Dark Secrets

Epilogue II

SHRESHTHA

One day I want to swim with you naked in this river.

Shreshtha's own words- the ones she's told Yuvansh - echo in her mind. She is sitting by the Tosh river with two urns beside her, each covered with fine linen crimson cloth, stretched taut over the mouths and secured with black string around the neck to keep its contents from spilling out. The river is quiet, just like her. She takes a deep breath and stares at the two urns- one contains the ashes of her mother whom she has never met. She has only seen her in the form of ashes. The other urn contains Yuvansh's ashes. Yuvansh was someone who loved her mother so much that his love overflowed and inundated her, the daughter of the woman he loved. Shreshtha, for me, was God. My love for her was my temple. When destiny broke my God's idol, I made another idol out of a piece of the original. Was I wrong?" Yuvansh's words ricochet in her mind.

Dimpy had taken her to Pragati; the woman whose womb she had been born from. Dimpy arranged for the photographs of her parents. She was their part but she didn't know them at all.

Pragati had sent her the voice note which Yuvansh had sent her before shooting himself. The guilt hangs heavy inside her. If only she had waited one more day ..... Dimpy would have called her and told her the whole truth. Perhaps then she wouldn't have seen him as an emotional rapist but rather a consequence of a badly broken heart. Had she waited, this catastrophe could have been averted.

Shreshtha takes the urns, one at a time, in her hands and kisses them. She presses them against her head and then stands up. She slowly strips herself and then smears all the ash from both urns on her naked body. She remembers what Yuvansh once told her.

You know this thing we call love, it's like a dense forest. As you enter, you hear the growl of several wild beasts. At times, you may even encounter them. Insecurity is the most ferocious beast in this jungle. Whether to fall victim or vanquish it to continue one's quest to unearth the greatest treasure ever, which is also hidden in this very forest, is the lover's call.

Her only redemption is, she thinks, if she can one day understand Yuvansh's love for her mother. Perhaps then she will understand his madness for her as well. A man spent his entire life just being in love with a woman. A woman he could never touch, never hear or talk to. A woman who spent a life blanketing her love for the man with silence because she had duties to fulfil. She suddenly feels very tiny and insignificant compared to her mother and Yuvansh.

Standing all ash-smeared by the river, Shreshtha takes a deep breath, and then plunges into the river, swimming strongly in the freezing currents of the water as the ash is washed from her body and becomes one with the water.

I've taken mine. What's your call, Ranisa?