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Arun was waiting for Sheetal to join him in the sea facing hotel room in the first floor. He was working on his laptop. He had to catch up with work. It was only at Sheetal’s insistence he had come . This was the hotel where they were married last year. His parents insisted that Arun should settle down and forget his past. It was ten years since he lost his first love. He moved to another city. He obliged to marry Sheetal for the sake of his parents. After Anchal disappeared from his life, he had decided to remain single. But that was not to be.
His first love Anchal was a victim of honour killing. For having married Arun who did not belong to her caste. Anchal’s parents had killed her for honor of their family. They spared him though. The girl’s community in the village from where they hail would never accept their daughter’s marriage to somebody from a different caste and so would disown them and it will effect their whole lives in future. Their family will be ostracized So they preferred to do away with the daughter who has erred. Only she is punished by bringing her life to an end so the whole issue is closed. That was the only way forward for her kin.Both from different castes. Both were nineteen. The girl belonged to the Yadav clan from U P and the boy was a Punjabi hindu. They had quietly married in the village temple. They were on the run since then like criminals. Arun was about to go in for police complaint against her parents for the harrasment, when they cheated him. They told him that they now agree to their relationship and they can come back home,make peace and take their blessings,
Arun never got over the fact that he was cheated .Anchal paid for it with her life. Her parents were booked for murder and were in jail. The evil is in the society continues to raise its ugly head. Such crimes happen even today.
Arun moved to Mumbai from the North. Took up a new job. It was more than ten years now since the tragic incident in his life. He married Sheetal last year. It was an arranged marriage. Sheetal was related to his mother’s sister in law. She was a mature and understanding girl.She knew Arun well , Sheetal had a crush on him as a teenager but Arun was not aware. The marriage was a week long affair. During the period everybody got busy with the functions and various family formalities.
Arun too got so involved with all of it and he was able to start thinking of a new beginning for him.
It was such a hectic time with family and friends gathered at the hotel for their wedding. They were also made to do things like puppets. Taking care of the interests of two set of parents, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts and their in laws. Indeed it became so taxing at the end of the show. They were both so tired and exhausted after the wedding celebrations .
They are back in the same hotel in Mumbai now after a year for a quite anniversary. It was just the two of them. They had not gone out last year after their wedding. Sheetal had noticed that Arun was quite withdrawn in the beginning of their relationship. She knew about his past . His mother told her. She said “Arun did not have a will to live. It was so difficult for him to come to terms with what happened with his first wife. I want you to be very patient and take care of my son. He is a good person He will keep you happy.”.
It is a quite beach resort in the outskirts of Mumbai. Sheetal booked at the hotel for the week end . It was to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.Sheetal lay on a swing in the garden. It was getting dark. She was swinging herself to and fro, The salty cool air lapping on her face.Strangely there were no mosquitoes here which seems to be everywhere
Sheetal loved the beach near by. She picked up her bag and walked towards the gate. It was dark outside. She could hear the sound of the waves at high tide. It was a full moon night . The hotel guard at the entrance near the back gate towards the beach had denied her permission to venture out into the open on the day they had arrived . “It was high tide and unsafe to go close the shore,”
“Tomorrow morning is going to be a big show of the waves here”. The life guard told her that earlier when she went to watch the sunset in the evening. It was indeed a beautiful sunset. A bright red round ball of fire dropping into the sea and the sky bidding goodbye to the sun in almost all the shades of pink ,grey and orange. The crowd and the waves were celebrating at the beach with a lot of noise and movement during this time. In contrast , an hour and a half later , all fell silent and the atmosphere went dark. The people who came to bask and cheer the sun were all gone for the day What a transformation she thought to herself as she stood and watched near the gate. She could only hear the sound of the waves and feel the mystery of darkness enveloping the sea.
