asked. Why did you call and leave messages? I tried to explain how I was feeling. But what could I say? That not hearing from him had been too difficult to bear. That I was worried that something bad might have happened. That I had missed him so much I couldn't wait. If you call without asking it will create a lot of problems for us, he said. Then I asked him, feeling much calmer, do you do this a lot? Do you go away without telling anyone, without leaving messages? Yes, he replied, sometimes. Ok, I can live with that. And its alright. I was just worried and wanted to know you are well. I won't disturb you this way again. I have to go now, he told me, but do me a favor? Wear a yellow suit today and smile. Imagine that I'm looking at you. You'll feel happy. Ok? Ok.
So I wore a new yellow suit and went out that day smiling throughout. And I never wore it again because I hoped that if we ever met, I would wear that suit for him. It still makes me smile when I look at that suit in my cupboard, also because I never thought something like this could happen for real.
The second week began and he came online only to tell me that he wasn't feeling well. He had got a cold and a headache. To cheer him up, I sent him a song that papa used to sing to me whenever I had fever. "Main gaaun tum so jao" from Brahmachari.
Mana aaj ki raat hai lambi, mana din tha bhari
Par jag badla, badlegi ek din taqdeer humari
Us din ke khwab sajao, main gaaun tum so jao
I hoped he would feel better when he listened to it. On Wednesday morning, I saw him online but he didn't respond to my message. I wrote down that I ll wait for him to get better and I'll pray that he gets better soon.
Once he got better, he gave me a call at 12:00 am that night and what happened next shook me completely.
