Stormy Nights And Shiny Days

“You should hurry up!” said the little voice in his head.

“I know that. Now stop bothering me”. Said Ram to himself. It was good that he was driving through the forest, and no one was able to hear him.

Else people would have taken him to gone crazy, looking at the state he was. Shambled clothes, disoriented steps, and non-stop rumbling of words from his mouth, talking to himself alone.

It was no fault of Ram to be in such a state. The recent turn of events has robbed him of any happiness and hopes for coming days. The entire future of his family loomed in front of his eyes with no Income, incomplete studies and the unbearable sorrow of recent and sudden loss of his father.

Ram’s father, Ganesh was an honest, yet wealthy businessman. People respected him as a person for his honesty, kind heartedness and sharp wisdom in business. He used to help any needy, who came to him for help but also encouraged them to take proper measures to stand up on their own feet.

People kind of worshiped him across the villages in the Sona district.

He always insisted on good education for his children, his Son Ram and his daughter Ishika. Ram has completed his graduation and has been in Final Year of his Financial Management program. There was yet some time for completion of the program, when Ram got news of the sudden demise of his father.

Ram’s first response was that of shock followed by state of denial and then the state of utter breakdown. Ram was very close to his father and always looked up to him. Ganesh was not only father to him but also his closest friend and confidante.

When Ram was leaving for the hostel, last time he visited the home, Ganesh was cheerful, but Ram could see, he was a little withdrawn in himself. Ram tried to talk to Ganesh about it, but Ganesh assured him there is nothing to worry and he is just getting hold.

He asked for a promise from Ram that he will focus on his studies and clear his exams with distinction. Ram gave him the promise, a little confused but soon forgot this incidence amidst the pressure of the studies that came along in the final year of the course.

Now looking back, Ram understood the worries of Ganesh. It was learnt only after Ganesh’s death that business was not in a sound state. In the desire of helping out the needy people, Ganesh had taken loan from many people. The people who took help from him were doing good now but did not bother to return the borrowed money.

As the demands for return from money lords became more frequent and urgent, Ganesh tried to get the money back from the people, he lent it to. But being a kind-hearted man, he could not force or threaten them, the way his lenders did to him.

The pressure kept on increasing and with no one to confide in, it resulted in a heart stroke that took away Ganesh’s life.

All these details, Ram came to know only after Ganesh’s death as the lenders started to come to their door asking for the return of the money. They threatened to sue them in court and take away everything from Ram and his family.

At the time of Ganesh’s death, Ishika was engaged to the son of another rich businessman, Kulhaan. The guy was a computer engineer himself and was working in his father’s firm. At first it looked all fine, but as the news of lenders coming to their doors spread around, Kulhaan and his son decided to call off the match. It dawned on Ram that they were willing to welcome Ishika into their family, as long as they could put their hands on Ganesh’s wealth and property.

Now that Ganesh was dead and the property was on the verge of being sold out, Ishika was no longer a suitable match for Kulhaan’s son. This took a mental toll on Ishika who was getting emotionally attached to the son and since then Ishika was in a state of depression.

Ram and his mother Aarti were having a tough time, trying to take care of everything. All the savings, Ram had, have been used to pay off the debts. Even the Gold Jewelry that Aarti had for herself and Ishika was lent out in Banks to get loans for repayment of the loans and get some working capital to bring the business back to a stable state.

Today morning, Ram got an urgent call from one of the banks in the city to visit them on urgent basis. Ram was surprised and afraid that this is another burden that was coming their way.

In the bank, Ram came to know that Ganesh had mortgaged their house to get loans to push back in their business, which was on the decline due to unstable market position. After Ganesh’s death the monthly payments had not been made and hence, bank was planning to auction the house to retrieve their money. On request of Ram, they had granted a period of 3 months to Ram to settle all pending dues, after which the house would be auctioned.

Ram was in utter state of shock, as he was returning from the bank. His car was in poor state as the maintenance services were due for a long time. And with the bad news he had no courage left to return home and share this news with Aarti.

