I was coming back from a bad face cleaning job that had given me a scar at my nose!fuming over it,i never realized that was a worthless waste of my energies,i had just wasted a moment of my LIFE thinking about such a futile thing.But then we seldom do realize how precious each moment of this life is!until of course its too late.
So all consumed by my thoughts of suing KAYA i was walking to the PITAMPURA metro station,although KOHAT was near to where i had been.She lived there, her apartment just beside that station. . "should i surprise her?" jerking my head,i thought otherwise.Then walking a few steps. . .I saw her retreating from the those very steps which i was climbing!
"HI!", she had said,"what a surprise! where are you coming from?"
"HEY!",With a sheepish smile on my face,i said,"KAYA!":)
"i have my farewell in 3 days,that's why",adding to my innocent alibi!
Looking from her to the lady standing beside her,her mom,i figured out,there faces were pretty much alike!
"ma,that's pramati!"she said.
"namastey aunty"i said,she greeted me in return and said,"its bin a long time,you've grown up,i couldn't recognize at first!"
Another embarrassing chuckle from my end.
"our farewell is on 12th the next month,in fact,i just went went for shopping and brought a few eye lenses!I'm so excited",she had said.
"I know,me too!!,a genuine note of excitement this time in my voice!
"which colour Saree do you plan to wear?"
"black",my eyes gleaming by this time.
"oooo! me 2! its gonna be so great"she had said.
i flashed my teeth at this.
"where are you going now?back home?"
i nodded.
"Why don't you come along to my place,it'll be fun.we'll have lunch together"
"yes dear,why don't you.come along,you don't need to hurry back so soon" her ma had said.
a genuineness in their voice.
"umm,i don't know. . ma is probably waiting for me. . i dont even have a mobile on me"
"oh dats no problem ,you can call from mine"she cuts in.
"No,i don't think that will be a good idea,she would have prepared lunch by now too.i really need to get going,I'll meet you sometime later."
Only now do i realise,the value of the word "later",its nothing. . "later" never comes till its too late.
That was the last time i saw her.
Now am sitting in the car,not knowing whats gonna come my way.
Last night.i realised she was on her deathbed,internal bleeding in her brain.
Shocked as i was,i didn't have much sleep as usual and when i slept i had a dream of her walking up with some support back to her mother.
The strangeness of it all,a day before i had dreamt of death and the following day i herd this news.
Looking out the window,i was just hoping my dream turns into a reality.
Then another thought,had i known she just had 2 months to live while climbing those stairs at the metro station,how i would have agreed to that lunch offer with her.How i would've made sure i kept in contact.
How i would've surprised her that day when i was sitting in my class 2 hrs early with nothing to do and just opposite her place.
But that hadn't happened.because we never realize that life is PRESENT phenomenon,it may or may not b there tomorrow.It doesn't work on would've Been's or will Be's.We end up wasting half our present day by planning for tomorrow or by running over the "past" lane.
Yeah,everybody knows this.And most of the time,we think of it as philosophical bullshit until you get hit in your face with it.
Another thought takes hold as this one blurs out, what would've her mother done if she knew,those times when i regularly used to go to her place and we had started writing "our novel", that her daughter maybe just has about 5 more years to live?
NO,CHUCK IT ALL OUT.SHE'LL BE OK.SHE'S GONNA LIVE.
And then i look out for a moment,the sign ahead says"SIR GANGA RAM HOSPITAL".
An uneasy churning of muscles in my stomach.
SO this is it,HERE WE ARE.
I TAKE A DEEP BREATH.
following behind the her close friends and my ex-close friend i look around in the waiting room.
There she was,in her mothers face!
She looked at us,eyes that held so much pain,yet were clear,just a hint of red at the corners.
She gave us a welcoming smile,got up.
All i could think of was-She's so strong!
And then she recited the story,she must've learnt by heart now,how her daughter had been so weak since past month,how she had some stomach infection,how she has told her not to give some entrances,how she had been so obstinate about giving them,of how they brought her to this hospital and how the doc's said there were just 5-6 hrs she could live if operation's not done.
AT this point she choked.
swallowed her tears,her eyes shimmered just for a second then she continued again,how her daughter's not responding to the surgery,and hoe they're allowed to see her at specific timings,how they've bin waiting here,sitting all day,just for a speck of information.
How her case they're taking good care of her coz she's so young,how her case is so rare.10 in a million have it.And she was one of those 10.
