Achi news desk-
6 minutes ago
- copy link
Coming to Nainital from the village after 12th to study polytechnic was like opening doors to a new world for Kesh. Nainital always seemed to him a mysterious and attractive place between village and city. Years later, when he saw the ‘wormhole’ ie the place between two universes in the German sci-fi thriller ‘Dark’, it looked very similar to Nainital. This city always scared him and tempted him like a wormhole.
When he first came to this city, he was accompanied by Simi, a bubbly and mischievous girl of medium height who was pursuing a mechanical engineering course. All the friends saw chemistry between them, but in reality there was nothing like that.
Kesha was not unaware of the feeling of love, but she did not let this feeling dominate her. There were definitely two or four occasions in his life when he liked a girl and he accepted her in a light atmosphere after a lot of pressure from his friends.
One of them was SIMI from Polytechnic College, Nainital. Whether what was between them can be called love or not is up to the discretion and conclusion of the readers.
In fact, to be in love and accept it in life, one must have a little carelessness, a little uncertainty, a little shamelessness, a little courage and the ability to take a little risk. And Kesha could not afford to take any of this. He had to complete his studies and get a job and then provide a peaceful life for his family.
Kesh and Simi were one of the groups into which all the future engineers were divided, two weeks after the official presentation in the first year. He explored Nainital extensively. Walk on the Mall Road every night, patrol the cool streets, visit the Nanda Devi temple, wander in the market located on the flats, visit the Cheena Peak to Tiffin Top or the Zoo or take a boat ride . Sometimes eating momos, sometimes noodles, sometimes eating dahi-jalebi, I don’t know how many seconds both of them saved from the whole group.
When Simi first came to Kesh’s room in the second year, Kesh didn’t have the courage to say or do anything. His housemates had all gone to watch a movie and he was lying in a fever. He was sure he wasn’t in love with Simi, but I don’t know why he felt strangely nervous. He was just a boy. And for 15-16 hours a day, he would think about the girl he was with, seeing her in front of him, that he also, when he was alone, felt like saying or doing something, but as if there was anything in him to be able to love her or accept her. It wasn’t there, so even though he had a fever, he came down on the pretext of getting a packet of milk to make tea.
After a few months, the occasion came when he held Simi’s hand while sitting by the lake on a cold night. This was the most unique thing in itself. That night they both took sips of ‘Old Monk’ every now and then to escape the cold breeze coming from the side of the lake. He had seen this in a French film when the hero and heroine were sipping from a flask of wine, holding each other’s hands and saying nothing in the cold wind. So holding Simi’s hand was like living that movie moment or the effect of the rum on the cold night.. But Kesh didn’t feel guilty for his action against expectations.
Before completing the course, everyone’s destinations were fixed, cities were fixed, life goals were fixed. Most of the girls in the batch were getting married, and Simi was also one. When he told Kesha about his marriage and moving to New Zealand, many thoughts went through his mind. When Kesha looked at herself, she found that this news did not upset her, but that she had a strange feeling. Such a feeling after that he was not even interested in his favorite work. Simi had now run to give this good news to the rest of the people.
After about five years, Kesh had to come to Nainital again. As soon as he got down at the bus stand, looking at Naini Lake, the city surrounded by hills on three sides appeared like an amphitheatre, where his dream of watching the play with Simi remained not realized. Simi? Don’t know why Simi remembered as soon as he landed in Nainital?
His eyes were searching for his friends at the college alumni meeting when someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind. Before he could turn to look at his face, someone was swinging on his shoulders. It was clear from the perfume coming from the curly hair that it was Simi. After a few seconds, when we parted, she said let’s eat something first. There is a very tasty Gol-Gapp stall here.
When Kesh told his group after meeting all his friends that he was getting married, his friends lifted him on their shoulders and carried him across the ground singing ‘Ek Kunwara, Phir Gaya Mara, Phas Gaya Dekho, Ye Bechara…’ He started circling. He was the only bachelor left in his group. Everyone made a plan, from a bachelor party to a bachelor trip, that all their wishes would be fulfilled at Kesha’s wedding. Simi stepped aside saying ‘excuse me’.
Before leaving Nainital for their respective places, Simi had sent a message to Kesh in the evening and invited him to meet her on the same bench on which they had once spent the whole night talking and the next morning, with red eyes, he arrived at the college to attend. the lecture.
When Simi started combing her hair after finding out about each other’s family, she had said everything but ‘don’t get married’ throughout the night. When Kesh angrily asked the reason, Simi said that she didn’t think Kesh was yet mature for marriage, relationship, partnership. Kesha’s mouth was left open in surprise. Instead of giving a direct answer to Simi, he also said that I am the oldest among the brothers and sisters. Everyone else got married. There are also children. Everyone is settled in our group too. No matter how immature I am now, I will have to get married.
With this rift, the two say goodbye to each other. All the friends had started making plans for Kesha’s wedding to take place after three months. A WhatsApp group had already been formed. On which tips started coming in from dress code, bachelor trip, bachelor party location, honeymoon etc. While Kesh smiled after seeing this message, Simi did not see or read any message.
Four years after the former students met, Simi’s message came to Kesh for the first time, when he found out that Kesh’s wife, Naina, was no longer in the second wave of Covid. Many guests had come to Naina’s brother’s wedding which was held during Covid. Naina was working so much running all the time that she couldn’t get up on the wedding day due to exhaustion. He somehow attended the wedding. While dancing at the reception, she started breathing heavily. The doctor said that Naina’s lungs had become very weak.
Naina died in Kesh’s arms wearing a PPE kit. She kept pretending to be strong until the end, but her last minute words – ‘Don’t let me go now, save me’ still echo in Kesha’s ears.
She fought her death and her hair for three days. Before leaving, she had taken two promises from Kesha – ‘Don’t let our Nishani lineage lose me’ and ‘Marry for the second time’. Kesh had agreed to her wish, but it was not possible for him to marry yet. His family members and friends knew this too.
Who did not come to Simi Kesh’s wedding while she was in India, today she somehow got the visa clearance done in six months and came to meet him from New Zealand. After a long silence, when Simi did not understand how to break the silence, she took Vansh in her lap. After playing with him for some time, Simi looked into Kesh’s eyes. There he saw nothing but desert and drought. He saw how quietly Kesha was drinking her sadness. She felt that maybe she was wrong when she told Kesh that you were not mature for marriage. Life gives us many lessons and sometimes what it cannot learn is learned by the death of a loved one.
While leaving home, Kesh held Simi’s hand and said that after marrying Naina, I always remember what you said that I am not mature for this relationship. That’s why I always tried to at least not let him realize this. I could never love anyone in my life. I never let myself fall in love with anyone. This may not happen in the future as well. But when I think about the past, the moments spent with you were the most special to me. You came into my life first but maybe I shouldn’t have let you go. I only want to answer one thing from you, when you had given the news about your marriage, if I had told you that you were not mature for marriage, what would your answer be?
The answer was given not by Simmi but by the tears coming out of her eyes. But maybe none of them were mature enough to decode the language of salt water and what those tears wanted to say…
– Gitanjali
E-Ishq Send your story to: [email protected]
in the subject line E-Ishq don’t forget to write
Submit unpublished works