This was his mental state when the accident happened. Ram was coming out of the forest onto the main highway when the speeding car from the left hit him hard on the driver’s side. The car swirled around at 360 degrees. Ram tried hard to stop the car by applying brakes but that did not work. The car hit one of the trees on the right at high speed and turned over. It rolled couple of times before it came to a stop.

Ram was badly injured. His head had hit the steering wheel and was bleeding profusely. This was the state, in which the driver of the other car found him. He tried to talk to Ram to keep him awake, while he tried to pull him out. However, Ram was bleeding very badly and soon became unconscious.  

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Ram’s eyelids fluttered a little, as he became conscious of his surroundings. The morning sun was trying to peep from the window and the soft light was falling on his face through the drapes.

There were worried sounds around him and he could hear his mother’s worried voice, enquiring about him to someone. He could not place the other voice but it looked familiar.

He slowly became aware of a slight pain on the right side of his head but at the same time, became more and more aware of all the people around him. The first sight that greeted him was the angel face of Ishika. His little, darling sister was everything to him and her worried looks made his heart ache a little more.

“How are you feeling, Bhaiya”, asked Ishika Worriedly.

“I do not understand. Where am I, Ishika? What happened to me?”.

“You do not remember anything”? Ram heard voice of his mother before her face materialized in front of him.

“No Maa. What happened? Please tell me where I am and Why?”.

“You have been in the middle of an accident when you were hit by another car. My Car”, came a different voice. Ram was puzzled and when he looked up, a face came into his sight. A face he could not recognize but it looked familiar. Very Familiar.

“And Who are you”? Asked Ram with a puzzled and angry look.

“My name is Vikram. I was an associate of your father and… “, Vikram took a pause and added “His Partner”.

“His partner? Really? How come I do not know this”? asked Ram with a voice which was one or two pitch high.

“Ram, you should really rest for a while. We can talk about it later”. Replied Vikram. Instead of having a calming effect on Ram, it agitated him a lot more. But before he could reply back, exhaustion took over him and pulled him back into the lap of sleep.

Recollection of next few days was always hazy for Ram, as he drifted in and out of his slumber. Later he learnt that in the accident, his head was badly hit and had caused some harm to the right side of his brain.

One of the nerves were badly hit and he was needed to be operated on urgent basis to prevent any permanent damage to his body and to save his life. The surgery was expensive and his mother had no money to support it. That’s when Vikram stepped in, took responsibility and paid for the surgery and all the hospital expenses.

As Vikram got stronger by each day, he kept thinking. He questioned Vikram’s motives. Life had taught him hard that no one helps anyone else without a nefarious motive. He was suspicious of Vikram and often wondered in his head about Who he is. But every time he popped up the question, Vikram avoided it and assured him to talk to him later about it.

One positive change, Ram noticed out of this dreaded situation was Ishika. She was slowly coming out of the state of depression, trying to take care of Ram. Her love for Ram and the sense of responsibility, that fell on her shoulders, in Ram’s absence finally weighed more on her mind than the grief of being rejected so badly. She had started to smile and Ram found her laughing one or two times on silly jokes cracked by Vikram, to lighten up the mood in the hospital room.

Her mother seemed to be a bit more relaxed and less worried since the death of Ganesh. Ram was happy and confused with all that was happening around him. He could sense that something has changed since his accident but he could not really put his finger on what.

It was only a few days after he returned home, that he could start to understand the whole thing. One day Vikram, who was a frequent visitor to his home after the accident and Ram had no clue why came to his room.

All other relatives and friends had already left after visiting the family and there was no one else in the house other than four of themselves.

“Have you still not recognized me yet”? Asked Vikram in a bemused voice to Ram.

Ram shaked his head in a refusal and his expression became confused.

“I am Vikram. Vikram Ahuja”. Even that could not trigger any memory in mind of Ram.