I looked away,my throat dry,my eyes had glinted before.But i had managed not to let it show.
"Is there a water cooler here anywhere,"i asked my ex-close friend.
She jerked her head.Obviously she was in much worse condition than i thought she was.THEY were best friends.sorry.THEY are best friends.
After a drinking some water,we stood there.We 3-the friends.
HER aunt came,she gave a dry smile.
Are you people alright?she said
"We wanna see her"my ex-close friend said.
"thats not possible dear. . . "HER aunt had said. . .and i lost track of conversation.
when i came back,she said there's no hope.
i bit my lip,"she'll be alright.i had a dream that she will be fine,yesterday night".i said and wondered how foolish it sounded.
"yeah,they say only a miracle can do that"she said.
undefeated at my attempt to stay positive i said,"but miracles do happen."
I said.Like i was trying to convince her when i knew so less.
"whoz her father"? i heard a friend asking,i looked around.
it wasn't hard to make out.the most hurtful eyes,brimming with tears but not a tear dropped.they just stayed their,etched in his eyes.
How could he hold their weight? without letting go? was all i could think. . .
He was showing her pictures to us,all lifeless and gaunt.
she flinched at seeing them,"but thats not even looking like harshita",her best friend protested.
The mother held out a hand and kept on his arm,a gesture that meant Don't do this,they are just kids,they don't need to see this.
I realized she was the strength of her family.The strong one.
A While after,she asked me"how did your exams go?"
I looked at her,glad she did remember me.
tears swelling in my eyes,but i contained them. . .
"am not doing engineering"
"oh!" she said,"then what do you plan to do?"
"Fashion communication or mass communication. . something on these lines" and i looked away.
"ok," considering that thought,"and how did boards go?"
"fine"
was my reply.
"STUDY HARD.dont worry about all this,alright?
i shrugged,jerking my head. . like saying"yeah,why would i? there's no reason to worry"
while i just wanted to hold her hand and say you don't need to worry about us.I had a dream yesterday night,and while i was consoling you in that dream. . Harshita had walked in,weak but all happy and living.
That was the only explanation i could give her of having faith that she'll be alright.
instead i just kept mum.
The ride back was longer than i had expected and that too for the first time in my life.
It had always bin much easier and faster to get back home.
Often i had wondred at this and asked dad"why do we always reach back home faster?"
"Coz the destination is clear in our head,of where we want to go,so that even a mile before,you feel you are already home"he had said.
But now i was wearing out,those images still fresh in my memory,the images of her family.
Before coming to the hospital.i had debated the topic of going there.
i wanted to go but there was something in me that dreaded going.
This is what made me go-
i wondered,if i was there,lying on my deathbed and Harshita came to know about it,she wouldn't have hesitated to come,i was sure of that.Instead she would have called more of my freinds from past and planned to come and see me.
So i decided,i would go.
Would she have sensed that i was there? just a few floors away? would she have expected me to come?
(You see we were close friends back in junior high,but then i changed schools and since then every year all of us have a re-union.This year it was gonna be after 1 may. . .maybe in a week from now.)
sigh.
I didnt know if she would have expected me to come.i don't know if i would see her again.
I just pray for a miracle,i just pray that am able to show this blog to her,i just pray i can tell her what i never felt the need of telling her.That she is the sweetest person i've ever known,she's the only one who got us together and planned our re-unions.She is the reason i probably still know her.If it would've been upto me,i would've never done any effort to stay in contact.
sigh so much for the things i've never said.
And i know,i wasn't very close to her but still aren't there some people,no matter how long it goes by without seeing or talkin to them whenever you meet again,its like you never drifted apart.SHE was one of them.
LIFE is TRANSITORY.
LATER IS A WORD that should never have been invented.
CHERISHING THE moment is all that we should do.
WE go on in our lives,never bothering to look back,not caring to spare a few words of love to those near you.Never realizing life's not so long afterall.
LIFE IS JUST IN THIS MOMENT.
AND WHEN THE MOMENT'S GONE YOU would have turned into nothing but DUST IN THE WIND.
p.s-DON'T waste your life.don't let your ego come in between fallen relationships,coz when all is said and done, you wouldn't want to live with regrets of never telling a person what they meant to you.
p.s2-Just respect DEATH.PLEASE don't keep moving forward like nothing's never gonna happen to you or your close ones.
