Gone By

by Hajong, Beatone

  “Hey! I got to say something to you”.

  “What happen” she intended to know.

  “Maybe I shall have to leave by today”.

  “Can’t you stay some more hours” she demanded. I nodded.

  “Why do you have to go so early” it sounded like she wanted me to stay back.

  “I’ll keep coming every Sunday” holding my breath in my chest. She intently gazed at me.

  Momentarily the charm on her face faded away. All I had to make her the thing understand. She quietly kept her ears open to my words. She came more closer and rested her head on my shoulder. I rubbed my hand on her back, a sort of consolation I tried. The silence checked in. And the evening began to fall. We were still there seated in the same place. I could observe the evening sun set some far distance away from us. It’s rays shutting below the horizon. Gradually the park began to get crowded. Couples of older ages began to walk in. I glanced at my wrist watch, 5:00pm. I had to turn back to catch up bus for my return.

  “I think I should leave” I said softly.

  She set herself and shifted her head from my shoulder.

  “Can’t you just stay one more hour” her voice ended faintly.

  “I’ll be late”.

  “I just don’t want you to go” her tone shook off.

  I gently placed both my palm on her cheek.

  “I’ll always be there. I’ll come to see you every Sunday. Don’t worry” I said softly.

  My face almost touched her. So inch close we were I could feel the touch of our each other’s nose. Her eyes turned red, which hinted she wanted to burst into tears.

  “Don’t make your tears fall..it will hurt me” I couldn’t be steady with my tone rather it shook off. “Look into my eyes” I demanded.

  She slowly raised her head. She stood silent. I could just feel her heartbeat racing faster.

  “You’re a brave girl..smart. Big girl don’t cry” with my consoling tone.

  I curled my arm upon her shoulder and led a way towards her hostel building. She was completely soaked into my warm hug and our steps added together. Just few more yards away from her hostel, on the way she said nothing. Rather she was so pressed under my arm that she felt so secure. We stood right in front of her hostel gate. She loosened out from my tight embrace. I shuffled closer to her. Once again I took control of my palm and placed on her cheek. Being soft and calm, I gave her a kiss on her forehead. She felt the care and looked at my eyes for the last time. She then walked off. I stood watching her close until she was in. I waved my hand at her, she stood for seconds watching me going.

  Twenty One

  ..........................

  I gave a look at the time. I needed to sleep now. Moreover I had to wake up early the next morning. I closed my diary and stopped writing. For seconds I thought of messaging Isha but it sounded inappropriate at this late hour of the night. The watch ticked 1:00am the next day and I was still awake, compromising myself with the late night. Finally, I settled and found myself on my bed. Although I wasn’t in a mood to sleep, I had to compel myself until my eyes would set me free. So, I was finally drown in a dream.

  When the day broke out I was already late. The alarm bell began to ring hard. Somehow it reached my ears and jerked me out of my sleep. That’s the worst thing that happened sleeping late. I suddenly jumped out of my bed and found myself upright on the floor. I hurried to refresh. Within no time I dressed up and got ready to move out to catch the bus.

  “Oh! Shit I’m late” I murmured.

  I began to walk faster. I caught a taxi to get me into the station. I hurriedly paid the fare and ran to catch the bus that was moving out for Goa. Just a luck, I had to stop the bus at the exit gate. So was I the last passenger to get into the bus. But many more seats were yet to be filled. I occupied one window seat. I thought of reminding to Isha and instantly made a call to her.

  “Hey” piercing my tone hard.

  “Hello” she said from the other end.

  “Well, I’m coming”.

  “I’ll wait for you” and hanged the phone.

  With that short conversation, I resumed back to my older version. I sat quietly on my seat. The bus began to move out from the Satara city. Likewise I could remember those moments again. Everything began to flashback in my memory. Had Isha been sitting beside me I would have let her see the rest part of my story written in my diary. I found myself in the mist of clouded thoughts. The morning sun rays cracked in through the window. It fell on my face and dispersed all over my body. I tried to pull the curtain of the window. The bus was well equipped with all necessary things. I pulled the key of my seat and slid it’s back support at some angle. I leaned my back and rested with all my breath out. The day began to bloom out. The seat beside me still empty. The city behind passed away and finally the wheel geared it’s speed on the highway. Now the best thing I could do was either I close my eyes and go to sleep back else I start writing the story in my diary. That’s the only thing I could manage to think while travelling. Neither the interest of viewing out through the window nor reading of any magazine did diverted me.

  Had shut my ear with a headphone, with all the tracks being played from an ipod. I was lost into the beats of music, leaning my back against its back support. For more than an hour I had been listening to all kinds of track from the ipod system. As the bus moved smoothly through its way, out of the window I could see clusters of birds flying high up in the sky. Whereas I was humming out with the song being played into my ears. I dribbled my hand to look for my diary inside the bag. Maybe I began to feel little unsettled with only music being played into my ears. I thought of continuing the story. So, I had the diary in my hand, music into ears and the speeding bus flying at its enormous speed. I flipped a page and my pen began to script.

