Broken and shattered Asmi was somehow striving to lead a happy life when she met the charming and successful guitarist, Aditya. Poles apart yet alike, they shared a chemistry on which historical lovers can swear. Sooner than they realized both of them were incredibly in love. Asmi’s beauty and femininity immensely complemented Aditya’s charismatic and suave personality. It was not only Asmi whose life took a beautiful turn; Aditya, too, was on cloud nine. Asmi’s love for soulful writing soon became the inspiration behind Aditya’s music. Songs composed by him mounted to the top of popular chartbusters.
Asmi’s graceful and poised nature was in perfect match with Aditya's random and crazy lifestyle. Their meeting was like a chemical reaction between their personalities, where both of them were transformed to be better individuals. He was her rising sun and she was her gentle moon. Soon after being in love Aditya decided to get married to her. By now, Asmi had forgotten all the scars she borne from her former love. She had broken all the promises she made to herself of never falling in love again. This was not really the first time when she dared to follow her heart but it was certainly a life changing move for her.
It was Asmi's birthday in a few days and for Aditya it was a very special day. After all it had been quite some years since he celebrated his birthday. The last time he celebrated his birthday was when he was in college. During his college life, he could be easily classified as a Casanova having many flings and casual affairs, out of which he was serious twice but each time he was doubtful about a lifelong commitment. Both his ex-girlfriends were married now, and he somehow mentally accepted a lifetime of loneliness for himself when he met Asmi. So the occasion of Asmi’s birthday was a significant event for him. He chose this day to ask her parents for her hand in marriage.
Jittery and anxious, he knocked at Asmi’s door at 12 am. He thoroughly rehearsed this scene, at least a thousand times, in his mind while preparing answers for all the possible questions her parents might ask him. Asmi’s mother opened the door.
Aditya said in a soft voice, “Aunty! I came to wish Asmi for her birthday. Is she home?”
“Damn what are you saying Aditya. Of course she would be at home at 12 am. Just calm down. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Repeat”, he murmured to himself.
“Yes, I will just call her. Please come inside beta”.
Asmi came out rubbing her eyes. She was not very fond of celebrating birthdays at midnight. It was like an ordinary night for her when she read her favorite book till 11 pm and slept.
“Adi! How come you are here at this time? I told you I will see you tomorrow.”
“Asmi, apart from wishing you birthday I have a surprise for you too.”
“What is that?”
By now her dad and younger sister had also came out in the hall. Aditya nodded to greet everyone and said, “I have a surprise for you all.”
He sat on his knees in front of Asmi and held her hand.
“Asmi, I am madly in love with you. You have lighten up my life with your presence. Life has never been this meaningful for me. I want to marry you but before that (he turned to face her parents), I want to ask your parents whether they will accept me as a part of their family. Uncle and Aunty, I promise to give lots of happiness and love to your daughter. To me, she is more precious than my life. I can’t imagine to live without her. Please let me marry her.”
Seeing Aditya’s love for their daughter, Asmi’s parents had tears in their eyes. Contradictory to what he expected, Asmi’s parents readily accepted their relationship and his proposal. Aditya hugged her parents and expressed his gratitude.
“The surprises are yet not over.”
“Now what, jiju? Don’t spoil Asmi by so many surprises”, said Asmi’s sister teasingly.
“This one is a very special surprise. Asmi close your eyes please.”
Aditya quickly played a video on his phone. It was Aditya’s family wishing her birthday and welcoming her to their family. Asmi was overwhelmed with happiness and tears rolled down her cheek. She hugged Aditya and buried herself in his chest. He gently held her face in his hands and planted a kiss on her forehead.
***
Asmi could not believe her fortune for having Aditya's love in her life. She started believing in destiny more. Every day while thanking her stars for being in love with him, she also feared separation from Aditya. Though there were no signs of threat on their love, she still could never convince herself that everything would go on well.
Soon they were engaged and their wedding date was fixed. Aditya was not at home when the pundit declared their wedding day. She ran into her room and picked her phone to intimate Aditya but then disconnected the call thinking that she would surprise him. Without wasting a moment, she got ready and rushed to meet Aditya. When she reached his office, she was informed that Aditya was in a meeting and she was asked to wait for a few minutes. She planned to get his favourite cake for him from a nearby bakery.
"Write 'My Adi, with love your would-be wife'", dictated Asmi to the bakery boy.