It just takes a fraction of a second to burst a bubble.Doesn't it?
p.s3-I PRAY that you read this,Harshita. I LOVE YOU!
-Pramati
So all consumed by my thoughts of suing KAYA i was walking to the PITAMPURA metro station,although KOHAT was near to where i had been.She lived there, her apartment just beside that station. . "should i surprise her?" jerking my head,i thought otherwise.Then walking a few steps. . .I saw her retreating from the those very steps which i was climbing!
"HI!", she had said,"what a surprise! where are you coming from?"
"HEY!",With a sheepish smile on my face,i said,"KAYA!":)
"i have my farewell in 3 days,that's why",adding to my innocent alibi!
Looking from her to the lady standing beside her,her mom,i figured out,there faces were pretty much alike!
"ma,that's pramati!"she said.
"namastey aunty"i said,she greeted me in return and said,"its bin a long time,you've grown up,i couldn't recognize at first!"
Another embarrassing chuckle from my end.
"our farewell is on 12th the next month,in fact,i just went went for shopping and brought a few eye lenses!I'm so excited",she had said.
"I know,me too!!,a genuine note of excitement this time in my voice!
"which colour Saree do you plan to wear?"
"black",my eyes gleaming by this time.
"oooo! me 2! its gonna be so great"she had said.
i flashed my teeth at this.
"where are you going now?back home?"
i nodded.
"Why don't you come along to my place,it'll be fun.we'll have lunch together"
"yes dear,why don't you.come along,you don't need to hurry back so soon" her ma had said.
a genuineness in their voice.
"umm,i don't know. . ma is probably waiting for me. . i dont even have a mobile on me"
"oh dats no problem ,you can call from mine"she cuts in.
"No,i don't think that will be a good idea,she would have prepared lunch by now too.i really need to get going,I'll meet you sometime later."
Only now do i realise,the value of the word "later",its nothing. . "later" never comes till its too late.
That was the last time i saw her.
Now am sitting in the car,not knowing whats gonna come my way.
Last night.i realised she was on her deathbed,internal bleeding in her brain.
Shocked as i was,i didn't have much sleep as usual and when i slept i had a dream of her walking up with some support back to her mother.
The strangeness of it all,a day before i had dreamt of death and the following day i herd this news.
Looking out the window,i was just hoping my dream turns into a reality.
Then another thought,had i known she just had 2 months to live while climbing those stairs at the metro station,how i would have agreed to that lunch offer with her.How i would've made sure i kept in contact.
How i would've surprised her that day when i was sitting in my class 2 hrs early with nothing to do and just opposite her place.
But that hadn't happened.because we never realize that life is PRESENT phenomenon,it may or may not b there tomorrow.It doesn't work on would've Been's or will Be's.We end up wasting half our present day by planning for tomorrow or by running over the "past" lane.
Yeah,everybody knows this.And most of the time,we think of it as philosophical bullshit until you get hit in your face with it.
Another thought takes hold as this one blurs out, what would've her mother done if she knew,those times when i regularly used to go to her place and we had started writing "our novel", that her daughter maybe just has about 5 more years to live?
NO,CHUCK IT ALL OUT.SHE'LL BE OK.SHE'S GONNA LIVE.
And then i look out for a moment,the sign ahead says"SIR GANGA RAM HOSPITAL".
An uneasy churning of muscles in my stomach.
SO this is it,HERE WE ARE.
I TAKE A DEEP BREATH.
following behind the her close friends and my ex-close friend i look around in the waiting room.
There she was,in her mothers face!
She looked at us,eyes that held so much pain,yet were clear,just a hint of red at the corners.
She gave us a welcoming smile,got up.
All i could think of was-She's so strong!
And then she recited the story,she must've learnt by heart now,how her daughter had been so weak since past month,how she had some stomach infection,how she has told her not to give some entrances,how she had been so obstinate about giving them,of how they brought her to this hospital and how the doc's said there were just 5-6 hrs she could live if operation's not done.
AT this point she choked.
swallowed her tears,her eyes shimmered just for a second then she continued again,how her daughter's not responding to the surgery,and hoe they're allowed to see her at specific timings,how they've bin waiting here,sitting all day,just for a speck of information.
How her case they're taking good care of her coz she's so young,how her case is so rare.10 in a million have it.And she was one of those 10.
I looked away,my throat dry,my eyes had glinted before.But i had managed not to let it show.
