To new beginnings.....(part 2)

“Where did I go wrong ?….Where the hell did I go wrong ?” ,was all Rohan could think of for the next couple of weeks.He absented himself from the hospital for 2 whole days.All he did was cry his heart out till his body was drained out of liquid.As he drifted through his work after joining back (after repeated phone calls from the hospital)he could just think of one thing-“They betrayed me…One my best friend…. another my love.The 2 people who meant the most to him…They backstabbed him…Why ? Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?…He kept asking the almighty who offered no replies.
He plunged himself in his work completely.Lost track of day and night.Latenight shifts,overnight stays at the hospital for emergencies… He went through it all like a zombie.All the while trying to find a plausible answer for his inner turmoil in his work.

His state of mind wasn’t unknown from his boss the good old head surgeon,who was perturbed by this sudden change that had come upon his favourite boy.”Its all due to the work pressure,this guy needs a break”.And he would see to it that the break was a good long one.
“Son,As u know due to the ongoing communal unrest in Iraq,many well-qualified medicos r fleeing that country in search of greener pastures.There is an acute shortage of good doctors there.We have been receiving constant requests to send a few medical assistance teams to help them out in these hard times.You need a break from this place my boy,so I thought of sending u as a leader of the the Indian Medical Assistance Team.Your security will be one of their topmost priority and I am quite satisfied with the security arrangements…What do u say son?.Rohan just nodded his head in acceptance,with the same glassy-eyed look on his face.The place didn`t matter to him,nor did the challenges…Infact nothing mattered to him anymore….

He boarded the special plane to Baghdad the very next day.As he gazed out at those cumulo-nimbus fluffy clouds he saw Ruheen`s face in them.Ruheen, coyly telling him about the man in her life-which was not him.The very thought of it was like a painful stab in the heart.Why was it so difficult for him to put all that behind him?These very thoughts had haunted him every night…Is he going to allow them to haunt him forever? Was he among the weak-hearted…? As the plane readied for touchdown in this alien country,he promised to himself that he was going to come out of it.The sooner the better and he silently thanked his boss to have sent him away from that land….Her land.

His very first patient was a bright young lad barely out of his teens who had come for a full-body medical check-up.As both of them went through the procedure the guy chatted him up asking the same old questions about `Exotic India’…Getting irritated,he was just about to ask him to keep quiet when the boy remarked “Ive heard ur girls are pretty,but ours are much prettier anyday”.Rohan smiled at this repartee.Perhaps the first smile after ages.”Whats ur name n why this full-body checkup?” he asked that guy.”Im rashid n im enlisting myself in the military ranks.It takes guts to do that dude”he replied as he playfully punched Rohan.Rohan took an instant liking for that guy.His childlike antics n witty repartees put him at ease in this seemingly hostile country.But he couldn’t fail noticing the sadness in rashids hazel-brown eyes.As Rashid was leaving he invited him over his place. “Please be my guest tonight for dinner at my place.Its just the two of us Rehana,that’s my sister and a damn good cook n and poor old me.I can fill u up on this place n u can tell me about ur land.You will be missing something I tell u, if u miss out on Rehana`s special kebabs”.Rohan found himself accepting the invitation-with a smile.As he escorted Rashid towards the door he saw a veiled woman waiting for Rashid.as she looked up from within her veil, he could see only her strikingly beautiful kohl-laden eyes peering out from the black cloth.It seemed as though his own sadness was reflected in those clear limpid eyes.He sensed a faint stirring from within.

