Arohan - The Ascent

Road To Redemption

Hansraj Memorial Hospital – Khushi Nagar – Padrauna District Headquarters – 1 Week Later

Panditji sat next to Urvashi, as she lay with a cast around her neck and cast on her left arm. It was a miracle that she had survived the battle with death. He had no idea how she had got here or who had brought her here. All he knew was that, there was note stuck to his house the morning after Ram Navami. All the note said was, "Teacher in Hospital "and gave the name of the hospital.

He had rushed out immediately and when he reached Khushi Nagar, the district head quarters of Padrauna, he went straight from the Bus stand to Hansraj Memorial Hospital. When he got there though, what he saw, was enough to render him motionless for a few seconds.

Somebody had brought her in a car and had her admitted in the emergency Trauma care unit of the Hospital. Before the cops could arrive or a case could be registered, the men left. Due to the delay in registering the Police case, there had been a delay in administering treatment to Urvashi. By the time the doctors got the go ahead from the cops to save the patient, she was swinging dangerously between life and death. It was nothing short of a miracle that she had survived so far, the doctors had commented.

"But what was a mystery, was how, she had got so critically injured, between going home from the temple and reaching home. No one knew exactly what had happened on the way back home. Since the incident happened in Padrauna, besides transferring the case to Padrauna Police Team, there was nothing much the Cops in Khushi Nagar could do. Still they waited for someone to arrive from the victim's family and so did Pandit Ji arrive the next day.

Amidst all the chaos, there was one major dilemma that faced pandit ji now. Should he or should he not inform Urvashi's family about her condition? Finally, after much though he decided that until Urvashi's condition stabilized, he would not mention anything about her to anyone.

The doctors had warned that till she recovered consciousness, there was no way to tell, if there were any other complications to her case. When she was brought in, she had a severe head injury, along with a fracture to her left arm, as well as two broken ribs. The doctors were sure that the injuries were caused due to jumping off from height.

This was the most shocking piece of information Pandit Ji received. It made absolutely no sense. Why would someone as full of life and young as Urvashi, who seemed to have no reason for sorrow or unhappiness, jump off from a height. She was not that kind of a person. But the cops seemed to have already made up their minds that the young single woman had tried to commit suicide, probably due to personal reasons. They had many other important cases to resolve and no time to spare.

As Pandit Ji sat next to Urvashi, wondering repeatedly as to what could exactly have happened, he noticed the twitch in her fingers. He looked up from her hand to her face. And then her fingers twitched again. He immediately called the duty nurse.

2 More Days Later

Urvashi had finally opened her eyes after two days of showing sings of recovery. As she opened her eyes, slowly, the light streaming into the room too brilliant for her to keep her eyes open for long, seemed like it was coming from what seemed like a long pipe. It was only after a few seconds had passed, that Urvashi realized, that a small torch had been focused on to her pupil, so they could check if she was conscious or not.

"Miss? Can you hear?" she heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Miss? If you can hear me, please wink your eyes. Please don't try to move your neck. Just wink once to say yes  OK?" asked the unfamiliar voice again.

"Where am I? What is this place?" Urvashi wondered to herself but had no strength to say anything. She winked once to indicate she heard them perfectly well.

"OK Miss? Please follow my finger," instructed the unfamiliar voice this time.

Urvashi did as she was told.

There seemed to be another voice in the room, but not in Urvashi's line of sight.

"Is everything alright Doctor?" the voice asked.

It sounded like a very familiar voice though she still could not place who it belonged to.

"She is fine so far Pandit Ji. We'll carry out a few more tests to check if everything else is ok. Then it's just a matter of recuperation. Since she is young, she will recover quickly. I don't foresee any problems with regards to her health, at least not from this accident," said the Doctor.

As the Doctor mentioned Pandit Ji.... the events leading up to her near fatal jump, whizzed past her mind. The tear streamed down from the side of her right cheek, as Urvashi lay bruised and battered by the fall.

Padrauna – Vicky's Hangout

Vicky sat with his head tucked between his raised legs, numb and totally disillusioned. He had sat there in that very position since that day. Jai, Minku and Sonu tried to reason with him, to stop his madness, but he had sat, like a statue, completely unresponsive to their requests and pleas.

"What is wrong with him? If she wanted to jump and die, what could he have done? Why is he punishing himself like that?" screamed Minku out of frustration.

Unable to watch their friend sink deeper and deeper into this state, Sonu brough out a big bucket of water from the bathroom outside the house and splashed the water onto Vicky.

"SONU?" screamed Jai, "STOP your stupid games," he barked and walked slowly towards Vicky.

He sat, his head still sunk low, soaking wet with the water from head to foot.

Jai knelt in front of him and placed his hands gently on his shoulder. "Vicky!" he called softly. "You didn't harm her my brother, in fact you saved her life. If she is alive today, then it's just because of you,"he said, trying to console his best friend.

Vicky looked up slowly, then, his eyes red, his face distraught with pain. "What if...." he looked at Jai, unable to say the words that were chocking his breath.

Jai watched as drops of water trickled down from Vicky's face, unsure if it was due to the water Sonu had splashed on him or if it was his tears. But he knew he had to say something that immediately dispelled his worst fears.

"NO. She's fine, probably recovering at the hospital. If anything had been wrong, Pandit Ji would have come back to the village by now. The fact that he has been away from all these days, means we have hope. Don't worry... please," Jai tried to pull Vicky into his embrace.

"Don't worry?" he asked sarcasm oozing from his voice. "She must be in pain Jai.... So much pain.... Because of me.... because... because... I...." he looked away, as guilt plucked his heart strings.

"Calm down Vicky," said Minku and Sonu, coming to surround the two men.

"I CAN'T.... she's in such pain.... because I ...ahhh, I..." Vicky broke down, unable to bear the weight of guilt that lay on his chest.

And then suddenly he got up with a jerk. "I need to see her. I need to see if she is OK. And I need to be punished for what I did. I will go to the police and hand myself in. That's the only way I can redeem myself, he said, trying to break away from his friends who had surrounded him.

"NO," all there screamed in unison.

Jai caught Vicky from behind and Sonu slapped him hard. He stood rooted to the spot too shocked at what had just happened.

"Are you mad? Do you know what will happen to you, if they find out that it was you, who was following the teacher, they will take you straight to prison and then her family must already be on the look out for the culprit. Once they catch you, they will chop your hands and legs off or even castrate you for trying to fool around with her. Just lie low for some time Vicky. Just let this storm pass," they held him back.

The helplessness of his situation was driving him mad. Another sob tore out of him. "I need to see her Jai...I need to see her..." and Vicky knelt on the ground, his face hidden by his palm.

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