twilight melted away, majestic sunrise, red orange glow seeping over the horizon as if the light itself was being poured from a molten sun. powerful rays flood over the landscape lighting every blade of grass, shining from each leaf.
singhania mansion:
akshara entered her duggu’s room and saw naksh on the bed, hugging keerti’s picture tightly.
akshara: duggu. duggu, wake up plz.
naksh didn’t wake up but instead sleepily mumbled: keerti yaar….give me a moment to shed the sleep from my brain, to allow the visions of the night to give way to the day, to move from that which i create on a whim to things more fixed and real. in a few minutes i will be able to greet the sunlight, to see the colours as bright as the backlit images of cinema screens; i will adjust. for now let it come with the subtleness of a gentle dawn and let me doze underwing. i’ll be there soon, i’ll wake up, you’ll see.
akshara stayed silent. she knew her son was still in grief as of keerti’s demise. it had been 4 days since the incident.
she sat on the side of the bed and said: duggu, stop speaking Shakespeare and wake up! this is your mum telling you what to do!
slowly and reluctantly, naksh uncovered his face. he blinked, closed his eyes, and blinked again. streaks of sunlight penetrated the window and blinded him.
akshara smiled, stroking his hair and then asked: duggu, meri jaan, please sit up.
naksh sat up, keerti’s photo still in his hands.
akshara: i know you don’t feel like doing anything but your papa and i decided something.
naksh: if it’s for business then i’ll do it mama.
akshara: really?
naksh: haan…besides i need to keep myself busy, i don’t want to remarry so at least i can manage keerti’s NGO business along with my own.
akshara: in that case, then…you need to go to Gurugram to meet the children in sacred hearts school. today is their fathers’ day celebrations and you know keerti used to love visiting schools on this day, so that she could watch the children’s play and then organize father and child activities.
naksh smiled thinking of the times he was able to join keerti in those activities.
akshara: and this year, she promised sacred hearts school that she would visit them but…
naksh: i’ll go, for keerti only.
akshara: great! take naira with you.
naksh nodded and akshara kissed his cheek. then she went.
naksh looked at keerti’s photo and kissed it, saying: only for you jaan. i don’t want to go but…i want to keep your legacy alive.
he kept her photo to a side and went to change.
meanwhile:
Gurugram :
sacred hearts school:
the nursery and reception classes were rehearsing their lines. titli was part of the nursery class. as she happily finished writing the last word to her speech, a teacher came to her and said: good morning tashni!
titli: good morning anju mam.
anju: so have you finished what you wanted to say?
titli: haan….i don’t know it’s good enough. but, it has all my feelings.
anju: oh, so you wrote from the heart?
titli: haan! i wrote from heart.
anju: wow! that’s great. i can’t wait to hear it.
one boy came up to anju and said: anju mam, i need some help.
anju: of course. see you tashni.
titli: bye.
anju went and titli found a plain piece of paper and started drawing bunnies on it. just then…
voice: wow! these bunnies are cho cho cute.
titli looked around her, confused as a flight of dark shadows. there was no one around her, and all the other kids were getting help from teachers.
titli mumbling to her: who said that?
she shrugged her shoulders and then decided to colour in the bunnies. as she did, she heard something again.
voice: you are so talented! you are just four and you colour in the lines! amazing!
titli again looked around, wearing a puzzled expression. who was talking to her? all she could get from the voice that it was a female talking to her.
titli in mind: maybe it is just my imagination. haan it has to be.
she continued colouring and the voice didn’t annoy her again.
…
later that day:
it was the afternoon now. both naksh and naira reached Gurugram.
naira: wow bhai! look how pretty this place is! omg!!! look gol gappa. please bhai give me some money.
naksh rolled his eyes and replied: naira, gol gappa later on. first let us go to the school and then we can have gol gappa.
naira: fine!
the car, carrying them both, continued to move as the scene shifted to the school:
talika and raghva reached the school after managing to get out of work. talika was wearing:
and raghav was wearing:
they entered the building and sat down in their seats.
talika: i can’t wait to hear titli’s speech.
raghav: me too. what do you think she wrote?
talika: i don’t know. she was up all night preparing a speech and she kept hiding it from me.
raghav: wow! clever girl.
talika: obviously. you raised her to hide things from me.
raghav: oh really?
talika: yes really!
raghav: sorry.
talika: better be!
raghav made a fake scared face and the two silently laughed.
just as they were speaking to one another and other parents, naksh and naira entered with some servants carrying gifts. talika suddenly felt weird. a michmichmi feeling
the principal came with flowers and gave it to naksh.
principal: welcome to our school. it’s such a shame to hear about keerti’s demise. thank you still for coming.
naira: it’s no problem.
naksh: once a commitment is made, then there is no point turning back from it.
the principal smiled. talika turned as she somehow heard a bit of his voice but due to a crowd of people, she couldn’t see the very back of the room.
talika in mind: why am i feeling like this? i shouldn’t be.
she turned back and busied herself with conversations but she couldn’t help thinking: there is a silence to my soul; i feel the chill in my blood, coldness bringing the synapses of my brain to a stand still. part of it is a pain, yet one i don’t known i can endure….
as she was stuck in her thoughts, a voice whispered: talika, naksh and titli, abhi toh party shuru hui hai..
but talika didn’t hear the voice.
…
precap: fathers’ day part 2
sorry for a part 2 guys and sorry for a boring chapter. there are two boys who keep looking at my work