A Blessing In Disguise

The alarm buzzed at four am and Arnav sprung out of his bed. He fought the devils of fatigue and moved to the washroom. He splashed ice cold water on his face and viewed himself in the mirror. Even in his early forties permanent wrinkles had secured its place on his fair complexioned face. But every time he looked at them he grew proud of those wrinkles as it showed how wise  he was.

Without much adieu, he drowned himself into the case files he had been studying until late night the previous day.For a moment, his eyes drifted and fell upon the photo he always kept on his table, the photo of him with his lady love. He ran his fingers carefully over it and blew away the dust on it. He held it closer and his mind raced back five years………..

Ria was the most beautiful girl in Arnav’s high school and quite obviously, every one had a crush on her. Arnav had kept it hidden all along but fate brought them together forever. Ria and Arnav mostly hung out together. She always wanted to be an interior designer and he a lawyer.

“ Hey….the high school days are getting over, will we be the same?” Ria asked him.

“Surely Ria, though our colleges will be different, we will always remain in close contact”. He reassured a worrisome Ria. Arnav kept his promise and tied a sacred knot of marriage once they completed their college. But work had transformed him into a person whom Ria never knew. He got obsessed with  case files and clients. Complaints became arguments and led to their divorce.

…………Arnav was brought back by the beeping of the washing machine. Their arguments continued to ring in his mind. Forcing the thought away, he made his way to the dressing room. He carefully put on his Armani suit and walked to the porch. He drove away in his elegant black Viera leaving behind silence and many unanswered questions. The court room was filled with the insistent muttering of the people and Arnav entered it with full confidence of winning the case as he had in most of the others.

“ I can do it!”. He said to himself. The court room came alive and the case was ready to be fought.

“ Your honour, my client is not responsible for the murder of his friend because …….” Arnav argued. He had to win this case at any cost. The opposition also fought tooth and nail against him.

It was then that he started getting a pain in his chest. He controlled it for long but could hold no longer. He collapsed on to the floor leaving the court room in absolute silence. People rushed him to the hospital and soon the reports came.

“ Mr.Arnav, you just had a minor heart attack”. His doctor explained.” I would suggest you to stay away from the stressful court for a couple of months”.

“ But doctor ….” Arnav said but the doctor interrupted.

“ No ifs and buts Arnav, do what I say.It is for your own good”. The doctor suggested with a stern face.Arnav was discharged  after a week. He made his way to the hospital lobby and came across many people crowding a patient. That is when he felt hi first pang of emptiness in his life. He had nearly died but there wasn’t a single person to check out on him. Silently he took a cab home and carefully studied himself in the mirror. The lines and wrinkles on his face no longer made him proud. Rather it reminded him of the days he had lost worrying and stressing out.

 His home was large and luxurious but he had no one to share his laughter , sorrows and worries with. It was at this point that he realised how badly he had lived his life. But along with regret came a new spark – a spark of winning his life once again. The next day he went for a stroll in the park, he saw couples cuddling with each other, children playing about and people doubling with laughter.

“ When was the last time I smiled?” He asked himself. He had never smiled or laughed since the day Ria and he had started falling apart.

He rushed back home, his foot steps echoed in the large mansion. He went to his study and took out a notepad and a pen. He titled his writings – My secret wish list. He jotted down everything he wanted to do over the time which went on something like this.

·Visit my home town in Patna

·Find my long lost friends and chill out with them

·Win back Ria Singh my lady love.

He almost readily booked an air ticket to Patna. As he reached there, all the way from Kerala, people thronged  in the airport to welcome him.

“ Welcome home son”, His mother whispered with eyes welling up with tears. He hugged his mother with all his might and went inside his home. It wasn’t so large but it was filled with love he noticed.Hearing his arrival, all his buddies crowded his home.

“ Wow it feels awesome to be around you all”  Arnav said to them.

“ Same here Chote.” All of them responded in a chorus.

“ How I had missed some one calling me that.” Arnav said as he put his arms around one of them.

Weeks passed by swiftly and he had a bigger mission to set out for- winning his Ria back. When he was about to go his mom said, “Arnav, just remember one thing- don’t prioritize your work over your relations.” He knew what she was hinting at but kept quiet. He bent down and touched her feet repeating the age old Indian tradition of seeking blessings. His mother kept her hands lovingly on his head and wished him luck.

Arnav went to New Delhi – where Ria now resided. He found her address and rang the bell of what he thought was her house. The door opened after an eternity and there she was . beautiful as ever.

“ Arnav?....you…….here…I mean how…..after five years…..” She trailed off.

“ Hey, just calm down its me, I have come here not as the famous criminal lawyer of India but as the simple guy who you had once fallen in love with.”

Tears welled up in her eyes and she knew he was saying the truth and wants her back in his life as she never lost the ability to read his face.

She threw herself in to his open arms and spent all the tears she had been trying to hide.

“ Ria….will you come back? “ He asked.

“ Yes, stupid.” She said with a smiling face stained with tears.

He narrated everything about how it had mad him to realize his mistakes. She hugged him even tight after hearing him, never to let go off him this time.

“ Hey, I think heart attacks are better reminders, people should get it often” Arnav said and giggled.

Ria punched softly on his stomach and said “Dont’ you dare think of it again.”

Way back in his mind Arnav thanked God for making him realising his mistakes at the right time and thought that the accident was surely a blessing in disguise.