Kiss Life

Malini sat down near the pool, neatly gathering her dress, and tucking it under her knees. The clear water of the swimming pool, rippled toward her in the breeze which also brought to her, sounds of her children playing water games with their friends nearby. Each had a rubber tube around their wastes, a mandatory precaution for new swimmers. The kids enjoyed pressing the tube into the waters, with all their strength and thrilled when the tube bounced up.

In this merciless heat, the poolside was the liveliest.

Malini had just begun to relax under the succour when the alarm in her mobile phone triggered off. She cooped up her escaping spirits back inside herself and walked off to her flat. The landline was screaming inside. Fumbling with the keys to fit into the keyhole, she opened the door and flinging aside the purse rushed to take the call.

“Hello, Malini! You were not at home?? Your mobile is also out of reach” her mother spoke in one breath.

“Yes, mummy! I had gone downstairs.” Malini’s voice fell as she sensed a creepy nervousness in her mother’s tone.

“So, yes ma?” She prodded her mother, encouraging her to dismantle her courtesies, and come to the concerns directly.

“Beta! Beta! there is a cloudburst in the hills, and papa’s there.”

“What? When did he go? Is he alone?”

“Yes. ...and we are unable to establish any contact.

Naresh, I and Dinesh uncle are leaving for Dalhousie in the next hour.”

“Ma! Can you please pick me up, while passing this way? I want to be with you.”

“But the kids?”

“They’ll be fine with their father. I’ll inform Manish and ask him to be home early.”

In the car, the worry was written heavily on everyone’s faces. Each of them sat looking out of the window. Her husband’s smiling face and the sparkle in his eyes did not stop teasing Mrs Maheshwari …. She kept on praying to the almighty, to protect her husband who had just begun to enjoy a meaningful life. Malini too was thinking along the same lines; after his retirement, his father’s life took off. His days were now a package of laughter, parcels of funny anecdotes and wit, which he unpacked amongst his buddies. A bunch of neighbours, relatives and peers who knew him from his diaper times.

‘Santaa’ he was lovingly called out! As the children of their houses ran to greet him whenever he visited.

“So why did Sir, go up there all alone, in this?” Naresh, their driver asked breaking up the silence.

Mrs Maheshwari envied the cars. Her husband gave more of his precious hours and heart to them than she herself. “Addiction can be a dangerous thing!” She replied.

“I have a beauty waiting up there” he informed me, his spirits aroused. Like a man close to orgasm, she thought to herself.

‘you rather nail down some good vantage point! The best vintage car deserves a Victorian welcome’ I overheard his plans, after finalizing the deal with some customer.

How I hate myself. It was my ego, that kept me from accompanying him. He too knew my mental blocks, and so didn’t fuss over asking me to come with him.”

She sobbed uncontrollably in Neerja’s arms as her husband’s last conversations haunted her “There are only six of these, and I am going to own one today!... The car is in excellent shape, cherry colour.” …there was a pride in his voice. “I’ll take a test drive. The 1936 model!”

The road soon roughened, as they crossed Dakpathar. Flash floods had cracked into the road. The highway was so flooded, that it seemed they were riding on a river. It was a scary sight, with boulders threatening to ripple down any moment, newly cut gorges, and unusual waterfalls hitting into the ‘new’ river.

An hour and a half later they reached Mussoorie. They saw monks helping the locals. Hundreds of houses had been washed away. Families searched for cover.

Suddenly the flood gave in to a thick slurry. The road became very, very slippery Search and rescue operations were in full swing.

They peeped down. Deep down was a mountain sloped to into an abyss. Where nothing which rolled would ever come to a stop. Their heart missed several beats.

The army personnel and guards would not allow them to move around the affected areas. But their driver Naresh had acquired a special license for driving through disaster-struck areas. After getting the personal records registered they were permitted to embark and continue.

Mrs Maheshwari’s heart pounded at the thoughts of her husband. Somehow, she wanted to inform him. “I have come, darling! I am near you.”

No sooner, the road was a sheet of hails. Hails, like stones, pelted with deafening sounds on both sides on the windows. Braving natures wrath, their accomplished driver crossed the crooked metal milestone- “DALHOUSIE.”

Naresh was exhausted. “If you allow ma’am, should we have some tea here?”

“yeah sure Naresh.” They planned to give their search a break as they knew well Naresh was too tired after a gruelling drive; was supported by a herd of stranded sheep who would have made further movement impossible anyway.

As they sipped the warm tea, a small metal clanging sounded every now and then. The clanging was consistent, and their minds forcibly drifted to the distraction. When the sound became annoying, Dinesh rushed uphill, to have a closer look just beneath the main road.

In a pocket of broken road and boulder lay precariously stuck a blob of metallic cherry red junk. The Victorian wheels were unmistakable. A very frail hand was, banging the roof. The army was rushed to the site. A very tired Mr Maheshwari blew a kiss into the air.