Posted:
Epilogue:
one week on from that morning and Sarita found herself moping around the house in her pajamas, dragging her slipper-clad feet from room to room early on a Sunday. She stood at the doorway of each room, gazed inside, and searched for . . . something, although she didn't quite know what for. None of these rooms offered her any solution and so she wandered on. Warming her hands on a mug of coffee, she stood still in the hallway trying to decide what to do. She didn't usually move so slowly and her mind had never felt so clouded before, but she was a lot of things now that she never used to be.
It wasn't as though she didn't have things to do; the house was due its daily scrub from top to bottom and there was still the problem of the children's room in the hotel to be completed. Never mind completing it, it wasn't even started. She was a talented professional woman, but this month she had felt like a schoolgirl again, ignoring her pencils and pens and avoiding her laptop so she didn't have to do her homework. She was looking for a distraction, a decent excuse to, for once, drag her out of the mindless block she had found herself in. she was losing even more sleep than usual because she had simply no idea what to do and, being the perfectionist, she couldn't begin it unless it was completely clear in her mind.
She hadn't seen Vikrant since her party last week; she hadn't received a phone call, a letter, nothing. It was as though he had disappeared off the face of the earth and as well as being angry, she felt lonely. She missed him.
It was seven o'clock in the morning and the playroom was alive with the sounds of cartoons. Sarita made her way down the hall and popped her head into the room.
"Mind if I join you?" I promise I won't say anything, she felt like saying.
Abhi look surprised but shook his head. He sat on the floor, straining his neck up to see the television. It looked uncomfortable, but she chose silence instead of criticizing him. She collapsed on the beanbag beside him and tucked her legs close to her body.
"What are you watching?"
"SpongeBob SquarePants."
"Sponge what?!" She laughed.
"SpongeBob SquarePants," he repeated, not taking his eyes away from the television.
"What's it about?"
"A sponge called Bob who wears square pants." He giggled.
"Any good?"
"Mmm-hmm." He nodded. "Seen it before twice though." He spooned more Rice Krispies into his mouth messily, spilling milk down his chin. "Why are you watching it again, why don't you go out into the fresh air
and play with Abhay? You've been inside all weekend."
She was greeted with silence.
"Actually, where is abhay, is he away?"
"We're not friends anymore," he said sadly.
"Why not?" she asked in surprise, sitting up and placing her coffee cup
on the floor.
Abhi shrugged.
"Did you have a fight?" She asked gently.
Abhi shook his head.
"Did he say something to make you sad?" she probed. He shook his head again.
"Did you make him mad."
Another shake of the head.
"Well, what happened?"
"Nothing," He explained. "He just told me one day he didn't want to be my friend anymore."
"Well, that's not very nice," Sarita said gently. "Do you want me to talk to him for you, see what's wrong?"
Abhi shrugged. There was a silence between them as he continued staring at the screen, lost in thought.
"You know, I know what it's like to miss a friend. You know my friend Vikrant?"
"He was my friend too."
"Yes." She smiled. "Well, I miss him. I haven't seen him all week either." "Yeah, he's gone now. He told me so; he has to help someone else now." Sarita's eyes widened and anger welled inside her. He hadn't even the decency to say good-bye to her. "When did he say good-bye to you? What did he say?" At the startled look on Abhi's face, she immediately stopped firing questions so aggressively. She needed to keep reminding herself that he was only six.
"He said good-bye to me the same day as he said good-bye to you." His voice went up a pitch, as though she were crazy. His face crumpled up and he looked at her as though she had ten heads, and if she weren't so con- fused she would have laughed at the sight of him.
But inside she wasn't laughing. She paused and thought for a moment and then exploded. "What?! What are you talking about?"
"After the party, he came to the house and he told me that his job with us was finished, that he was going to be invisible again like he used to be but he would still be around and that meant that we were OK," he spoke chirpily, turning his attention back to the television.
"Invisible." Sarita said the word like it had a bad taste.
"Yep," he chirped.
"What is he putting into your head?" she grumbled angrily, "When is he coming back?"
Abhi lowered the volume on the TV and turned to her with that crazy look on his face again. "He's not. He told you that already."
"He didn't." Her voice failed her.
"He did. I heard him talking in your room."
Sarita cast her mind back to that night and to the dream she had, the dream she had been thinking about all week, the dream that had been bothering her, and suddenly realized with a sinking feeling in her heart that it hadn't been a dream at all.Her high pitched voice made Sheela aware. she went to abhi's room, to see sarita angry and confused. Sheela went up to her and asked," What happened Sarita, Did abhi say something??"
"Sheela abhi is saying vikrant was his imaginary friend. See they both are again playing games with me"
"Sarita he isnt. Vikrant was an angel only to help you" Sheela tried convincing Sarita, but even she knew how much difficult to believe her words were.
"Stop Joking Sheela, i m really not in the mood of it". Sarita shrugged her off.
"Remember Sarita, that day at the party you werent able to see vikrant, but vikrant was standing there. You werent able to see him, because his part in your life was about to get over."
"But how can he disappear??"
"Sarita you told me that vikrant was always by your side. Whenever you remembered him, He used to appear. Thats because it was his job. He was here to help you only".
"I was his job??" Sarita was shocked to here that loving her was a part of his job.
She abruptly left for her room.
"I was nothing to him. He never loved me. He was only there in my life to help me. I was a part of his job only".
