One Last Time - Part IV

One Last Time - Part I

One Last Time - Part II

One Last Time - Part III

Chapter 6 : The End

There is something about non-material things like hope and love; you are willing to go to any extent to fulfil these hopes or to attain love.

Dhruv, an immature teenager, set off in search of his sister without thinking twice. It was the hope of finding a sister he never had. It was the love towards his parents; the thought of reuniting them with their lost daughter, which made him take such a big step.

Mr. Khanna, an otherwise level-headed and wise person, kept his wife in the dark just because he hoped that his son was right about Trisha. It was the love for his wife that gave him the strength to keep such a big secret from her. But where love is your strength, it is also your weakness. He could not leave his wife at the dharamshala without telling her the truth. He was glad that atleast her sister was there to take care of her.

Mrs. Khanna, the epitome of an ideal wife, didn’t argue once when her husband told her that their son had eloped with a girl and that they had to keep it a secret so that they can leave peacefully in the neighbourhood. It seemed impossible that her son would take such a big step, but she trusted her husband. It was both the love for her husband and the hope that her son would return that kept her going…

-------------------------

Dhruv was sitting on the edge of the bed with his face in his hands. He had to check out of the lodge in about an hour. He had run out of most of his money and could not afford to stay over there longer. He had to return home, but wasn’t sure how he would face his parents. The events of the last three weeks had shaken him up. He remembered his Baba telling him one day, “You may be the most intelligent person in this world…but remember this; maturity comes with age, so think twice before you take any big decision yourself, or better still, seek advice of your elders”

The girl, for whom he left his home, wasn’t his sister after all. Sure, she resembled Trisha-but it wasn’t her. Dhruv met this lady, who he thought was his sister, the very next day on reaching Manali. She used to teach at a local school. Dhruv approached her after her school hours, but she refused to even talk to him. It took a lot of convincing to finally have the woman speak to him. Dhruv told her the entire story; right from the accident to how he found out about her sister and how he came to Manali hoping to find her sister. He even showed her the pictures of young Trisha. The woman could not help but admire the similarity between her and the girl in the picture- they had the exact same eyes and a similar face structure.

“Look Dhruv; first of all, my name is Ada not Trisha. I have lived in Manali all my life. I know the girl in the picture does look like me, but you’ll have to believe me. I am not your sister. I know this must be heart-breaking for you, but that won’t change the truth. I don’t know how you got my pictures and who misguided you and I won’t even ask you.”

“But how do I believe you; I mean maybe you are lying. Maybe you are upset that Maa-Baba didn’t come looking for you and that’s why you don’t want to come back!”

“Your parents don’t know about this, do they?”

“I left them a note…and they are our parents”

Ada didn’t know how to deal with Dhruv.  To convince him that she wasn’t her sister, she took him to his place, showed him her pictures as a kid with her parents and her school photographs. Dhruv was distraught. He didn’t know what to do. Ada felt really sorry for him.

“Go back home Dhruv, your parents must be really worried for you. They have already lost a daughter, don’t do this to them.”

“Hmmm…sorry for bothering you and thanks for being so kind.”

“Not a problem…put all of this behind you and have a good life ahead”

But Dhruv didn’t leave Manali. He stayed back, hoping for some miracle.

-------------------------

Mr. Khanna was just about an hour away from Manali. He hated himself for keeping his wife in the dark all these days; but he was really helpless. He himself wasn’t sure whether it was the right step to take, but he went ahead with it anyways. He had burnt the photograph from the sides as the background was a clear give away of the location and he didn’t want his wife to come looking for him; she would be safe at the Dharamshala. At the back of his mind, Mr. Khanna knew that Dhruv was mistaken. The woman in the photograph couldn’t be his daughter. But there was just this ray of hope.

About an hour later, Mr. Khanna reached Manali. He knew Dhruv would be staying at a cheap lodge due to constraint of money. So he started enquiring about him at some of the lodges. He found Dhruv’s lodge on his third attempt.

Just as he was about to knock on the door of Dhruv’s room, his door flew open.

Dhruv looked at his father which indicated both surprise and acknowledgement.

“Found her?”

“It’s not her…Baba, I am sorr…”

“Say no more…come, Maa is waiting for you”

------------------------

Mrs. Khanna woke one hour later only to find her sister staring at her from the chair opposite to her bed.

“Trisha isn’t alive cheeku…”

“What! ...didi you just saw her photograph!”

“I’m not denying that the woman in the photograph resembles your Trisha, but I’m sure its not her…”

“But how can you be so sure?”

“Because I saw her dead body!”

It was Mrs. Khanna’s turn to stare now.

“A fortnight after the accident and when you’ll had shifted to Delhi, I and your jiju went to Manali just to check if some more bodies were recovered. And sure enough, six more bodies were recovered by the search teams. Trisha was one of them. But trust me; it was a sight you wouldn’t have wanted to see. We could recognize her only because she had a picture of young Dhruv in her pocket. She had lost an arm and her face was severely disfigured. So we decided not to tell you’ll and cremated her there itself. I’m sorry cheeku, but we did what we thought was best.”

“Hmmm…I don’t know how to react didi…it’s been such an emotional roller coaster, these last three weeks, I’m not sure if I can handle it anymore. I just want your jiju to find Dhruv and bring him back and then we all can go home.”

“He will cheeku, he will…have faith”

----------------------

Mr. Khanna and Dhruv reached the Dharamshala two hours later. There was a shake of the head by Mr. Khanna and a nod of acknowledgement by Mrs. Khanna. There was no need of words. Mrs. Khanna hugged her son, cried, scolded him for being responsible, consoled his son and did a host of other contradicting things that only a mother can do. As they say “All’s well that ends well.”

--------------------------

That’s the thing about hope. It hurts when your hopes are crushed. You feel that everything in life is so unfair and you hope never to hope again. But then that’s the thing about love – it helps you recover from your emotional lows and gives you a new reason to hope again, to live again. Because without love and hope, there can be no life; not a happy one atleast.

To hope, to love and to life – not for the last time…