As for Niranjan, he had come to the US a long time ago. For him, a graduate from one of the premium IITs, the US seemed like a natural destination. When he came here, he had promised his parents he would make enough money to make life comfortable for them and then return to India. His father was a Senior officer in the Indian Railways, and had difficulty making ends meet. After his retirement, he did not have enough money to buy his own house. Of course he left no stone unturned to give the best education to his two sons. Niranjan’s younger brother Nikhil was working in a private company in India, and his parents lived with him. Niranjan always felt that with all his success in the US, he still was missing his mom’s food and dad’s guidance. His children also missed the love of their grand parents. Niranjan was a strong believer in the family bond. It was almost two decades, and Niranjan could not carry out his dream of returning to his motherland, till one day he met Kiran, an old friend and CEO of a company in India who was on a business trip to the US. After catching up with the past years, Kiran asked Niranjan a very pertinent question. How do you see yourself five years hence? What is your mission in life? Niranjan was almost awed by Kiran’s presence. He could sense that Kiran was truly living life in the present moment, full of fun. Niranjan realized that he was always living in the future and not able to take the reigns of his life in his hands. He wanted to learn classical music, he wanted to write a novel, and he wanted to open an institute for deserving but economically backward children. But he never got down to working towards his passions. It was always deferred for some distant tomorrow. After much thought Niranjan decided to take his family to India for a vacation that year and then pose the question to them if they would like to return to India.

 

They had just landed in Simla. With the thermometer reading eight degrees above zero, Niranjan and his family felt very much at home. The resort where they were put up had a very scenic view. At 7 p.m., it was already dark. Niranjan’s wife Revati had a bad headache and was tired after the journey. She asked Niranjan to get some medicine for her. The front desk told him that the medical store was a short walk away. Niranjan decided to stretch his legs. The dark night and a slight drizzle made the road slippery. Niranjan was crossing the road when he noticed a very abnormal sight. In the night under a natural waterfall a lady was taking a shower. She was almost dancing in the water. The lady was extremely beautiful like a village girl. She looked at him and smiled. Niranjan rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was in a dream. As if by some gravitational force he got pulled towards her. She stepped out and started walking. He followed her in the dark. She kept walking with a swing in her step, looking back at intervals as if she was inviting him over. Not knowing whether it was curiosity or something else, he just kept following her. The drizzle had turned into rain and the visibility was diminishing. Niranjan’s pace was increasing, as if he was trying his best to keep up with her. Then, suddenly, he lost track of her. She seemed to have vanished in to thin air! Niranjan’s heart was pounding. He traced his steps back to the medical store. He asked the pharmacist about the waterfall and the strange sight he had just seen. The pharmacist just smiled.

 

That night, Niranjan could not sleep. He was very sure that some strange thing had happened. He could not tell Revati because he could not explain to her why he went after the mystery lady. Two days into their holiday at Simla, and Niranjan had tried his best to forget the scene that night but some how could not. After a long shopping spree, they were at a coffee shop when Revathi spotted a bookshop. Her passion for books could not let her go without visiting that shop. Niranjan was also aimlessly browsing through the books when he spotted the mystery lady at the shop counter, and he missed a heartbeat. She was the same lady he saw that night except that she was in a western outfit. But she did not give him a second look. Niranjan thought he was hallucinating. A moment later he saw Revati in deep conversation with the lady, as if she was her long lost friend. Niranjan’s mind was spinning. He just slumped into the sofa kept in the shop. Revati’s hand on his shoulder brought him back to this world. She introduced the lady at the counter as Nirmala who was from Almora, the same place as Revati, a few years her senior at school. Nirmala had invited all of them over for dinner.

 

Nirmala’s wooden cottage was a piece of antique art. Most of the items dated many years ago. Nirmala was showing them around the place with great interest. Huge photographs with wooden frames of her ancestors were proudly displayed. Somehow, Niranjan had a strange feeling that he had seen many of the things earlier. Déjà vu, he thought. Nirmala did not show any special interest in Niranjan, he wondered what she was doing that night. She seemed to be a completely different person. In the house there were only two people. Nirmala and her old father Brig. Ranjit who served in the Indian army during the British times. Dinner was delicious, after which they all gathered at the fireplace when Niranjan spotted a picture which looked like Nirmala. She sensed the look and said, “That’s my mom. Her life was a tragedy. She fell in love with a young doctor from Delhi who was on a holiday in our small town. Both had promised each other life long love, but my mother was forced into a marriage against her wishes. My father was a gentleman, but my mother could never be a good wife. She always believed that her lover would come to take her.” Tears were flowing from Nirmala’s eyes. “As luck would have it, her lover did come one day and asked for her hand in marriage. When he came to know she was already a wife and a mother, he could not bear it and left the place. Mom could never recover from that incident and fell ill and died a few months later.” Revathi tried to console her in vain. Nirmala went on to say that the locals believe that her mother is seen on Amavasya or Poornima sometimes walking towards their old house. Niranjan asked her where the old house was located, and the description matched the location of his nocturnal walk on his first day on this trip.

 

Now the puzzle was solved to some extent, but was he the doctor or lover? He could not say. Suddenly the dog came barking inside the house. Niranjan blankly walked towards the window gazing into the night and blinked his eyes again; under the tree in the distance he could clearly see Sharmila. He turned around and asked Nirmala, “Sharmila, was that your mother’s name?”

 

“Wake up darling”, Revati was patting him gently. We have a flight to catch to India. He wasn’t sure he was ready for that, but he surely was ready to realize one of his life’s dreams to write his first novel. The plot was all ready.