"Sir, this is your fourth best seller in a row. How do you feel?" A journalist asked
Abhinav Hansraj, the best selling author was in a press conference. His fourth novel had just sold a million copies.
"Well, I am quite sad. I think I am gonna go to my new house and hang myself" Abhinav said
"That is a weird answer" The journalist said in a low voice
"Not weirder than your question! I just gave my fourth best seller. Obviously, I am very happy" Abhinav said
"What are the plans for your next novel? Which genre are you going to target now?" Another journalist asked
"Well, I am not sure yet. But after writing four fiction novels, I am planning of writing a non fiction novel now. Let's see how things build up" Abhinav said
After answering a few more questions, Abhinav got up to leave.
He got in his car and told the driver to get to his new home. Abhinav had not seen the house in person yet.
In the car, he checked in his bag and took out his diary. The diary had many photos and many newspaper clips. The only link common between all the pasted things was Retired Army Officer S.V. Ramachandran. He was 65. He had retired just a few months back.
Abhinav was very inspired by the works of S.V. Ramachandran as an army man. He had a dream of meeting him some day in his life.
He was going through the diary when he reached his destination and the driver stopped the car. Abhinav got out and went in his house. It was large and it was beautiful. It was completely white. He went in and saw the house. His team had talked with the real estate manager and the last thing remaining was Abhinav's approval for the house.
He loved the house. He took out his laptop from his bag and connected to internet with a 3G dongle. He browsed the internet for a few minutes and then thought of checking out the neighbouring houses.
There were 8 houses near Abhinav's house. He began to walk past them. He read the names on the name plates out side the houses. First one read, Dr. Amarendra Mishra, Second one: Mr. Rajiv Jain, Third One: Mr. Pawan Arora... As he kept moving, he was surprised by what he read on the sixth nameplate: Rtd. Capn. S.V. Ramachandran.
He felt great. He wanted to go in the house and meet S.V. Ramachandran. As he moved towards the house, a lady came out. Abhinav went towards her and introduced himself.
"Hey, I am Abhinav Hansraj. I am going to move in in one of the houses here. Going to be your neighbour soon" Abhinav said
"That is good" the lady said
As the lady began walking again, Abhinav stopped and asked,
"Are you the wife of S.V. Ramachandran sir?"
"Yes" she replied
Abhinav knew her name was Sheetal Ramachandran.
"It is a great honour to meet you. Can I come over to your house this evening for tea? I am visiting everyone else as well" Abhinav said, lying his way through to meet his idol
Sheetal couldn't decline the young guy and agreed. She told him to come at 7:30 PM and she left.
It was 4:30 PM. Abhinav thought of going in there but changed his mind since he was already invited by his idol's wife.
Those three hours were obviously the longest of his life. Nothing could distract him well enough. He tried to use Facebook, read news, watch a movie, watch a sitcom... but nothing worked. Somehow, he got through the three hours and reached S.V. Ramachandran's house at sharp 7:30 PM.
He was invited in. He sat in the living room. He saw a room upstairs. There was an Indian flag on the top outside the room. He instantly knew whose room that was!
Sheetal brought the tea. She talked with him for 10-15 minutes and got to know a little bit about him. He answered all the questions although all he wanted was to get out of this conversation and go to the room. The lady went into the kitchen for some work. Abhinav hadn't finished the tea yet.
He thought of that moment as the opportunity and got up from the sofa. He went upstairs. He couldn't believe that he was just about to meet his idol. He went in the room. The wall was filled with medals. There was desk which had around fifty trophies. Abhinav knew about them all. He looked around. There was no one one the bed. He looked up the bed. A huge photograph of S.V. Ramachandran. The photograph was huge! He was just looking at it when he realized something that completely shocked him.
There was a garland around the photograph! Obviously, a huge garland.
Abhinav felt like he couldn't stand. He didn't move for at least five minutes. He said in a very low voice, "He is dead"
"Yes, he is" said someone from the back
Abhinav turned around. It was Sheetal.
"But there was no news in the paper, on the internet, anywhere. How can nobody acknowledge a person like him?" Abhinav said
"He didn't die in the battlefield. Maybe that's why" she said
"But, how?"
"After he retired, he became depressed. He was not accustomed to this city life. His health deteriorated. The doctors gave him medication but he always told me that after all the years, now he could not imagine his life without the army. His health continued to deteriorate and he died last month" she said
"How could no one write about him? He has done so much for the country" Abhinav said
"Only his friends from the Army know about his death. He also used to say that the fame will be of no use when he is gone. So, what good will those write-ups do now?" she said
"They will tell people about one of the greatest army men to have ever walked on earth" Abhinav said and started walking towards the gate of the house.
He passed the table where some of the tea was still there in the cup. As he reached the gate, he said "Thanks for the tea ma'am" and left the house
He kept walking entered his home. The driver who was sitting on the couch got up thinking that maybe its time to go. Abhinav signaled him to sit down.
He took out his laptop from his bag. Opened Microsoft Word and typed the title of this next non fiction novel, "Surya Ventkatesh Ramachandran: The Army Guy"
THE END
- Vinayak Nagri