Chapter -23 (Jishnu Reveals The Scary Secret)
"I simply can't believe, Meghna, that you're so different from most of the girls of this generation. You study in the best girls' school in the city, Calcutta Girls, but seldom do I see you trying to impress others speaking in English! Your simplicity, your behaviour and attitude make one aware of your decent upbringing. The best thing about you is that you have no qualms of being a modern girl! The way you were narrating from "The Mahabharata" to Sneha's friends about Lord Rama's desire of paying back his brother, Laksman, by being born as his younger brother in his next birth, and his subsequent Krishna avatar form, as the younger brother of Balaram, their sibling rivalry and all - made me wonder if you know more about The Epic than I do!"
Jishnu had heard his mom say to Meghna.
All of Sneha's friends and relatives had left by then on her D-day. There were only five of them around the marble table in the drawing room.
His mom was fondly looking at Meghna standing behind her daughter, Sneha sitting on the single vinyle sofa opposite, straightening her hair.
"Masima, I think it's time to take your leave now. It is almost 10 O'clock and I'd like to be back home before Ma raises hell," She said trying to divert his mother's open admiration away from her.
"You really live so far from ours, don't you, Megbnadi? Sneha told her jokingly before adding:
" In case she needs you, Dona Pissi will call out from your apartment opposite."
After Meghna had left, his mom looked at them, his father and him, relaxing on the sofa, discussing the reasons for India's miraculous victory over Australia in the fourth one dayer that ended some time ago.
As sister, Sneha came back after closing the front door and sat down, his mom was heard remarking again :
"I'd like to have someone like Meghna for my Jishnu's wife. She'll be very compatible and make a fantastic wife for my Jishnu."
His parents got up then to head towards the bedroom, while Jishnu winked at his sister. I've briefly shared all this with you to let you know what my late mom, the whole family thought about Meghna. "
Jishnu stopped briefly in the midst of the narration as Akanksha kept playing with the Coffee can in her hands, unmindfully.
"What I've tried to tell you, Akanksha, let me repeat, is how everyone in my house loved that angel. Besides, she's my best friend as well." Jishnu sighed.
Akanksha was getting restless. This is not what she expected the night before. She had dreamt Jishnu, the Heartthrob of CPS, proclaiming his love for her. Where did this Meghna suddenly spring up from? Did Jishnu seriously believe for a moment that he could entrap her in a love snare by sharing this sentimental story?
"Jishnuda, is this the reason why you brought me here? Sharing your so called love story with Meghna or whatever!" Then, trying to shed a little bit of the annoyance out of her voice, she felt that Jishnu must have stated everything about Meghna to her to be relieved.
Why did he speak of Meghna whatever in the past tense? As the thought came to her head, she couldn't help asking him,
"Why did you say that she WAS your best friend? Where is she now? What's happened to her?" Akanksha was surprised to find herself asking aloud the barrage of questions on her mind to Jishnu.
"Just give me fifteen minutes more, OK? I'm coming to that. But let me have something first. I find myself hungry after a ling time. I'll have mixed fried rice with chilly chicken. Do you still want nothing?"Jishnu asked.
Akanksha shook her head again as Jishnu requested the waiter serving at the next table to take his order. The next moment, the hefty waiter was seen making his way to their table. After he had written down the order on a piece of paper, Jishnu looked at his receding figure before continuing with his story.
"That day I was playing in a T-20 One Day Tourney at the local Ram Lila Maidan. Our 9-star team was in the semis playing against a team called VSC. I's taking my stand when I saw Meghna. Whenever I played a match at the Ram Lila Maidan, Meghna would invariably try to be there to cheer me up." Jishnu stoped here.
It was clear to Akanksha that whatever he was going to share, opened a floodgates of emotion and pain for him. She thought of asking him not to continue if something was bothering him. But she changed her mind against it as Jishnu picked up again :
" You may not know it, Akanksha, but I'm said to be the crisis man for my team. I'd hit the opponent bowler for two consecutive fours. But our team needed to increase the run rate to reach whatever slim hopes we'd of making it to the final."
Was that deliberate on his part to grab her attention? Everyone knew her fondness for MSD, for cricket? But before Akanksha could say something, Jishnu carried on :
"The sight of Meghna jumping up in the air with closed fists, crying hoarse, did something to me and I decided to show off by hitting the next ball out of the ground at any cost. I stepped out as their pacer came up to bowl and hit the ball with all my might. I saw the ball soaring, heading towards the long on. The ball cleared the fence all right but instead of landing out of the ground, it started descending near the wall where Meghna along with her friends, was jumping and shouting.."
Jishnu stopped here for inhaling.
For the first time, since Jishnu picked her up from near CPS, Akanksha heard herself asking him with a trace of curiosity in her voice,
"What happened then? Did that girl..this Meghna of yours..?" But she couldn't finish, seeing the waiter coming back to their table with the culinary on a tray.
"You sure want nothing?" Jishnu asked Akanksha again.
"I ain't hungry… but.. okay.. I'll have a bite of whatever you've ordeted. Can I? " She asked.
"Why? Let me call the waiter again. It won't take long.. " But Akanksha cut him short by saying :
"I AM NOT HUNGRY, JISHNUDA, no seriously. I'll put a little bit on my plate just for the taste and to give you company. Is that all right?" She asked Jishnu smilingly.
Jishnu glanced at his wrist watch. It was almost 8 and time for her to get back home. Auntie Sonia was the worrying sort. She'd be hysteric if Akanksha didn't get back home in time.
"So, you were telling me about the over boundary and Meghna. What happened then?" Akanksha found the curiosity in her voice nearly killing her!
"I'd crossed over to the non-striker's end while keeping my eyes on the ball all the while. It was coming down, down and then God! It landed straight on Meghna's chest. Things happened so fast as Meghna fell with a thud and everyone in the ground scurried to the spot where she was lying, shaking like a slaughtered lamb! "
Akanksha started serving the mixed fried rice and almost all of the chilly chicken on Jishnu's plate before pouring two spoonsful on hers. Jishnu looked away from her and wiped something off his cheek with a finger.
"Jishnuda, please have the food. It'll get cold otherwise," she urged him.
Jishnu put a small portion into his mouth with the spoon and carried on, almost mechanically:
"Next moment, Meghna was being lifted off the ground, unconscious! Someone hailed a cab and Meghna, still as a statue, was taken in. As a family friend.. " Jishnu cleared his voice having uttered the last two words doubtfully to conclude:
"I squeezed myself in. By the time her inert body on a stretcher was placed before the doctor at NRS, she was pronounced 'brought dead'! How a very lively, jolly girl turned into the framed photo in our clubroom, in the matter of a week- is, is still a mystery to me! I felt at that time that with her tragic death, my life...my life wouldn't be the same again."
That was when Akanksha thought, looking at him that he might break down and picking up a little bit of the rice with the spoon, Akanksha put it into her mouth.
Jishnu followed her suit. While munching at the food very slowly, Akanksha remarked finally,
"Now, I think I know why you've shared this scary story with me, Jishnuda. It's all about our uncanny resemblance, isn't it?"
"Watching you stand by me on the PD Day, I learnt again that there can be no greater mystery than Life itself, Akanksha. After nearly a year of mourning, you know I lost mom in the same year - after a very painful year, seeing Megna, I mean, YOU, standing next, I felt alive again! "