Kaisi yeh Yaariyan Season 3

Chapter 30

"How are you feeling now, beta?"

Mr. Malhotra patted on Manik's back.

"Yeah I guess I was a kinda tired, I dozed off." Mr. Malhotra pulled a chair across Manik who was relaxing on a lounge chair in the garden, watching the sun set.

"So how's life in Mumbai?" He enquired.

"That's not even a life, confined in those walls and having nothing to do apart from banging my head trying to piece together my past."

"Why don't you shift to Pune? I have an empire here, you could join the office if you like, you could make new friends, start a new life afresh. I mean I am not trying to impose anything on you, but you could think about it."

"But how can I start a new life without knowing what I have left behind...."

"How long are you going to live in the shadow of your past, you have to move on, sooner or later."

"How can you even say that, how can you just wipe away everything? How can you take away my whole life and just ask me to start from scratch? What if, I have left behind something..or someone and they are still searching for me? What if someone is still waiting for me to return...what if..." His voice trailed off. He couldn't explain to his father that he saw flashes at times. Silhouettes of people, silhouette of a couple against the grey sky. But they would run away just as fast as they had arrived, before he could even lay his hands on them. They were recurrent flashes and every now and then he woke up sweating, trying to recall the blurred faces. He saw random objects, that reappeared again and again..a guitar, starts, fireflies and he couldn't make sense of any of them.

"I am not wiping it off Manik beta, I am not the one who has played this cruel joke. I am only trying to help you in coping up with this." Away from manik's sight he was clenching his fist in anger, yet he maintained an easy smile on his face. Who could tell he was hiding so much of anguish inside.

Manik thought for a while. It wasn't such a bad idea after all. If he joined office, it would keep him busy for most part of the day. He would be spared of the devilish thoughts that now tormented him all the time. Plus, Pune was just over three hours from Panchgani, & he could visit Nandini if he got bored here. May be his dad wasn't wrong after all.

"Tell me something dad, before I lost memory what was it that I wanted to be, I mean personally you don't have much idea, but professionally, are you clueless about that too?" He asked innocently.

"What do you think the heir of the Malhotra industries would be aiming for? You have always been way more ambitious than me. You used to come here often to learn the basics of business and it was just a matter of time before you finished college and took my position, rendering me jobless" He tried to force in a little humour to make his lie sound believable.

"Did I not have any other interests? Like sports or...or music....?" The scene from the morning was still fresh in his mind and so was its impact on him. Music liberated him, in a way that words would fail to express. Every cell in his body, ever drop of blood responded to the strums and beats. When music played, he didn't feel lost anymore, in fact he felt as if he was home, as if this was it, as this was who he was. With music he shared a connection too deep to neglect and in his heart he thanked Nandini for bringing upon that realization to him.

"What music?? No no you were never into that bullshit, and you shouldn't even think about it." He was alerted.

Manik smiled to himself. 'Bullshit!!' He ridiculed in his mind. Manik Malhotra didn't listen to anyone unless he wanted to. Memory or no memory, he knew with utmost surety that no one could ever stop him from doing something that he decided in favour of. If music was destined to be his pole star, music it shall be. Period.