#8 And the circle is reducing...

A dive into the previous parts

#1   #2   #3   #4   #5   #6   #7 

--Arjun

Arjun opened his mailbox to a flurry of confidential mails, the last of which summoned him to a conference room. He did as per the commandment. Little did he knew that terms and conditions of his travel were to be made known to him, on a specific note this time.

He entered the room to the presence of very critical members of the organization. The meeting saw the well dignified guys flex their heads. Many issues were discussed and towards the wee hours of the rendezvous, Arjun learned about the intricate details about his odyssey to India.

He was a tad disappointed. His plans to surprisingly sneak into Krish's engagement were taking a dig into a marshy ditch. The meeting was over and everybody dispersed leaving Arjun stroll back to his cabin with utmost pensiveness.

Arjun was to fly that evening. Krish was to get hitched in 5 days.

--Jeet

Jeet picked up Rishi's call. Rishi generally had an ease in his voice which would placate the angriest of souls. Jeet could sense the miss. Though Rishi only inquired about his arrival which he was unsure of, but there was more to it than being just a normal whereabouts phone call.

Jeet was flying to India the next day. Rishi hadn't informed Krish about this yet.

Enigma has a charm that no one relishes to unleash. It's a delight if you unfold precariously.

While back home, Rishi was left to the company of Kriti for a major part of the day. They had started interacting more since Krish used to be busy. Rishi asked her for a beer at the terrace in the backdrop of a soulful night and she couldn't disagree.

So, they were up there drinking. To an onlooker it would contrastingly appear that silence was being dished out. Unspoken words were being heard, acknowledged and respected. The hue of the night and the sound of the breeze making a hissing sound flew past the ear. It was magic.

Once in a while they deftly touched their bottles and it was falling in line with the rhythm of the natural hypnotic orchestra. Once in a while, they also chanced glances at each other. Sometimes they caught each others eye, at others, they didn't.

They never spoke about Kriti's fanatic search that enveloped something else that fell in the realms of anthropology. But one thing is for certain, when two individuals warm the terrace sill sharing a silent compassion for each other, memories are carved and moments are registered.

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Sky meeting the land is apparent but an ocean meeting a desert defiantly challenges the boundary of realism. But miracles do happen. They are amongst us, only if we have an eye that beats the hawk's and a desire that constantly ignites the fire.

As the circle engulfing these lives starts to reduce it's radius, will it manage to not let tangential movements off?

I'll wait to see!

to be continued....

#7 Lives were un-spiraling

It is always good to glance through what has been happening till now to get hands on with what is going to happen next. The previous parts to this story are linked here:

#1   #2   #3   #4   #5   #6


With Krish being the centre of most of the rituals, Rishi had lone time to spare. Though on most occasions he liked to keep himself busy by helping around.

"Come Rishi let's go to Krish's room. I need to find something.", remarked Kriti as she pulled Rishi by his hand. Rishi had no option but to go with the flow as they climbed upstairs to Krish's room. Krish's drinking partner when he felt lonely but didn't want solitude, Kriti was Krish's childhood friend and knew Krish's comrades as well as anyone else.

Kriti slammed the door open as Rishi followed inside. She knew exactly which thing was where and started her search. The problem with Rishi was that he was an avid observer. And the fact that it came naturally to him. Kriti was a simple and extremely sweet girl. One whom your parents would always like and probably your friends too. She could dress up beautiful and dress down hot.

Rishi however observed more. He had enough experience in that domain to conclude that Kriti's fanatic search had less the element of urgency. Rishi could have confronted and asked her "What's wrong" and she couldn't have invalidated it. But Rishi left that for some other time. Rishi anyways wasn't one of those who would not care about making you uncomfortable for getting out the truth.

--Arjun

Arjun looked up his calendar as he booked his flight tickets to India. It was going to be a 3 week long project and Arjun being the lead had to stay there during the course. Though Arjun thought that he would probably sneak in as a surprise at Krish's marriage but little did he knew that bigger surprises were waiting for him in India.

After numerous negaotiations and multiple communication, Arjun was decided to be the most capable person to lead a high on risk and high on confidentiality project, so much so, that Arjun's travel was also to be kept a secret.

A Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) deal, by its very nature is supposed to be very private.

 --Jeet

He had spoken to his family for the first time in three years. He had decided to go to India for his best friend's engagement. Life was un-spiraling for Jeet. For the first time in years, his work-out partners had noticed a happy man working out rather than a man who was always out to have the world at his feet. His parents however were content with listening to their son's voice after three years. They were not expecting him to arrive at Krish's engagement anyway!

Jeet was at work, engrossed as ever when his phone's notification lights indicated of Rishi remembering him. Though on any other day, Jeet would have given the call a miss, but that day he answered.

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Their lives were starting to un-spiral. But is it all that smooth!

True, a rainbow is formed as heavens rain and the sun shines. I see a hover of dark clouds but only a storm could give rise to a clear sky.

to be continued........

