Sheryl Varghese – An Enigma

There was something intriguing about the old villa in the photograph that set Charu's mind buzzing with several random thoughts striking simultaneously.

She felt a strange sense of ‘Déjà vu’ as she glanced repeatedly at the photograph!

At that moment, Charu realized that her heart was beating faster than normal. An inner voice seemed to be telling her that she had been to that villa; She knew that villa!

‘I must be going crazy. Why do I feel that I know this villa and have been to it before?’, thought Charu.

She knew there was only one way to find out. She had to follow the map and discover the villa.

Charu didn’t discuss any of this with her father. She spent some time with her Granny and went to bed with all sorts of strange thoughts trying to figure out her state of mind after looking at the photograph.

                                      ~

‘Welcome Home, Sheryl’

‘It’s been a long time’

‘It’s been a long wait’

‘We’ve waited so long for your return, Sheryl Varghese’

Charu woke up with a start! She noticed that she was sweating profusely.

‘Oh my God! What were those voices screaming in my head?’, asked Charu to herself.

It was a nightmare without any visuals; Just voices, male & female, mixed in a chorus. It seemed like rhythmic chanting of a cult group.

Charu felt as if her heart would explode into a million pieces any moment. She grabbed the water bottle on the bed side table and gulped from it. She sprinkled some water on her head.

‘Sheryl Varghese’ – why were they uttering this name in her dream? She had never heard that name before in her life.

Charu stepped out to the balcony and lit a cigarette. It was quite chilly outside, however the chilly breeze seemed to calm her down a bit.

Charu started pondering on the voices in her dream. She realized that she was onto something bizarre & surreal! The book, the photograph of the villa, the map behind it, the code, the voices in her dream, the name, ‘Sheryl Varghese’; All these elements were trying to lead her somewhere.

‘But, why me? Why now, after all these years in my life? And, who the hell is Sheryl Varghese?’, thought Charu.

Charu stubbed out the cigarette and closed the French window to the balcony. She knew it would be difficult to get sleep now, but she had to try to get some rest to deal with what she intended to embark on, in the morning.

She kept the bed lamp on and pulled the bedsheet over her face. Hardly had a minute passed, when she leapt out of the bed and pulled out her suitcase in which she had kept the photograph.

With trembling breath, she took out the photograph and looked at the map. There, it was. The starting point at a Hotel. She subconsciously uttered out the name of the Hotel – ‘Hotel Mount Varghese’!

‘Oh My God… Oh My God…’Here’s the name, ‘Varghese’, again’, muttered Charu with a scared voice.

                                      ~

‘Charu, Charu…Are you going to wake up anytime today?’, asked Charu’s Dad shaking her gently.

‘Oh, Dad. What time is it?’, asked Charu sleepily.

‘It’s quarter past twelve, Charu. Go, get yourself freshened up. Would you like to have something for brunch or lunch directly?’, inquired Mr. Mani Oomen affectionately.

‘Yeah, Dad. I’ll go freshen up. I’d have lunch’, answered Charu and slowly dragged herself to the bathroom.

After a quick lunch, Charu picked up her laptop and settled on a couch in her Granny’s room.

‘You may take a break for some time, I’ll stay here’, said Charu to the Nurse attending to her Granny.

Charu looked pitifully at her Granny who lay on the bed at the mercy of all the health equipment guarding her away from something imminent – Death.

‘Ok, let’s get going. Let me start by locating this hotel first.’, mumbled Charu to herself.

She opened ‘Google’ page on her laptop and typed in ‘Hotel Mount Varghese’ but didn’t get any matching results.

‘Dad, do we have any hotel named ‘Mount Varghese’ in Fort Kochi?’, asked Charu loudly.

‘No, I have never heard of a hotel by that name in this place and I’ve lived all my life here’, answered her Dad equally loud and with a confident tone in his voice.

Charu thought about it and reckoned that the hotel might have existed before her Dad was born. She knew whom to contact to get this information.

                                             ~

‘Hello Vincent Uncle, how are you doing?’, asked Charu flashing a smile.

‘Who is it?’, Vincent asked and slowly reached out for his spectacles.

‘Oh, let me guess. Mani’s little one. Come here sweety, give this old man a hug. It seems ages since I’ve seen you’, said Vincent affectionately reaching out his old frail hands.

‘Ah, Uncle. So nice to meet you.’ said Charu and warmly hugged him.

After some nice little conversation, Charu came to the point.

‘Vincent Uncle, as far as I know, you know Fort Kochi like no one else; apart from Granny, of course. I am looking for a hotel named, ‘Mount Varghese’. Can you please help me out’, asked Charu?

Uncle Vincent grimaced and he slowly leaned forward on his resting chair, ‘Where the hell did you get his information from, Charu? And what are you seeking?’

‘Nothing much, Uncle. I was just reading out some books about Fort Kochi and came about this hotel. Is something amiss?’ inquired Charu trying to sound as casual as possible.

‘Well, you see, I am 85 years old. This hotel was built way back, much before your parents were born. I was around 6,7 years old then. There’s an interesting story behind this hotel’s name, you know. They used to say that the owner of this hotel was very fond of his wife, Sheryl Varghese. The Varghese family had a royal past and she was very attached to her family name. She stuck to it even after her marriage with Anthony Delsworth. Back then, people used to say that she always fancied peculiar desires. On one of their anniversaries, she put forward a desire to have a mountain named after her family name. Her husband of course was filthy rich but where could he buy a mountain from! So, to consolidate, he built this magnificent hotel and named it, ‘Mount Varghese’ in her dedication.’, said Vincent slowly removing his spectacles and wiping them.

‘That’s some story, Uncle Vincent’, exclaimed Charu. ‘So, what happened to the hotel, then?’

‘Well, after the family passed away, their descendants sold the place to some company. As things stand, a mall has come up at that place. The ‘City mall’.’, said Vincent.

Charu then changed the topic and post some casual conversation, she bid farewell to Uncle Vincent.

                                      ~

Charu headed straight to the City mall. She took out the map and started out on the trail. The map was actually good; she didn’t face any hurdles at all. After an hour’s drive, she arrived at the destination, so called, ‘Home’ in the map. However, she was standing in front of the Fort Kochi Local Museum!

There weren’t many people at the museum. She bought the tickets and entered the museum with bated breath. She inquired at the help desk where she could find information on local history in the museum. The executive guided her to the library on the first floor.

Charu checked into the library and found the section she was looking for – ‘Fort Kochi – Archives’.

She started browsing through the old books and stumbled upon a book titled, ‘The Rich and Affluent from Fort Kochi's past’.

Charu settled down at the table and laid down the book on it. She took a deep breath and started going through the book. The book contained several photos in black and white from the past.

After going through several pages and photos, she came across what she was looking for – ‘Hotel Mount Varghese’! She started reading every sentence carefully from that chapter. The emphasis was more on Sheryl Varghese than her husband.

What happened next shook her body violently! She shoved the book away and stood up shaking with fear. She couldn’t stand on her feet properly and sat down on the chair with a thud!

After what seemed like an eternity, she slowly dragged the book back with trembling hands and opened the page which wreaked this chaos on her.

There was a photograph of Mr. Anthony Delsworth & Sheryl Varghese (or) Mr. Anthony Delsworth & Charu!!

Charu was a dead ringer for Sheryl Varghese!

Her eyes were transfixed on the photograph. She felt that she would vaporize any moment and get engulfed into that photo! She then observed the sword held in Anthony’s hand. On it was engraved,’ MV02FK09’!

She then heard the voice again in her head,’ Welcome Home, Sheryl Varghese’!