Jackfruit

The morning sun is a bit harsh today isn’t it mumbled Mr. Dhruv while draping his curtains. He was getting ready to face the world yet another time, after making sure the door was locked, he was passing through the apartment’s corridor, there was dead silence prevailing in the atmosphere. All the living souls took a break from what they were engaged in, to look at the man as it was not a regular sight of him seen outside his apartment and no human looking at him dared to speak, ask or even smile at him. His cruelty towards all living things was well known among the residents and his reputation of maintaining that precedes him. He is 6’1 in height in his late 60’s the strict diet he follows made sure he looked no older than 45 and his daily fitness regime reflected in his solid well-built look. He always had a mask of some sorts to cover his face and nobody ever knew the face behind the mask. "Just the regulars or anything more Mr. Dhruv" asked Davinder who owns a supermarket and knows Mr. Dhruv from a very long time. Dhruv Smiled at a slow place which was understood by Davinder who called out for an employee to get all the items he said. Davinder is the only person in the locality to know everything about Mr. Dhruv. While the items were getting packed and loaded Davinder tried to initiate a conversation “the vegetables prices are sky high these days…” Dhruv stood there paying no attention to anything other than looking at the direction for the employee to come back, understanding the situation, he said “that would be 2300 rupees Mr. Dhruv ''. Dhruv paid the man the next instant and while keeping his wallet back in the pocket a photograph of what looked like a woman in her early 20’s fell from his wallet. "That photo looks like it was taken way back sir and she is really beautiful", said the employee while handing over the bag of things. "Indeed she is", said Dhruv with a smile that vanished as quickly as it appeared and with a look that had grief and guilt. He was back to senses and swiftly collected his bag and left the store wasting no time, on the way to his home he was having flashes of his past memories flooding through his conscious, his focus on the road decreased every minute, his breathing was fast, the heart was racing like an engine, he somehow managed to hold on to something and sit in a chair in the apartment’s common area. His eyes were roaming through the memories and all of the sudden all the past incidents came back to him at once. He was entering his home returning from a busy day at his office, Anamika who was in her mid 20’s, a conservative Indian woman draped in saree and lost in her own world, completing her kitchen chores. He hugged her from behind and he stayed in that position longer than usual, until Anamika broke the silence "someone’s really happy today" to which Dhruv replied "why wouldn’t he be because his vacation leave got approved" and even before uttering another word, Anamika turned around and smiled the biggest she ever possibly could, with tears rolling down her eyes in happiness, because her dream of going to Kashmir will no more be a dream. She looked at him and he understood the meaning of it and said "yes, I have taken care of everything and we’ll be leaving in 3 days". Anamika was lost in her own dream world for the remaining days till their journey started because she never wanted anything more than this. Once reaching the hotel  booked for them in Kashmir, Anamika directly went into their room and looked at the windows that had the view that she always imagined. Being born in a coastline city she always wanted to visit the mountains capped with snow. The very next day Anamika jumped out of excitement to get ready and go out and explore everything that was planned for rest of the day. She and Dhruv left in a jeep to enjoy the tourist attractions and to have a pleasant time near the river side by sunset where a romantic campfire was arranged only for Dhruv and Anamika to end their day. The following day Dhruv was in a great mood because he knew he had fulfilled the only dream that the love of his life ever had, her happiness was his magic potion. Their plan for the rest of the day was to visit a valley and spend the whole day together. They reached the valley with packed food. To reach the destination, they had to hike a few miles from the jeep, though Anamika was not used to high altitude and very cold weather still her enthusiasm kept her going. She was awestruck at the view she had once the hike was over, she was short of words to describe how she felt and she couldn’t stop herself from getting mesmerized from the alluring valley encompassing her. After sometime they settled down under a huge rock which was a little secluded, to spend sometime together and have lunch and enjoy the beauty of the valley. Anamika while opening the lunch remembered that she had forgotten the water they bought in the jeep itself, and Dhruv left immediately to collect the bottle giving a lame excuse to save Anamika from blaming herself for the mistake. A crackling noise was heard from the top of the rock, the same one below which Anamika was seated, the ice was melting due to heat from the summer heat and a large portion of ice was becoming thin and cracking continuously. Anamika was lost in her own thoughts of how lucky she was to have a life partner like Dhruv who understands her more than she does herself, she was thinking about the time she crossed paths with Dhruv for the first time in her friend’s marriage, later they understood that both had a lot in common when both of them were enquiring about each other to their friends. They knew that the two were made for each other when they learnt that neither had a family and went through a lot of trauma and grief that the other could relate to and empathize. On the other side Dhruv was seen running from a distance after hearing the noise of the ice breaking, he was shouting her name and ran as fast as he could still it was no match for the speed of the falling ice. Before Anamika could get the grasp of reality the large chunk of ice cracked completely and fell over Anamika taking her life away from the only person she loved the most. One of the smaller chunks of ice after the initial collision bounced off and struck Dhruv in the face knocking him out unconscious and leaving a deep cut in his face. He wailed his heart out “Anamikaaaa....” knocking him back into consciousness in the present day he realised that the traumatic incidents that he kept locked away in the farthest part of his brain flooded and caused him to feel all the pain once again, a huge crowd gathered around him after hearing his shriek. He excused himself from the crowd and left for his apartment with tears rolling down his eyes. Enroute he was thinking about the time after the accident that happened 40 years ago where he was in a hospital waking up with the pain and grief of losing the hope of his life. He then completed all her final rituals and Anamika was laid to rest in Kashmir itself, the place where she cherished every moment and she could continue to do so in her afterlife. He was left with a scar in his face to remind him of the tragic incident that he could never forgive himself of. He went inside his apartment and closed the door and mumbled in a very feeble voice, "I'm sorry Anamika, I wish I was there in time to save you from all that was supposed to happen or at least be with you in death". The shopkeeper Davinder knew that looking at Anamika’s photo would make Dhruv go through trauma and pain, so he came looking for Dhruv and enquired about him from the crowd that was still shocked and chattering about the scarred face of Mr. Dhruv. When he knew that Dhruv went back to his apartment he sighed with relief, after which the people bombarded him with questions “Do you know him?” “Do you know what happened to him?”... The shopkeeper paused for a while gathering all the strength he could and started, “He was not like this always”, and when he completed the narration he said “his love towards the world died along with his wife”. People left with heavy heart and guilt for judging Mr. Dhruv only by his physical portrayal and mannerisms and everyone parted their ways in sorrow and guilt of treating Dhruv the way he didn’t deserve to be and also for not even looking at the possibility of Mr. Dhruv being a normal person who had lost interest in the world because he succumbed himself to a great personal loss.  Davinder while leaving back for his shop was talking to a person walking along with him “Everyone has a battle of their own and it’s not polite to judge and decide about someone only by their looks andguise because not everyone is proud of their scars from their encounters with life".