Part 12 (1/2)

Mehak wrote to Rohan saying, Love you, Bhaiya. You are the best brother in this whole world. Thanks for understanding my love and not reacting negatively like typical brothers. Now I can share everything with you. Earlier I used to think that you are bit khadus type. But I was wrong. Love you.

In our entire lives, we get one chance to build a relations.h.i.+p with someone and to win that person's trust. If you lose that trust, then even though you may do all sort of things to please him, you can never share the same bonding with him again. By accepting Virat and Mahek's relations.h.i.+p, Rohan had not only showed faith in friends.h.i.+p but had also gained Mahek's love forever. Rohan had decided that everyone would celebrate Valentine's Day together at Riddhima's apartment by gathering on the eve of 13th February and celebrating till the stroke of midnight. This 14th February was indeed special as all the relations.h.i.+ps were inching towards a perfect end. Virat and Mahek were excited to be together for the first time in the presence of Rohan and had also informed Kavya about how well he had received them. Kavya was also going to join them for the Valentine's bash.

Riddhima and Rohan had both gone through a lot in their lives before entering into a relations.h.i.+p with each other, but now they were truly, madly, and deeply in love.

Virat had unknowingly helped in breaking the walls of awkwardness between Rohan and Mahek.

There's no other love like the love for a brother and there's no other love like the love of a brother. It's amazing how we can touch each other's lives without even realizing it.

13th February, 2010 German Bakery, Koregaon Park 'Mehak is going to pick you up from your place. I will come a bit later as I have a few surprises planned for everyone,' Virat told Kavya over the phone.

Virat wanted to take gifts for everyone and had thus told Mahek to pick up Kavya from her home and reach Riddhima's apartment. He was on cloud nine and it called for a double celebration because not only was it their first Valentine's together, even Rohan had accepted their relations.h.i.+p. He was slightly tensed about unfolding that one secret to Rohan that Mahek had disclosed to him, but he wanted to start the new phase of their relations.h.i.+p on a clean state and didn't want to hide anything from anyone.

Anyway, it was party time and he had planned to unfold the secret without spoiling anyone's mood.

After buying all the gifts from the shopping mall at Koregaon Park, he went to German Bakery to eat something since he was starving and hadn't eaten all day. While at the bakery, he thought of buying red velvet cake for Rohan since he remembered Rohan mentioning to him it was his favourite.

'Are you going to German Bakery?' Kavya asked him. 'Please, bring some sandwiches for me. I love them.'

'You know what, I do more work for you than I do for my girlfriend,' Virat smiled.

'Shut up. Don't tell me what I already know. I know how much you care for her.'

'But I love you more. If you would have not introduced me to her, I would have never realized the meaning of true love,' Virat said as he searched for a table in the bakery.

'Don't get sentimental now. Bye. And don't forget the sandwiches.'

Kavya hung up the phone quickly as Mahek had already reached. Virat ordered sandwiches for Kavya, the red velvet cake for Rohan, and a burger for him to eat. He thought of all that they had gone through these past few days and how everything was now finally coming into place. It made him think about how life is so unpredictable because when he first started chatting with Rohan, he could never imaginehe would feel so connected to him. He was content with his life because he had a friend like Kavya, a girlfriend like Mahek, and Rohan as his brother-in-law.

Finis.h.i.+ng off the burger, he messaged Mehak in delight, Everytime I see you, I feel a little flame in my heart that lights up because I love you. If I am given a chance to love again, I would still choose you because you're the pa.s.sword to my life. Happy Valentine's Day. The celebrations will begin in some time.

Virat looked at the message and smiled again. His happiness reflected in his eyes. He looked around to check if his parcel was ready. The waiter told him it would take some more time since the place was packed with customers. It was 7 pm and many of the foreigners at the bakery had left for the Osho Ashram for their daily meditation session. Since his wait had been prolonged, he was scrolling through his picture folder and looking and pictures of him with Mahek and Kavya-the two people who had brought so much joy into his life. Just then, he received a call from Rohan.

'What time will you be reaching?'

'I am on my way. Just waiting to collect the order. I will be there around 7.45 pm,' Virat said, looking at his watch.

'Hurry up! I can't wait to see you, particularly for two reasons: Firstly, I want to see you as my sister's boyfriend and secondly, I want to hear the important thing that you were talking about,' Rohan said.

'Even I am keen to meet you for two reasons: Firstly, to see you as my girlfriend's brother and secondly, to meet the two people dearest to you in life: Riddhima and Aditya,' Virat added.

'They both are with me. Come soon.'

'I have more surprises for all of you and let's make this evening...'

Before he could complete the sentence, there was a huge blast in the bakery.

People began running helter-skelter in the cafe. The ma.s.sive explosion that had taken everybody by surprise. The sound was absolutely deafening and all the windows of the bakery had been shattered.

Everyone started screaming in terror when they saw a couple of bodies lying on the ground in a pool of blood. There was a lot of smoke and dust and people started panicking.

Everything went black in front of Virat's eyesas he lay on floor, sandwiched between a hot metal and a pillar with his arm completely dislocated from his body. The weight of the metal pressed against his upper body, making him cry out in pain. He couldn't move even an inch and with smoke all around, he couldn't breathe. All he could feel was the metal stamping on his body. He lied there, motionless, counting his last breaths. There were dead and injured people lying in a pool of blood everywhere.

Some other people on the floor were crying out in pain. People had died, lost their arms, their limbs, and their heads. The smoke from the explosion escaped the bakery and clouded the street outside.

