The Last Sign Of Hope

That Friday Raya missed the last bus for Hyderabad at 9:30 pm. She was the staff of the Museum working at the dept of Archaeological Survey Of India in Nagar Juna Sagar. She ran here and there but founded no trace of any vehicle. I didn't know what to do, how to react and where to go. Under that problematic situation, she rushed to the Museum again, called the gatekeeper for seeking help but all turned futile. She became perplexed and deeply anxious. Walked across the river Krishna, along the dams, where the river water is tamed to produce hydroelectric power by using the rotating turbines. Started walking along the river bed, went on and on and on...

 But that island was a no man's land and a no network zone. She was even unable to connect herself with the citizens of a metropolis. The log gates of the dam were twinkling with small lights. Since electricity is generated in abundance so there was no deficit of it in the adjacent regions. She was beyond her consciousness and couldn't even estimate that how much land she had actually walked so far. Hours went on like this... It was about 1 am when she reached a small village and saw a mud hut at a distance. She was not scared by the Buddhist Monastery or the statues or stupas before. But that time she was frightened by seeing only a hut for not knowing the fact that what type of an unexpected tension and obscure condition was waiting for her. She went forward and then withdrew her back. Again she stood up and went ahead and again was driven back. She hesitated for a while. Drops of fear were coming out through the pores of the epidermal layers of her skin in the form of sweat. She lost her brain and couldn't judge whether to take the risk or not. Finally, Raya entered the hut covered with straw. She saw a cat mewing and staring at her. Raya closed her eyes and then took a deep breath. Then a big pause....... Then she started ....

It was a group of 4, sitting, chatting and playing cards. They introduced themselves and were all Americans by origin. They listened to her words earnestly, seeing each others' faces and welcomed the new comer with a loud applause. Raya sat on the haystack and gave a brief story of her academic background and job profile. They continued with it and shared so many experiences of daring expeditions and voyages and even talked about the several ups and downs of life. They offered a ham sandwich and a glass of champagne, but Raya received neither of those. Even they didn't force for that. They started playing guitar, banjo and a scale changing mouth organ; captured the images and videos and were a bit drunk and emotional. They got relaxed, laid down on their rucksacks and felt asleep. But Raya did nothing but kept herself awaken for the entire night and didn't close her eyelids even for a couple of minutes.

When it was 5:20 am, Jack got up and read the full note on a piece of paper that Raya left for them. She expressed her thanks and gratitude for good behave and warm reception which she didn't even imagine. And her misconception or mistrust regarding all the foreigners was then put to an end. Jack was smiling when going through the line. She could have been getting ill-treated or physically harassed for being a woman, rather they accompanied her throughout the night in a well-mannered...... Jack came outside in a hurry and searched every nook and corner for seeing her off. But he saw none. Instead saw the first rays of sun light have covered the whole zenith and a sweet melody was blossoming around. The day got a start with bright sun shine and charm of a beautiful glorious morning was echoing around...