Heart is a Fool

Chapter 7: The Awakening

Delhi - Raheja Residence

Geeta seethed in anger on reading a text message. Stupid Vijay she mumbled and looked at her day's calendar. Just then her house help handed over a tiny envelope which had been sent by the agency. She carefully opened it to find pills with a note that Ritwik was given these every night. The furrows on her forehead deepened as she looked at them and dialed the head scientist in her lab to do a quick analysis of the compound. 

On the Way to Rishikesh : Ritwik and Tim

The 6 hour drive from Delhi to Rishikesh was beautiful; they stopped midway for quick breakfast. Tim had now slipped out of his slim cut suit into comfortable yoga pants and a linen shirt with the calm face of Buddha imprinted on it. Ritwik had decided not to use one of his family cars and had taken a sedan on hire from Zoom Car and was happy behind the wheels. He so wanted to drive around Palak in Europe; hold her close in Jung Frau ; walk hand in hand on Damrak, Amsterdam; sip the finest wine in the cafes along Champs de Ulysses or simply cosy up between the tulips of Keukenhof. Cut to the present; he asked Tim what he was seeking; did Tim really believe the answers of his life's issues were somewhere hidden in a Yoga class or in the lanes of Rishikesh. Tim smiled and asked him to go with the flow and the answer would reveal itself when the time is right. 

Chandigarh: Palak's Home

Life was usual for Palak; she was unable to sit for long hours and tried to immerse herself in work to not reveal her tears. She was yearning for Ritwik like never before; she felt the throbbing in her stomach and sought forgiveness from her unborn kids for keeping them away from their father who was a child himself. Manjeet found Palak talking to herself and could not understand why her much in love daughter was hurting herself this way. 

Rishikesh : Ritwik and Tim  

Ritwik enrolled himself into the meditation and yoga course alongside Tim believing that at the end of it Palak would appear before him and all would be well. Most first timers do that until they discover themselves. Tim slipped into a meditative state effortlessly but Ritwik struggled to be still. His legs ached as he had to sit cross legged on the floor; he could not keep his eyes closed for more than 30 secs and continuously fidgeted unable to focus on his breathing. The more he tried the more he failed. The teacher touched his shoulder, assured him and asked him to take it easy. Over the next 3 days tears flowed out of his eyes without reason; he could feel the knots in his stomach dissolving and walking by the Ganga was a daily ritual that gave him solace. 

On the last day in Rishikesh, Tim and he unwound at the Beatles Cafe in Laxman Jhula, sipping on glasses of vegan shake. They hardly spoke ; but they did burst out laughing remembering how life had brought them one full circle from toasting to beer; binge drinking single malts to now contemplating on vegan shakes. While Tim dozed off on his chair; the Beatles song  "We can Work It Out" playing in the cafe hit Ritwik hard; over tears of repentance he found light at the end of the tunnel; he considered forgiving his mother Geeta and Palak trying to think from their point of view. By the time they left the cafe it was "Let it Be" crooning in his head !! What Mother Mary did to John, Paul, George and Ringo Mother Ganga had done her bit for her prodigal son; Ritwik Noon.

Breakfast Time :

The Noons were busy discussing Ritwik's divorce over heavily buttered Aloo Parathas, each one giving their own opinion on what should be done with his life. The once seemingly perfect Noon family had turned out to be quite dysfunctional and interfering when it came to Ritwik; all of then wanted to own a piece of his life as their right but never give away an inch from theirs. Mamta Noon had this passive aggression and she could manipulate Ritwik rather each one of them in her usual non chalant way to make sure they did what she wanted. 

Geeta browsed through the report and shivered in dis-belief; he was put on to tetracyclic drugs which had far reaching effects. She went near her dart board which had the pictures of the Noon Clan; she deftly threw an arrow and it went straight onto Mamta Noon's forehead. She had to find out whether Mamta and Rishabh were hand in glove and VP was a pawn. She regretted adding fuel to their drama using Palak and felt ashamed rather for not understanding the depth of Palak's love for Ricky.  She had to sort it out !! she had to.

Palak literally threw up when her mother got her an omelette; she was finding all non -vegetarian food intolerable and wanted to survive on fruits only. Her mother was concerned and kept ranting on her health. Palak remembered the happy times with Ritwik specially the breakfast spread that he managed to dish out to impress her. She picked up an apple and toyed with it. She hardly heard her mom and dad bidding her goodbye while they made a quick trip to Delhi to get back some of their stuff. 

On their way back to Delhi, Ritwik and Tim stopped for breakfast at a roadside cafe. The otherwise fussy Ritwik could not tolerate the oil on the Parathas nor the smell of fried eggs and omelettes. The vegan meals seemed to have grown on him and he looked at the bright red Shimla Apples in the fruit basket. He picked up one and toyed with it. 

Miles away from each other Ritwik and Palak bit into their respective apples remembering the time spent with each other. From the time of Adam and Eve; true lovers have always had a tryst with the Apple.

Delhi : Ritwik Seeing off Tim

Ritwik bid goodbye to Tim in the airport and was on his way back home when Dr Raman's assistant nurse called him from City Hospital. They were in urgent need of AB- blood for a woman in labour and asked if he could oblige. At the same time; he received a text message on his phone. He drove through the lanes and by lanes of Delhi with a prayer on his lips to reach on time and the message remained unread. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------