Mika (Part V)

For those who missed the earlier parts, here are the links
Mika - Part I
Mika - Part II
Mika - Part III
Mika - Part IV

9.05 a.m. 26th December 2004

Hemanth opened his eyes, yet everything was still dark around him. He rubbed his eyes to find out whether he was really awake or dreaming. He felt around with his hands. He felt the cold touch of stone about three feet on either side. On the top, his hands did not reach anything anything in spite of stretching. He started to get up and then a searing pain ran through his legs and set him back flat on the ground. His left ankle was locked below some huge stone. He could not budge it. The slightest moment since shock waves of pain through his nerves. So he decided to stay put.

The total darkness enveloping him was mesmerising. It seemed like time had stopped still. No sound could be heard as well. The events of Hemanth's life played through his mind in this enclosure which he realized could very well be his tomb. His thoughts went back to the most important day in his life.

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Hemanth was rolling over on his bed on a hot Sunday morning in Chennai. It was 8'o clock in the morning but he kept rolling over from side-to-side trying to convince himself to go to sleep again. His parents had gone to the temple.

The doorbell rang loudly. Hemanth got up cursing. Who was it? It couldn't be his parents. They would have taken a set of keys with them. Why did people have to trouble early in the morning on a Sunday?

He meandered towards the door. He brought down the latches and opened the door.

It was Sunitha, his neighborhood friend since childhoo. She looked very uneasy, eyeing the road on either side alternately.

"Hi Sunita. What's up? ... so early in the morning?"

"Hi Hemanth, err ... is aunty or uncle at home ? "

"Nope ... they have gone to the temple.... they will be back in about half an hour I guess ..."

"could I come in?"

"sure .."

Sunita came in and seated herself in the sofa in the living room. Hemanth shut the door after her. Hemanth hastily flattened the tufts of hair standing upright on his head and sat down facing her.

"Tell me."

"well .. Hemanth ... I dont know how to tell it .... ", Sunita seemed to be fighting her emotions.

"hey, u all right? any problem?"

" ... Hemanth, you are the only person I know from childhood and the person who will .... who will understand what I have to say now ....", Sunita started crying.

Hemanth was alarmed. He went over to her and put a hand over her shoulder.

"Hey, whatever the problem is - tell me and we will find a solution. Now please stop crying and gather yourself"

".. ok .. promise me that you will not disclose what I say to anybody ... ", Sunita calmed down a bit.

"uh .... ok ... I promise"

There was an awkward pause as Sunita prepared to tell whatever she had to say.

"You remember the boy I told you about ... the boy whom I met on the train ..."

"Well, yeah .. "

"Well ... last summer I spent somedays with him at Ooty ..."

"uh ... oh ... fine ..."

Sunita looked as if she was going to break down again. She was silent.

"Well? ", Hemanth enquired

" ........ I'm pregnant ........."

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Only a few minutes must have passed since Sunita had spoken those words, but it seemed like an eternity to Hemanth. A lot of thoughts had raced through his mind. Why has she come to me now? Maybe something happened to the boy .... My god, what has she to say next?

"ok .. ", he finally said. " ... go on ..."

"he ..... he ..... he says he will not marry me!"

"What?!"

"says his parents will never agree to it ... also, since he would not be married off for at least a year or more ... he says any thought of marriage, if any, is possible only if we ... we ..."

Again a long pause.

"I understand ... so....", started Hemanth. "You disagree to that ...."

"Yes"

"Aaah, .... humph ... what do we do then .... ", Hemanth started contemplating."Anything else you have to add?"

"I can't marry him since I know his true colors now ..."

"Okay ... that too ... umm ... anybody else who knows about this?"

"No one except the doctor who treated me"

At that moment, the door bell rang again. Hemanth walked over and opened the door. Sunitha's parents were standing outside the door. They saw Sunita inside and then turned to Hemanth. Before Hemanth could speak a word, Sunitha's father slapped him.

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Hemanth's senses came back to the present. His forehead was bathed in sweat. He decided he could not let his emotions take over him at this moment. He had to concentrate on survival. He remembered he had his cellphone still with him. He took it out and smiled sarcastically. Murphy's law was too good! The cellphone was on the brink of going out of charge. He realized he had enough charge left for maximum one call or one message.

Thinking for a few moments as to what the best use of this last ounce of charge could be. He started keying in a message.

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8.56 a.m. 27th December

Mika alighted off the train with her Arun brother at Nagapattinam. The past twenty four hours had been a blur with the amazing number of phone calls she had made. Arun on the other hand, had been using his online search skills and his network to find out as much as he could gather about the mail id catchmeif.ucan@yahoo.com. This was the email address from which the messages had come. The email id seemed to be a metaphor for what she had undertaken. Arun had found that the message had actually been routed from a cell in some secure fashion. But some experts at the cellphone company had helped her in tracking down the call to the town where it originated from - and here she was.

The whole town of Nagapattinam was in total chaos. Ambulances rushing past every minute or so. Rescue workers covered with face masks carefully sifting through the rubble that was every house. It was a total devastation here. Distraught relatives screaming for their loved ones. In fact, a fishing boat was grounded and the waves had brought it nearly a kilometer inland and here it lay right in the middle of one of the main roads in the town. There was a stench of death, disease and destruction all around. If all the rubble and bodies were not cleared off soon, this would trigger off a major epidemic. Arun went to a nearby rescue worker tent and fetched a couple of face masks for them as well.

Arun stopped a passer-by to ask how him for directions on how to reach the beach. It was not far away, only about a kilometer. So they started to walk. As they walked, one question by Mika's mother still rang in her mind, "Why did the person decide to send probably the last message he/she may ever send to a person whom he hardly knows?" He had mentioned he hardly had any friends, did he not have anybody else who cared for him? She had been running this question through her mind ever since. More stinging was the statement that her mother made, "Mika, the person believed in you to save his life!"

Mika suddenly felt someone pulling at her skirt.

"Hello Mika"

Mika recognized the voice and turned around in surprise. It was the little girl whose life she had saved in the morning.

"oh! hello Amlu! what are you doing here?"

"My daddy's house is here."

Continued at Mika - Part VI