"Goodbye Maya. Till next time."
Maya Ganguly has always felt a sense of loneliness in her heart since the time her elder brother had run away from home. Fourteen years ago. But things were finally looking up when she was able to convince her parents...
I wish I could have seen you once as the fine young man you must have turned out to be. But if you are reading this, it means that you have finally returned to your family and with that hope in my heart, I write this letter to you.
It's been a long time. Grandma left us and your father got promoted to the chief engineer of his company. Your mother still works day and night in the house just as she always used to and your sister has turned into a lovely young lady about to graduate from school. It's been fourteen long years since you left us but still, we have always been waiting for you and trying to keep your memories alive in even the smallest ways possible.
Your father has still got a picture of you and your sister as the home screen in his phone and your sister has never found a better playmate than you.
One night a few years ago, while I was staying in your house, I had woken up from my sleep to hear your mother crying. It was the day you would have turned eighteen.
No one wanted to ruin your life, Arjun. Your mother has reproached herself so many times because she had forced you to study when your dream was to explore the world, she has cried so many times over the fact that she made you sit in front of the study table when your heart roamed around in the deepest of jungles and the highest of mountains. The torn up books that she had made you read forcefully is a sad proof of that fact.
And as for your silly old Grandpa, he sat in his living room alone with the little chair where you used to sit close beside him, waiting for his grandson to come to his house, waiting to see his smiling face again as he had once promised.
It has been ages since we last shared an ice-cream together. Do you remember that you always wanted a chocolate one when you visited my place but I always used to buy you a strawberry flavoured one by mistake? I have finally bought a chocolate ice-cream just for you, so that when you visit my place again, you may have some as you always wanted to.
I am so happy that you can read this letter and hopefully, you have achieved what you had set out to become. If so, no one could be happier than me.
With love, Grandpa."
I tried to write the letter in as much of a legible handwriting as possible because my hands shook so terribly. I had no clue that Grandpa missed my brother so much. I felt a desperate anger rising inside of me towards my missing sibling as I wrote the letter. It was because of him that Grandpa was in such a state today. If I ever wanted to make one of my wishes come true, then I wanted it now, to make Grandpa reunite with my brother again.
"I am sorry if my letter seems to be too sentimental," he said, "I wanted to make him cry for me."
"He'd deserve that," I said, desperately trying to hold down my tears. Grandpa needed strength at the moment. It wouldn't do if I broke down in front of him.
"Can you do a favour for me, pie?," he asked slowly, "There are the lilacs in my garden. Please water them for me."
"Yes," I agreed, smiling to mask my sorrow. He'd probably never get to see his flowers bloom.
"I wish I can become a star in the sky if things don't work out," he said, his eyes still closed.
"Don't you think I am too old for that?"
"Maybe," he agreed, "But it isn't so bad. You can always look up to me when darkness falls, both you and your brother."
"You'll live," I said, with finality in my voice, "Cancer is highly curable nowadays."
"I will live, pie, as long as you are with me," Grandpa said. He put up his wrinkled hand and gently stroked my head.
"Do you remember how Arjun used to tell you stories of grand adventures by making your teddy bears enact them with his hands?"
I didn't remember them but I so wish that I did.
"You would have the widest smile of admiration and joy in your face while you watched him do that. He had me beat with his stories while he was still with us," he started laughing but it quickly turned into a bout of cough. I hurriedly took the glass of water which the nurse had kept on the table beside his bed and helped him to drink it.
"Thank you, pie," he said as he slowly relaxed again, "Back in the day, we made some terrible mistakes while bringing up your brother. We wanted him to be good in his studies and become successful in life. But what we didn't know was that the harder we tried to make him do as we wished, the harder he began to resist us. Maybe the friends he had made from the orphanage and his insistence on spending all his free time with them was an indication of what was to come. After he ran away, we tried our best to bring you up the way we wished we had brought up Arjun. Even then, if we have fallen short, pie, please forgive us. After all, we are only human."
"No, Grandpa. You and my parents have done really well. I am thankful to all of you," I assured him.
"And I am thankful that I could get you as my grand-daughter ," he smiled.
Untamed tears finally began streaming down my eyes. I couldn't hold them in any longer.
"You will always feel anger, grief, happiness, sadness at various moments in your life, pie. Never let those fleeting emotions get the better of you ," he said, noticing me.
"I know but my heart aches so bad. I love you. So much."
"Never let them do so," he continued to mutter to himself as his eyes started glistening with tears too.
The next few moments passed by in silence, the intermittent sounds produced by the various machines in the room sounding increasingly like that of a time- bomb. I sat beside him holding his hands and him holding mine and I wished that moment could stretch on for forever.
"You must go home now and eat something," he finally said, breaking the silence.
I rubbed off the tears on my face and nodded. Every moment that I spent with him was more precious to me now than the most sparkling diamond in the world. I hesitated to leave him. I was afraid that maybe it would be the last time that I would ever get to meet him.
"How can you be so sure, Grandpa," I asked, "How can you be so sure that dada will return?"
Grandpa breathed out heavily. I could feel that his body could not hold the strain of talking any longer.
"You know that yourself, my strawberry pie. Qui vivra verra ," he replied with a smile.
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Author's Note: Did you ever write a letter to someone? How was it?
