Beyond The Water
(Translation of Hindi Novel - Jal Tu Jalal Tu)
(8)
“Yet what Nana?”
“What I mean to say is the distance between this world and that world is not so much that none can come back.”
What do you mean? Has anyone come to life after death?
“No not exactly that but there is a possibility and it has happened that a person is not completely, properly dead.”
“What is meant by that? How can a person die and still not die completely?” The three asked together.
“If a person goes earlier then the time fixed for his death or his ambition and aspiration is not attained and he goes suddenly, his soul and all the tissues that are inseparable part of his spirit are not in coordination with his body. The body is no more but he is around this world in some form or the other. We call it wondering soul or reincarnation.”
They had heard such things many times in India but hearing them from an experienced old man thrilled them. The son felt this theory hair-raising so he got into bed and covered his face with a sheet. The grandfather felt they were tried and insisted they all went to bed. The couple also felt the grandfather must be wanting to sleep and take some rest.
The parents went to their room too and found their daughter sleeping peacefully. She had no fever now and the tension had gone too.
Very soon their son was fast asleep. The parents only worry was were their children in some real trouble and if there was a cause for anxiety was there any solution for that! They knew they were absolutely safe in the care of this wonderful old man who was their fast but while their way to India they had to stop at several places. They did not want to take any risk.
Had this incident taken place in India, they would not have paid much heed to it and would have called it were superstition. But in a prosperous modern country like America they couldn’t ignore it. And anyway, they had seen things happen to their children with their own eyes, it wasn’t just make and believe! Soon the dark night soothed them and slumber took then in arm.
Next morning when the husband and wife got up and came out they were pleasantly surprised to see their late rising children in the garden helping grandfather in watering plants. The mother, seeing her children thus working, became duty conscious and went straight into the kitchen. Seeing the love and affection of family, the old man was overwhelmed.
After lunch, the parents and the grandfather were so engrossed in conversation, they did not know when children went to the departmental store and come with packets of multi coloured endless.
The parents looked at them in surprise and when the father asked them again, they replied with hesitation, “We shall pray in the evening for Aunt Rasbi and our brother Kinjan. May their souls rest in peace.”
The grandfather`s half-closed eyes led traces of tears. The parents got so emotional that they went inside. The children showered the old man with question, “Nana did brother Kinjan see Rasbi Aunt‘s dead body in the flowing water?” The story they had heard last night was still haunting them.
Nana took a deep breath and said, “In fact Kinjan could not cross the water fall and come down’’.
“Why? What happened? Then how was the boat broken?’’ The question seemed never ending, coming out of their mouth like marbles from a box.
The grandfather caught the thread of the story where he had left it, “When Kinjan entered his boat and started for his destination, he was extremely happy. A special pocket had been fixed in the boat for the Brazilian pappy that was brought from New York. For Kinjan too, there inside the boat a transparent of safety capsule had been fixed in such a way that both could drink whenever they wanted. But….”
“But what Nana?” The children cried together. “The air-light boat had sufficient supply of oxygen. They could hear the roar of water inside thought it was nothing in comparison to, thundering rumble outside. But suddenly a terrible sharp noise pierced Kinjan’s ears, then it was repeated. Someone had fired shots not once but four times. The bullet-proof cover of the boat was torn from one side as if cut by a blade.
She boat was flowing with the fast current at full speed. It turned and tossed. The terrified little dog gave a shrill cry and was thrown out of the torn curtain into water. Kinjan did not waste even the thousandth past of a second. Opened his belt and with a lightning speed, jumped into water. He could hear the American woman’s words like an echo from heavens, “I am not only giving you my son, but a part of my life.’’
An ace swimmer that Kinjan was, advanced towards the dog with expert strokes and caught it. He looked at his dream boat with a yearning. The globe like boat looked like an airplane gliding through the blue sky with a supersonic speed and was soon out of right. It was evening. Drowned in depression Kinjan reached the bank of the river in semi darkness of the dusk. He was exhausted and felt his mind was in a whirlpool, all the time thinking who could have fired those shots from his revolver, shots that forced him to stay book while his wonderful dream boat was reduced to rags and floated ahead along with the enormous sum of water.
