Day 7. How Blue is My Sapphire Part 3.

Sorry friends for posting this so late in the day. It was quite hectic day for me and could take out time now to move ahead with the story. Well I thought I would end it today but it seems the ‘Kahani’ doesn’t want to. So we will keep the ending for some other day. Till then hope you will like this Third part of the story. You can catch up with the earlier parts here in Part I and Part II. Happy reading.

But she was surprised that despite his distressing childhood memories in this house, he chose to stay here for the rest of his life. There were rooms around the courtyard of the single-storied building which appeared dark even at this hour of day. Hari settled, her luggage in one of the rooms which looked as others but it had a cooler to beat the summer heat. Its ringing sound disturbed the silence of the house. Choti was crossing rooms to reach her designated abode for the day but stopped before one of the rooms just before her own. She was intrigued to find an easel not far from the door, standing right there facing her and making an authoritative presence even in that dark room. Choti could not stop at the door, her feet guided her and she moved in like a demoniac soul. Hari observed her moving inside the room and followed to put on the light. As soon as the room came to life, Choti was amazed to find an array of masterpieces lying casually against the wall, some on easels occupying the room in a haphazard manner and some stacked behind one another. Mostly the paintings were featuring childhood in different forms but there were some abstract as well. They all were exquisite. She never knew that her Bondhu painted therefore the visuals in front took her to surprise. ‘Has saab painted these?’ She asked Hari, who was still there in the room. ‘Yes memsaab. This is what he is occupied with the entire day when he is not playing with Sunny. And now even Sunny won’t be there.’ Hari wiped his moist eyes. ‘Sunny!’ Choti was perplexed. ‘Our dog.’ ‘Oh. Okay.’ She spoke with her brows relaxing to bring back the calmness on her face. ‘So why Sunny won’t be there?’ ‘Sunny had not been keeping well for a very long time now so he was decided to be put to rest today. Saab has gone for that only. He should be back now.’ And Hari turned to leave her alone. Soon there was again that deafening silence in the room and the world around in the house. ‘Not bad Mr. Jai.’ Choti smiled and moved out of the room.

It must have been around an hour, sitting on that parched piece of land and it was getting difficult to be there any further. I have been sweating badly and felt a bit dizzy by now. There was a continuous rumbling inside, affected by the diametrically opposite emotions attacking me not taking their turns. The deep sadness brought in by the demise of Sunny was now being slowly taken over by a strange impulsiveness. It was not that I was not happy with Choti knocking back in life again but there were so many questions webbed in my mind. And what a day has been chosen to throw something like this on me. I was shaken and torn apart when she left me. I didn’t want to possess her but I wanted her around even when I knew she can’t be with me by just being there for times forever. She reassured my existence and made me feel the life that was around me in her own boisterous way. Even when we didn’t understand each other well, there was an inexplicable connect, which would make us be together for hours and not say a word. Sometimes uniting over such pristine moments of silence is what you need to call someone your soul mate. But then I never thought like this. I never thought that she is my soul mate. May be she was not. She was a soul which could not be possessed. But her presence around had become a pill of life for me. She would always laugh and make others like me at least smile. Her laughter would make others think that why is she always so happy. It astonished the gloomy people around. She was outrageous and free from all inhibitions. She would do things without even thinking twice. The so called social norms failed to cage this free bird. There was nothing common in us but she always said that she feels herself with me. The openness with which she embraced life made her look approachable and often misunderstood. I felt like a protector at times. I was ready to fight anything and everything which came in between her infectious smile and that incessant laughter. She was happy with Nick and I was happy for her. Her happiness was my only wish.