Chapter 1 - The Last Chapter

                An International flight just landed in Chennai International airport, Meenambakkam. Passengers were coming out of the airport after collecting their baggage. Some people were standing outside with a board on their hands. Some board contained the passenger’s name, few contained hotel names and the remaining contained company’s name.

                One guy from the passengers crowd was moving very fast outside of the airport. Though he was moving in a hurry, he was not looking tensed. He looked very bright and energetic. It seemed like, he was in a hurry to meet someone, who was very important in his life and he was smiling always. So many things were running in his mind. He behaved like a most awaited thing was coming to an end. He did not bother about the people standing outside with the name boards. He crossed them very fast and came to the taxi stand. One taxi driver came towards him.

                “Sir??”

                “Can we go to Guindy?”

                “Please get in Sir”

He put all his baggage in the back seat and he sat on the front. The voice from the FM radio RJ, made that bright early morning brighter. Chennai had welcomed him with its special bright day with heavy traffic. He felt that the city had developed a lot in these 2 years. Big IT Tech parks, new construction buildings stunned him a lot. He was admiring the city in a much beautiful way, because he was going to meet his life partner after 2 years. He kept on smiling to himself.

                After reaching Guindy, he got down from the taxi, where his friend Srini was waiting in his bike. After seeing him, he was very excited and came towards him.

                “Hey dude, how are you? It has been more than 2 years I am seeing you.”, Srini came near to give him a hug.

He refused and told,

                “Sorry dude. I am in a hurry. I need your bike. I will explain everything later. Its urgent.”

He jumped on Srini’s bike and kicked the kicker, which ignites the spark plug and engine came to its life.

                “Hey.. What are you doing? Where are you going? Tell me…….”, Srini shouted.

                “Please… I will explain everything later.”

He left that place and drove towards T.Nagar. He was very much excited, which made him to drive very fast without his consciousness. He was utilizing all the small gaps between the vehicles and moving very fast. But at a certain time, he was not able to control the bike. The car, which was moving in front appeared sudden brakes. He could not control his bike and turned left immediately. The bike lost its control and skidded towards the left side end of the road. He was pushed along with the bike. He was also moving towards the left side end.

                ‘My name is Karthik. I never expected this would happen in my life. Her name is Shalini. I met her first in an accident. My life started there, only after seeing her. But I don’t want to finish my life in this accident. Shalini, I am coming for you. This time I won’t leave you.’

                The things whatever happened in his life was running like a fast-forwarded move in his mind. The day he met her, felt like the reason for living, the love between them, the ego, the fight, the breakup, the abroad opportunity and everything was coming to his mind like flashes. He thought that all memories were coming to his mind, as it understood that this would be the final minutes of hi life. His eyes became heavy and felt some extreme pain in his body. Slowly he closed his eyes.

                An ambulance with heavy  siren sound was moving very fast towards the hospital. It bypassed all the traffic and reached the hospital in few minutes. Karthik was brought out from the ambulance and put on the stretcher. Nurses and doctors were pushing the stretcher very fast towards the ICU.

                The hospital admin team contacted Karthik’s parents and they reached the hospital in the next hour. Karthik’s friends rushed there in the next 30 minutes after his parents came. His mother looked very worried. Karthik was undergoing a major surgery.

                An young girl entered into the hospital. She must be 24 or 25 years of age. She looked very tensed and worried She had a pouch and mobile in her hand. She was shivering and searching for the emergency ward. She was wiping her tears meanwhile. Finally she found the emergency ward and saw Karthik’s parents sitting there. After seeing them, she started running towards them. Suddenly she could not move from her place. She tried to take a step forward, but she could not. She was not able to move her hands also. She tried to move her body, but she was not able to do anything. She stood still without doing anything.

                I was scribbling at the back side of my notebook. The pen was not writing. I was not able to continue the last chapter of that story. I shook the pen up and down and scribbled again. The pen was still not writing.

                My name is Irshad, 40 years old man. I am a writer. I had been in this writing field for more than 15 years. I completely dedicated myself for this writing art. This might be the reason for not having anyone in my life except my wife. I always assume my life as a story and myself as a leading character in that story. Nothing was considered serious to me except my passion towards writing.

                At that time I was in the last phase of my upcoming novel ‘You+Me=Love’. Being a 40 years old man, writing a fresh young love story is very difficult. But it was quite easy for me. The beautiful resort in Kodaikanal, scenic view and the climate made me this as much easier task.

                Suddenly the pen stopped working. I was not able to continue the climax of the story. I looked around and noticed my personal kit box which contains pen was at the corner shelf. Also I noticed the resort boy was standing at the entrance, with a cup of coffee in this hands.

                “Can you please bring me that brown box from that shelf?”, I asked him

He came in, placed the cup in the table and traveled towards the corner shelf. He took the brown color box in his hand and asked,

                “Is this the box?”

                “Yeah.. That’s the one. Please bring it.”, I replied.

He brought the box and gave it to me. I opened the box and took one pen. The resort boy was still standing beside and looked at my writings with interest. I understood his anxiety and asked,

                “Do you want to read my story?”

