“This is your Captain speaking……” Abhimanyu sat up.
As an avid traveler he knew what will follow next, he straightened the seat and
buckled himself, while the pilot announced that they will be landing at the NSC BOSE
International Airport,
Kolkata shortly. “At last”, he thought. He felt very irritated, the last three
sleep deprived days were tiring and then the 12 hours non stop flight from Paris made things further
worse. He wanted to find a bed and crash but he knew he will never get any
sleep, not until he has met Ireena.
As Abhimanyu walked out of the
Immigrations, chilling December winds hit his face. At 3:00 in the morning, the
airport wore a deserted look. Abhi didn’t mind the cold, thou he was dressed in
just a sweatshirt and a pair of denims, “Europe
is much colder”, he said to himself. What worried him more was whether the
hotel will send a car to pick him up or not at this hour of the night? And then
to his relief he spotted a man in crisp white uniform holding a signage which
read, “Mr. Abhimanyu Dhawan, MD & CEO, AD-Corp, Paris” and started walking
towards him. When his car hit the almost empty EM Bypass, Abhi rolled the
windows down and lit a cigarette. He looked into the darkness outside and
smiled....this city has once been his home but then in The City of Joy, Abhi had
always lost everything, everything he had held close to his heart. When he had
left Kolkata, he swore he will never come back. And now when he has returned
after 20 years, he was about to loose the only person he had ever loved in his
life. He was about to loose Ireena…..to God and to death and probably again…to
this city!!!
In the comfort of the Executive Suite in this Five
Star, all Abhi managed to do was toss and turn; finally, at 6:30 he gave up,
got out of the bed and made himself a cup of strong black coffee. The only
reason he had chosen this particular hotel was because it was very close to the
hospital where Ireena was waiting to see him…probably for one last time. He
stood near the huge glass window and looked over the Alipore Zoo; the skyline
of this city was changing rapidly. He tried to recollect his conversation with
Ireena four days ago. He was surprised to know that it was “HER” as she had
never called Abhi in the last 20 years and then the surprise changed into sadness
when he learnt that Ireena’s cancer and the sadness into shock when he learnt
about “Deborah”……. Debbie… their 19 year old daughter. Abhi didn’t even know
how to react; he forgot to even breathe for a few moments. Ireena never told
her that she was pregnant, not even when he was leaving. But of course, Abhi
never told her that he was leaving, he had simply ran away, deserting her and
never looked back.
But this time Abhi knew, he was not
gonna run, he knew Ireena needed him. For the first time in his life he knew
what it feels to have a family, and to his utter surprise, the feeling was of
that of “Happiness”. Abhi walked towards the cupboard to take his clothes out,
he had to get ready now. “It is time”, Abhimanyu told himself, thou remorse
engulfed his heart; he couldn’t wait to meet Ireena and Debbie.
To be Contd.......
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