She picked the cake and ran towards his office. While imagining the look on his face when he will read those words on the cake, she completely forgot to look at the other side of the road. She was engrossed in Aditya’s thoughts when a speeding Scorpio XUV came from the wrong side and rammed her. The cake fell far away towards Aditya's car whereas Asmi was trundled on the other side of the road. Her head banged with the pavement and she immediately lost consciousness. She was bleeding profusely. People swarmed like bees near her, but nobody was willing to take her to the hospital. After all who wants to undergo the trouble of legal and medical formalities? A bunch of old women coming back from their evening walk quickly attended to her bleeding wounds and one of them called the ambulance and informed the police. The driver of the Scorpio XUV who was not more than a 30 year old man was captivated by the crowd and people handed him over to the police.
In the meanwhile Aditya got to know that a young lady has met with an accident right outside his office premises. Being completely unaware of the woman’s identity, he rushed out to offer help but couldn't even see her face due to heavy crowd. Within seconds, the ward boys put Asmi in the ambulance and rushed her to the hospital.
As Aditya was going inside his office, he somehow felt like calling Asmi. While he was dialing her number, he saw the damaged cake near his car. He went near it and as soon as he read the distorted words, tremors struck his entire body. It didn't take him more than a second to realize that the young lady was none other than Asmi. He ran after the ambulance and after running for 8 kms he reached the hospital where Asmi was admitted. Panting and short of breath, he inquired about the accident victim at the reception. He was shown the way to the ICU. He tried to forcibly trespass the ICU when he was dragged out by the nurses and ward boys. The 'affluent and rich music composer' was now begging on his knees to catch a glimpse of the young lady with a bleak hope that it was not his Asmi. On seeing his plight, the doctors allowed him to peep through a glass hole in the door. With crossed fingers and diminishing courage, he looked through the glass. All he saw was Asmi lying lifeless in a pool of blood and doctors trying to revive her almost ‘dead’ body. He fell numb on ground and started screaming at God (Read ceiling) "Why her? Why not me? You gotta a problem with me, right? Take me with you. Leave her. Please. I beg you."
After a wait of more than 3 hours, the senior doctor called Aditya in his cabin. He offered him water and said, “We have done our level best. Now rest everything is on God. Still, I suggest that you should call your relatives.”
“Don’t say that. Do anything, just save her. Take as much money as you want but save her. She is my life. We are engaged and would be marrying soon.”
“Money can't make miracles happen, son. She has suffered intense external and internal injuries. Her brain’s CT scan shows injuries to her frontal and temporal lobes. We are yet not sure whether her limbic system is damaged in the accident. Till she gains consciousness; which might be in one day, one month or one year; it is difficult to say whether she will be able to lead a normal life or not. Marriage is not even a consideration right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“In such cases, there is a huge risk of patients losing their abilities to perform day to day functions, think, communicate and move around in the world. She may be completely dependent. Her behavior may get completely bizarre and unpredictable. She may not even recognize you as there could be partial or total amnesia. All we can do is to pray and wait.”
Aditya left his cabin with a heavy heart. His life had come to a still but he had to do a heavier task of informing the families. Asmi’s mother reached the hospital in a state of shock whereas her father almost collapsed on the floor after seeing Asmi in CCU. Aditya’s family could not accept the tragedy that doomed upon their son and his would-be wife. They told him how happy Asmi was when she left from home to meet him. She had specially requested everybody to not disclose their wedding date to Aditya as she wanted to surprise him.
Aditya cried vociferously for a while and then suddenly got up to rush to the police station with blood in his eyes for the man who has led his Asmi in this condition. He got to know that the accused was heavily under the influence of alcohol. Due to Aditya’s popularity, he was allowed to meet the culprit in the company of two policemen.
Another shock awaited him as he entered the dingy and poorly lit cell of the jail. As the accused turned around to see the men who entered his cell, Aditya was taken aback to find his college buddy Vikram Roy. Together, they used to drink and party like animals. There was no bar, no night club, no party adda that was unknown to them. While Aditya matured with age, Vikram was still a party freak and an alcoholic.
Vikram rushed to him and said, “yar Aditya, please bacha le mujhe. Ek ladki pata nahi kahan se meri gadi se takra gayi. Bhai maine pii zaroor rakhi thi par maine break maarne ki koshish kari, par tab tak woh gadi se takra chuki thi.”
Aditya stood there like a mannequin looking away. His life seemed to freeze so as his body.
“Pata nahi kahan dhyaan tha uska!! Dekhke road cross nahi kar sakti thi. Khud toh hospital pahuchi, mujhe jail pahucha diya……Bhai tu kuch bol kyun nahi raha? Kahiin mar var toh nahi gayi who ladki?”
On hearing these words, Aditya slapped him with tremendous force. Vikram fell on the wooden chair placed in a corner.
“She is my fiancé and I love her too much. Agar use kuch bhi hua, toh main khud teri jaan le lunga.Aur ek baat…Galti uski nahi, teri thi. Sharaab pii ke galat side se tu aaya tha.”
