The Ominous Dream
On their journey to Kailash, Arya remembered their first visit to this place after his marriage with Sandhya. Each and every moment was fresh in his mind and kept coming back and even after so many year, after becoming the father of two sweet children—Vidhya and Ryan, the memories does not seem stale. He still remembered the loving sweet memories between him and his wife—the sound of her earrings, the gravity of her smile, the smell of her hairs, the touch of her hands—everything . Sandhya too was enjoying the sweet memories of the place sitting beside the window and was stealing glances at Arya smiling shyly. Unaware of the presence of their parents and their children, Arya and Sandhya were lost cherishing the shy memories of their past.
Arya remembered Sandhya in her red saree she wore on their first visit, with her untied hair and innocent eyes searching for help as she was new in this. She came from a family that gave priority to education and not rituals. So Arya was always beside her to teach her how everything was done and all about his family traditions. Sandhya was a good learner and not only understood everything at one go but also remembered them. And why won't she? She had always stood first in all her exams.
On reaching there, Sandhya started to prepare for the puja. Arya stared at her and thought how perfect she has become. Ryan and Vidhya had came there for the first time and was moving about excitedly in their guest house. After completing her work, Sandhya went to prepare the tea and at once the scene of preparing the tea together for the first time flashed in front of their eyes. The first time Sandhya made tea, it consisted of more tea leaves and less sugar and now no one's day starts without her perfect tea.
Sandhya came about distributing tea to them. Arya and Sandhya smiled at each other remembering their first 'tea making'. A call from her mother-in-law made Sandhya rush to the kitchen to prepare food—dalpuri, dum alo and kheer. This set them into remembering how one night Arya kept awake just to teach Sandhya how to prepare those items for the family program the next day. Sandhya looked at a smiling Arya from the corner of her eyes and smiled back, for she knew the cause of it.
Arya heard a call from his mother asking them to get ready for the puja in the nearby temple. Sandhya had completed her cooking too. He signaled her to get ready and she got up quickly to bath. Sandhya remembered how on the very first day of her arrival to their house, Arya had sent her hot water to bath afraid that she would catch cold if she would bath with cold water on a winter morning. While she smiled remembering this, Arya smiled remembering how sweet she looks after her bath with her untied and uncombed hair and the sweet smell of it and how once while trying to bring him a towel Sandhya fell over him with the shower pouring down at them.
After their bath they all went to the temple for puja. There they saw the group of children whom they had once given clothes, food and study materials on Sandhya's request. It was amazing how those kids had remembered her and so have came running to her as soon as they saw her. They surrounded her trying to speak their hearts out as if they weren't able to do so for years when she wasn't there. Arya got lost in the past when she has distributed gifts to these kids and that happy smile on her face was too hard to describe.
Slipping out of these children, Sandhya once again joined her family for their puja. Seeing her pray and her way of tackling things Arya again looked back into his past experiences and memories. How could he forget those? Their first coming closer began here, their first getting drenched in rain, their first touch and their first kiss. A bell sounded and brought Arya back to present. The worship was over and it was the time to return.
On their way back, the children complained of being tired and refused to walk. So they had to take the auto. Arya remembered how one-day, in the past, they were unable to board the bus and had to take a crowded auto with Sandhya falling over him from time to time and her hair brushing against his checks. He was so lost in thoughts that he didn't even notice a bus rushing towards them and when he did it was too late to react. Crush! It collided with their auto. Everyone felt apart. He heard his children crying, his parents shouting and calling to Sandhya and then a burst of cry—his parents crying for Sandhya's death and then darkness close in on him, he closed his eyes and fainted.
When Arya opened his eyes he found himself back again in the guest room. For a moment he could not remember what happened but on recollecting about the horrid incident after a few minutes he sat up with a start. But to his surprise he found Sandhya returning from her bath signalling him to get ready quickly. Arya, greatly relieved that it was a bad dream and nothing else, went up to get ready.
But his relief didn't stay for long. On their way to temple and returning back, the incidents similar to the dream started to occur—the same group of children, the same pandit, the same conversations, the same request of the children to board an auto and the same auto driver. Arya was horrified and afraid thinking whether the end would be the same too. He constantly tried to dissuade them from boarding the auto but his words fell on deaf ears. Reluctantly, he boarded the auto and decided not to be careless and to save them if anything related to his dream occurred. And quite true to his words he did save them. As soon as he saw the bus—the same bus—he forced the driver to move his steering and shifted the auto from the main road. The bus went straight and collided with a tree and exploded. They heard loud cries of people, wailing of children, shouts of passers-by, but they were safe. He looked at Sandhya who returned his look smiling admiringly. She didn't die, didn't even suffer a small scratch. He was able to save her.
Then, suddenly, he heard his mother call out to him, "Wake up! Arya, Wake up! Its your Sandhya's last journey. Come, wish her your last goodbye," and then she burst into a cry. Arya, confused at the strange happenings, stood up and went straight to the drawing room. There he saw Sandhya, wrapped in white shroud safely lying on a white bed with no pain at all, asleep forever, ready for her last goodbye, her last journey, with her children sitting beside her crying their hearts out.
Arya, surprised and shocked, stood there spellbound. No tears came in his eyes, no words was uttered by his mouth, no noise was heard by his ears, nothing was felt by his body. He just stood there like a statue staring down at his beautiful lifeless wife. It was only when Sandhya's dead body was being carried away that his knees gave way and he fell down crying profusely, suddenly realizing that the death of his beloved wife was the bitter reality and her safe return was the sweet dream.