Twice Upon A Time

Part 7- Josh's Past

Aubrey's POV:

"Alright, first of all to begin with, I'm Josh's paternal grandmother. Perhaps the only family he has right now. Make no mistake, Josh is totally Indian. Both of his parents are Indian. But his father was born in Hackney, London, to me and Rahuldev Ghosh, his grandfather, before we had to split up owing to social discriminations at the time. Rahuldev was a Zamindar. Which was a sort of an aristrocracy in Bengal at the time. His family were powerful landlords, and among the first ones to rise up against the British colonialism in India. Thus, although we fell in love, social compulsions forced me and Rahuldev apart. Josh's father, Aakash, still an infant at the time, was then taken to Calcutta by Rahuldev and brought up and raised there. Then Rahuldev got married to an Indian woman. And they finally settled down and led a happy life. I only got to see my son once in my lifetime. And that was only after Josh was born. To Aakash and his lovely and amazing wife, Komal. Thus, Josh is full-Indian, being born to ethnic Bengali parents in a typical Bengali Zamindari household, yet he picked up the English accent perhaps partially because of me, his grandmother, and partially because of his deep vocal cords and the fact that he spent quite a lot of his time in London."

"Spent a lot of his time in London?" I enquired.

"We have all day. I'll get to that. But first things first, how on earth did you figure out I'm related to him?" She asked.

"Well, for a start, the embrace was too cordial for a stranger.. Then, your involuntary kiss on his forehead and Josh's peculiar act of touching your feet, which must be somewhat respectful or a custom I guess? And the fact that he accidentally called you 'Granny' before leaving, nailed it. From the little I have figured out about him, he's not the sort to be warm or casual to people easily. It was simple really. Really evident."

"And yet, not evident to others. Haha! Touching older people's feet is to seek blessings in the Hindu culture. You're very smart, darling. You're quite worthy of him. I just sincerely hope he feels the same way for you as you do for him. But that's not likely to happen, not after what happened with his life."

"What do you mean? What happened back in Calcutta? Why is he reluctant to talk about his past?"

"Well...." Mrs. Cartright breathed a deep sigh of grief.

"Well what? Look, I'm banking on you to know the truth. Spit it out already."

"Look, it's only because you care about him so much that I'm saying this. And despite being miles apart, I was in touch with the family in Calcutta. But that happened occasionally. I have no idea what exactly happened. But I'll tell you what I know. Josh had the perfect life in Calcutta. He was in his final year of school life, had a wonderful family, and a gorgeous girlfriend.."

"Girlfriend?" I felt disappointed. But then, Mrs. Cartright used the past tense. So I figured they broke up.

"But there was more to Josh than meets the eye. Always has been."

I nodded. She couldn't have been more correct.

"Josh was incredibly smart and very agile too. It so happened that back in middle school, when he was a mere 13 years old, he averted an explosion right in the heart of Calcutta. The work was suspected to have been committed by anarchists. But it wasn't. It was a deep-rooted conspiracy. Josh learnt something about the plans somehow beforehand. I don't know how. It is then that the MI6, under threat from the same anarchist group, sought the help of the teenaged kid Josh. However, the plan was quite a complicated one. They figured they couldn't beat the anarchist organization without Josh's help. It was then that he was asked to co-operate and he complied, undergoing vigorous training under MI6's tutelage, to finally become an unofficial secret service agent. That's when he spent most of his life in London. He was very young by the time they finished, perhaps 16. He helped avert a gas explosion in Nottingham. The MI6 offered him a position in their ranks. But he refused, citing he didn't want to lose his independence by working for an organization. He then decided to finish his high schooling from Calcutta and returned home. Little did he know then what would happen in the future. And his life would be turned upside down."

"Go on, go on, what happened?" I almost shrieked.

"Well, everything went peacefully, till a bomb blast on an underground railway station derailed his life completely. He lost his friends, his family, his lover too. The day was special. It was his 17th birthday. The blast took away the lives of as many as 4089 people. Many bodies were not even discovered. It was massive. And extremely painful, the worst sufferer being Josh. He was never the same afterwards."

"But how did he survive if everyone else was killed?" I wondered aloud. Not that I am complaining, but it's unbelievable.

"That's just one of the numerous mysteries unsolved. I have no idea. Nobody knows. Nobody, except him. But he won't tell anyone. Neither will he say what went on at the underground railway station. Being the sole survivor, he was questioned on more than one occasion about the details. But he was unusually reticent. Josh used to be full of life. Till that incident happened. Now, he hardly speaks about the incident anymore."

[Author: Pic at the top depicts a photo from a leading newspaper showing the underground explosion of the subway train full of passengers, in Calcutta in 2014]

"And what is he doing here in the US?" I asked.

"Well, Josh helped the US Government in the prevention of a mass conspiracy plan to uproot the powers at the top. Again, I don't know any details. All I know is that the Government was so grateful that they offered him money, a home to live and even an American passport. They contacted me in London and asked me if I could take up a teaching job at his university so that I could keep an eye out for him. Luckily for them, I had been teaching here already for the past 30 years. What people don't know about me is that I could never move on from Rahuldev, and I have been unmarried all my life. So it's 'Miss' Cartright, not 'Mrs.' Cartright, but sadly that's been the one doing the rounds all these years because of my great age. But anyway, I'm happy he's here. He reminds me a bit of his granpa too. But such trauma for such a young kid. Such a tragedic life." Tears left Mrs. Cartright's eyes. But before long, realising she's in front of a student, she gathered herself quickly. Strong woman.

"But will Josh be safe from his enemies here?"

"Don't worry about that, my dear. Josh has got friends at the CIA and the FBI. And in most secret service organizations around the world. As I said before, he was an independent spy. Plus, he can bloody take care of himself. He's as strong and athletic as he's brilliant. He was trained well." She said, with a glint of pride in her voice, at her grandson.

"Okay, that will be all, then. Anything else you need to tell me?" I asked one final time.

"There's nothing I know about him that I didn't tell you. I'm afraid the rest of him has to be discovered by you. He needs love. And blimey!! Look at the time! Off to your classes, Miss Smith. I'm still the Vice-Principal, you know."

"The coolest Vice-Principal I know." I said, before bidding her goodbye and rejoining my classes.