20th November 2015........
I was knocked on to the footpaths of
Mysore-Bangalore Highway fatally injured. Blood oozed out of my eye brows and I
could barely move my right hand. I couldn't speak a word and couldn't breathe
properly. Her hands held my body and pulled me on her laps. She was crying loud
and She started screaming for help “Help me please, can someone tell me where
the hospital is, somebody call 108 now”. It was paining a lot and I was finding
it tough to breathe easy but I couldn't. Nobody came to help us. I was slowly losing the consciousness………..
I could
hear the sound of the beach. Waves were hitting the beach hard and winds blew
heavily. I was in a different world altogether. I spoke loud and louder and now
even louder... Mom rushed into my bedroom and held me. She asked "What’s
happening with you my son? Are you alright!!? It’s too late for your college
now that you should stop dreaming and get ready". Lazy that I am, looked
at my clock and it was about to strike 8 am in the morning. I recounted the
memories, incidents and fights all over these wonderful four years and it was the
last day of my engineering degree. There was some sort of uncomfortable feeling
as I had to leave all the friends and move on with life. And also there was a
satisfaction that I had achieved something great with completion of engineering
degree. As I was immersed in these thoughts, my mom came to my room with a cup
of coffee and wished me a good day. I woke up and had a long shower. As it was
the last day, I pulled up a good dress from my wardrobe and dressed for the
occasion. Mom from the kitchen said "My dear son, come on its time up now
and your breakfast is ready". I wondered why these mothers are so caring
and so beautiful. Appam tasted so good and I had four in a row. After many
years I felt like I should fall at my mother's feet for everything she has
given to me and I did so which surprised my mother. But she did bless me the
best in the world and bid good bye. I started my RX100 bike with a staggering
sound and rode hard towards the college. I had reached earlier than everyone
except that one beautiful lady. As I parked my bike I looked towards the open
air theatre. A special friend of mine waited for me holding a gift wrapped box.
She was dressed up in a blue saree with a sparkling ear ring which highlighted
her beauty. I wondered if she was the only beautiful girl I have ever seen in
this world. I looked at her face and it was filled with excitement. She stood
up as I neared her, her eyes widened and ran towards me. As she ran, I crumbled
and held my breath. My knees became weak and I lost my senses. She reached me
and hugged me tight. I didn't even realize that we are inside the college
campus, tears rolled down her face. She couldn't control her emotions. Nidhi yelled from the back "ANANYA, ANANYA" ...
Oh Yes! She is Ananya Nair from
Palakkad. It’s been four years that we are studying together in NIT Calicut. I
still remember the first time I saw her at the reception counter during
admissions to the college. I waited at the reception with few of my queries to
be solved. She was nowhere but came running into the building rushing towards
the counter, pushed few boys out there and spoke fluently for two minutes. I
kept watching her, wishing that she would be joining my stream so that we can
be in the same class. It seemed she was happy with answers at the reception
counter; she left the building with a smile. With all my queries answered I
left for our classes. I stopped at the door of my classroom and there was no
one except two girls. One of them looked at me and just smiled. The other girl
kept reading the stuffs written on the walls without even bothering to see me.
I entered the classroom and walked towards the girl who smiled at me and spoke
to her “Hi I am Rakshith Menon from Calicut”. She smiled and replied “Hello I
am Nidhi Shetty from Mangalore”. As we exchanged greetings the other girl
turned towards us and greeted me with a handshake. “Hello Rakshith, I am Ananya
Nair from Palakkad. If I am not wrong you were the one sitting in the reception
dumb folded and staring at me right!?” I was in shock for a while but recovered
soon to respond “Actually I was staring you for the reason that you were in
such a hurry to push those boys out there and get your queries solved first”.
She responded immediately “No really! I didn't mean to push them but I was in a
mess that’s all”. I just nodded as I was already finding it odd to continue the
conversation. We settled down and the classes began after an hour with many of
the students coming down to the class. Soon Ananya and I became best friends
and gradually she wasmy mom’s best friend as well. Our friendship continued
for years with shared lunches, weekend outings, silly fights, late night calls,
movies and more. As we came to our last year of engineering, our bonding became
even stronger and I still remember that day when she had cried whole night for
I had picked up a fight with a local group over a sensitive issue. On different
occasions we had expressed our feelings emotionally. But today was the day I
had decided to ask if she is okay to live with me for the rest of her life…
Irritated Ananya moved from me and turned back
rising her eyebrows meant to ask why Nidhi is yelling so loud. Nidhi had come
all the way to take Ananya for the group pictures of their girls’ gang. So I
had to leave Ananya and go back to meet my friends back in the auditorium. The
day came to an end with all the group pictures, bidding good byes to teachers
and more. It was around four ‘o clock in the evening and I had planned one last
ride from the campus of NIT Calicut. I went straight to Ananya where she was
still busy clicking pictures with her friends and pulled her to the corner
saying “Ananya, I need your time for one last ride with me before we finish
engineering”. She gladly accepted and asked me to wait in parking lot. I waited
in the parking lot with a chewing a gum and after ten minutes I could see her
walking towards my bike. It was the evening light that fell on her face making
her look so cute that I felt like running towards and lift her. I have a very
abnormal but a beautiful disease that whenever I see her so beautiful,
automatically my brain would go slow and my heartbeats heavier. She walked
elegantly in the saree and my brain started working slow. I stood speechless
and she pulled my cheek hard. I came back to my senses and I started my bike.
