More than just Feluda (Fanfic)

Time Winding back

THUD!

Back to the present.

Sujata found herself tearing up with the letter in yellow paper in her hands, on her bed at 6 a.m. She wiped her face and folded it again carefully, slipping it back to the last page of the diary. The last entry on that diary was from the time he read the poem-book to Sindhuja, but she saw everything that happened after that too. It was as if she had really time-travelled; watching everything unfold as she stood there with others too. Sujata had seen things that were written in the diary, and even things that weren't written. Even things from his point of view.

She looked out of the window at a sky that was turning a lighter shade of blue with every passing minute, wondering if she had only been dreaming things all this time. But then, dream or not; she knew she had jumped into the past. She knew from her heart and soul, that everything she saw wasn't her imagination, but what really happened all those years ago.

Sujata was still in this void, swinging between past and present, imagination and reality, smiles and tears; when her phone set off with the usual irritating tune of her alarm. 6:15 am.

She turned the alarm off and got up. Her eyes were sore, head throbbing because of reading the whole night; of seeing an entire twelve years of someone's life in a few hours under the moon. She wondered again if this was even possible to do, if time really did work last night as it usually does; because nothing of what she experienced made practical sense. But it did happen, and she did see it.
She didn't know how, but it was all true. As true as the sun and the sky and the cool gust of wind that came in when she opened the window.

Being a doctor and medical student, surviving the whole day without sleep wasn't very unfamiliar for Sujata; she took a quick nap during the lunch break and drank three cups of coffee to keep herself standing. However, in the evening when she came to Rajani Sen road, it all felt different. Everything in no.21, every person now looked different; Mr. Mitter the most different of all. Quietly keeping the diary back in the bookshelf of his room while he was out in the hall, she could now piece together some small quirks in his behavior, like why he didn't like being called Mitter Babu.

Sujata saw the photo frame kept on the desk again, the couple inside still smiling. Then she turned to the bedside table. The Mrs. Mitter was still sitting in there. She glanced at the well-kept 46 years old diary and the neatly folded, yellowed note inside. Her heart weighed down.
He's kept all her memories carefully. He still loves her so much.

She was lost in her own thoughts so much that she didn't notice Mr. Mitter standing at the door.

"Doctor madam?" He asked looking at her with a raised brow.

Sujata fumbled and stood in front of him, trying to ignore how different he now looked to her.
"Oh, hello... I mean... Good evening... I was waiting for you to complete the work downstairs."

"Yeah, I'm done now."

As his daily checks and doses were done, Sujata slowly asked.
"What were the people downstairs there for? I mean- are you working with something new?"

He sighed. "No. It's just that I give a little financial help to neuroscience & medical researches of Kolkata university every year..."

Sujata quickly understood why, but asked him nonetheless.
"Why neuroscience? Is there something special for that?"

He stopped a moment to look down at the frame by his bed as Sujata held her breath. Maybe she had gone too far, but she had dared to ask him because she now knew he had a soft, emotional side too.