She broke down when she realised that the person she loved more than herself never loved her, but then suddenly vikrant appeared by her side. he held her hand, which made sarita say,"See you are here, how can they say you left me. You cant leave me. We have to spend our whole life together. You know i always consoled myself. Wiped my tears whenever i cried, scolded myself whenever i made a mistake. But now i cant live on my own, I want you in my life. I cant live alone like this. Please Vikrant Dont go."
Vikrant wiped her tears and said,"Sarita i will be here. Whenever you need me, just call me. i will be around."
"But you wont be there with me, matching my each step, holding my hand forever".
"Who said i wont be. Sarita i m in your feelings, whenever you feel you need me, just remember me. I will be with you holding your hand, matching your each step. I would still be waiting for you in your house when you will come back. Will be with you in your office. Whenever it will rain, i will be dancing with you. Whenever you will see a shooting star, i would be making a wish with you. I would be holding you whenever you would sleep. Would be adoring you whenever you would smile. I will be here and I m here." And with this he disappeared, leaving a hopeful sarita.
"where's Sarita?" Sameer Khuranna hissed angrily at Anamika, out of earshot of the crowd that had gathered for the opening of the new hotel.
"She's still in the kids' room" Anamika Sighed
"Still?" he shouted and a few people who had been paying attention to the speech being made at the front of the room turned around.
Sarita literally hadn't come out of that room for the past few days. Anamika had brought her some drinks and food from a vending machine and she had hastily grabbed it from her at the door and slammed it shut again. She had no idea what the interior was like and her life had been hellish all week trying to deal with a panicking Khuranna. The novelty of Sarita speaking to an invisible person had long since worn off Sameer, he had never had rooms being worked on during the very moment the building was being opened, it was a ridiculous and extremely unprofessional situation.
"OK, boys and girls," the guide said, "this next room is especially for you, so moms and dads, you'll have to take a few steps back to allow them through because this is a very special room."
There was complete silence and Anamika covered his face in his hands. They were in big trouble.
Suddenly one child let out a "Wow!" and one by one, the hushed and stunned tones from the children gradually became excited calls to one another. "Look at that!" "Look over there!"
The children looked around the room in awe. The parents followed them in and Sameer and Anamika looked at each other in surprise as they heard similar whispers of approval.
"Let me see this," Sameer said, rudely pushing his way through the crowd. Anamika followed and what he saw inside took his breath away. The walls of the large room were covered with enormous murals of splendid bursts of color, each wall with a different scene. One wall two people near a wishing well, making a wish, written "Make Believe".
They were mostly silent as they all stood alone, looking at the detail on each wall. "Look, it's Vikrant in the picture!" Abhi shouted to Sarita.
Feeling stunned, Anamika looked over at Elizabeth, who was standing in the corner in scruffy denim overalls splattered in paint, with dark circles under her eyes. Despite her apparent tiredness, she was beaming, her face totally alight from the reaction to the room. The pride in her shining eyes was evident as everyone pointed to each painting, enjoying the scenery.
Another mural was of a little girl in a field, watching a pink balloon floating up to the sky; in another, a crowd of children were having a water fight, splattering paint, and dancing on the sand on a beach. A little girl sat in a green field, having a picnic with a cow, who wore a straw hat. A group of young boys and girls climbed trees and hung from their branches.
Sarita had painted a sky of deep blue, with shooting stars, comets, and distant planets. She had created a new world, a wonderland of escapism, fun, and adventure, but it was the atten- tion to detail, the looks of glee on the characters' faces, the happy smiles of pure childish enjoyment that jumped out at Anamika.
Sarita looked down at the floor to a toddler who was playing with one of the many toys scattered throughout the room. She was about to bend down to talk to the little girl, when she noticed that the girl was speaking to herself. Carrying on a very serious conversation in fact, she was introducing herself to mid-air.
Sarita looked around the room, breathed in deeply, and tried to smell that familiar Vikrant smell. "Thank you," she whispered, closing her eyes and imagining him with her.
The little girl continued babbling away all by herself, looking to her right as she spoke and listening before speaking again. And then she began to hum, that familiar song that Sarita hadn't been able to get out of her head.
Sarita couldn't help but throw her head back and laugh.
She entered her home. Threw her bag on the couch, and smelled something. It was smell of something burning. She instantly knew who it would be. She rused to the kitchen and said," Vikrant i have told you several times not to enter my kitchen." Vikrant turned and said," Sorry Ma'am, but today was such a special day for you, so this servant of yours wanted to end it on a sweet note." Sarita went close to vikrant and said,"And whats that sweet note??". Vikrant took a tray from the oven and said,"Presenting to you Hot chocolate fudge cake-he saw the burnt cake and corrected himself-umm intended to".
Sarita smiled at the foolishness of the person standing infront of her. She took the tray from him and asked,"Did you like the room??" Vikrant whispered in her ear,"It made me feel eternal. Thanks Sarita".
Sarita smiled and dragged him with her to the living room, ignoring the fact that she has to clean the mess. She made vikrant sit on the sofa, and starting narrating her all day's happenings. Vikrant just adored her smiling, he took a deep breath and said,"You know someone told me to make you fall in love, i had to make you smile. But everytime you smiled, i lost my breath". Sarita blushed at his words. Vikrant kissed her on the cheek, which made her red cheeks much more red. She whispered,"I love you".
CID
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