She sat behind me and I rode out of our college. We crossed busy roads of
Kozhikode and got into National Highway 212. She spoke now “Where are we going
Raks?” I said “surprise”. She spoke again “Did you open the gift box that I
gave you?” I replied “Yes the very next moment you left”. She laughed “Did you
like it?” I turned back “Shall I kiss you?” She got shocked “Shall I kill you
for that? How dare you idiot?” I didn't speak but kept riding. She could read
the sign boards as we rode. “Raks!, dear are you sure where we are going now?”
I replied “Yes dear, I am very sure”. I parked my bike in the parking zone and
we walked silently. By the time she had realized my plan. I looked at her face;
she was blushing and looked down as she walked. Cool breeze blew and the sun
was setting in the sea. We were in the Kappad beach. I had told a secret to her
when I was in third year of engineering. I had told her that, I am in love with
a girl and I would be proposing her on the last day of my engineering on a
sunset beach. Unusually calm beach, beautiful sunset and the coconut
trees on the beach with few birds on them made the ambience very romantic. We
walked a hundred meters, we stopped. I held her hands kneeled down on the sand
as the beach waters touched our feet. I took a ring from my pocket and asked
the most important question of my life “Will you marry me Ananya?” Tears rushed
down from her cheeks as she giggled. She said “Yes my dear Raks! I love you so
much”. And she kept repeating the same lines…………
“Raks stop dreaming;
don’t let me just live in your dreams! I love you so much, please wake up! Raks
dear, please wake up, there are hundreds of promises that you have made to me,
please wake up, I love you.” I slowly opened my eyes to see Ananya worried and
crying. Ananya spoke something in a language that I never tried to learn “Anna
swalpa neer kodi”. A villager stood near me and was looking at me strangely.
Ananya gave me some water and I drank. I asked her “What happened?” She said
“Relax, I will tell you everything later. I love you so much”. I slowly
recollected as I lay on bed. I asked “What day it is?” Ananya said “Thursday, it’s
been three days” I was driving at 120 kms per hour on Bangalore Mysore highway
back from Kerala. Ananya my wife and three of our friends were in the car. All
of us had graduated from NIT Calicut four years back and was working in
Bangalore for various IT companies. It was around 02:00 PM in the midnight. It
was a long drive from Calicut to Bangalore. I was tired a bit but Bangalore was
just another 100 kms from the last signboard I saw. Ananya sat in the front
seat and kept me in conversation till a few minutes back. It was continuous
stretch of 3 kms straight drive without any curves or vehicles. I closed my
eyes for three seconds and the next moment there was a huge sound from the
front bumper. Yes, I had hit the corner wall of the road and our car was flying
to land outside the road. Before I realized what had happened I was lying on
the road thrown out of driver seat. Ananya wore the seat belt which had saved
her from any injury. My friends in the back were also hit hard and were in
absolute shock. There were no vehicles on the road due to a strike in some
parts of Karnataka. Some of the on lookers rushed to the spot and Ananya was
screaming for help. Nobody understood what she meant. I had gone unconscious
after that moment. It was three days since I last saw Ananya and the world. Ananya
sat beside my hospital bed spoke to me now “See Raks, He is Nanjegowda, who
saved you by giving the first aid”. He was the same man who looked at me
strangely once I opened my eyes after three days. I folded my hands and he just
smiled. I asked “What happened?” Ananya responded “The very moment you fell on
the road, you were bleeding a lot and I was shouting for help, everyone looked
at me but no one came to help. They just gave few bottles of water. I was
really tensed and I did not know how to handle the situation. Some of them
spoke in Kannada “Ee
hudgi en mataadtavlo en katheno, yav baddi haidange artha agutralla?”
(Translated from Kannada:
What the hell is this girl speaking, is there anyone who can understand
her words?). I
still didn’t realize, I kept asking for help as the blood was oozing out
heavily from your eyebrows. I was terrified and shivering as no one was
responding to my questions. It was getting late but I was helpless. Then they
forced me to drink water. I drank some water and they asked me “Yav uramma nimdu?” Then I realized and
replied in Kannada “Namdu kerala, nange en madbeko gottagtilla. Yavdaadru
aaspatre karkondogbeku. Tumba blood barta ide” (Translated
from Kannada: We are from Kerala. I have no clue on what to do. He is bleeding
so much, Need to get him to any hospital soon.) Then immediately they responded and said there
was no hospital nearby but had to take you to Mandya, a district place. We
tried to call the ambulance and for our fate, the ambulance facilities were two
hours far. Our car had broken down completely and then I could talk to them
fluently to get their vehicle so that we would take you to the hospital. By the
time they responded it was very late but it was better late than never. Yes if
I had not realized and responded them in Kannada, the story would have been
completely different than what it is now. The villagers took you all the way to
the hospital and doctor appreciated the efforts of them”
I
just listened to Ananya as she explained the series of events. Then I
recollected four years of my stay in Bangalore and I had never bothered to
learn the language. The only good thing that I had done was to love this
sensible girl Ananya who had mastered local language within the span of four
years. Many times, she had insisted me to learn the same but I had ignored. Today
as I, Rakshith Menon from Kerala lay on the beds of a hospital in Mandya
district of Karnataka dreaming of my mom and how I met Ananya; the real saviour was the local language. Not every time we drive to the places where people
speak my language. I learnt one of the most basic and important lesson of my
life – “Learn the local language as fast as you can and as fluently as you can,
it may save your life.”
No comments:
Post a Comment