Nomads

Chapter 4, Pt 4- Freedom

By the time they got back to the hotel, it was very late and the mobile phone shops had closed. In their excitement, they had forgotten to buy the most crucial thing.

When they got back to the hotel, Nasr and Subash’s minds were flooded with the thoughts of their parents and the situation in their house. It was extremely difficult for Nasr to hold back anymore. Their initial plan was to contact their parents after they had found a way to live in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, after a month or so. Then their plan had shifted to contacting them when they reached Gangtok because they realized it would be too hard for their parents.

But Nasr could now even imagine his crying father, who hardly ever broke in front of anyone, he was extremely guilty all of a sudden. He washed himself and prayed the Namaz and found some peace. But his heart kept skipping to his father, who had once been a heart attack victim. He could not bear the imagination of the crying face of his mother.

“I think we should tell them that we are okay, at least”, Nasr told Subash.

Subash looked at him in shock, “you crazy in the head?”

“Like, I don’t know man. They would not be able to sleep in the night thinking that something may have happened to us. Just to inform that we are safe, come on. I don’t want anything happening to my father.” Nasr said, thinking that his father may have even died of a second heart attack, he was a very pessimistic person.

“At least I want to know my family is safe, I wouldn’t be able to take the guilt of my father’s death and continue the journey.” Nasr said, tearing up.

They argued for a while and Subash finally decided to let Nasr do whatever he wanted he felt like. Nasr held back for a while, hesitated, inserted his old sim in his phone and turned it on. His initial idea was to text his sister that he was safe, but as soon as he turned his data on, his screen immediately filled with missed calls and texts from many contacts and unknown numbers asking for his whereabouts. He saw his aunt’s text around 10 am saying that his father had had a heart attack. His heart sank immediately, he told about it to Subash and tried to convince himself that she was lying because no one else had texted that. He texted his sister, who also had left many texts for him. She immediately came online and told him to call mom. By this moment, he was in tears, he immediately rung his mother and it was picked up by his maternal uncle.

“Nasr, what are you trying to do?” he asked in a calm and disappointed voice.

“I cannot talk to anyone just tell me my Mom and Pappa are okay.” He replied in a broken voice.

His uncle remained silent for a while and said, “we are all at the hospital. Pappa has had a heart attack.”

Nasr was speechless and in extreme guilt.

“Your mom had fainted; she is better now. Keep your phone on. She will call you in ten minutes.”

Nasr cut the call, not knowing what to say. He looked at his phone and cut the call.

They went up to the terrace and discussed about the events. He was anxiously waiting for his Mom’s phone. The street below had become deserted and the people had abandoned the footpaths, only a few cars passed.

After waiting for many minutes his mother finally called. He immediately picked the call up.

“Mom…” he burst into tears and started crying. It was too much for him to hold.

“Nasr… why did you…”, she was weeping from the other end too.

“I’m sorry.” He said in his broken voice, the stream of tears never stopping.

“You made your decision, we read your note”, she said, “you wrote that you thought a lot before taking your decision. We thought about it, we are going to let you go wherever you want to… But…” she broke, “where are you, Nasr?” she sobbed.

“I can’t tell you that” he cried, “just know wherever, I am, I am safe.”

“Are you inside a hotel, not roaming on the streets?” She said.

“No, no. I’m safe in a hotel.”

“Just tell me where, we won’t send anyone searching for you. We respect your decision.”

“I can’t tell you until I reach my destination. But are you really respecting my decision?” he asked, not believing his ears.

“Yes.”

“How is Pappa?” he asked and tears welled up again.

“Why do you even care?” she said calmly.

“Mom, please.”

“He is in the ICU. The doctors haven’t said anything yet.”

“Fine”, Nasr said, disappointed on himself.

They talked a bit, she asked if he had eaten or not, and to keep his phone on at least so that she could talk to him whenever she wanted and get to know if he was safe or not. When the call ended, he breathed a sigh of relief. Relieved that they had agreed to let him go, he couldn’t believe that his life had taken such a good turn, but somewhere in his mind, his guilt of causing so much pain to his father lingered. But he was hopeful that he would make it.

They finally sat on the terrace, looking at the desolate street and ate the pizza and had Pepsi.

“You know what to do, Subash, Nasr said.

“Subash had been noticing the peace on Nasr’s face and in his voice ever since he had talked to his mother. He hesitated but then texted his sister and mother too, and was relieved to know that they were okay. His father wouldn’t talk to him and his sister was pissed at him for making such trouble for his parents. But he was relieved too. He denied to talk on call in the beginning but in the end, he did so.

Over the night, he kept receiving calls from his cousins that he cut, but he responded to the call of some relatives that respected and they all told him to come back, and everything would happen according to him in his house. But he rejected the vague promises and insisted on not going back. When he had run away when he was smaller, he had succumbed to their emotions and talks over the call and had told about his whereabouts and agreed to go back. All the promises had been vague. That is why he hated promises and meant to kept the only promise that he had made to Sikkim. He was not going back this time.

They slept peacefully in the night, relieved that their family understood them and that they were going to be okay.