Murder At Lake Mohank - 9. Chapter 9. The Road Less Travelled

I relished the mundane pleasures of being a college going teenager - Getting up every morning to the alarm, making my way to the bus depot, jostling for the best seat in the bus, attending lectures at the college, leaving at the designated time, going back home by the same bus, squeezing breakfast lunch and dinner somewhere in between all of those activities, and going off to sleep. And repeating the same routine the next day.

As for Balbhadra, I hadnt heard from him at all, and I hadnt seen him at college either. Did I miss him? I wasnt sure. It was impossible to forget his charm, the way he used to indulge me whenever he chose to. But I was also painfully aware that it was all a part of the past. A time that had passed. So, in that sense I didnt really miss him. It was like an artist finishing a beautiful painting - whilst he might have enjoyed enormously the process, making little alterations and corrections here and there in an effort to make it appear as beautiful as possible, once the work had been done, and the painting had been put on display, there was little he could do; he just had to accept whatever reactions he got from his audience. The reaction had been dreadful in my case, I had accepted it, and I was trying genuinely to move on.

It was almost two weeks now, since that day when I had visited the library. I was trying to stay true to myself, what I had decided and what I had told Balbhadra - I will not pretend to be happy or sad, I will just try to lead a normal and unbiased life. Frown, when I would miss securing my favorite seat in the bus, smile whenever it rained, avoid talking to people I didnt like. In short, I was trying to shape my life back to what it had been before, trying to live the little joys and sorrows of life, in my own way.

I read about it first at one of the many whatsapp-groups that I was a part of. The Mahant or the chief priest of Kankaai Temple in the Gir Jungles had been assaulted by some unknown person the previous night, wounding him gravely. It was believed to have been a case of armed robbery at first, but it had later been revealed that nothing had been taken from the temple. The police had launched an official search operation to nab the unidentified assailant - meaning nothing was ever going to be achieved.

I was sitting in the bus, returning home from college.

"Did you hear about it?" It was Alyssa, over the phone.

"Yes" I replied in an unsure tone, wondering why she had bothered to call me about such an unimportant bit of news.

"Did you visit him? How is he doing?" she asked in her I-am-not-trying-to-pry tone.

"What do you mean?! Why would I go visit him?" I knew Alyssa could be a little irrational at times, but this was just absurd.

"Sorry, I was just curious. I have my hands full, literally right now, with this wedding, and - " I heard someone calling her name in the background, and she spoke briefly to that voice, while I waited.

"Listen, I will call you later. - " she tried to continue with me.

"- But -"

"- Dont forget, you have to be present at the Dandiya Raas. I dont want to hear any of your excuses. Will talk to you later. Got to go, Bye" she spoke in a single breath and then disconnected the call. You had to be a girl to pull that off.

A thought flashed by in my mind, and I called her back immediately.

"Hello, Alyssa?"

"No. Nirali here." She was one of her friends from college "Alyssa is busy getting Mehndi applied to her hands."

"Oh !" I tried to think of a way to keep the conversation going, without making it apparent that I wished it so. I could hear a lot of noise in the background. I tried to picture the setting in my mind.

"I will tell her you called." she said.

"Nirali, I wanted to ask you something." I tried to speak in a deliberate, neutral manner.

"Oh ! Yes. Poor Balbhadra - "

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Balbhadra's aunt didnt turn out to be one of those old motherly ladies I had expected her to be. She was pretty young, in her twenties may be.

I was standing in the compound of their house. I had gotten off the bus a couple of stops earlier - earlier than my routine stop, and had briskly walked the rest of the way.

"You have come to see Ballu?" she asked, in a manner which indicated that she was very pleased about the prospect.

"Yes" I replied as I moved towards the main door, where she was standing.

"Come on in." She led me into the neatly designed living room. I looked around but saw no signs of Balbhadra. I sat down on one of the three sofas that had been arranged along the walls.

"Ballu, look who has come to see you." she said aloud, looking towards one of the interior rooms. She was standing, I tried to talk to her while we waited.

"What happened - I mean how did he - how is he -" I failed to construct a proper question.

