Preetam was returning home after a long Duration of seven
years. But it seemed as if an eternity ago when he was at home. When he was
accepted at a University in USA for integrated M.S with full scholarship, it
made him happy beyond all limits, more than that it astonished his parents.
Now on the flight back home, he was holding two thick
copies that made it all possible. The pages were old, but carefully preserved.
He turned page by page and saw the beautiful scripture that changed his life.
Drifting to eight years back into his life he remembered how it all started.
His father had been transferred to the city of Jodhpur, and
preetam was in class XIth. Studies had never been a strong aspect of his life.
It was not that he hated studies, but he wasn’t interested, that’s it.
On his way back from school, he would see a man sitting on
the verandah of the house adjacent to theirs and he always kept muttering
something. He once asked his mother even. She said that the poor guy had some
problem that caused him to lose his mental balance and now lived with his
younger brother and mother. Something about that man amused him but more than
that, he was scared.
There was nothing abnormal about him except the muttering.
He was well dressed, clean shaven with good looking features. His younger
brother, sumeet was one year elder to me, but we often talked. It was thorough
him that he came to know that Amit (the guy) was a physics masters graduate from JNU and lost his mental balance
after the accident that claimed their father.
The fact that preetam was poor in physics and chemistry got
him wondering that Amit must have been really good at studies. Due to his
lacking in studies, preetam often faced questions from his father like “what
have you thought about career?” “Do you plan to get good grades in XIIth?” Or “do you even think you can get into
college?”
It got him frustrated at times. He would seek relief by
talking to sumeet who whenever spoke of his brother; his eyes would light up as
if talking about a mythological feature. Sumeet would ask preetam to meet Amit;
still preetam was a wee bit afraid, so he would excuse himself.
But one day, while visiting sumeet, he wasn’t home. Preetam
was face to face with Amit. He didn’t know what to do or talk. Amit looked at
him while he tried to make a poor conversation. Then, Amit looked at the copy
in preetam’s hand. He snatched his copy so suddenly and started writing that
preetam was perplexed.
While writing, he kept muttering, “optics… I love…this
problem easy…must read theory…easy if you love…important questions
here…telescope…compound microscope…path of light… ah inertia…’
He kept babbling like that for over two hours, writing all
the while. When sumeet arrived, he handed back preetam’s copy and what preetam
saw astonished him. Written in clean hand, were the formulas, theory, points to
remember, questions of optics and inertia. They were written in such a manner
that it amused him to read and he understood each word of it,
From that day on, preetam started talking to Amit. But the
only thing Amit responded to was the topic of physics or chemistry that preetam
would say. Due to his notes, preetam improved in studies. When preetam passed
XIIth with flying colors, the first person he showed his results was Amit.
Perhaps he smiled when preetam hugged him.
Sitting in the plane, a tear trickled down his cheeks. He
was determined to go and meet Amit the first thing. Now that his parents had
shifted from Jodhpur some four years ago, he had no news of Amit. His
connection to Amit as through sumeet but that stopped some three years ago.
When he reached Jodhpur, to the place where he lived seven
years ago, things had changed; someone else was living in the house he used to
live. He knocked on amit’s house. A woman opened the door saying that sumeet
had gone nearby and would return in sometime. So he waited. His eyes were
searching for Amit, but he was nowhere to be seen.
When sumeet arrived, they met, and sumeet introduced the
woman as his wife. He was to stay for lunch with them. Every time preetam would
start to ask about Amit, they would dodge the question. Finally during lunch,
preetam asked,
“I do not see Amit bhaiya. Where is he?”
Sumeet replied, “After mom’s death, he was difficult to
control. I got married and my wife was afraid of that madman. So we put him in
facility”
The expression on sumeet’s face said he didn’t give a damn.
Preetam was so surprised that he wanted to punch him. Instead he didn’t
complete lunch and went to visit the facility
The man at reception led him to amit’s room. Preetam
couldn’t recognize the man sitting behind the bars of the closed room. With
overgrown hair and beard, thin face, ragged clothes, he looked like someone
from the streets. Preetam could hardly control his tears.
He asked, “Why don’t you keep him properly? Look at him”
The man said, “We try, but he refuses saying that he only
needs his brother to do that stuff.”
“Can I take him?” preetam asked.
“Sorry sir, but the only person who can take him is his
brother. That’s our rule.”
Preetam laughed at the paradox.
The man said, “Do you know him sir?”
“Yes. This madman changed my life” he said and left with a
heavy heart and tears in his eyes.
