Traffic signal was red, Abinash rolled up the window shield of his car. Traffic is usually bad during this time of the day. It takes more than an hour to drive just a few miles from his home to office. He changed the radio station, It was playing a RJ programme; the theme was “old memories”. People who participated, sent messages about their old memories that they miss the most and the RJ called them to talk about it. In the end of the conversation they played a song.
The signal turned green and the vehicles started moving. Abinash followed the lane and crossed the signal. After driving for about five minutes he approached another red signal. He slowed down and stopped when there was no space to move forward on the road. The same programme was still playing on radio. After one of those conversations the RJ played a very famous Hindi song from the 90s, the song was “Chhod aaye hum woh guliyaan…”. It was one of his favorite songs but he hadn’t listened to it in a while. It ignited something in his mind. Some old memories from his childhood flashed back.
He grew up in a small village in Phulbani district of Odisha. His father worked in the forest department and his mother was a housewife. They lived in a small house which was allotted to his father by the state government. He studied in a government school. Most of the children in his class were from the same village and few whose parents worked in the same department as his father. Many of his father’s colleagues moved to other cities by taking job transfer, but his father liked it there. After completing his 10th, he went to a college in Sambalpur – one of the major cities in the western part of the state. He stayed in the college hostel and visited his parents mostly during summer vacations. After completing PUC he prepared for competitive entrance exams and ranked well. He went to an engineering college in the same city. After completing engineering degree, he got a job in a private firm in Hyderabad and after few years moved to Mumbai.
He’s been living in Mumbai for about two decades. His father passed away few years after he moved to Mumbai. He asked his mother to move to Mumbai and stay with him but she refused to leave the village. Few years later she moved to stay with her brother’s family. Abinash visited her once in a year and talked to his mother and uncle regularly when she was alive. She passed away four years back in cancer. Abinash was married then. He visited his uncle’s village with his wife Maya for his mother’s last rites.
It was 11 in the morning, he managed to reach office on time. He had a meeting with his manager that day. He is the Project Delivery Manager in a service based firm. He manages a mid-sized IT operations team in his division. He’s been working hard in the past few years to reach the top of the hierarchy. He was expecting a good news from the meeting with his manager. Probably a promotion. After quickly greeting his team and checking his emails, he went to his manager’s cabin. After few minutes he stepped out disappointed. He didn’t get what he was expecting. He rushed back to his daily schedule. He finished the day at work by 7 PM and headed home. Grabbed few bottles of beer on the way to home.
He’s been living alone in the apartment. Two years back he got separated from his wife. They didn’t have children. They both were working professionals and ambitious about their career. Before they could plan to have kids, they realized that they can’t live with each other. It was a mutually agreed separation.
After reaching home he fixed some eggs quickly and grabbed one beer. He was browsing through the TV channels and he got a call on his cell. It was an unknown number. He picked the call. It was his cousin Subhash, his uncle’s elder son. His uncle had passed away on the same afternoon and Subhash called to give him the sad news. Abinash was not very close to his uncle’s family but they are his only close blood relatives. Subhash requested him to come to attend the last rites on the eleventh day after the death. Abinash was in an uncomfortable position, he didn’t know how to react. He tried to express his condolences and said that he will try to come.
He couldn’t sleep that night. Few incidents from his childhood flashed back in his mind. He remembered how his uncle adored him when he went to meet him with his parents. His uncle was a selfless good man. He took good care of his mother when she needed it. Although he had not talked to him or anyone in the family in a while, still somehow the news shook him a bit.
Next day morning he woke up bit late. He was feeling little fuzzy; he didn’t get enough sleep last night. He was eating breakfast, his phone rang. It was Subhash’s number. Abinash picked the call, this time it was his aunt (Subhash’s mother). She asked him how he is doing. She was sobbing while speaking. She asked Abinash to visit them for the last rituals. Abinash assured her that he will come. After speaking to her Abinash felt little heavy in his heart.
While driving to office he was thinking about the past memories one after another. After reaching office he dropped a mail to his manager for leave. He hadn’t taken any time off in a very long time. He wanted to escape all the chaos of the city for few days. He booked a two-way ticket to Bhubaneswar with a week gap. His uncle’s village was about 300 kilometres from Bhubaneswar airport. He thought to take a car on rent from Bhubaneswar.