He had no enemy, nor was his mission going to harm anyone. His mother had angrily thrown a plate at him though he could never imagine in farthest dream that his own mother could be so aggressive but she knew nothing about his where a book or where he was at this particular moment; He had told her nothing. Rasbi had never seen a pistol in her life. But suddenly, he longed for his mother. He wanted to reach home as early as he could, put his head in her lap comfortably and relax. He wanted to eat something with her and wanted to assure her he would never again go on such an adventurous journey if she disapproved of it.
The wound on his forehead looked very prominent being in water so long. Clutching the Brazilian dog with one hand and supporting himself by placing his plan on the ground near the bank. When he came out of the river in that deserted terrain the first person he encountered was the short old fellow whom he at once recognized the to his long beard. The old man embraced Kinjan and started weeping so loudly that it was beyond imagination for Kinjan or anyone else.
Kinjan was dismayed as he couldn’t comprehend what it was all about. The whole frame of the old man shook with his sobs. As soon as he blurted between sobs it was he who had fired the shorts, Kinjan placed the dog on one side and attacked him. The first blow resulted in a shower of bold from his mouth but Kinjan did not stop there. He went on hitting the man, fiercely with kicks and blows forgetting that the person tolerating this violence was much older then him, had brought a horse for his mother, had taught her riding and was well-known to her. His mind could think nothing beyond the intense fury he felt that like an enemy this man was responsible for the assault that had shattered his years old dream with bullet shots, in his wildest dreams, he did not want to think that the mother who had given him birth would send someone to attack him that might result in his death. She had never supported his mission because she wanted to see him alive. She wanted to save him at any cost.
This thought seemed to electrify him and he continued showering kicks and blows on the old man.
Kinjan, in his fury might have killed the old man had he not pleaded between tears to listen to him just once.
Kinjan stopped for a minute and said, “just tell me, why did you do it?’
The old man said, “Rasbano sent me,” filled with remorse he bit him lip and said, “please forgive me. I have broken the promise, an oath she had given to me.”
Kinjan stopped abruptly. The fact that his mother had sent this fellow to stop him from his mission did not surprise him so much as his calling Rasbi ‘rasbano’. Who was this man who knew her so intimately?
The old man put his hands on his forehead and sat down on the ground with a feeling of quilt. He felt he was making mistakes repeatedly.
And Kinjan: he was suddenly transported to some other world where a volley of sharp edged questions was piercing his mind from all directions. He too put his hand on his head and sat down in front of the old man.
The old man said with intimacy, “your mother never wanted to hurt you. She had only asked me to keep an eye on you and try to stop you from going on that crazy adventure in water by hook or crook.”
Kinjan kept on gazing at him. She man stopped, took a deep breath and continued, “Your boat was bullet proof. I tried to make a long cut at the edge but felt the bullet were not functioning and the boat was going at full speed. I was afraid. Soon the boat would go down fall from that sky like height. I had no confidence left and kept on firing shots after shots at the edge of the boat, he wiped his tears. Before Kinjan could open his mouth he added, “I have always tried to do what my sister wanted. She has already undergone under so much. Life itself has tormented her ruthlessly.”
Kinjan forgot everything. Forgot he had failed in his mission. He forgot his pain, even himself. The only thing his mind registered was that this stranger, this old man had called his mother his sister! And that he is not calling her Rasbi but rasbano. His mother’s word was verdict to him so he took this great risk to save him. He is rembering the promise he had made to his mother even after being hit so mercilessly by a young man, a quarter of his age. Kinjan remembered his mother and rushed home beckoning the old man to follow him. Why did his mother keep such a big secret from him that this fellow was her real brother and her real name was not Rasbi but Rasbano. It was a new chapter for him.
Kinjan wanted to meet his mother as soon as he could; the wretched boy did not know that she was no more in this world now. And he himself was responsible for that.
But no one lives in this world. Realize who decides the span of life and the way one would go from this world at a particular time.
When Kinjan, tired and defeated walked along the bank of the river with the small dog following at his heels and the old bearded man, with heavy steps he could not comprehend that this was going to be his family from now onwards. He knew nothing for about his mother.
He kept on waiting for his mother till late night in that deserted house and then a fear gripped him. What could have happened? Somehow he procured something for his companion to eat, had something himself and the three, tired that they were, fell asleep. The old man, who happened to be his maternal uncle, was with him like a statue.
***
