If only we could have bypassed FATE - A short story

“Himanshu wake up, its time for your morning breakfast”, said a compassionate female voice. There was a tinge of sorrow in it. It was more out of instinct than anything else that he opened his eyes. The curtains of the windows were drawn in. It was a pleasant morning outside, but even then the light which filtered in was too much for his eyes. He shielded his eyes against the sting of the light and looked up in the direction of the voice. He did see the face. He tried to smile but it took a lot of effort and he left it there. He tried to recollect where he had seen that face before but his mind returned nothing. It was as if he was staring at a bottomless pit trying hard to find its bottom.

“Doctor, is he improving?”, it was the same female voice. Something told Himanshu that they were talking about him. Words did form in his mind, but when he tried to speak, it was impossible. Somehow his tongue was rock solid. His vocal chords were in total disagreement with his brain. “That must be a bug” he thought. “Bug, now where did that word come from?” he patted himself on the back for that discovery. The answer to the question never got to Himanshu as he got into one of his now common fits. He would blank out for the remainder of the day and just lie there in his bed with the equipment next to his bed registering his heartbeat giving out a receipt of his been alive every few minutes with a loud beep.

The female voice belonged to Chitra. She was Himanshu’s wife – newly wedded wife would be apt. It had only been 3 months since they had exchanged their vows or more correctly signed on the contract of marriage in front of a registrar. The entire event was witnessed by 4 mutual friends whose signatures were also firmly embossed on the contract. It was not one of those lovely arranged marriages where the guy and the gal meet, fall in love and then tell their respective parents who are cool with it and then arrange all the rituals to show the world that it was an arranged marriage in the first place. It was a love marriage per se, with the filmi twist of a registered marriage and the parents from both sides cutting off contact with their respective kids and just going on with their lifes as if nothing happened.

Himanshu and Chitra worked for the same IT firm and their courtship had lasted for almost 2 years when they decided to break the news to their parents. They had never expected that they would be turned down with such venom from both their families.

He was the only son of a High Court Judge who despite his high education was after all very narrow-minded; at least that was what Himanshu had concluded on seeing his father react when he had told him about his love for Chitra. If only mom would have been alive today, she would have helped him sort the matter was what Himanshu had thought when he had walked out of his father’s home with a resolve to never return again.

Her father was the high priest of a temple in the city of Chennai and was highly respected in his community for his mastery over the Vedas. “Don’t any of your Vedas talk about love?” was what Chitra had retorted when she was reluctantly thrown out of her own house by Subbu, the helper. Subbu after all was just a domestic help, what could he do when even her mother was a mute spectator to all this. The only resistance her mother had to offer was in terms of the silent tears which were trickling down her now wizened cheeks. Even she did not want Chitra to be a bad influence on her 2 younger sisters who were now nearing marriageable age.

They rented a 1BHK in Aundh and decided to fight. None had the intention to talk it out with their parents and try and change their point of view. After all even they were like their parents, stubborn and determined. Everything was going great and cozy and as per planned. “Doesn’t this seem like a program I have written, Chitra, fulfilling all the requirements and more importantly bug free!!!” Himanshu had joked. “Not at all. Remember you injected 2 defects in your latest release” replied Chitra imitating Mr. Ghosh, their project manager. “Yeah OK!!! The bypass logic I had put in didn’t work as expected.” said Himanshu making a sorry face making Chitra laugh.

4th November, Chitra was watching TV having just returned from office when her mobile rang. It was an unknown number. The conversation which followed after she said “Hello” was like a blur or static on a local radio station for Chitra.

The events of the evening of 4th November replayed in her mind as she walked out of the room where Himanshu was now lying. She had called it sleep; it helped to ease her pain. She had abruptly cut the call not waiting for the person at the other end to even complete. She just picked the keywords - accident, BPO cab, no helmet, Aditya Birla hospital. She rushed out of the house, and hailed a rickshaw to take her to the Aditya Birla Hospital. She did not even wait to take the change from the rickshaw driver and ran to the hospital’s OPD room.

After she identified herself, she was informed that Himanshu was taken to the operating room and that he had suffered a skull fracture. A MRI scan had revealed that there were pieces of bone scattered which would need immediate removal. There was also a fracture to the right hand and multiple fractures to the hip bone. Chitra instinctively dialed her mother’s number but the call was cut. There was no use dialing her father’s number. She called up Himanshu’s dad but he cut the call the moment she said she was Chitra. A few of Himanshu’s colleagues were there to comfort her. She wanted to be strong. She did not want to cry but the tears were not stopping.

Chitra cleared her mind of the images and walked back inside the room. She looked at the face of the man whom she had married defying everybody in her life. The stitches on his head were still raw. The equipment monitoring his heartbeat beeped and brought her back to the moment. “If only we could have bypassed FATE, Himanshu” she whispered in his ear. His eyelids opened just for a second and closed again as if he had heard what she said.