He smiled sheepishly and said,

                “I belong to tribes here. So I don’t know to read and write.”

                “Ok. No problem. I will narrate the story. You are the first reader to listen this story.”, I replied with a smile.

I asked him to be seated in the chair which kept beside. But he sat on the floor beside me.

                “Hey, why did you sit on the floor. Come on. Take your seat.”

I waved my hands towards the nearby chair.

                “We are not supposed to sit on the chair, especially in front of people like you”, he replied with his sheepish smile.

                “If everyone is allowed to live on this planet, then there will be no restrictions to anyone. I think you are not supposed to sit on the chair. You should deserve a chair in assembly and parliament.”, I told.

He just looked at me in confusion and I continued,

                I want you to sit on this chair. Then only I will start narrating my story.”, I strictly told.

He slowly stood up and sat on the chair with extreme shyness. I smiled at him. I turned the pages back in the notebook and started narrating that story.

                “Actually, in this story, the hero’s name is Karthik”, I stopped when I looked him blushing.

                “Hey… what happened? What are you doing?”, I asked.

                “Sir, my name is also Karthik.”, he blushed again.

I stared at him for a second and could not control laughing. I too laughed along with him. Once we both came to normal, I continued the narration.

                Karthik was an average youngster, working in a software company. The routine five full working week days and two short weekends. Among these two, one was always to take rest. He was fed up with this machine life. But one day, he understood the reason for his born. One incident in his machine life had changed him a lot. He started looking his life very beautiful after that. Actually, that was not an incident. It was an accident.

                One day, Karthik was traveling to office in his two wheeler. The bright Sun in the early morning disturbed his vision. He was not able to concentrate his driving. But suddenly he felt something different. He felt, that he saw some angel on the road.

                Shalini, 19 years old girl, doing her B.Tech in a  big reputed Engineering college in Chennai. Usually she goes to college in college bus. That day she missed her bus and her dad was taking her to college. She wore white color salwar and white color hair band. She kept her hair opened. She looked like an angel in that costume. The bright Sun, glaring view made karthik to imagine that she directly came from the sky. His complete concentration was slowly shifting from his driving to that angel. He totally lost his concentration. He hit at the bar gate, kept on the middle and fell down away from the bike. His eyes slowly became heavy and saw that angel’s face completely before closing his eyes.

                Shalini and her father admitted him in the nearby hospital and informed his parents. The first meeting between karthik and Shalini had become the memorable one for both of them. They would never forget this incident.

                As per the general love formula, they met each other twice as coincidence. They shared their mobile numbers, email ids. After some days, they had intentional meetings. Both of them were perfectly following the mandatory love courses like whatsapp chat, phone calls, facebook video chat, weekend meetings and so on. Both of them started to love each other and waiting for a perfect time to propose. The day had also come.

Feburary 14^th, Valentines day……..

                Both Karthik and Shalini decided to propose each other on that day. By coincidence they bought the same greeting card and filled their love in it using words. Both were waiting to propose each other. But in the middle somehow the greeting cards were exchanged without their knowledge. Since they bought the same greeting cqrd, they were unaware that the cards were exchanged. Now, karthik had Shalini’s card and Shalini had Karthik’s card.

                That evening they met in a shopping mall with their cards. There was a water fountain at the rear side of the mall. Both were looking very tensed. They had a fear that it might go wrong. In that cold evening, they felt hot and they were sweating. There was a extreme silence for two minutes. They regained their confidence and decided to propose with the cards. Before giving the cards, they just opened it and looked at the same time.

 

 

Karthik’s card:

                I Love You Karthik

-          With Love Shalini

Shalini’s card:

                I had falen in love with you

-          Always with you Karthik

 

                Both of them got shocked and looked each other with extreme happiness. Their official double-sided love started on that day.

                Day by day, they were upgrading in the levels of love. Simultaneously they got affected with love viruses like possessiveness, mis-understandings, silly fights etc. At one particular point the viruses completely affected the love system. They started fighting all over the day.

                Karthik was concentrating on his office work, as that was a very important period in his career. It was decided that any one of his team members would be given on"site opportunity to work in Australia. So he was completely focusing on his work. He was very eager to get this opportunity. So he could not concentrate on his love. Shalini was also doing her B.Tech final year and she was also busy with her project work.

                The worst thing in love is, whenever we feel free and getting extreme love mood, our partner would be very busy even to respond back. They were in that period. The hatred was raising steadily and burst one day.

                “If you don’t like me, please tell me in front. Don’t act like avoiding me”, Karthik shouted.

Shalini looked at him very sharply and replied back.

                “I don’t know to behave at the back like you do”

Karthik went to extreme anger.

                “You mean, I am reacting at your back???”, his eyes were red and he continued again.

                “After all, this is just a infatuation right? Anyhow it will go volatile one day…”

Shalini stared at him. Tears secreted into her eyes.

