𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐧 [ abhishek sharma ]

Prelude-What is Death?

What is Death?

A five year old Tanvi did not know the answer to that question.

Not until she watched her parents come home wrapped in all white, with garlands around their neck, their eyes shut, and their hands intertwined, as if telling each other that they had one another.

Tanvi was reminded of one of her favorite Disney Princess.

Snow-white.

She often told her Mumma that she looked like her.

And her Mumma would chuckle, playfully flick her nose and arch a brow at her.

" Really? Then who's the Prince who'll save me?"

" Dadda!"

And then, her Dadda would join the conversation.

But that day, the Prince who was supposed to save her, lay right next to her.

She'd wriggled out of her nanny's arms and rushed towards her parents, slipping her hands into their cold, unalive ones, as she feebly called them out again but in vain for she got no response in return.

And she suddenly knew, that they were never coming back.

When she stood all alone in the crematorium as the last rites of her parents were done, a girl had walked upto her.

She'd overheard the girl's mother reprimand her harshly, when she'd barely done anything.

" You look sad. Why do you look sad? My Nani says little children shouldn't be sad. They should be happy."

" My Mumma and Dadda left." Little Tanvi's lips trembled as she looked up at the girl next to her.

" Left? Left where?"

" They became stars."

" Nani...Nani says....when someone becomes a star, they go away, and shine very bright in the sky. And if it's someone close to you, they shine brighter to show you light."

" Will my Mumma Dadda shine bright too? To show me light?"

The little girl next to her nodded.

" Don't worry, they'll send a guardian angel to protect you!"

" Are you my guardian angel?"

" Maybe I am!"

" But I don't know your name."

" Eshanya!"

" Such a big name." Little Tanvi frowned cutely.

" You can call me Esha!"

And that was where the five year old Tanvi befriended her true guardian angel, who never left her side.

If a fifteen year old Tanvi was asked the same question-What is Death?

She'd probably answer with a story.

The Tale of the Three Brothers, who encountered Death.

One of her favourite stories, from her favourite novel.

If a twenty year old Tanvi was asked what Death meant, she'd probably say,

Giving up your life for the person you love, or making someone give up on theirs, in order to exact your revenge for taking away your loved ones

And apart from Eshanya Singhania and her grandparents, she had no one to kill for, or to die for.

Until she stumbled into Abhishek Sharma again.

And a letter to him, changed everything.

Dear Abhay,

Writing Letters in the 21st Century is too cliche, I'm well aware of that. However, I'm unaware of any other way to express myself.
I'm not good with words, however, I'm even worser with conversations.
Esha alone knows how she deals with me.
I apologise that I have to get to you in such a way, but I must express my gratitude.

I hadn't smiled in days, given Esha's absence, and you made me laugh.
You had a certain kind of serenity to offer through your kind eyes, your beautiful smiles, and laughs.
You were indeed right, I'd had a bad day, and I don't even know how you made that out, but you did.
You made me feel so much better through a mere conversation-something which I often avoid with people.

But then, you're you, you're Abhay, and you have your own charm.

And I realised it today.

Thank you so much for dealing with my grumpy self.

Yours,
Tanvi