Arun , a
company executive of about 48 years
age , met
Shweta , an eighteen years girl ,in
a train at Kolkata. That was in May 2008. They travelled together
in a Rajdhani AC coach
from Sealdah to New Delhi. Arun
was returning to his work at Haridwar , after
visiting
his relatives at Kolkata. And
Shweta , her parents working
at Kolkata, were going
to her coaching institute at Munrica , New Delhi , after
appearing in a medical entrance examination at Kolkata.
The journey was quite memorable for both of them. Both
were travelling alone. Arun incidentally had only
a sixteen year son Prateek and was
not blessed with a daughter. Prateek
would get many times
upset for not having a sister.
Arun and his wife Lata realized
about the difficulty of bringing
up a single child. For them , it was perhaps too late, when they realized it. Arun, however , had a strong yearning for a daughter. He even confided to Lata
one day. Could not they adopt
one ? Lata was furious. “ Arun, see
, I don’t know ,how you will do it. For me,
I can’t love Prateek
and the new one equally” . Lata was so categorical. Arun never
raised the issue again.
The train journey
allowed Arun and Shweta
to come closer. So much so that,
their time passed by, almost
sharing each other’s life journey so far. Arun was happy
that he found a daughter in
Shweta. Shweta was
happy to share her stressful moments she was passing through. Those
seventeen hours of journey from Sealdah to New Delhi opened up a new chapter for
their life. Arun was quite emotional while
parting away from Shweta on the platform on that day.
Will they meet
ever again ?
Shweta, on
her part, did not forget his uncle. So dutifully couriered
him the question sets his
uncle asked for Prateek.
Arun forgot to
take Shweta’s mobile no in the train. Shweta
now mentioned her mobile no
in the short letter she sent to Arun alongwith the question paper and asked
him to contact her if he needed to. Arun felt
so happy and immediately contacted her. Shweta
too was excited to hear her uncle’s voice
again.
After a month or so,
Shweta called again Arun one
day. “Uncle, there’s a good news.
I’ve been selected for admission to a
medical college at Haldia
and I’ll do a 4
years undergraduate dental course
there.” Arun congratulated
her and said “ Shweta beti, what I told
you, has become true
by God’s grace. Now, you need not
have to look back. Pursue
the course with all sincerity and
I dream a big future for you”. Shweta
said , “ I seek
your blessings, uncle”. “
That you’re assured for the life time beti, Feel very proud for your parents. Please
convey my regards to them”. “
O.K., Uncle”. She closed the call.
Soon after,
Shweta left for her college hostel at Haldia.
After joining the institute , she was
in regular touch with Arun.
Almost every weekend
she would call him , enquire about him
, Lata aunty
and Prateek bhaiya. She
would show her
keen interest in every
minute details of Arun and his small
family and would give daughterly advise
to her uncle in every possible way.
Arun very much liked it. He also
tried to keep himself
updated about her stay at hostel and provide
her tips to adjust with the
day to day hassles
of hostel life and simultaneously
focus in her studies. Time passed by . Both
came to know about each
other’s birthday. Shweta
always made it a point to wish
her uncle in all social
occasions like Diwali, Dushhera, New Years day as well his birthday. Arun
also never missed
to wish Shweta
on her birthday and regularly
called her to enquire about her health, her parents and her progress in study.
Shweta started doing
well in the exams and Arun
would invariably call her
to congratulate and encourage
to do her best. It worked
so well as Shweta topped in her class in the first year.
During
2009 summer, Shweta’s
parents paid a brief visit to
Haridwar on their returned
journey from Kedarnath and
Badrinath shrine. They were very much tired. But they
called Arun on their arrival at Haridwar.
Arun rushed , to meet them for
the first time. At Har ki Pauri ghat, Shweta’s parents were witnessing Aarti
when Arun joined them. After the Aarti was over, they
sat there for few hours. Arun insisted
to bring them to his house and
requested them to stay for a
night with his family.
But Shweta’s parents could
not concede to Arun’s request as they
had to leave Haridwar early
morning next day. However, they
had long chats on that
day enabling to know each
others family with much details. Arun carried
a box of perfume and
chocolates for Shweta. He
handed over to Shweta’s parents .
They were initially
reluctant to accept it but finally agreed to see Arun happy. Before saying them
good bye at that auspicious place,
Arun that day, touched their feet
and sought their blessings and said “ Sir,
I heard a lot about you from
Shweta, had a strong desire to meet you some day, God was
so kind to make it happen so early , you two are like a living God to me. I seek your
blessings, bless me with a daughter
like Shweta in my
next birth. I love her so much”
Shweta’s parents smiled
and departed but not
before giving Arun a warm
hug. That was perhaps
one of the happiest moment of Arun’s life.
Time passed by .
Shweta was about to complete
her course in 2012 Summer. Arun was
expecting a call from
her informing about the final
result. During this time, Arun was not getting
regular call from Shweta. He was
upset but chose not to disturb her much
as he thought Shweta might
be busy
in her course completion works. Her birthday
was in September. Surprisingly ,
Arun’s call to Shweta
went unanswered on that day too. Arun started
thinking, perhaps due to some
reason Shweta is avoiding him.
During Dusshera and Diwali
celebration also there was no call
from Shweta. Arun’s patience broke
when he did not receive any
call in the new year 2013 too. He had
the Shweta’s father’s no. He immediately sent him
a message requesting him to
inform well being of Shweta. Shweta’s father replied promptly. Arun
was stunned to read the message.
His eyes
could not believe it. It said he was sorry
to inform that
Shweta had left
for her heavenly abode in the middle of last September.
Arun was
motionless for a long
moment. When he gathered his composure, he could
make a call to Shweta’s father.
Shweta’s father lifted the
phone but burst into tears. He was inconsolable even
after so many months had
passed after Shweta’s death . He said
he had no heart
to share with him about Shweta’s untimely loss. Arun
too broke down and cried inconsolably on phone.
After some time
had passed, Arun insisted to
know the story behind it. What Shweta’s father told him , was
unthinkable.
One of
Shweta’s classmate was
stalking her for quite some time. Shweta wanted to avoid him , but the boy was creating
all shorts of trouble for her. Shweta did
not share with anyone about it. Neither
to his parents nor even to Arun.
She perhaps thought that
she could handle it on her own. Once the final result was out , she vacated
the hostel and returned to Kolkata to their flat.
The flat was empty as her father
was already transferred
to Coochbihar. Shweta was to
stay only one night in the
flat that day and leave for Bombay
next day to spend few days
with her elder brother’ s family there. That was not to be. Shweta’s father says, he gave a call to
Shweta around midnight to check
that everything is fine there. One unknown
boy lifted the phone. Shweta’s
father confronted him on phone, asked
to know what he was doing there.
That boy disconnected the phone then.
Shweta’s father could only reach the flat next day morning to find
Shweta’s motionless body hanging
from a ceiling fan.
The police had a
case of long investigation. The
boy and his family was later imprisoned. But
to Shweta’s family and to Arun,
their beloved daughter was lost for ever. Shweta’s family is still struggling to accept this
inevitable. But to Arun,
he is still at a loss to understand , why Shweta
came to his life for this brief period.
Was she connected with him in
some previous births ? Or , Will
Arun be meeting her
in any of his next births
as one of his child ?
