The Final Flight...

After a long and sultry summer, slowly the dusky clouds were peeking. This has been going on for a long time and now it seems it would be all a false hope… an unfulfilled desire… like a politician making false promises before elections… a boss showing u the carrot… well aren’t we all used to it… It has become so internalised that we kind of expect it… Well, the skies finally were turning a thick sickly grey…but it was not a sign of sickness… this grey surprisingly signified a further hope of greenery and luscious aroma of prosperity. A shower slowly started wetting the parched soil like the women put chhaunk while cooking the vegetables and the intoxicating aroma of the dry soil wet by these showers slowly started overpowering all my senses. And… the phone rang… I knew it was him… but didn’t know the reason why he is calling. Slowly I saw ma’s expressions change. She handed me the phone. Kaku was sick, hospitalised, a second stroke…chances of survival minimal and if he does survive, it will be like a vegetable. How do you react to this, what do u say, what do you feel… I took 2 days to react to this and only when I boarded the train did I let myself go and cry. The hospital was like a mall, with eateries and all the other facilities, but was it really comforting, or of any use to those who were grieving. Swosti was there, and kakima and Abhiram too. The turmoil was visible. I could see that kakima had given up. But Swosti was clinging on…desperately. I took on the job of an entertainer at times… a clown if you please and that of a referee at other times….emotions everywhere and the frustration of being so very helpless kind of found its expression only in the form of anger. Come Friday and Kaku moved on, but this one week had kind of prepared us for it all… but can u be prepared for something like this ever? In the ambulance, with Swosti, Kakima and Kaku all tied up, almost mummified, all I could think of was, is he going to wake up? Is he going to get up and start wondering what the fuss all about was? I donno… but I was expecting it. At least for the first half of the journey and from Gurgaon till almost half way I saw a crow flying alongside and just when I kind of was willing Kaku to start talking, I saw the crow take a flight upwards all of a sudden, and I don’t know why but it was at that moment that it first occurred to me….he’s not there…he’s gone.