Sheetal turned to walk towards the lobby.. The lone guard was preparing to settle down for the night. For him the time has come to lock the gates. People will go back to the room now rather than up and down the beach. He has to check the details for every person entering the hotel before letting anybody out. It is a secluded area near I N S Hamla, the Indian naval unit is near by along with the naval police. The name is highlighted in their gate by the road side, It is written in Blue. NAVAL POLICE "Everything about this place is very orderly. Outward all seem to be quiet. So also the people living here. It is so opposite the noisy boisterous crowds in the rest of the city in Mumbai". She thought
It was a Sunday morning . Arun was in a talkative mood . He hardly talks during the week days. Sheetal felt happy with him.They came back after a walk by the beach. The tides were big and noisily lashing at the shore. They enjoyed getting wet. After a warm bath and change of clothes, Arun is relaxed, sitting and sipping his coffee watching the crows and ravens drink water from the clear blue pool. Just across he can see the wild inviting sea. The crows flock together at the beach to feed on the left over food from the picnickers .”We Indians love to feed our crows for more reasons than one “, he said. “Every year we feed crows on Shraddha day as a mark of reverence for our ancestors and relatives who are dead . “ Is that why the crows keep a distance with the people in spite of them feeding them.”asked Sheetal, she looked closely at the lot and wondered to herself about all the myth about the poor birds. “Do they really know what we think of them. Why is it that we do not keep crows like parrots in a cage, It will be cawing away all the time!” she said. “The black beauty ! Will you keep one with you?” Arun joked with Sheetal looking at the crow and they both laughed.
Arun had just walked back to his room to keep his phone on charge having forgotten to do it the previous night. Sheetal sat alone quietly taking in the ambience. She ordered some muffins and orange juice. She was not drinking coffee with Arun . She stopped taking beverages and drinks. She was planning for a baby. She was imagining herself playing with their baby in the children’s pool near by. The waiter placed her order on the table and left.
Sheetal took a bite into the muffin and broke some and threw it to a near by crow who seems to be watching her. The crows were the only birds around the pool.
All the while Sheetal was playing with her wedding ring . She had the four letters of Arun’s name embodied on it in blue. The crow came nearer her ,held the muffin piece in its beak , then all of a sudden circled around her head, it flapped its wings thrice, snatched the ring from her palm and swiftly flew away. Sheetal was amazed. She thought her ring had fallen down and started looking for it on the floor near the pool. She suddenly remembered a passage, she read recently from the Bible “All of you repent and be baptized in the name of the redeemer for the forgiveness of your sins and you will get the gift of the Holy spirit” she thought she will tell Arun that his ancestors came to bless her! Just as the christians believe in the holy spirit.
Soon after Sheetal felt a little uneasy. She got up to walk. Suddenly she heard a faint cry. A sound of a female at a distance. She looked back. There seemed to be no one. She felt as though someone called out to her. She started walking away . Again someone called out her name. It was a female voice. May be someone she knew must have come to the resort too. But she didn’t recognize the voice. She suddenly felt as if somebody is beside her, She just stood , Sheetal became nauseated. Her head was reeling round and round. She somehow got in to the nearest chair, closed her eyes tight as if to stop her head from rotating so fast. She held on to the handle of the chair , lest she fall. By now she was shivering inside in spite of the warm sweater she wore .She had never had such a chill in her life. Her name Sheetal meant cold though. Sitting in the Garden chair near the pool where Arun left her, she seemed to have passed out.
A helpless Arun rushed his wife to the hospital . The help of the hotel transport during the evening rush hour was a great support. Arun, not being able to revive her , not fully aware what befell on her during the half hour he was not there, he felt devastated and guilty of putting the life of another girl on tender hooks.
Sheetal lay unconscious for a long time but when she recovered she refused to speak to anybody, she stared with a blank expression
Arun waited to talk to the doctor who finally gave a brief to Arun .” Your wife seems to be in a trauma.” “Perhaps she will talk to you . She doesn’t remember anything and refuses to speak to anybody. But she is in the family way . She is four months pregnant.” Arun was shocked to hear this. “But how can it be?” said Arun, she has a recent report of her sonography for last month, she was not pregnant then.” He said. “May be it is wrong Arun, but here she is four months gone “.said the doctor.
Arun was anxious to get near his wife’s bed but they had taken her for a head scan to rule out any injury in the head. It was more than ten hours when Sheetal was finally wheeled back to her room .
Arun was waiting anxiously to see her. What he saw gave him a shock. This was not his wife Sheetal but his past love Anchal . “Where is Sheetal ? he asked her and who are you ?. The lady opened her eyes to look at him. For a long time she stared at him . Then she said, “Don’t you see me darling , I am your wife Anchal . “ but where is Sheetal?”. He asked. She said, “Sheetal is in me and I in you !“, then she smiled and laughed. This is our baby growing in my stomach”.