In the next few days he called Subhash and his mother few times. He also offered financial help for the rituals, but they refused. He also talked to his cousin sister Sushmita (Subhash’s younger sister). She is married with a four-year-old son. Shubhash has a son and a daughter.
On the day of travel, he packed few pairs of clothes, couple of books and few necessary things in a travel bag. His flight was in the afternoon. He took a cab to airport. His flight landed Bhubaneswar airport around 2:30 in the afternoon. He was carrying only cabin luggage and a laptop bag so he didn’t have to wait at the language belt. He was feeling hungry so grabbed a sandwich before leaving the airport.
He booked a cab from the airport to the car rental store. He had enquired about it online. It was month of July so the weather was bit hot and humid in Bhubaneswar. He’s been living in Mumbai for many years so it didn’t bother him much. In few minutes he reached. He had to submit few documents and details for renting a car. He chose a compact SUV for the journey. He rented it for two days as he didn’t intend to stay there for too long considering the circumstances. He thought to stay in a Hotel in Bhubaneswar after returning back from his uncle’s house. Thought to call and meet few of his old friends before returning to Mumbai. His return flight was after 4 days so he could stay for couple of days in Bhubaneswar.
After completing the formalities, he got the car key. Got inside the car and started his journey. His uncle lived in Daringibadi. A famous hill station in Odisha. It’s also known as Kashmir of Odisha, sometimes in winter you can witness snowfall in the valley. It was a pleasant day. He left from Bhubaneswar around 3 PM. It was a 5 hours’ drive; he was expecting to reach there by 8 PM. He was not familiar with the route so he used Google maps on his phone for navigation and thought to call Subhash for exact location after reaching Daringibadi. He was very excited about it.
After leaving Bhubaneswar he approached NH16. he felt nostalgic after seeing the rice fields, lots of coconut trees and there was some sort of affinity in the wind. After driving for couple of hours he stopped at a tea hut, lit a cigarette. In few minutes continued his journey. He felt free. Free from his confined life, daily schedules, all the noise of the city and all the meaningless things he has been doing for years.
The sun was slowly setting down, the sky looked reddish. It was past 6 in the evening. Abinash was feeling little tired after the flight and driving for 3 hours. He will reach Daringibadi in couple of hours. The sun sets little late in Mumbai, he didn’t realise it will get dark so early in Odisha. He was driving through a valley, it had very sharp hairpin curves. He was driving very carefully as the road was narrow and other vehicles were passing from the other direction. It was getting dark; he could barely see anything other than the road that the headlights were focusing on. Suddenly a truck crossed him from the other direction. Its headlights were so bright. It flashed in Abinash’s eyes. He couldn’t see anything for a moment. He lost his control and pressed the accelerator in panic. The SUV got derailed, lost track and fell down from the height. It stumbled on the rocks and Abinash hit his head on the steering wheel. Before he could gain consciousness it crashed on a tree from the top.
Abinash opened his eyes slowly. It was dark so he couldn’t see anything. He was lying on the ground. His head was hurting; he was feeling like he had a concussion. He woke up slowly. He was suddenly happy that after falling down from such height he was not injured very badly. He was able to walk. He couldn’t see anything but some tiny light spots far from there. He started walking blindly in the darkness. He stumbled on rocks and tree roots but kept walking. After walking for an hour he found a muddy road which led him to a village. At the entrance of the village there was a light bulb hanging on a bamboo pole. There was a tea hut in the corner. He walked to the hut and sat on a bench lying outside of it.
He didn’t feel like eating or drinking anything. He was suddenly feeling alright. His head was not hurting any more. He was not feeling tired after walking miles in the darkness. It didn’t seem right. He had survived a major road accident without even a bruise. A black & white TV in the hut was playing a news programme in regional language (Odia). Abinash didn’t know where to go from there. He couldn’t find his cell phone in his pockets. He stood up and walked to the man sitting inside the hut and asked – “Sir, which place is this?” The man didn’t respond anything. He was going to ask him again and just then he saw something on the TV. It was showing a picture of him. A passport size photo which was in his wallet. He couldn’t find his wallet either. He walked near the TV and started listening to it. He was shocked. It said that a man named ‘Abinash Nayak’ met with a road accident today and his body was recovered from the valley. The doctors examined the body and declared him dead.
-RP (BlueInk Blog)
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