  Now that I gave a word to Anannya, would visit her every Sunday. So, every week that’s the only thing I would wait now. Everything began to grow efficiently between us. Days would end up in short and I would ponder the time I would spent every Sunday. Sometimes I would skip even the other days just to run and see her. Such was the appeal of our relationship, and I never wanted to fail it out. I began to feel more enthused as the days passed on. Now that I could perform things better, knowing the fact that she was the inspiration added in my life. I always maintained the love she needed. Gradually her smile began to bloom much deeper in her life. She seemed more happy and cheerful. And I wouldn’t miss to see that. With every new things that began to flow in our life I tried to keep up our relation more healthier. Sunday visiting was now a daily routine for me. That gleam on my face used to return as I would see her before my eyes. I never wanted to be the same, every time I struggled myself to be better in front of her eyes. She demanded all of my goods things and I would serve her with best compliments of my life. She began to love me more and I began to fall intensely. Felt like we were the only lovers in the world, who had been in the hands of heaven.

  It was one Monday, I visited her. She text and called me. She said, she was unwell. I couldn’t wait anymore but to rush and see her. After three hours of travelling, finally I landed in the hearts of Pune. I quickened to move towards her residential area. Within no time I found myself there. I saw, she stood waiting in front of her hostel gate. I cracked my little voice and waved at her. She turned and flashed a smile and waved at me back. I began to shuffle my steps closer to her. As I reached nearer she came forward closer to me and embraced for minutes.

  “How have you been?” I put my first question.

  “Not fine without you” she replied.

  “You told you’re sick”.

  “Yeah! My heartache never lets me sleep the whole night”.

  “So, I’m here now to take your heartache away” I flushed with smile.

  She wanted to take me to one new place. As she knew I was very rare to Pune, so I had less knowledge about the scenic beauty of that city. We were riding in a auto. Well, to me riding an auto was a different kind of exp
erience. It’s more or less like a scooter, to be more specific I could just say it’s a three wheeler scooter. Finally we were in front of a huge building.

  “What’s this place is about” I sought to know.

  “You’ll like it”.

  I could see clump of people stood right in front of the porch of that building. Some entering while others popping out. She took my hand and began to walk in a direction where crowded stood densely. She extended her hand through the small gaps between the congested crowds. Lastly she got two chits of paper. I saw it was a tickets.

  “You could have said me” I said.

  “No..today you’re my guest” she said smiling.

  “Alright..as you wish my majesty” with that shower of humming words.

  She patted on my head and took my hand again and walked towards the entrance door. As we proceeded to enter I found myself into a big hall. Everything appeared white before my eyes. But as we crossed one more section of our route, there were something worth to watch.

  I intended to know “Is this a museum”.

  “Yeah! It’s a museum” said Anannya peeking at me.

  “You brought me to a museum”.

  “Yeah!..now tell me did you like the place”.

  “Of course I do” I answered with higher tone.

  We began to take a look of all the things. Walls engraved with ancient scripts and art. Statues of olden times stood still. Paintings hanged on the side walls. Gradually people began to rush more in number. We were still on the ground floor of the museum building. At this floor it had nothing more than ancient collections of medieval age. We began to step up the next floor. The second floor had all the collections from ancient Rome. A statue of Caesar stood upright at the entrance of its hall on that floor.

  “Do you know who’s this” asked to Anannya who was standing right beside me.

  “No..I don’t know him”.

  “I still remember, I read one drama during my school days”.

  “What drama” she gawked at the statue.

  “It’s Julius Caesar”.

  “So, who was he?”.

  We shuffled our steps into the hall, she was holding my hand as we added to move on.

  “He was a tyrant ruler of Rome” taking a glance at the marble statue which were laid in a row.

  “A tyrant”.

  “Yes! A Tyrant..that’s what people called him”.

  There were many behind us standing in queue. As we passed on each statues watching them very close, people increased in number. There were some people giving some explanations about monuments that were being displayed. We stood listening their words, within seconds people gathered around them. A Man was saying something about John of Arc, which I could hear faintly.

  “What he’s talking about” asked Anannya.

  “He’s delivering a lecture on John of Arc, that’s his statue. Did you see that” I uttered.

  Anannya stretched her neck above the crowded mobs to glance at the statue. We thought of moving on to the other remaining statues. Now the third floor had all the modern things, including scientific inventions, discoveries. I was very much interested to that. Couldn’t wait no more but to level up to third floor. That was the last floor of the museum building. We were very much anxious to explore that part of the museum. Lastly, we could watch everything that were available. By now we had explored the whole museum. And I took a glance of my wrist, it timed to be 4:00pm. Maybe one thing that I always followed in my life was to maintain the time. No matter what it could be I always thought about doing things in time. We moved down to the ground floor.

  “How was it” she asked.

  “It’s wonderful”.

  “I want you to take to one more place” she said softly into my ears.

  I stood still for second before her. I gave brief look at her. My lips pressed and I could only nod my head with slight apparent gesture on my face.

  “Where do you want to take me”.

  “Somewhere only you and me and the nature between us” she said keenly.