“Ram, I am your Vikram. Your Vicky. VICKU”, said Vikram in a slightly higher volume. Ram tried to poke his memories and that’s when it came to surface with a bubbling energy.

“Vikcy.. Vicku… My Vicku?”, asked Ram in an animated voice.

“Yes, Yes, Yes my lovely brother”. Said Vikram in an equally animated voice and rushed to hug Ram with a ferocity, which Ram had forgotten long back.

After that, it was as if a bridge was broken and all the hidden and raw emotions came out, which were buried in the depth of their hearts for many years.

Vikram was son of best friend of Ganesh. His father’s name was Kartik. Kartik and Ganesh were school friends and only sons of their fathers. Having no other sibling on either side, they both formed a strong bond with each other which only grew with time.

As they grew together, their friendship only grew stronger with time. They both chose their own professions, got married and settled down in life. When Vikram and Ram were born around the same time, friendship of the two friends was gifted to their sons too.

Ram and Vikram grew together and became close friends. They shared same interests and likes and enjoyed each other’s company. They played together and fought together, with each other & for each other. Anyone who dared to hurt one had to face the furry of the other friend.

Ram and Vikram were still small boys when the tragedy hit the families. In an accident, Kartik and his wife lost their lives. With no one else to take over Vikram within their close relations, Vikram’s grandparents on his mother’s side decided to take him away with them to New York.

But they were worried about Vikram, in case something happened to themselves. The ruthless world was watching closely to take over everything that was Vikram’s inheritance, once given a chance.

Closely evaluating the situation, Ganesh and Vikram’s grandparents decided to make Ganesh Vikram’s legal guardian. With all the paperwork completed, they soon flew back to New York with Vikram. The two friends cried a lot, promised to write to each other often and said their goodbyes with teary eyes.

But then life took over. Vikram and Ram got busy with their own lives and moved on. Ganesh seldom talked about Vikram in home openly so as to keep hunters away from the vulnerable life of Vikram, so far away. But that did not mean, Ganesh cut Vikram out of their lives. They were in constant touch through Vikram’s grandparents, with Ganesh taking care of every decision in Vikram’s life, in discussion with his grandparents.

5 years back, Vikram’s grandmother passed away due to a prolonged illness and his grandfather followed her after a few months. Vikram was in final year of his college and yet to become financially independent.

At that time, Ganesh decided to come to Vikram’s help. He flew down to New York, paid the entire course fee for remaining periods of the college and setup a sufficient fund for Vikram to complete his studies.

After Vikram completed his studies, Ganesh and Vikram decided to start a business of their own in New York. To prevent Vikram from putting in all his money into the business, Ganesh offered to become a partner of and they both started the business together with equal funding.

In five years, Vikram had worked hard to make this business stable and finally during last year the business flourished a lot due to changing market conditions.

Ganesh had kept all this a secret to prevent anyone with nefarious plans, to reach out to Vikram and harm him in any way. Aarti only knew about Ganesh being Vikram’s legal guardian but was completely unaware of the business venture in New York.

News of Ganesh’s death reached to Vikram, many months after his death, as no one knew about the need to inform him. Aarti was completely devastated and busy with making his family stand up again and other than her, no one knew or remembered Vikram.

It was only after months of not being able to contact Ganesh that Vikram started trying to reach in India to find out, why Ganesh was out of contact with him. Once he knew about Ganesh’s death, it took him some time to train his close associate, to take care of business in his absence.

On the day of accident, he was able to finally reach Aarti over a phone call informing her, that he was finally returning home. When the accident happened, he was returning home to Ram’s house and in the hurry of meeting his old friend and family, was driving at a higher speed.

That’s when the accident happened as Ram was coming out of the forest and light was very dim in that area. Vikram still held himself guilty for hurting Ram and was living on a tight rope since the day of accident.

It was only after he shared all this with Ram that he started to relax a bit around him.

