Re-Union Pt22 Pg44 "Acceptance"

Re-Unions, a time to see people you haven't seen in years, a time to reflect on how much you have changed or not changed throughout these years, a time to see whether you stuck to the goals you has aspired to reach in these years, a time to see if you reached where you wanted to reach in life. A time to see where other people have reached in life, a time to see how much others have or have not changed. But these re-unions don't always go as planned, sometimes the people you see there are hiding something, being fake, plastering smiles on their faces when their lives could be a misery, sometimes there might be someone missing from these re-unions, someone who was there with you in high school, some who left the city, country or maybe even the world.

Have you ever wondered about the significance of the colour white? I mean, take white clouds, if you're living in England, you'll look up into the sky and see white clouds and think 'yes!!! White clouds, no rain' but if you're living in India and you look up and see white clouds, you'll think 'no!!! White clouds, no rain' If you see a marriage in a church, the bride will be wearing white, a symbol of happiness, but if you're at an Indian funeral, everyone will wear white, a symbol of sadness.

Now you're wondering why I'm talking about the colour white, well its all I can see right now, everyone in the room is wearing white, be it white kurtas or white suits, even the cloth spread out on the floor is white, even the cloth wrapped around the body is white, yes you guessed right, I'm at a funeral and the colour white is all I can think about.

Name ' Kripa Sharma

Age ' 24 years old

Birth place ' Birmingham, UK

Description ' 5, 7'' small brown eyes, short black hair, slim

Staying ' Birmingham, UK

Current Job ' Trainee Lawyer

Parents ' unknown

Siblings ' younger brother Rahul Sharma, 19 years old, is currently living in London.

Hobbies ' reading mystery novels, learning how to cook

Marital Status ' single

Enough about the colour white, I really shouldn't be thinking about things like that when I'm at a funeral, the funeral of a friend, well more of an acquaintance, Mishty Bose, we knew each other while at high school, she was somewhat popular only because of the way she acted, otherwise I'm not sure she had many friends.

I heard she was in a car crash, she was driving down a road, she dropped something, and she bent down to pick it up, when she looked back up all she saw was a lorry, she died on the spot. I would never have come to the funeral, not after everything that happened, but Damini Aunty, Mishty's mom, called me and asked me to come, it would have been rude for me to refuse so here I am. I can see Damini Aunty, staring at Mishty's body wrapped in the white cloth, she's so sweet Damini Aunty, I was quite surprised she called me, but then again I think she called everyone who knew Mishty as I can see some familiar faces in the crowd, but he isn't here yet, why isn't he here?

Next to Damini Aunty, I see teary-eyed Prithvi, Mishty's brother. His dark brown eyes are now looking red and lifeless, he hasn't slept in days, I can tell, from that and the stubble which he has growing, I feel sorry for him, he loved Mishty a lot, he could never see tears in her eyes and now his eyes were filled with tears because of her. You're right I shouldn't bad mouth Mishty, but she wasn't exactly the best sister in the world, she would argue with him, fight with him and blame him for things which weren't his fault but Prithvi was great in handling her when no one else could, I guess Prithvi was the only one, apart from him, he still isn't here, where is he?

It's time for the cremation ceremony, Prithvi stands up and holds the ceramic pot given to him by the pundit, while three unknown men take hold of three sides of the wooden stretcher on which Mishty's body is placed, I heard there's meant to be four men who give their shoulders to the body, so where's the fourth? Just as another man is about to take hold of the fourth end, I see him, he takes the fourth end and rests it on his left shoulder while holding it with his left hand. He's here, and he looks like he hasn't slept either. His hazel eyes don't look as lifeless as Prithvi's but I know he's hurt. He's also wearing a white kurta, but his hugs his well toned body more than anyone else's, he towers over everyone else with his incredible height of 6,4'' compared to the mere 5, 9'' of Prithvi's. They lead the crowd of men gathered outside with the pundit, Damini Aunty yells out Mishty's name, I feel compelled to go to her, so I stand up and walk over to her, I place my hand on her shoulder for comfort, she looks at me and hugs me, and I'm not talking about a one-arm-around-shoulder-hug, this was more of her burying-her-head-into-my-chest-hug, I hesitate to put my arms around, but taking the women surrounding us into consideration, I slowly wrap my arms around her and let her cry on my shoulder.

**********

Why must people stare at a funeral procession? It's not some entertainment thing is it? Can't they respect anyone's privacy, but the crowds of people continue to stare as the procession walks. I look forward, trying to resist giving the people some mean looks; I mean it wouldn't look nice would it? When I look forward, I see Prithvi, he looks so broken, why wouldn't he be, Mishty was his sister, when I came into the room I wanted to hug him, let him cry on my shoulder, let him know I was here, but I saw someone grabbing hold of the edge of the stretcher, how could I let some stranger hold Mishty? I had more right than that, more right than anyone else in that room, but maybe if I had been here, this wouldn't have happened, maybe if I took Mishty with me to London, she would never have had the accident, maybe'just maybe.

Name ' Angad Khanna

Age ' 25 years old

Birth place ' Birmingham, UK

Description ' 6, 4'' hazel eyes, dark brown hair with hints of golden brown

Staying ' Birmingham, UK

Current Job ' Working as trainee accountant

Parents ' Father, Dilip Khanna, alive, living in London. Mother, Naina Khanna, dead.

