Expectedly Unexpected- A Novel

Part 1

The window of room 4B was quite likely the window to his soul. For it often mirrored the feelings trapped in the recesses of his heart. Today, the monsoon sky was ferociously swiping pellets of rain against the aged glass panes, causing the rickety wooden frame securing it to crackle. His slender fingers tried in vain to match the rhythm on his guitar to the melancholy and agony brimming inside his heart. The clouds thundered ahead, and the dull ambience turned darker, exactly like the cloud of gloom settling over his being.

He heaved, closed his eyes to the symphony of rain Gods, and his fingers strummed the melody he'd learnt years back, and still played every year to himself, alone in his company.

"Happy Birthday to You...Happy Birthday to You....Happy Birthday dear Aakash...Happy Birthday to You...."

He paused, reflecting on the sixteen odd years he'd spent on Earth. How many years since it had been really a happy birthday? He did not remember. Was he the only person who felt ungrateful for his birth? Apparently so. But he had his reasons. What was the purpose of his existence? Why had he been brought onto the earth? The answer to these questions he couldn't fathom. Probably he was born to repay some wretched karma from a past life.

The clouds outside rumbled loudly, exactly as they had done, subduing his cries, eight years back on this very day. He stood up, went to the window and opened the latch. He could see in the distance the huge wrought iron gates at the entrance to the boarding compound, which for absence of any alternative, he now called home. A memory rose to the fore as he peered at the gates in the pouring sheets- his eight year old self, screaming, crying in pain, seeing his mother abandon him at those very gates. He remembered the kind old school steward, Arun kaka trying to assuage him, and to get him inside, away from that torrential downpour.

"You'll fall ill beta! Come inside. Your mummy will come and visit you soon." Hah! A lie. Not that he blamed Arun kaka for his mother's misdeeds.

Just two days before the deceit, his mother had awoken him sweetly and narrated plans for a huge picnic in Nainital for his birthday- just the two of them, him and his mom. No step-father, no step-son. As any innocent child would, he'd trusted his mother completely and had been elated at the proposal. Finally, he'd get to live with her, he thought. But alas!

It had begun beautifully. Mumma had requested that fancy car for them from her new husband. For a moment, Aakash hesitated, scared if he'd accompany them. But when they set off together that Friday morning over the seven-hour long hilly route, his mind was at peace. He received eight new gifts to mark his coming birthday that Sunday- a new Cricket bat, a walking-talking robot, the race car and track set that he'd so badly wanted, a Basketball, a radium wrist watch, a huge red, yellow and green Milton water-bottle that he secured with pride, and his favorite- a video game.

They'd eaten picnic lunches, slept in a beautiful hotel room with one of those new hand-showers, and visited temples, mountain peaks, lakes and gardens. On Saturday evening, his mother spent a lot of time shopping at Mall Street. She purchased a T-shirt with Superman embellished on it for him to wear on his birthday - the eighth gift. Excited Aakash found it odd that his mother was also buying textbooks for him, and stocks of school uniforms, winter clothes, and shoes. When he enquired about it, his mother brushed the topic off and said there was a surprise for him.

And the next day, on the very day of his birthday, she wheeled him over to St. Joan's boarding school. She tried to brighten the prospects by telling him he'd get to have fun with kids his age, play with them all the time rather than the evening 4-6pm slots. He would make friends and go for picnics and camps in the beautiful valley, and it took the eight year old child a few minutes to comprehend the depth of it all.