Lessons that stay!

I am sharing what 'I Saw and I Learnt' at BlogAdda.com in association with DoRight.in

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A day that usually begins with chirping of birds and enthusiastic cries from a group of children riveted in an intense play would on any other day end in a tiresome 2-hour commute. That, on any other day.

The start however was ever so consistent in its manner, the end got a bit distorted. We increasingly develop and attach strings to our routines. So, this aberrance in the 'end ' wasn't received very nicely.

I was sipping water from the glass when my mother answered my question. Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke.

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The number of people in the park started to reduce, in inverse proportion to the increase in time as clock ticked towards 8pm second by second. Those were perhaps the last rounds as dusk lurked. My Dad who has developed this habit of going for evening walks was walking his rounds too. 

A young kid strangely started to circle around him. Dad did notice but didn't pay much heed. As a part of the plan that it must have been, suddenly another guy (must be around 30) jumped in from behind the bush and caught my father by his neck. Pulled him back and twisted the neck. As my father was going unconscious his hand touched the older guy's trouser pocket. A knife it must have been.

The next thing he knew was lying in a ditch-shaped structure with injuries to his chin and nose and a strained neck.

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A feeling of angst and paroxysm emerged as I heard the story. Never had I seen my father speaking with an attitude and a voice as inexplicable as that. For what my dad's safety meant, I thanked God, would merely be an understatement. That attack was more a mental one, than a physical one.

Of course he lost his cellphone which I had gifted him (from my salary; the cellphone meant a lot to him) and a bit of cash but what he did not lose was his undying spirit. Within a few days, my dad was up and walking in the same park amidst the same crowd. Despite the repeated piece of verbal caution thrown at him by me and my family, he refused to give in.

Obviously he is more observant and circumspect now but he won't simply shy away by acts of terror which are coward to the core. And unknowingly, he passed on to me two very key aspects to this whole encounter.

With age not on his side, he maintained a sense of calmness by submitting himself on observing a knife. Something the youth in me would not have done and ultimately resulted in a dual blow of brutal injuries and aggravated mental distress to self and family.
As a second and crucial point, he made sure that attackers like such are not lulled into a false sense of superiority. He stayed strong over the period of time and did not give in to the trauma of an almost-murder attempt.

He epitomized what Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam says

Difficulties in your life do not come to destroy you,

but to make you realize your hidden potential and power,

let difficulties know that you too are difficult.

Lessons in life are sprinkled everywhere around us, we need our receptors to be active and acceptable enough. For the two gems of wisdom that day and many more ever since we have grown together, You're my Hero Papa, You're my Hero.

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#6 Decisions made, choices not

 #1 . . . . 4 dots really
#2 Krish's wait!
#3 Of trials and happenings
#4 Now and then
#5 The flashback

Rishi and Krish read through Arjun's mail multiple times. Krish couldn't make himself believe his best friend wasn't coming for his engagement. Times had changed. Rishi knew it oh-so well. 

They did not utter a word, just blankly stared at the screen and at all the ephemerals around them. They did not meet up at the terrace that day. Silence was understood and respected.

Rishi and Krish were in adjacent rooms, awake and thinking of the same thing. Rishi left a couple of messages for Arjun too.

Two rooms lit by a table lamp and two guys getting themselves to learn about a pace that life develops and a race that everyone eventually participates in.

Krish's engagement was a week away. The next few days were going to be busy, hectic and full of rituals. He hadn't heard from Jeet recently. He was starting to have qualms about Jeet's arrival too.

--Jeet

He wasn't going back to India!

He had made up his mind, not with much conviction though. He wanted to meet people he had left behind three years back. He called up at his home. Disconnected.

Dialled again. The phone was answered.

Hello.

Hello... Ma.

Jeet?

The dam gates were let open as tears rolled down from both ends of the telephone line. Jeet was speaking to his mother for the first time in last three years.

That was the only conversation that happened. Jeet disconnected. Telepathy had happened. The barrier that had got erected was broken. His heart was melting, his mind thinking about a decision to overturn.

A decision was yet to be made, a flight was yet to be booked, a wait was yet to sustain.

--Arjun

Something felt heavy inside his heart after he sent the mail which bombed on Krish. Arjun pondered over the choice he made. He wasn't one of those who would think too much about his actions. He wanted something from life and he knew it wasn't going to come easy.

I'll make it to his marriage, engagement, well, let it be!

He thought aloud, clear and succinct!

He was in a fix. You could sense it, you could see it. Arjun wasn't alright. One of his hands stroking his chin, the other one on the back of the head as he lied on the reclining chair by the poolside staring into the night sky.

There is a silence during night which can take away your loneliness and give your share of wisdom. Though Arjun's decision was made, his choice wasn't!

Next couple of weeks were going to be big, very big for his firm and for himself. Arjun was to travel!

India.......

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Life's an act of balancing. Don't be overcautious, don't over-try.

By the time you would understand it, you'll have gone past your time.

to be continued.....