Vikram managed to get up and aggressively uttered,“Saale dost ko bhool gaya ek ladki ke chakkar mein. Pehli baar thodi pyaar hua hai tujhe! Kitni ladkiyaan aake chali gayi teri zindagi se. Bhool gaya kaise sari raat hum daaru peete the, tab kisiki jaan ki parwah nahi hui tujhe. Aaj is ladki ke liye itna kyun tadap raha hai ki apne jigri dost pe haath utha diya tune, jaan se maarne ki dhamkee bhi di…Jaa nahi chahiye tere jaisa dost.”
By this time Aditya had completely lost his temper and got violent with Vikram again. The policemen had to forcibly bring him out of the cell. Aditya was burning with anger when we paced out of the police station towards his car. It was raining heavily and his hands shivered while touching the steering wheel. Chills ran down his spine as the reality behind Vikram’s words began to strike him. He was haunted by the flashes from the nights when they used to heavily drink and rashly drive to flaunt their manhood to impress girls. He realized how many lives he risked for his trivial pleasures.
He envisaged himself standing at the edge of a cliff in a completely drunk state while his eyes and mind were slowly rolling into slumber. He visualized the faces of his previous girlfriends who were crying in agony when he left them. On carefully looking into each one’s eyes, Aditya noticed that they were actually laughing at his helplessness. He fell on his knees and dumped his face in his palms. He was about to jump off that cliff when Asmi suddenly appeared from nowhere. She was looking beautiful as ever and her face was radiating a Divine glow.
“Please don’t go Asmi. I will die without you. You know that I am a changed man now! I want to live my life with you.”
“I know my love, but somebody has to bear the consequences of the misdeeds.”
“But why you Asmi? Why not me? After all it was me who has caused so much pain to others.”
“Adi! It’s because I love you very much! You are mine. Your virtues and vices are mine. Your good and bad deeds are mine. And their consequences are mine too. I chose to take away all your sins and I am leaving behind my love and lot of memories. You will live for me Adi. Won’t you?”
“Asmi….Let me not answer this. I…”
His phone rang to wake him from his siesta. His mother was on the other side.
“Aditya come quickly. Asmi has gained consciousness and she is reiterating your name. That means she has not lost her memory. She remembers you, my son! I told you to have faith in God.”
At once he rushed to the hospital. He entered the CCU wearing a mask. Her once beautiful body was pierced and confined by the tubes coming out from the ventilator which was her 'apparent' life support system. He sat beside her, and carefully picked her hand so as to not disturb the tubes inserted in her body. She looked at him and tried to give him a comforting smile.
Aditya wiped his tears and spoke in a cracked voice, “I knew you will be alright Asmi. I knew that you will remember everything about our love. My Asmi can never leave her Adi alone! You remember every moment spent with me, every time I made you laugh, I teased you, I made you eat with my hands, I made you sleep in my arms. Don’t you?”
Asmi nodded with her eyes.
“Our love is embedded too deep in our minds and souls, for accidents to erase it from our memories.”
She looked straight into his eyes for a long while without blinking. Though her entire body was giving up on her but he could see the same spark in her eyes which he saw the first time he met her. Looking into her eyes, he immediately understood that Asmi was slipping away from the hands of life. He made no conscious effort to either call the doctors or say her things. He knew that the futile medical efforts would pain her more and interrupt with her peaceful journey from this life to the next. He also knew that his presence with her is worth his thousand words. He wanted to maintain the serenity of her last moments. That was his last gift to her, to let her pass away in peace.
Aditya gently stroked the skin of her cheek which was visible through bandages covering her distorted face. He touched the marks on her cheeks and at once felt huge pain in his heart.
"I love you, times infinity".
"How long is times infinity?" she managed to ask.
He said, "Sometimes it’s just a second."
After a few minutes, when the nurse came to bring Aditya outside the ICU, she saw Aditya lying next to Asmi. Asmi's arms were wrapped tightly around Aditya, inhibiting his movement. The nurse was just about to consider this pleasant sight as a positive sign when she happened to see Asmi's ECG monitor. It displayed a straight line!
On seeing Aditya hugging Asmi, she had tears in her eyes. She comprehended that Aditya had not even realized that Asmi is dead. She went closer to Aditya and patted on his shoulder. Aditya did not respond. When she tried to separate Aditya from Asmi’s body, she screamed in horror as he fell lifeless on the floor. While Asmi succumbed to her injuries, Aditya’s autopsy suggested a cardiac arrest.
That night Aditya chose to die with his love. Surviving without her would have meant dying without her every day. Dying with her meant eternalizing their love!