Arun knew what the mystery could be . He was in a soup. This he was sure. There was obviously everything strange about the whole thing. Who is true here and who is not. One does read in books about such stories but this was happening to him in his life, “No, this is is not possible.”he screamed.. To Arun she appeared as Anchal his first wife who was killed by her own parents in the name of honour,
The thought of his past bad experience came back to him. No, no, not again ,! he spoke to himself. “Why am I punished like this ,he cried out loud”. “Anchal, Anchal, please forgive me. You. knew I was helpless and innocent.He muttered . “I couldn’t save you from the evil intentions of your own parents”. How could I have known what is in their mind? When they asked us for a reconciliation.” The guilt lay heavily in his mind and he believed he was being punished by her for forgetting her.
Yes, Arun remembered , Anchal was four months pregnant when she died."Could this be really her spirit"? He became anxious and so confused . To all others this lady , his wife was Sheetal. To Arun, she appeared as Anchal. Yes he still loved Anchal more than anybody in the world. He cannot forget her and the way her life was destroyed in front of him and how he felt helpless.
How can one live with the spirit of a lover in the body of a pregnant wife. And what will become of Sheetal ? These were the questions in his mind.Arun felt like running away , just get away from all this madness. Just run, he thought,he went back to the hotel, checked out and planned to leave, but soon realized that it will be become worse. He cannot just desert a pregnant wife !
Arun goes back to the hospital and goes near her bed and breaks down when he is alone with her. Anchal consoles him, “Don’t cry , I need to give birth to our baby , that is why I am here,” she says emphatically, when Arun asked her why could she not think of coming earlier to him. Why did she wait till he is married again. Anchal replied lovingly. “ We are just souls, our baby and me needed to come into somebody and so I came now to be by your side, to give our baby, the mark of our love, should come to you through her.
As sheetal remained sick and unwell, she just stared with a blank look, the doctors suggested that since she was in a precarious condition, she is not able to take care of herself, she should remain in the hospital until she delivered.
Arun could not share any of this with anybody . It did not make any sense.So Arun kept the secret all by himself. He came every day to the hospital to visit his wife who remained still through out . The only conversation he had was with Anchal when Arun is alone with her. She used to come and speak to him, so continued the love affair with his old sweet heart. Arun now looked forward to this every night. He watched his unborn baby grow in Sheetal’s body. Anchal ‘s spirit lived in sheeetal. She wished to remain until the baby is born. So that she can once see her baby.” She said. Arun believed all what Anchal said
He was happy for the moment . But worried of the future . It was time for the baby to arrive. Sheetal was not showing much response. The doctors kept their hands crossed. Let the baby come first, they told him and then we will see what mode of treatment we could follow. We could provide her with other alternate treatments to revive her from her present state. During her stay in the hospital for five months, Anchal had a far away look , whenever Arun tried to strike a coversation, she would look away, behaved oddly,but he noticed she looked forward to his visit every day. This he understood. One day Arun was getting ready to go to the hospital, just then he felt something amiss . he felt Anchal’s presence first time in his room…
"Anchal, How is Sheetal? ,How did you leave her alone and come here"?. He asked her. He thought Sheetal's life depended on her. She looked at him sadly as if bidding goodbye ."They are both fine, you go and see our child. She is born and waiting for you And as for us we will meet again. I am in no hurry”, she said. You can only be mine in our next life and for seven lives to come this I know. In this life I have to pay for the sins of my parents . That is karma". she said this and disappeared.
Arun was disturbed once again. He was confused . Anchal ‘s soul had never appeared to him in his home. And what of Sheetal and the child . He hurried to reach the hospital and there he was surprised to see Sheetal back to normal. Smiling at him with a bony baby girl lying by her side. Arun was once again shocked . All he could do was hug them both for a while. Sheetal spoke after a long period. “Why are you crying ? Aren’t you happy.” asked Sheetal for the first time since she came to the hospital. “These are tears of joy”, he said , not willing to disclose or know anything further and make their life more complicated. He looked at his child closely. She was a true copy of Anchal. His wife looked at him “We will name her Anchal “ she said. He didn’t reply or even look at her. He was all the more confused. “ Who is true , who is not! Only time will tell”, he thought.
Life went on peacefully for them.The next wedding anniversary,they went to the same resort hotel. This time with baby Anchal. They sat once again near the pool with the baby in the clear weather out in the sunshine to take in some morning sun. Suddenly a crow came and dropped her wedding ring in Sheetal’s lap. Sheetal called out to Arun in excitement. “ Look, the crow has given back my wedding ring”. “See I told you , that crow knows us”. Arun quietly looked at the crow to look for any more signs of Anchal . He quietly got up, held his wife by her hand ,took the baby in his arms and told his wife ”It is getting warm here.” “Let us get back to the room”. He walked ahead with her and looked back. The crow had flown away.
