Wednesday, August 6, 2008

If only...

RAIN! We all feel so euphoric on hearing this four lettered word. Be it dancing in the rain, playing cricket, biking, eating ‘pakoras’, getting romantic or be it paper boat races. Each one of us has enjoyed rain in one or the other way.

I am also one of you out there. Rain always used to make me go crazy. The feelings that aroused inside when those shiny lil drops fell from heaven onto my face are hard to express in words.

Getting drenched in the rainy season was my favorite pastime.

But sometimes, life takes such abrupt turns that can make you hate the dearest. There comes a cloud in your sky, which showers blood upon you and the stains remain till the apocalypse.

Yes, Now I just simply hate rain!!

It has given me sorrows for a lifetime.

It is rain which makes me remember the day; the day I want to forget; the day when sorrows were sent from heaven above; the day when I lost my dearest childhood friend.

It was mid July and my summer holidays had just begun. I was excited to be back at home from my boarding school. The rainy season was on.

As it was a Saturday, I had asked my dad to come home early so that we all go out for a lunch together. In the morning itself, the sky was covered with clouds and by afternoon, it had begun to drizzle. I wanted to enjoy the downpour with my grandpa. I asked him, “Dadu, come, let’s go for a ride on the new scooter you have bought recently and enjoy the rain.” And my grandpa being a very adventurous person didn’t take more than a second to reply “Yeah! It will be fun. Let’s go out and enjoy ourselves”. As we were about to leave, my mom came running out of the kitchen “No. both of you are not going anywhere, it’s going to rain heavily and it’s not safe to go out at this point of time”. And I replied, “Mom, just one small round…pleeassee”. Even grandpa insisted, “Don’t worry Bahu, we will be back in a short while”. She agreed and gave us a you-won’t-listen-to-me look and went inside.

And we started on our spree, singing and shouting. My grandpa and I used to enjoy a lot together, but this time it was different. Firstly, we had not gone out together in rain for more than a year due to my boarding school and secondly, he had bought a new scooter.

The rain gained momentum and so did we. The speedometer read 50kmph and we were on the highway, “Come on Dadu, Faster, Faster” I shouted. And by now, the speedometer read 70kmph. On a board by the side of the road I read “Speed Thrills, But Kills”. On reading it I got a nauseating feeling inside my stomach. I should have understood the omen then and there only. And then, out of nowhere I saw a truck coming from the opposite direction and my heart skipped a beat. Dadu applied the brakes just in time to save the collision. But due to the heavy rain, the scooter skid off the surface and Dadu fell on the roadside. I had fallen off the scooter and lay unconscious in the middle of the highway.

As I was still unconscious, he got up, only to see a car coming from behind. He shouted and before thinking about it for the second time, moved towards me in order to save me. But destiny had other plans. In his efforts to save me, he got hit by the car and there was blood all around. My grandpa died on the spot. I was still unconscious.

And then, in a hurry, the driver of the car opened the door and came out. On seeing the dead body, his blood froze from within and he couldn’t believe what he had just seen. He bent on his knees, held his hair, shocked, his heart wanted to cry but tears just refused to flow out of his eyes.

He was my father! That very morning, I had asked him to come home early that day so that we all could go out for a lunch together.

The pain of his death still lingers inside me and perhaps it will continue till I die. I wish I could exchange my life for his life.

I still haven’t been able to forgive myself for killing my childhood friend, my grandpa, the soul of my family.

Everything would have been fine, if only I hadn’t asked my dad to come home early that day; if only I hadn’t asked my grandpa to go out with me that day; if only I had listened to mom; if only I hadn’t asked him to drive faster; if only I would have understood the omen…

If only I would have known, If only….

Disclaimer: This is purely a work of fiction and any resemblance to anyone dead or alive is purely coincidental.

2 comments:

oblique-skeptic said...

mridul, dude...not only have u got ur post up here first, u've also done it with great style... the storyline is good...nothing's been stretched to be too boring..things have been cut short...the turns in the story have been made exemplarily...u haven't used any big words, but then again, u did well enough without them...u cud have been more descriptive about the scooter ride, about how the raindrops felt, how the rest of the scenery blurred past you as u sped on the scooter...the speedometer bit is interesting...
over all...GOOD JOB :)

and yes, the disclaimer at the end was a big relief.

The Reader! said...

@ oblique-skeptic
Thanx for the appreciation, I will definitely keep those points in mind for future posts :)