With Ganesh’s share in Vikram’s business, they paid off all the remaining debts, got the jewelry back from the lender and started making plans for times ahead.

With the financial aid from Vikram, Ram completed his studies. Vikram and Ram decided to convert Ram’s home into a heritage hotel. Ganesh’s business in India was merged with Vikram’s business venture & Ram and Vikram became equal business partners.

The days grew lighter after that. It was like a dark cloud has finally blown away and soft sunshine is falling again on their lives, The two friends started to relive old memories and making new ones. Ram did notice that Ishika was also in a lighter mood and laughed often whenever Vikram was around.

He often found Vikram stealing glances towards Ishika, when he thought no one was watching. That amused Ram and a plan started to form in his mind. 

“Vikram, now that everything has been sorted out, I am thinking of getting Ishika Married”, said Ram, once all of them were pleasantly sitting in the courtyard sipping tea.

Vikram, who is sipping his tea suddenly fumbled up and ended up coughing profusely. Ishika who was sharing some funny incident suddenly became quiet and her expression turned that of fear.

A smile crept on Ram’s face. This was getting more interesting for him.

“Do you know someone suitable for her? One who can keep her happy and respect her as a person?” asked Ram.

“What I can say Ram. I hardly know few people here other than you. Besides, Ishika is a nice girl. Beautiful, Educated and Intelligent. Who would not like her or respect her”, replied Vikram in a voice, that appeared little sad to Ram’s ears.

Now Ram looked at Ishika and asked seriously, “You say Ishika, are you ready to consider marriage again? I know that the last incident had shaken you badly. But my little one, not every person is same. If there are bad people, there are good people too.

I just want you to be happy in life and standing or getting struck at a point due to some bad experience should not stop us from reaching out for that happiness.

Hence, I would like you to consider the possibility of marriage again. But the final decision is yours. You may let me know whenever you are ready”.

Ishika looked with sad eyes to her brother, whom she respected and loved a lot. He had suffered so much during last year, just to bring happiness to them again. She trusted his wisdom and want to make him happy too.

If getting married again made him happy, then that’s what she was going to do. “I will do whatever you decide Bhaiya”. Replied she with shy eyes.

“I have complete faith in your wisdom, and I trust, whomever you would choose would be the best person for me”.

Ram looked at Vikram and found him fumbling with the cup in his hand. He looked at his mother, with whom he had already discussed about it. As the smile on his face grew wider, he let the words spill out of his mouth slowly, “In that case, Vikram, would you like to consider marrying my little sister and making her happy”?

Suddenly two pairs of eyes shot upwards and looked at Ram’s face. The shock and surprise on their faces was apparent and so were the astonishment, they were having in their hearts.

Finally, Vikram got the courage to speak. “Are you sure Ram about it? I mean I would love to marry Ishika. She is a lovely girl. But are you sure you want me to become your brother and take the side along with Ishika”?

“Why not? You are well educated and intelligent and successfully running your business. You are kind-hearted and sincere. You helped us when no one did and, I have noticed how you look at Ishika when you think no one is noticing. And above all, once you came in our lives, Ishika has started to become her normal self. She is more open and jovial around her. You make her laugh, and I would like to believe, that she also likes you”.

“Isn’t that true Ishika”, asked Ram looking directly at her sister.

A shy smile spread on Ishika’s face, and she said yes while lowering her head.

“And you Vikram. Are you ready for this match now?”

“Yes Ram. I would love to. I love Ishika”. Replied Vikram.

“I will get the plate of fritters from Inside, Maa”. Ishika used the perfect excuse to go inside and hide her blush.

After a little chit chat, Vikram started to talk to Aarti and Ram chose to close his eyes and enjoy the bliss of happiness, which was back into their lives after a dark stormy night.

In his heart, he thanked his father for all his good deeds. It was the Ganesh’s kind deeds which were being repaid through the kindness and Love from Vikram.

After a very long time, he finally felt at peace and basked in the glory of soft rays of the setting sun.

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