Siblings ' None

Hobbies ' painting, socialising with friends

Marital Status ' Single

It took me a while to process Mishty's death, I was sitting at home as usual when the phone rang, it was Damini Aunty, she told me about Mishty's death, the phone had fallen from my hands and I had fallen to the sofa, Damini Aunty hung up, while I took everything in, Mishty'..she was dead, Mishty, the girl who I had seen only the month before looking fresh as ever. I had argued with myself whether or not go, she could be there, but eventually I came, just for Damini Aunty, I scanned the room when I got there, and she was there, sitting on the floor in her white salwar kameez with her hair hanging loose on her shoulders and her brown eyes looking straight at me, I avoided her gaze, because I knew what her eyes would be asking, 'where were you?' and I really didn't have the answers to her question, not this one and not any of the others she had wanted to ask over the years, why couldn't things be more simpler?

I break out of my trance as the funeral site arrives, we place the body on the logs and place smaller logs on top, I stand behind Prithvi as he looks at his sister, I reach forward and place my hand on his shoulder, he touches my hand and gives it a light squeeze, acknowledging my presence. I stand silently and watch as Prithvi fulfils his duty as a brother and lights fire to the body. He stands back and falls to the floor crying out for Mishty, before anyone else has the chance I race forward and take him into my arms, soothing him, trying to quieten him down, assuring him everything will be ok, but how will it be ok, she's gone, forever.

I stand up and pull Prithvi up as well and put my arm around his shoulder 'Let's go home' I say quietly, Prithvi nods his head and slowly walks away with me. The walk back is silent, Prithvi looks lost, its as if he's a living person with no soul, I've had enough, I take him by the shoulders and shake him 'snap out of it Prithvi, nothing can be done now, she's dead, she's gone' Prithvi stares at me and I see tears filling in his eyes again, I pull him towards me and wrap my arms around his shoulder, I pull away a while after and walk ahead, Prithvi walks slowly behind me. After what seems like a century, we arrive back at his house, he goes inside and hugs his mom, and I decide to go talk to her, it's about time I did. I see her sitting in a chair, with some strands of her hair falling in front of her eyes, I watch as she brushes them away, I smile, she's so beautiful and she always was.

*****************

Angad walks from the door over to the set of chairs where Kripa is sitting; he takes the seat on the left of her and slowly reaches out for her hand, her soft delicate hand. He looks at her hand and smiles 'you stopped biting your nails' Kripa turns her head towards him and gives a small smile, just a polite one 'you always said it was a nasty habit' She waits a while before taking her hand away from him, Angad looks confused, he stares everywhere else, noticing the changes made in the room, the walls had been painted white, he always hated the cream colour they were before. There weren't many photographs of him in the house anymore, he recalled how all the times he would enter the house before, the first thing he would notice would be the photo of him, Mishty and Prithvi, where was that photo he wonders as he looks anywhere but at Kripa.

She breathes slowly, not wanting to attract his attention, she leans back slowly and closes her eyes, she takes a deep breath and looks at him, taking into account his every little detail, he had bags under his eyes, probably from all the studying he does, she smiles as she spots a few cuts on his chin where he had shaved 'where were you Khanna?' There, she finally asked the million dollar question, Angad folds his arms and turns his head towards her and sighs 'I wasn't sure whether I should come' What an excuse for an answer, Kripa thinks, she shifts in her chair so that she's facing him, she shakes her head slowly and gets up from the seat, she stretches her legs while he wonders where she's going. She takes a step away and turns and looks at him 'go home Angad, you look like hell, I know you haven't slept in days' She is right, Angad thinks, ever since he heard about the news his nights would be restless, he would constantly toss and turn and sometimes even have nightmares and end up screaming, sometimes Kripa's name and sometimes Mishty's.  She takes another step as Angad begins to stand 'and don't be late for the re-union, everyone will be waiting for you' Yes the re-union, he had received the invitation weeks ago and had given RSVP that he would be coming, but maybe now it wasn't such a good idea, after all Mishty would no longer be there, but life can't be put on hold can it? He stands up straight as she walks away, he wants to go after her and hold her in his arms, but he knows she would never allow him, not anymore. Angad sighs again and walks over to Prithvi and Damini; he pays his respects to them both and takes their leave. At the door he glances at Mishty's photo, which now has a garland of flowers, a tear falls from his eye, he brushes it away and frowns and without anymore hesitation, he steps out of the house and strolls to his car, he opens the door and sits in, he takes another look at the house, then reverses out of the drive and heads home.

As he drives down the road, he spots Kripa walking alone, he stops the car next to her and presses the button for the window, once its fully open he calls out to her ?Kripa? She stops in her tracks but dares not to look at him ?come, I?ll drop you off? He has some decency left him, she thinks, she turns her head and looks at him with his hopeful expression, she figures it can do no harm, so she opens the door and slides into the car, Angad gives a wide smile and starts the car again and drives on ahead. Its pretty silent in the car, Angad feels too scared to say anything wrong in case Kripa brings up the past and Kripa doesn?t want to say anything in case it ends up in a fight. The last she wants is to lose someone else, even if that person is Angad Khanna. ?You changed your car? She finally speaks, trying to get rid of the silence between them, he glances at her while driving and nods his head in agreement ?It was given by the company? Wow, she thinks, how come she wasn?t given a car by her company, maybe because they?re both in different professions, but who cares, after all it?s only a car. She nods her head slowly and stares out of the window, Angad glances at her again and frowns, why had so much changed between them? If only he could go back to high school, there would be so much he would want to change, not the least being taking Mishty with him to London and making sure her accident never happened, but then again, they say ?what?s happened is destiny and no one can change destiny? Did that mean Kripa and him weren?t destined to be together? He wonders as he takes a right at the roundabout, he shakes the thought off as he enters her driveway. He stops the car and gazes at her hoping she invites him in, but to his disappointment, Kripa merely takes her seatbelt off and opens the door, she leans towards him ?thanks for the lift Angad? He smiles weakly and stares ahead, he hears the door shut and watches as she enters her house, when he knows she?s in safely he reverses out of her driveway and once again heads towards his home to catch some well deserved sleep in time for the re-union.