"Just his destiny. He was standing at the edge of the road, in the rain, out there by the library when he got hit by a speeding car." she said. "They say the car tried to brake, but skidded on the wet road, and he didnt seem to notice it sliding towards him. - "

I suddenly went numb. My vision started to melt, it felt as if I had received a jolt, and I lay paralyzed on the sofa. She kept on speaking, I didnt hear a single word. The only thing that finally brought me back to my senses was the urge to know about his condition.

"- his injuries were not as serious as it had first seemed. He got discharged from the hospital. But he has been acting so strange ever since. He refuses to talk to anyone, doesnt even attend his cellphone. Refuses to go to the college...."

"Dont worry, everything will be alright gradually." I tried to make her feel better. "Let me go talk to him."

We walked down the corridor, towards a room at the far end with its door open.

"Look Ballu, your friend is here" she said as we entered the room.

I saw him resting, in a nonchalant posture, with his back against the headboard, his arms folded and his legs extended casually forward, on the bed. There was a bandage across his left temple, other than that there werent any signs of any injuries.

He was staring across to the other side of the room. The expression on his face was totally blank, he showed no signs of having heard what his aunt had just said, or even having noticed us enter the room. I looked across to his aunts face, and deduced from her expression that she must have seen him behave like this before.

I went and sat by him near the edge of the bed.

"Would you like to have some tea?" she asked, and before I could speak, she had gone out of the room.

"Balyaa, hows you?" I had to shake his shoulder to make him turn his face and look at me. It was the most excruciating sight ever. The way he looked at me, totally coldly, without an iota of emotion. It was painful to see him in this way.

"Are you alright?" I asked him again.

"Crazy guy, what to do about you?" I said, as I heard his aunt coming, and settled back down.

"Why have you not been coming to college? If you dont come tomorrow, I will come and drag you with me." I said. She smiled.

"Dont worry, he is alright, just needs some fine tuning." I said, I hoped that was true.

"Ok then, I should get going." I said, getting up and taking leave. "See you at college tomorrow?"

We were both looking at him, hoping for a response. Seconds ticked by. Finally he nodded his head very slightly in affirmation. I looked at his aunt, she didnt look too convinced.

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I left their house with a mix of emotions. I was obviously happy and relieved. Happy I was, to see him again. There was no reason for me to be so, in my books atleast. I realized it wasnt so simple to keep a tab on my heart. It followed its own set of rules, irrespective of what I wanted it to do. I couldnt just wake up one day and decide I will not care for someone. My heart wouldnt comply.

The other thing was - I was surprised by the way I had reacted. The way I had reassured his aunt, the way I had kissed him without a second thought. Perhaps, it was normal behaviour, but it was all new to me, and I couldnt see where it had come from. In any case, it was 'different' from how I would have expected myself to react generally - normally - usually - PREVIOUSLY.

So it was, that I was walking down the road, to my house on a sunny evening, with a new zing to my step, a new zeal to my gait, and a new zest to my spirit. I was about to pass the fort UparKot, when I saw that same old man on the road. The one I had talked to at the library. I suddenly remembered his words "Kankaai, Kankaai - worth a try" "Mahant, Mahant - on the hunt". When he saw me, he ran - it was more like a laboured jog - and hid behind one of the statues near the fort entrance. I shrugged and moved on.

I reached home, and as I was about to enter the main door to the house, something caught my eye. A thought briefly crossed my mind, before I told myself not to be silly, and moved inside the house.

I sent him the message. Then suddenly, I remembered his aunt saying something about him not attending his cell phone. I called his number.

"Hello" It was him !
"Hi. I just sent you a message. Please read it, ok?"
"Ok" he said.
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It took only a day, Balbhadra was back to being what he had been before. or atleast, he was on his way towards that, I was quite optimistic. I felt it was my obligation to see to it that whatever rift that had arisen between us previously didnt have any detrimental and lasting effects on his life.

Well, thats how it was. May be I was being too benignant, too nice. And I had always hated to be too nice. But then if I had to choose between the two, I would rather be too nice and foolish, than be too smart and indifferent.

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It was another one of those dawns, serene and auspicious. And it was another one of those decisions - impromptu and impulsive. The idea had already crossed my mind briefly the other day when I had returned home. But there had been other thoughts twirling around my mind at the time.