Mystifying Love

It was a pleasant evening. Red petals of Gulmohar beautifully shed on the road looked no less than a red velvet carpet. The lovely sunset and the chirping of birds returning to their nests…The sky blushing like a bride…The blue mountains being embraced by clouds…

“Radha… you look so pretty today!” Sumi remarked beaming at the blushing girl. “I know this is the effect of love. You and Madhavan are made for each other. By the way, have you talked to your parents?”

“No Sumi, I feel scared to talk to Dad about Madhavan. You know my Dad. He is a strict disciplinarian. They don’t seem to be in favour of love marriages.”

“But what about his family?”

“His father is also quite a serious type of a person. But Madhavan is very close to his mother…”

“Radha, then why don’t you ask Madhavan to communicate about your relationship with her? Let her finalize your marriage.”

Radha met Madhavan and explained her worries. Unexpectedly, without any complications and with all the blessings of elders they had a love-cum-arranged marriage. They were indeed made for each other.

Then came that fateful morning like an uninvited guest… It was sunny that day… The newlywed couple was on the much-awaited trip to the magnificent hill station of Rajasthan, Mount Abu. Hairpin bends, dangerous Ghats, Azure blue sky…gentle breeze…. blue hills with unmatched aesthetics…Radha was humming a romantic song. She was on cloud nine…. After all, she is lucky to get her Prince Charming as her husband…She closed her eyes daydreaming about their picture-perfect marriage. “The saying is true; marriages are made in heaven!” She smiled. Right out of nowhere came that unfortunate SUV Tata Sumo, unabashed, hitting everything out of Radha and Madhavan’s life! There was darkness after the loud collision…. The kinds which are going to be there to stay, not to fade away with light……

When Radha opened her eyes she was in a hospital. She was told that she suffered a major car accident but luckily escaped from death. She had sustained a few fracture ribs with some minor injuries. There was a terrible tearing type of chest pain with each breath but each of her breaths just wanted to know about her better half. “Where is my husband? I want to see him now!” She whispered quivering with pain and horrid intuitions…. Weeping loud around the corner were her parents and parents-in-law, unable to answer her. Her father brought himself together to say, “Radha calm down dear, Madhavan is undergoing brain surgery. He had suffered a blow on his head and severe injury to his neck!”

Her father-in-law added, “Please, beta, you have to be strong during this crisis. We can just pray to God at this moment. He will cure Madhavan.”

Madhavan survived through the surgery only to face a brief period of coma. Gradually with God’s grace, he recovered out of the coma. But every accident that occurs leaves a scar of its own… Loss of movement from all the four limbs was, maybe Madhavan’s unfair share from it. He was diagnosed quadriplegic which means he will not be able to move his body below the neck.

Tears rolled down his cheeks when he saw Radha. “What has God done to me? Why me? Why did he punish me in this way? I am bedridden now. Radha, please sit with me…. I am feeling lonely.” He was in a stage of shock after trauma.

Radha embraced and consoled him. She could not hide her tears from him. “Don’t worry love! you will be alright. I am sure God will bring you back on your feet” Radha sobbed while saying this.

Days, months and years passed by. There was a drastic change in Madhavan’s mental condition. With days passing by, the closeness between them kept their bond strong. But Madhavan became more irritable and restless, not because of his lack of improvement but due to his helplessness to see Radha every minute, every second without her smile, without the sparkle in her eyes which once had caught his attention and swear him to love her forever. Where has it gone? Why did I do this to the girl I thought of keeping happy always? These questions crept into his mind maddening him.

One day afternoon Madhavan called her, “Radha, I won’t be alright. Let us accept the fact. There is no improvement in my condition. I suggest that you marry another man, you deserve a better life. Let me live and die like this. I don’t want you to suffer sharing my damn life like this. You are young and beautiful. You can get a handsome and loving husband.”

Radha was shocked to hear this, “No dear, I am your wife. We promised to be on each other’s side through good and bad. I love you and I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want a better life, that doesn’t have you in it. Please don’t force me to leave you. …..” She held him tightly and cried her heart out…

“Shall I bring you some snacks, Madam?”-The waiter’s voice brought her back to the present-day life. “Memories… these memories became a curse in my life….” She thought. The Sun was bidding farewell to the Earth with a gloomy melody in the air…Now night will glide in with her soft steps and earth will be covered with a shroud of darkness…. The darkness of mystery and unknown secrets…

She sat in the Starbucks Cafe sipping her coffee and staring out of the window. The bloodstained knife lay next to her handbag, covered with her blue silk scarf!!!

She glanced at it. It was the same blue silk scarf that was presented to her by Madhavan as a birthday gift. Now it is covering the knife which has bloodstains…. blood of my dear Madhavan…. She shuddered to think that she killed her soul mate.

“But I had no other choice. He begged me to kill him.” her subconscious mind whispered to her.

That fateful evening, Madhavan was in a strange mood. “Come to me dear Radha, Please hold me. I want to forget my sorrows. I want to die… I don’t want to live like this my darling… I just want to die… Please do kill me…!”

“What?” Radha had the shock of her life. “What are you saying? Me….? Killing you?!…Are you out of your mind….? How can you tell me…”? She uttered in disbelief.

“Radha, all these years I have been watching the changes of weather lying down on this cot. Summer, then Monsoons, then Winter, next Autumn, again Summer comes…The cycle of seasons just going on and on…like my life which is a never-ending nightmare… Years passed by leaving me crippled and helpless. I am a cursed man. Radha, God was cruel to me. Why isn’t he giving me death, once and for all? You know, terminal patients can be given death. It is called…. Mercy Killing, don’t you agree? So please have mercy on me Radha, please kill me. Please help me out of my misery…Out of this hell…release me.”

The tearful eyes and grief-stricken voice of Madhavan were so genuine and brought out all the years they spent hoping and hoping in dismay for something that might never as well happen. She realized his desperate condition and the pleading in his words. The painful and bitter truth lay unveiled before her. He will not be on his feet again. He is like a living vegetable…Radha felt as if she is engulfed by a sea. She felt the land beneath her feet sinking....and she is falling into a dark crevice…. where she is all alone. Her voice reverberating like an echo…

“Radha I loved you with all my heart and soul. Please relieve me from this cursed state. For the sake of our love let me ask you just this one thing in this life. Just kill me….and save me from this hell…”

Radha was under a trance when she lifted a knife from the kitchen and stabbed him to his peaceful death. She saw a wry smile and tranquillity that she had not seen in years of their life together. Madhavan closed his eyes and death embraced him.

“Yes darling, I love you a lot. You are my life. I have released your body from this painful state. I know that your soul will always be with me, loving me, protecting me and caressing me…”

A chilly wisp of air touched her cheeks… Radha felt the feather touch of his lips, that first-ever kiss, on her forehead, reminding her of the eternal love which they had shared. She could feel the fragrance in his soft breath caressing her lips… “Radha, I love you, my sweetheart...You are my angel…” She closed her eyes so that she could hear his heartbeats as fresh as ever…. close….so close to her….like her heartbeats beating in a rhythm saying ‘Love You’ …. ‘Love You’………