Mr. Margaret had another heart attack .This was the fourth one this year. The tension had been increasing in the past few months. There business was spread world wide, so the work was increasing at a fast pace. The esteem they had been enjoying was asking a price, a price which was not more than their lives.
Dr. Andrew had been called, their family doctor.
“Mr. Margaret, I feel you should take a holiday for two of you, rather three of you. This business is asking you to pay a big deal of yourself.”
“But what about the business?”
“It would go, even without you, but you need a holiday right at the moment”.
Mr. and Mrs. Margaret together with their daughter Carol, were then off to a land which was away from society, to a lone island which was inhabited by not more than five hundred people. The people there had their own lives, lives untouched by external factors.
They were given a place at a cottage, owned by Raghawendra who lived there with his only son. He had lost his wife in a flood earlier. After that his son was his world. They lived alone, alone in the heavenly abode. Spiritualism, meditation was there life. Some visitors helped earn a living for two of them, this time it was Carol with her parents.
Carol was the only heir to the business empire Margarets had… she was as cute as anyone could be, big brown eyes, chocolate brown skin., a beautiful face, slender legs, full grown bosom, and a lovely heart, a smile which could fill anyone’s heart with joy…. this was Carol, untouched by the status Margarets enjoyed.
“hi” .
“hi, am Carol”.
“Raju”(this was raghwendra’s son).
“Friends?”
And he gave a positive node.
Two of them enjoyed a good company together, she was 16 and Raju 17, Raju would teach her to meditate and Carol taught him to speak English.
Two of them walked on the shores, played together, they enjoyed being with each other.
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The sun had set, it was getting darker and the only noise to be heard was from the waves touching the shore and then receding back. They created a cadence of flowing water.
Carol sat in front of Raju in aalti-palti(cross-legs) in a tight fitting black swim suit that showed her curves clearly and she was trying to mediate.
“Raju,I cannot”
“Why can’t you?”
“Try again”
“When ever I close my eyes, I imagine everything other than what you ask me to. The more you ask me to put my thoughts aside, this earthly world returns all the more”.
“Just close your eyes and Relax! Don’t make any conscious effort; it would all happen on its own.”
“I’ll try again”
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“No!”
“Hey, hold my hand and concentrate on what I say!”
“Ok”
“Can you see a rose?
“Yes”
“A beautiful white rose…………. there are tiny droplets on it….sparkling, blooming flower”.
“Yes”
“Now just try and concentrate on your eyebrow centre….relax, just leave yourself……… free yourself of every thought”
“Hey Raju, I did it”
She opened her eyes; bend down and her lips touched Raju’s.
He moved back.
“Hey Carol, what are you doing?”
“Hey, I could do this all coz of you”
“Was that necessary?
She gave a smile, got up and hurried towards the cottage.
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Raju sat back, just thinking what had happened in the last few minutes… The firanggi family’s daughter, did she mean what she did…if anyone would have seen it, was she in love with him?
“No, no this could not be possible. She is a princess to an empire and what about me?
What am I?
I earn my living, fishing…spend my time with strangers…I wanted a spiritual life for myself??? Is she drifting me?
But why did she?”
Rajuu…Rajuuuuu(This was Raghwendra)
“Haa baba(yes, dad)”.
“Come here, its time for dinner, help me out.”
“Aata hu”(coming).”
Should I tell what Carol did to me?
No-no…he would kill me for it!”
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Raju couldn’t sleep the whole night, thoughts about Carol clashed his mind, her way of talking, her smile…. how gracefully did she carry herself, there was not the slightest amount of egoism in her,
He stayed awake... staring at the sky, lying there on the terrace …thinking about the last few days he had spent with her...
Will even she leave like all other tourists, or she’ll be a friend, or more than that???
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He somehow managed removing all thoughts from his mind, and he promised himself, tomorrow would be new …he’ll live every moment which has been left for her stay with Carol. He’ll make every moment memorable.
The next morning they were on the beaches again…….playing, running after one another…….. They took a ride on the shikhara(houseboat) which Raghwendra owned, whole day both of them enjoyed on the boat…..they rowed the boat till they were in the middle of the sea, all alone!
He took her soft hands in his, and he kissed them…
“Raju”
She came closer.
But he receded back!
She had seen men, but had never met such a man in his life….yes, she loved him.
But today she wanted to respect him...
“Hey, what are you thinking? I am sorry, if I did something wrong!”
“yahiii ki you are a sweetheart.”
“wo kya hota hai? You didn’t teach me this.”
“It means Raju,is….
“Raju is what”
“Raju is very good”
“Really”
“Yaa”
“Its getting dark, how about returning back”.
And they took the boat back to the small cottage, near the shore.
Both of them returned back with there hands in eachothers…
Carol was in a two-piece bikini, and Raju in some white cloth wrapped in a way Margaret’s found funny….they certainly did not like their daughter’s new friend, but there were no options. There were not many people around, and Mr. Margaret was recovering…. Soon they would be off to their home and their daughter would forget the dehattii with whom she was spending so much time.
“Time for tea, Carol”
“Thank you Mr.Raghwendra”
“Oops, dad…I think we forgot to shut down the windows of the houseboat, its open and it has started raining. I’ll be back in few minutes”.
“Be careful dear”
Even Carol insisted to go with Raju and two of them went together...
Suddenly, it started raining heavily…… the radio broadcasts asked the fishermen not to go near the sea. The rainfall level was increasing and a flood was feared...
Mr.Raghwendra, Margarets were all afraid, but they could do nothing except waiting....wait for the rain to stop pouring so much!
On the other end were Carol and Raju, unaware of what was happening outside...for them it was just another rain……… They were fully drenched in water, while coming to the shikara, they were closing the windows, when suddenly Carol slipped into his arms…
And they finally kissed each other.
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The water level kept on increasing as if it would never stop, everyone was worried, the whole night both of them didn’t turn up……………..
By morning, the sea became calm.
From far away someone could be seen coming closer. It was Raju with Carol in his arms. She lay still, in a kind of sleep...everyone was frightened, she looked so young and unharmed …….. they ran closer only to discover that she’ll never move again!
Raju laid her down, where she lay flat, with her heart having stopped beating, calm and still.
Margarets could not stand the blow of loosing there only daughter, in a foreign land, that too in such circumstances.
“I wish to leave this land as soon as possible; I don’t want to be here, even for a moment”.
“Be practical dear, we cannot take Carol with us, we’ll have to cremate her here only”
“No, I can not leave my daughter out here, and that too on this land”
“See honey, our journey, would take weeks; we can not keep Carol’s body with us for so long, there would be trouble”.
“I don’t know anything, not here please!”
So they hired a boat, to cross the sea, back to their land. And when they were right in the middle of the sea…the same place Carol had been with Raju, they drowned her there.
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Here Raju was missing, Raghwendra had been searching him since the moment he left Carol’s body and disappeared...
And when he could spot him, he was in Samadhi on top of a cliff, meditating.
He called him…but Raju ran away…ran away to the shores….he didn’t seem to hear him, her Carol was calling him. He went closer to the sea...the water filled his nostrils, filled his stomach …… and closer till the waves engulfed him and he could not breathe anymore.
He had met her Carol again.
They gave each other a smile of surprised delight as if they had rediscovered each other. They looked deep into each other’s eyes, moved by admiration and tenderness and they kissed impulsively, with warmth that communicated itself from their mind to their bodies…
They were in love today, they were one for infinity.
