Unreachable Destiny- The Curse Of Your Love

Chapter-7: A lasting sequence.

It has been two days since Maya started her work as a volunteer doctor at the camp and she is yet to settle into the role. Everything is so new here and the communication between Maya and her patients is fuzzy because of the language barrier. While Maya speaks Hindi just fine, explaining stuff in medical terms is hard for her in Hindi. Even so, she managed to make friends with the other volunteer doctors on camp. Pradeep, a South Indian Doctor from Andhra Pradesh, is such a kind soul. Every time Maya finds it challenging to communicate with a patient, he jumps right in and Maya can only appreciate the help. Even though she is reluctant to share anything about herself with her colleagues, she tries her best to bond with them. 

As soon as her morning shift is over, Maya is impatient to get to the common room, where they usually get to eat and rest between their shifts. She has come to love Indian cuisine during her stay here, although she misses her Sunday roast. Every day the food gets only better. Maybe it's because a lot of these things give a peek into her mother's life. And today, Maya is finally going to eat her mother's favourite Kichidi. She opens the box to find what looks like rice and lentils with a yellowish colour, which is probably acquired from tamarind powder. She digs right in with a smile. The very first taste is hard to explain, it was good and also familiar. Is it because she ate it before? Maya doesn't care and loses herself to the taste when she hears a throat being cleared from behind her.

"You seem to really enjoy it?" She can hear a chuckle follow their words and Maya can't help but feel embarrassed and offended to be disturbed in her personal time. She calms herself before turning around to find a middle-aged man standing at the zipper of the tent. She looks intently at the man, wondering who he is and how he could just walk into the staff tent. Maya is sure this person is not staff. Despite trying to act cool, Maya's stern gaze got to Abhimanyu as he tries again. "I am actually looking for Mridhila. Mridhila Rajvansh."

As soon as she heard her name, she stood up. "That's me."

Abhimanyu smiles. Of course, it's you. there's only you here. Abhimanyu heard from the Maheshwaris that their granddaughter has returned to India and is currently working on the campsite. He heard a lot about her exceptional skill in medicine. At the age of 25, she completed her residency period of three years and her PG. He wanted to take a look at the medical protégé, but the sight he met with only reminded him how young she actually is. The way she was enjoying her food made him smile abstractedly. If he had a daughter, she would be of this age too, he thought.

"I am Abhimanyu Birla, a neurosurgeon at Birla Hospital. And you should be Varsha Aunty's granddaughter, Mridhila Rajvansh."

"Yeah, you can call me Maya. I have heard a lot about your work and your research on various forms of brain tumours."

"And I have heard a lot about you too, young lady. I hope you get to experience and learn many things during your stay here."

"Thank you. I am planning to stay here for a while so I might actually need some hope. I need a new start."

"A new start. No one really gets to start anew, but you might come across new things, meet new people and make new choices."

"Yeah, I mean, anything for a change." Abhimanyu gives her a knowing smile. For the life of a doctor, having something new is what they inevitably look for, but never find, and those who do find it may not be able to keep it.

***

"How long are you planning to stay?" Maya has grown to like Dr. Abhimanyu as they have so much that they can talk about. They both had similar interests in music, medical study and exercise routine.

"I think until the campaign ends. Tomorrow is your day off, what are you planning to do?"

"I have something to do, but mostly, I am going to stay home."

"In Maheshwari's house?" Abhimanyu only knows that Maya is Varsha's granddaughter and is oblivious to the drama that happened because he lost contact with Akshara and her biological mother's family long ago. Maya, on the other hand, does not feel at ease at the mention of her mother's family. She knows how much her mother loved her Bade Papa and Badi ma and how well they treated her. She still remembers when her father got the news that they passed away. That moment she realized that she just lost her last opportunity to connect with her mother's past, the two people who went against the world for her mother, and she never got to meet them. She can feel tears forming at the back of her eyes but holds them back. That house no longer holds what she desires and the people that currently live there, she doesn't know how to face them.

"How about you, sir? What are you going to do?" Maya smiles and closes the distasteful topic with a distraction.

"Me? Nothing exciting for this old man. My son is going to visit me tomorrow and we'll probably take it from there."

"Your son? I didn't know you have a son?"

"Don't tell me you thought I was younger than a day over fifty. My son is of your age too or probably older." Looking at his smile, Maya can tell how much Dr. Abhimanyu cared for his son but the gloomy look in his eyes tells a different story. She doesn't care to mention it as she knows that in life, taking control over the course of your future is troubling enough, she has no energy to peek into someone else's despair when her own doesn't seem run out.

***

The next day morning, She leaves at dawn with a heavy heart. No amount of tiredness can keep her in bed that morning. Mishti's birthday has always been celebrated in silence. Abhir locked himself in the side room attached to his bedroom, where all of Mishti's belongings were kept. Maya visits Ram Mandir, takes a dip in the holy pond and lights the entire temple with diyas. She has only one thing to ask her god every year. Aditya, on the other hand, disappears for the entire day. They never asked him where he goes because they know he will return by the end of the day and they understand that each one of them has their own way of spending that day in the memory of their most beloved.

Maya finds a Ram Mandir with a pond and arrives there at 5 am. In the darkness, she can tell how empty the temple is and how soon people might start to come. Meanwhile, she gets into the pond as the cold water splashes against her warm skin. With her hands held in a posture of Namaskar, she dips into the water. Her head goes down the surface of the water and just behind her, a head emerges. Ranav stands with his hands held together and goes down again while Maya comes out of the water at the same time. Maya is facing the other side and cannot tell that a person is right behind her. Ranav's hand touches something in the water and he comes out to see that it is a red netted cloth. He lifts his head to look at a woman's silhouette standing beside him. He tests the duppata in his hand and somehow feels like he is choking on water. The woman moves forward in the water climbing the stairs leading out of the pond, while the duppata in his hand slowly pulls away. The bangles on her hand bump into each other, making a clanking sound, which resonates in his ears tenfold. He shakes his head feeling queasy about the whole thing. He gets out of the water himself and goes to the changing room to get changed into the kurta he brought. 

Maya lights diyas everywhere she can find place. Ranav arrives at the main temple just as she gets done with lighting diyas. Ranav moves in to ring the bell just when Maya reaches for the bell. Maya gets startled as their hands collide, losing her footing over something on the floor, but Ranav's other hand shoots out to catch her mid-fall. For the first time, he lays his eyes on Maya Rajvansh and he is met with her equal gaze. Their meeting in a temple is not a coincidence but a play of fate. Many endings make way for new beginnings but some endings only leave for a lasting sequence. Three souls are finally bound to this sequence and whatever may happen from now can turn out to be their will or Lord Ram himself.