"Is there a water cooler here anywhere,"i asked my ex-close friend.
She jerked her head.Obviously she was in much worse condition than i thought she was.THEY were best friends.sorry.THEY are best friends.
After a drinking some water,we stood there.We 3-the friends.
HER aunt came,she gave a dry smile.
Are you people alright?she said
"We wanna see her"my ex-close friend said.
"thats not possible dear. . . "HER aunt had said. . .and i lost track of conversation.
when i came back,she said there's no hope.
i bit my lip,"she'll be alright.i had a dream that she will be fine,yesterday night".i said and wondered how foolish it sounded.
"yeah,they say only a miracle can do that"she said.
undefeated at my attempt to stay positive i said,"but miracles do happen."
I said.Like i was trying to convince her when i knew so less.
"whoz her father"? i heard a friend asking,i looked around.
it wasn't hard to make out.the most hurtful eyes,brimming with tears but not a tear dropped.they just stayed their,etched in his eyes.
How could he hold their weight? without letting go? was all i could think. . .
He was showing her pictures to us,all lifeless and gaunt.
she flinched at seeing them,"but thats not even looking like harshita",her best friend protested.
The mother held out a hand and kept on his arm,a gesture that meant Don't do this,they are just kids,they don't need to see this.
I realized she was the strength of her family.The strong one.
A While after,she asked me"how did your exams go?"
I looked at her,glad she did remember me.
tears swelling in my eyes,but i contained them. . .
"am not doing engineering"
"oh!" she said,"then what do you plan to do?"
"Fashion communication or mass communication. . something on these lines" and i looked away.
"ok," considering that thought,"and how did boards go?"
"fine"
was my reply.
"STUDY HARD.dont worry about all this,alright?
i shrugged,jerking my head. . like saying"yeah,why would i? there's no reason to worry"
while i just wanted to hold her hand and say you don't need to worry about us.I had a dream yesterday night,and while i was consoling you in that dream. . Harshita had walked in,weak but all happy and living.
That was the only explanation i could give her of having faith that she'll be alright.
instead i just kept mum.
The ride back was longer than i had expected and that too for the first time in my life.
It had always bin much easier and faster to get back home.
Often i had wondred at this and asked dad"why do we always reach back home faster?"
"Coz the destination is clear in our head,of where we want to go,so that even a mile before,you feel you are already home"he had said.
But now i was wearing out,those images still fresh in my memory,the images of her family.
Before coming to the hospital.i had debated the topic of going there.
i wanted to go but there was something in me that dreaded going.
This is what made me go-
i wondered,if i was there,lying on my deathbed and Harshita came to know about it,she wouldn't have hesitated to come,i was sure of that.Instead she would have called more of my freinds from past and planned to come and see me.
So i decided,i would go.
Would she have sensed that i was there? just a few floors away? would she have expected me to come?
(You see we were close friends back in junior high,but then i changed schools and since then every year all of us have a re-union.This year it was gonna be after 1 may. . .maybe in a week from now.)
sigh.
I didnt know if she would have expected me to come.i don't know if i would see her again.
I just pray for a miracle,i just pray that am able to show this blog to her,i just pray i can tell her what i never felt the need of telling her.That she is the sweetest person i've ever known,she's the only one who got us together and planned our re-unions.She is the reason i probably still know her.If it would've been upto me,i would've never done any effort to stay in contact.
sigh so much for the things i've never said.
And i know,i wasn't very close to her but still aren't there some people,no matter how long it goes by without seeing or talkin to them whenever you meet again,its like you never drifted apart.SHE was one of them.
LIFE is TRANSITORY.
LATER IS A WORD that should never have been invented.
CHERISHING THE moment is all that we should do.
WE go on in our lives,never bothering to look back,not caring to spare a few words of love to those near you.Never realizing life's not so long afterall.
LIFE IS JUST IN THIS MOMENT.
AND WHEN THE MOMENT'S GONE YOU would have turned into nothing but DUST IN THE WIND.
p.s-DON'T waste your life.don't let your ego come in between fallen relationships,coz when all is said and done, you wouldn't want to live with regrets of never telling a person what they meant to you.
p.s2-Just respect DEATH.PLEASE don't keep moving forward like nothing's never gonna happen to you or your close ones.
It just takes a fraction of a second to burst a bubble.Doesn't it?
p.s3-I PRAY that you read this,Harshita. I LOVE YOU!
-Pramati
