THE HELMET

They were planning to celebrate their first anniversary. Everything was arranged except the cake which had to be ordered two days before. After a good scolding from his wife sujoy had went out to order the cake. Before he went he planted a kiss on her cheek saying,” you look tempting when you are angry”. He had winked at Ritu who made a face in return. After his bike vanished round the corner Ritu smiled to herself and closed the door. She was perfectly happy.

 She went in to take a quick shower when her phone rang. Now he will ask the color of cake I suppose, she thought. She came out cladding herself in a towel and received the call from Sujoy.

“Now what??”

“Mam I have found this phone from…”

“Wait wait. This is my husband’s phone. Who are you?”

“He had an accident. We have admitted him to green valley nursing home. Please come as…….are you there??”

“Is he okay? He will be okay right?”

“Please come quickly. And safely please”

The phone slipped from her trembling fingers. She felt weak and blank. She sat on the floor and composed herself to face the situation. Then she got up to dress and called the man back to say needful things before she reaches there. Suddenly her eyes meet herself in the mirror. She saw herself clad in white towel and her sindoor dripping all over her face . She shivered at the omen.

“It is a case of spot death “, said the doctor to the police.

“Claim the bike after five days with all the papers”

“Didn’t he have a helmet?  We could find none.”

“Did he always ride at high speed?”

All comments and questions jumbled up in the air. Ritu found herself blind for few minutes. Then she could see in blurred vision her Sujoy with fresh stains of blood all over his blue shirt. She came close and touched his hand.. she remembered a slight cut used to make Sujoy brood over it the whole day.

Oh god , so many injuries all over.. How did he endure?
Was it too painful?

Her white saree loudly announced her loss. Ritu saw her relatives and neighbours coming in and keeping flowers in front of her husband’s photo. Everyone whispered and crowded the place. Some came and consoled her. Some were crying too. She didn’t remember who. People suggested her to cry otherwise she would fall sick. But she failed to cry. For how many long hours this went on she did not count, neither did she watch the clock. Everyone left at last. She allowed nobody to stay back. There was no need of that.

As the last person had left she closed the door and locked it. She walked to his photo and threw the flowers away.

Come back Sujoy , come back!!

The silence of night was torn apart by her helpless appeal. She felt like she would die. Still She was unable to cry.

After two days the cake arrived as ordered. It was around 11 PM. She blamed her god and went out in rage. She wanted to smash the cake there on the spot from where god had decided to take away Sujoy. She was beside her own self. She was uncontrollable angry woman who cared for none. She reached the place on road. She sat there for long time.

Was it too painful??
How long did he live with the pain?
Was my dear shouting in pain?
Did he get some water before the end?
Did he want me to hold him close when he was struggling to live?
Did he suffer too much???

Someone came from the back and pulled her saree. She alarmingly turned around in defense. The mad ferocious look in her eyes made the two boys afraid. One was around ten and another was around three years old. Ritu softened her face but it hardened again when she saw something. The older boy was holding Sujoy’s helmet. She grabbed him forcefully.

“How did you get this?”

“My brother”, pointing towards the small boy,” picked it up after the accident when no one was looking at it. Please don’t tell the police, we have no one to save us. It came flying with speed and thrashed on that tree”

Possible . Sujoy had a bad habit of letting the strap of his helmet loose. Ritu reached for it when the smaller kid started to cry.

“What happened?”

“He wants to play with it”

The little one looked at her wistfully. As if she had snatched away all his happiness, his eyes were filled with a hungry deprived look.

She asked the kid to come to her. She made him sit on her lap and said,”Where is your mom?” 

He pointed towards his elder brother who was then sitting on a cemented pipe.

“She is dead. Our aunty makes us beg and takes away all the money.”

She gave him the helmet and kissed him on his forehead. The boy was surprised at first and then was frantically happy. He smiled wide and innocent. He was so happy to recieve a little bit of love that he  hugged her tightly with his little arms around her neck. Something changed inside Ritu. She could feel the heavy ice melting. Tears emerged from the dry eyes. She started to cry - first slowly, then loudly. It was midnight and luckily nobody came. The dim street light lit up the place where Sujoy had taken his last breadth. Ritu curled herself up lying on the harsh road. She cried her heart out. She wept and wept till there was no more energy in her to cry. The two innocent boys patted her on her head, tried to soothe her and even cut a piece of cake to feed her. The older boy brought some water in a plastic tea cup. Her heart wrangling tears soaked the same dust which perhaps had stored the tears of her other half. They met somehow and calmed her down. She accepted the truth finally and turned towards home. Before that she fed the kids with the happy pieces of cake. 

The empty packet wandered around as directed by the wind. Night turned into dawn.The road was washed by the municipality water.. Somewhere an industrial whistle was blown. A not-so-common newspaper published a small article named “ a bike accident” in the corner of their advertisement’s page. A group of men sat in a tea stall on the road. While they searched their newspapers to read about yesterday’s accident, a man came up and read the article loudly. They had their daily tea and went for their respective works.

The road remained lying there with all patience of the universe. And life moved on.