                “Karthik..Enough…. Yes. It is not true love. It is just a infatuation. Its time for decision. Lets breakup. After all this is just a infatuation right??? Lets give a break. For the next one year, we should not meet, talk, chat and any mode of communication should not be there between us. If we feel this is true love, not infatuation after one year, then we will meet again and resume our love. As of now, we will break up this. Goodbye Karthik.”

Shalini burst like a fire cracker.

                “Hey… Shalini… wait….. Listen to me……”, Karthik shouted.

But no response. Shalini was walking without turned back.

                Later , Karthik got that onsite opportunity and he went to Australia. Shalini also completed her final year and applied for higher education in Bangalore. Both of them were occupied in their busy schedule after the breakup. Life was moving very fast. The new life, new environment made them to slowly forget their love. They were happily enjoying with their new friends.

                By the end of one year, they completely forget each other. They were only concentrating in their current life. But one day,both of them witnessed a small accident in the road side at the same time. It triggered their memories of love life again. After once complete year they were feeling the same love, when they proposed each other. After that incident, whatever was happened, they felt their love memories. Day  by day, the memories had started killing them. They lost their concentration in the regular life. They were missing each other a lot.

                Finally he completed his project in Australia and was returning back to India. At the same time, she also completed her PG course. Karthik decided to meet her first, once he came back to India. He hired one taxi and got down in Guindy, Chennai. From there, he took his friend Srini’s bike and drove towards Shalini’s house. But unfortunately Karthik met with an accident and he was taken to the nearby hospital.

                Shalini entered into the hospital. She was shivering and searching for the emergency ward. She was wiping her tears meanwhile. Finally she found the emergency ward and saw Karthik’s parents sitting there. After seeing them, she started running towards them.

                I stopped my narration. Resort boy Karthik was eagerly listening.

                “Sir, what will happen next. Its very interesting. I am eagerly waiting.”, Karthik asked.

                “Climax is yet to be completed. I will let you know once it is done. Now please leave me alone, so that I can complete the last chapter of this story.”, I replied.

                I was looking at him till he left that place. I double checked that he left that place completely. I opened the brown color box and took a medicine cover, where there were different colors of capsules. I took one and had it. In another cover, there were different colors of pens. I took one and started continuing my story.

                Shalini reached the emergency ward. Karthik’s friends explained everything to his parents. Karthik’s mother came near to Shalini. Suddenly his mother hugged her and started crying. No one from there expected this.

                “My girl…Please save him. Only you can do it.“, mother told.

Shalini slowly entered into the emergency ward, where karthik was kept. He was lying on the bed with external respiratory mask and connected to ECG & EEG machine. His pulse seemed to be very low. Shalini could not face him more than a minute. She came out with tears running down her cheeks. Shalini’s father also reached there and he was also informed about their love.

                The doctor came out from the emergency ward and everyone surrounded him to know the status. He slowly started to speak.

                “I am really sorry. We tried our best, but we could not save him. Please inform all your relatives. He will be completely dead in few minutes”

Karthik’s mom fainted after hearing this news. Shalini sat on the chair like a robot. There were no reactions from her. She was just staring at the wall in front. She was in extreme shock.

                Karthik’s pulse was slowly getting reduced. His hear beat also showed different variation. The each pump of his heart pumped out blood to all parts of the body including brain, but the brain was not able to keep it alive. The pumping was also slowly getting down. Finally the heart stopped after the last pump. The last drop of blood was traveling towards the brain. The last drop contained all the positive and sweet memories with Shalini. It contained the memories from the day they met to the day they regained their love back. It hit the brain, where it responded for the first time.

                The doctors noticed that some strange things were happening inside his body. His pulse, heart beat were growing good. Doctors rushed and gave some emergency treatment to bring him back.

                Love can be failed. Lovers can be easily cheated. But the memories are very strong. It has the capability to make a dead man alive.

After two months,

                Shalini’s father wanted to meet Karthik regarding their love. Shalini, her father and Karthik met in a coffee shop. Both Karthik and Shalini were looking at the floor and could not speak. Shalini’s father was talking to them continuously.

                “Listen….. your are just youngsters. You are not matured enough to decide on your life. Whatever you decide on your own might spoil your life. I assure you that this is not true love. This is just a infatuation”

Both Karthik and Shalini were silent and he continued again,

                “If you don’t believe my words, then let us do this. After all this is just a infatuation. Let  us give a break for some time. You should not meet, talk, chat or any kind of communication should not be there for the next one year. After one year, if you have the same feeling like now, then I will take the responsibility for you getting married each other. Is this okay?? From today onwards, till the next year, your are going to give a break for this.”

Karthik and Shalini looked each other in surprise.

THE END

I completed the last chapter of my book and had a deep breath. It had been 15 days, when I came to Kodaikanal to write this story. Now it was completed after 15 days. The biggest satisfaction of my life is the day when I complete my story.

                I was getting ready to return back to Chennai. I kept all my things inside the bag. I kept all the important things in that brown color box. I took the medicine cover with full of color capsules in my hand. I just looking at the capsule for a while. I felt the importance of capsules and how it changed my life. it seemed to be a very important thing in my life. I carefully placed the medicine cover in to the brown box and packed it in my bag