  We walked out of the exit door. She waved her hand to stop a taxi. I clung the door for her. She set herself in and I sat beside her. I had no idea where she wanted to go. She addressed the driver in that particular location. We began to move out of that area.

  For travelling about thirty minutes, finally our taxi halted. She came out first and I followed the other side of the door.

  “So, this is where you wanted me to bring”.

  She raised her eye brow and pressed her lips, a gentle nod from her came up. She came to my side as the taxi drove away. Held my hand and initiated to walk. Before my eyes, I could see the blue sky spreading it’s wings of colour. The rainbow above us showered it’s seven colour. We stood still, along the edge of a steep. Below deep down the river flowed. Birds, flying above and clouds the gave it’s white picture of the day.

  “It’s amazing” I said softly.

  Some mist of moisture prevailed in the air. I turned to look up high into the sky, the flock of birds flew higher and higher up in the sky. Anannya stood holding my hand, and I could feel her soft palm touching mine. My fingers were curled into her palm tightly. I gave a second glance to her and smiled. She began to stare at me like she never wanted to miss me anymore in her life. We sat on the ground with half part of our legs hanging freely through the edge of the steep. The whole surrounding sounded peaceful and calm. It made me feel my life changed, so lucky to be with her. And the love reciprocated between us endlessly. The only soul I would want at that moment was she. I would have only love to stand only by her side. As the sun began to draw in, the rainbow colour began to fade away. But, the smell of splashing water from the bottom river added in to the fragrance of the air. She rested her head on my shoulder. My hand gently curled her inside my arm. The panoramic view accompanied our soul and the sensational moment went recording in both of our lives. That was one of the healthiest and memorable time I had with her. As the sun began to drop its wing below the horizon, our shadows got lengthen behind us. The dark hour of the evening began to slide in. And we were like the heavenly souls drown in the era of love.

  The next day I found back to my old routine, that same college hour. I made a call to Anannya that morning wished her. Expressed her the inner depth of my intense feelings that we had been going through. Even thanked her for the place which she showed me. Now that I knew our love has gone so far that I began to feel the realm of it. I was serious about her in every part. Never took her for granted. I made myself clear she would be my first and last in whole of my life. Now that I had to grow more responsible and careful in life. I wanted to give her the whole lot of things that could make her feel alive. Crashed all the things that would never support my life, and I knew the strength of my love would never let me down. Indeed, I began to feel the immense respect for her.

  To show my gratitude I thanked her every day, with every little words and verse of my life. I always wanted to see her happy and cheerful, that was a motive that I began to work on to construct our love more purposeful in future. Her every intentions I needed to know and that’s how I had been knowing her. Every inner depth of feelings and emotions I would reciprocate to her. Which she would preserve like a treasure of her life. Extending to its deepest length our love had no limits, we were bound like we were meant to be together. Now, that I began to feel the energy back in my life. For a year I had been living in dark shades of my life enduring the thickness of strong pain and grief. But, now a year later she’s back again in m life. Was it the fate , the luck that wanted us to be together once again, I had no solution on that. My life took a new shape, and I could dirigible all my way with great energy and enthusiasm. Never I felt so much alive like I began to feel . Maybe it was all because of her, which she showed me with love and affection which I needed. Now, that I wanted to be more perfect not to indulge in any of my wrong doings. My entire life was tuned in her love and I could feel the gradual growth. Every day and night she has bec
ome my daily life.

  We started to compromise the distance between us. Except for Sundays, I visited her. Weeks began to passed on, turned into months, we were the happiest lovers on earth, more than that we felt we were into one soul of each other. Days never went empty without any exchange of words between us. With every section of the day describing like a story to one another, that’s how a fairy tale we began to create between us. With every single day the euphoria of our love began to grow much stronger than ever. Each moment passed by I recorded in my heart. More than half part of my thought it belonged to her. I never could think I would fall so deeply for her. But, indeed I could understand the love that took us away.

  However, it was many a time I failed to show my chivalry. I knew she deserved all the good things in this world. But she never happened to opposed on any things instead she did right thing with words of encouragement which she would let me feel. I later do used to realize my faults. When then I would forward myself to ask her hand of forgiveness. She never used to hesitate to forgive me, and I always tried to make myself right the second time. With strong concession on my mind I never thought of misleading her. She kept dreams for her life which I wanted to see her fulfilling it. Likewise, she always talked about my wish. Every corner of my life I opened for her. I was no more for anybody, but I belonged to her. My miserable life began to gleam once again, and this time I never wanted it to go away. I always thought of doing something better for her, in every season of the year I did used to represent something valuable before her eyes. All I could conceive for better life, with dreams holding in my eyes. My greater part of dream was she, where she had been playing the leading role in my life. Whole of my words manifested and my world began to revolve around her. Our occasional meet on Sunday formed better part of our life. I never missed the chance to visit her. The joy and the happiness enveloped us. Everything, began to fly high in our world like the free birds who are left undisturbed by the winds. Every sorrow and grief settled deep down, back to the place from where it erupted.