Friday, June 13, 2014

The whispered tales 1

An old friend's address...
(This incidence took place in a small town of Uttar Pradesh in early 70's)



In the crowded street of the old market place, lived Snehlata Sharma,
with her father Prof. Sharma and elder brother Arun.

Everyone in the colony called her Sneha, and adored this college going girl who lost her mother even before she learned to speak, she and her brother Arun were brought up by their father with lots of love and care. They were never made to miss their mother. The neighbours also
loved the children very much; they helped Prof. Sharma to take care of the kids just like a family. The children spent their time with their neighbours while Prof. Sharma went to the university.

Especially Mr. Shrivastava's family was very close to Prof. Sharma and his children, his younger daughter Richa was a close friend of Sneha.

Mr. Shrivastava got transferred and left the city with family. She has felt very bad because she had been very close to them... but... time passed by...

Prof. Sharma was now a retired old man, and Arun joined a Pvt. company
at a handsome salary, Sneha was doing graduation from the degree
college. Sharma family was very happy because Arun was soon going to
get married...Sneha was very happy and excited too, Prof. Sharma also
gave her all the liberty to shop for herself and home, furnishings, clothes and everything she was free to shop for her brother's marriage, she was missing the Shrivastava family at this time.

Sneha did everything with great enthusiasm, she even went to invite
everyone personally, she shouldered all the responsibilities, and the marriage went well. Sharma family was now happy and complete.

Soon they shifted from there to another house, Anju, Sneha's sister-in-law took up all the responsibilities very soon... time flew... and Sneha got a job at the University, Prof Sharma's health gradually declined...

One day a girl came to that colony and asked for Mr. Sharma's address
at the corner shop, but the shopkeeper was too busy to answer, the
girl now went to a nearby vegetables cart and asked for the address,
the vegetable vendor did not appear to even have heard what she said,
at this she was a bit annoyed. She moved on the straight road,
suddenly she heard a soft feminine voice- "Can I help you with Mr.
Sharma's address?"



"Yes, Sure Madam", said the girl with a tone of gratitude, "that's so
kind of you!" there was a sigh of relief on her face now, as she stood
on a cross road and did not know where to go... and... the lady told her
the way and left.



The girl reached Mr. Sharma's house and even before she could knock on
the door, it opened!



She was surprised to see the woman who opened the door; it was the
same lady who helped her with the address. "How could the woman reach
there before her?" she thought to herself...



The girl recollected herself and introduced herself as Sneha's
childhood friend, Richa.

The woman welcomed her and said, "I had to take up the short cut, to reach here before you." She was a gentle and soft spoken person, she told Richa to be comfortable and that Sneha shall be back in an hour.

Richa enquired about Prof. Sharma and Arun. She could understand that
this lady was Sneha's sister-in-law, Richa could not come for the
wedding as her father got posted elsewhere and shifted before the
wedding.

The lady told her about Mr. Sharma's ill health and that he was
sleeping in the adjacent room... and then, she asked Richa to wait and
went to the Kitchen.

Meanwhile Richa moved around to see the house, she looked inside the
room and saw Mr. Sharma was in a deep sleep, snoring in a high pitch,
she was to step inside and look around the room but she did not, she
did not want to wake Mr. Sharma up, she went back to sit on the sofa.
And took the magazine which lay there on the side table... she started
turning the pages, she did not read, just went through the pictures, a
small photo dropped from between the pages, it faced the floor, as
soon she bent down to pick it up, the lady came out with a cup of tea
and snacks, and asked Richa to have it, "the colour of the tea is very
good!" said Richa, she could not think of anything else to say or had
much to talk to the lady who stood there in front as she met her for
the first time, she put the book back on the table and was just about
to have the cup of tea. The lady bent down and picked the photo from
the floor, kept it back inside the book and sat on the chair placed
opposite to the place where Richa sat.



Suddenly, the lady got up and went inside the Kitchen, it was a very
fast movement, even before Richa could take the cup, Richa looked up
at the main door and saw Sneha standing there, looking at her,
Surprised!



"Surprised, to see me here?" asked Richa...



"Yes," said Sneha, "How did you reach here?" she asked, "How did you
get in? Papa is still sleeping!"

Richa said, "Your sister-in-law opened the door for me Sneha, she is
such a nice lady, actually she only guided me to your place as well..."

"What?" said Sneha, and took Richa inside the adjacent room, where Mr.
Sharma was sleeping, and pointed to a photo frame on the wall, "you
mean this lady?" she asked.

"Yes," said Richa, "she is your Bhabhi, right?" suddenly she saw the
garland of yellow and orange flowers on the frame, her face was white
with fear, there was another person in the picture with her, it was
Arun...

"Arun and his wife passed away in a road accident two years back,"
sai Sneha and burst into tears...

Richa could not speak anything further, her expressions changed... she
remembered the tea and snacks were still on the table, untouched...she
went near the sofa... the cup and plate were there... but now they were
empty and clean...

3 comments:

  1. Very interesting story. You selected a very nice plot to tell a story. The way you ushered your readers to this full of suspense story is, very interesting. The end of this story is outstanding reminds me of the end of story 'Love Dale,' from the movie Dus Kahaniyaan. But yours is a different story and far more better. Nice work.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good story and fascinating style of telling a story

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good story and fascinating style of telling a story

    ReplyDelete