Whispers of the Heart

Chapter- 1

Udhampur, State of Jammu & Kashmir, India

October, 1992

Bang bang bang!!!

"Uoooodhampur!!! –Chinar Market!! Chinar Market!! Chinar Martkeett!!"

The Conductor shouted in a loud and annoying voice and banged his steel ticket stamp against his window to produce a deafening sound of an iron object against glass. He then threw open the door of the bus which hit the conductor's window with another loud 'bang.'

"Maaidam! Your stop!" The middle-aged uproarious conductor informed Veera, who stood up and pulled her suitcase from the overhead shelf. Some passengers regarded her with sleepy eyes while others at the back were still sleeping oblivious to the ruckus the conductor made at this early hour.

The day was just breaking into a new dawn. The birds had begun their chirping and the sun's early orange light had begun to filter the black of the night. As soon as Veera Malhi stepped out of the dusty bus with her suitcase, the Conductor rapped the door of the bus with his hand and the bus took off, leaving her in a cloud of gaseous exhaust and vacillation.

She placed her suitcase next to her feet, pressed her lips and looked at her watch. It read 5.12 am. She sighed and looked around herself- she was the only one at this small, dilapidated and almost inconspicuous bus stand. She stared at the big hoarding board with read 'Chinar Market' in big red block letters lit up with red neon lights. The Chinar market was closed and deserted. She saw a few men fully clad in shawls and monkey-caps cycling past her on the opposite side of the road.

Despite the early morning cool, Veera broke out in a sweat of anticipation and anxiety. She wiped her hand on her jean clad thigh and opened the cap of the water bottle she held in her other hand. She took a big swallow of water and tried to calm her self. Truth be told, she didn't feel as confident as she did when she started on her journey last evening. It wasn't that she lacked common sense on the contrary in her personal opinion; she was one of the most analytical and sensible people of her acquaintance.

According to her introspection, clearly fueled by her over thinking brain and the leisure of time on her hands during the train journey from Chandigarh to Jammu Tavi Railway Station and the eventually rickety bus ride to Udhampur, she realized that she may have been rather rash in her decision to travel to Udhampur.

Well, impetuous or not, it was too late and she was here now. She didn't go through the whole trouble travelling solo to Jammu and finally taking that God-forsaken bus ride just to stand here and second-guess herself.

That ship had sailed.

All she has to do, she reasoned with herself, trying to perch up her confidence, is to march her way from the Chinar Market's Main Gate to Nihal's house in the Officer's P. B Enclave.

She picked up her suitcase and crossed the road to walk towards the Chinar Market's Main Gate. She soon spotted the white painted concrete marker pointing in the direction of the Army Officer's P.B Enclave. She crossed the car parking area of the market and made her way down the slope where a few tall buildings stood in a cluster. As she made her way to the first of the tall buildings, she looked to her left and saw another concrete marker directing her to another set of P. B Enclave buildings.

She frowned in concentration. From her vantage point at this height, she could see another road way leading to yet another slope, downwards to a small children's park, which was in front of another cluster of buildings. She stopped short and exhaled a surprised breath, realizing that there are, in fact, a lot of buildings in P.B Enclave. She put down her suitcase and dug her right hand inside her right rear jean pocket. She removed a chit of paper she had carefully placed in her pocket. '14/4 P.B Enclave', it read. Even though she remembered the address like one remembers one's best friend' name, she wanted to recheck the address just to reassure herself. She bit her lower lip with apprehension.