Virat didn't want to die like this; without even saying a last goodbye to Mahek, the girl he wanted to marry, be a caring husband to, and with whom he wanted to father a child. He wanted to live for Kavya as he was her life. Her best friend and her moral support. How could life end like this? Just when everything around him had started regaining normalcy, this had to happen. Virat cursed his fate for having played such a cruel joke on him. Before closing his eyes, he prayed that no one would recognize him as he knew that Mahek and Kavya would suffer a mental breakdown if they came to know that he was dying! The gifts that were wrapped with yellow paper had turned red with his blood, and Virat lay there waiting for death to hit him and shut the curtains of his life forever.

Death is so uncertain. One moment you're sitting with the person dearest to you and the very next moment, you lose him forever. It's said no one stays with you forever but when you lose someone midway, how can you fill the void that the person's absence creates? Time can heal but never erase past wounds. All the dreams that Virat had seen with Mahek and Kavya remained unfulfilled. Virat breathed his last that day.

Dreams Are For Real 'His phone's unreachable. The last I spoke with him, he told me he'd be reaching in half an hour,'

Rohan said looking at the time on his wrist.w.a.tch.

'Maybe there's some network issue. Let's wait for him,' I said as I placed the cake and a bottle of champagne on the table.

Everyone had a.s.sembled by then and were waiting for Virat to come so that the celebrations could begin. Except for Rohan, I was meeting everyone for the first time. I found Riddhima extremely cute.

The love she had for Rohan was visible in her eyes. One could tell Kavya was a real fighter and Virat and Mahek were her backbone with the way she spoke about them so lovingly. She was extremely lively and her indomitable spirit impressed me a lot. Though Mahek was Rohan's cousin, we had never met each other before. She came across as really sweet too and we got along well. Starters and cold drinks had been served and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Mehak was sipping on her drink and casually scrolling through the website of a newspaper when one particular headline caught her eye: Severe Bomb Blast at German Bakery; a few casualties reported She almost fell down in shock and caught hold of a nearby railing for support. Virat is at the German Bakery!! she thought. Immediately, she dialled his number but couldn't get through to him. She began to panic. She showed us the message and I quickly switched on the TV to see the live coverage.

Everyone was on the verge of tears, praying from him to be safe. We were completely shocked and didn't know what to do. We had seen a lot of news reports on blasts in the country before and had never bothered about it before, but this time we had someone close to us on the spot of the blast. We didn't dare to think what could have happened to him. Mehak and Kavya who were sobbing continuously.

They tried every possible way to get in touch with Virat but couldn't.

On one of the news channels, the reporter was saying: Latest report coming in from the site of the blast. At least 6 people have been reported dead and more than 30 injured after a ma.s.sive bomb blast hit the German Bakery. Why did the terrorists pick German Bakery as their venue? Lots of unanswered questions...

We immediately switched off the TV and left for the bakery with the hope that Virat would be safe.

Words cannot describe such situations.

With heavy steps, we made our way to the car, constantly praying for everything to be okay. Rohan was driving the car at an extremely fast pace, skipping all the traffic signals so we could reach as soon as possible. But most of the roads leading to German Bakery had been shut by the police. There was nakabandi all around. We asked a few police officers where the victims' bodies had been taken and they gave us the name of a hospital. We decided to head straight to the hospital instead of the bakery. Mahek and I kept trying to call Virat on his mobile number in the hope that he might pick up and say, 'Dude, I'm fine. Where's the beer?' Though none of use wanted to acknowledge it, by now we were almost certain that something dreadful had happened to him.

The entrance to the hospital was jam-packed. Lots of injured people were being wheeled inside.

Some had an arm missing, some a leg. It looked like a war had broken out in the city. Media and relatives had gathered around the place, and all we could hear were the cries of people who had lost their closed ones. There were parents sobbing because they had lost their only child; there were brothers crying since their sisters had been injured; there were wives crying since they had lost their husband forever. It was a painful sight to watch and I decided to wait with Kavya outside since she was howling uncontrollably.

When we got to the mortuary, there were many bodies lying on the ground covered with white sheets.

Rohan, Mahek, and Riddhima went inside to verify if Virat was one of the casualties of the incident.

Kavya and I waited outside in nervous antic.i.p.ation. With trembling hands, Rohan removed the white sheet from one of the victims' bodies. When he saw the face, our worst fears came true-it was Virat!

Mahek broke down completely and started screaming. She tried to go close to him, but the doctors stopped her. Her weeping reached Kavya's ears and she gripped my arm tightly. When Rohan came out and told us that Virat was no more, Kavya fell down on the floor. Rohan and Riddhima tried to console Mahek while I picked up Kavya and helped her to a nearby bench, giving her some water to drink.

'How could he leave me like this? He was my stick to walk; I saw the world through his eyes,' Kavya cried.

We have no control over fate. We have to accept the fact that people who are close to us will die, sooner or later. But when someone leaves you unexpectedly, it hurts even more. When a person who is in the prime of his life leaves so suddenly, with any warning or explanations, it takes you by complete surprise. We felt like our world had been turned upside down.

Virat was the beat of Mehak's heart, the soul of her body, the reason for his existence. Her life had come to a standstill after his death. It was hard for Mehak to stop thinking about him and burn to ashes all hopes of their future, when they might still have lived and loved together, and raised their kids together. He was the person Kavya knew she could turn to when she needed help. He was her moral support, someone to chill with. She cursed G.o.d for not having taken away her life instead. She survived an accident in the past, but lost the meaning of her life with Virat's departure.