That night after they sat down with drinks after a sumptuous Arabian meal,the best he had had in a long time,Rashid seemed to be in a mood to talk.”U know Roan(he had this endearing lisp while uttering Rohan`s name) my friend im just nineteen.Never been to college.But yes,im going to war.Why,With whom,I just have a faint idea.U know Roan, Rehana here has never been to school.”Rohan looked over at Rehana clearing the table.She dint have her veil on and Rohan suddenly realized how stunning she was.Flawless alabaster skin with sooty black eyes and long coal black tresses framing her pixie face.He again felt that now familiar stirring in his heart.This time stronger.Rashid went on after having helped himself to another glass.”I and rehana were orphaned when we were mere toddlers when our father was killed infront of our eyes during a guerrilla unrest.Our mother could not take up the responsibility of bringing us up and ended her life by putting herself on fire.I can still see her flailing her arms as she went up in flames in that very kitchen”.Rohan could hear sobs.He looked back at Rehana,weeping .Rohan`s heart went out for her.But he was totally gripped by Rashids story.He was all ears as Rashid carried on.”I used to idolize imran khan and that Tendulkar of your country.Dreamt of being a great cricketer and wield the bat and bring laurels for my country.All my dreams came crashing down the day abbu was killed.They thrust an ak-47 into my hands instead of a cricket bat.On top of that the added responsibility of providing for Rehana.I was just 10 at that time n Rehana a mere 7.I loved to sketch and paint but those heartless guerrillas used to laugh and mock at me.I quit that and something inside me also died out.I realized I was also becoming one of them.Was I actually destined to be one?The sound of air-raid sirens and the smell of rotting flesh,these are part of my daily life.Is there a life beyond all this?Your life seems to be so glossy,so beautifuland so unreal.Why did u come here my friend?To witness this misery,this bloodshed?I think I have resigned myself to destiny.Maybe I was born,jus to be slaughtered like my fellowmen and end up just as a statistical figure,when people count those dead after any such mass killings.All I worry about is my Rehana.She does not deserve this Roan.She already has seen enough bloodshed to last for 7 lives.She is jus a 16-year old,has a whole life ahead of her.I want her to believe in the good things,the beautiful things whose existence she still isn’t aware of,in life.”At this point Rehana came and hugged her brother.As they both hugged and wept their miseries out,Rohan suddenly felt as though a huge burden was lifted from his heart.The pain,that silent suffering now seemed so inconsequential infront of their agonizing pain.He should be thankful to the almighty to have blessed him with a good life,in which he had access to all the good things of life, till now.

As he trudged his way back to the quarters,where he was put up,later that night,the panorama of his life unfolded in flashes before him.It had been a smooth journey full of personal and professional highs.a fun-filled childhood,eventful adolescence and a rewarding college life.The void and grief in his life,brought about by the absence of love,which had till now seemd profoundly huge seemed to have paled in comparison.His thoughts were broken by a sudden outburst of gunshots somewhere nearby.

As he ran all the way to his room,he could still hear the gut-wrenching cries.Cries of men getting wounded,of men getting killed,of men wounding and killing their very own kin.Agonizing cries of help echoed in the eerie stillness of the night.
A cry rang out which brought about a shudder in him.It sounded familiar.Rohan was filled with a terrible sense of foreboding,as he ran out into the open.
What he saw made his insides cold.There was rashid,lying in a pool of blood in a trench.rehana by his side crying her heart out.He couldn’t help but notice that she was without her ‘hijab’.Outlined against athe moonlit skies,the very picture of beauty,vulnerability,purity,untold sorrow.As he saw his friend taking the last few breaths of his life,he just couldn’t help breaking into unstoppable tears,tears he thought had dried up long ago.

Rashid placed Rehanas hand in his and made an incoherent plea “Take care of her,my little one,my hoor,my everything.She shouldn’t die a death like this.Show her your world,your free world”.and he was gone.Rohan went numb.He had seen many patients die on the operating table before,but never was he so affected by a death.He had known this person for hardly a couple of days ,but he had touched him in a way that was incomprehensible.

He felt a feeling of responsibility surge up within him as he looked at Rehana.That naked agony in her eyes,her melancholy countenance somehow drew him towards her.As he gazed into her blazing eyes,he felt that now familiar stirring within his heart,but now it was stronger,much stronger,stronger than he had ever known or felt…
As he clumsily reached out for her and as they came together in a flood of tears,grief,warmth, apprehension and longing,the realization dawned upon him that at last he had come home,home to a new life,a new beginning….