With bated breath and a fluttering heart he had entered the exhibition gallery. His eyes needed no instruction to locate her.
Resplendent in a blue sari, her favourite colour, which he realised he still remembered, she was giving an interpretation of her paintings. He stood there, quietly, unnoticed, wishing that she would see him, when their eyes met. But his trembling heart was not rewarded with even a flicker of recognition.
Twice he attempted to talk to her but was given an oblivious stare and a wretched feeling arose which advocated the fact that she had forgotten him. He stood there, right in front with a torn shirt and blood trickling down his forehead. His ever careful self in today’s flurry had dropped the caution and met with an accident. But now being forgotten seemed more terrible than dying! With a dejected heart he walked towards the exit and started his long walk back home.
It was a terrible night! With a storm brewing and dark clouds gathering, he smiled, thinking perhaps it was pathetic fallacy! He looked at his wrist, not finding the watch he realised he must have dropped it at the accident site. It was her last gift. His mind began enacting the accident for him as he walked back. He looked down to find that the left side of his trouser was a bloodied mess and it made him wonder as to how he could still walk! What appeared more amazing was that nobody on the streets seemed to notice. Seeing a man coming towards him, he asked the way back but the man simply walked away. Miffed he asked another but the response remained unchanged even from the fifth man. He recollected that strangely enough the guard at the gallery had not asked for the entry pass from him.
Seeing a huge crowd at the accident site, he realised looking for the watch would be next to impossible. Suddenly he saw a man slyly getting away with his watch. As he tried to catch the man he caught a glimpse of the body which was being carried towards the ambulance. With a sudden jolt he stopped short in his tracks.
It was his body. Tonight he had died.
BY Neepa Sarkar, Times Of India, Kolkata