DESTINY THAT CARES NO EMOTIONS - Part II
...This is not a love story
The Story So Far...
Jessie and Stalin soon settled down in the Tibetan slum. Days rolled on till Stalin was caught lifting a allet which helps him initiate a conversation between the two.What follows is a series of confessions
and a plea by Jessie: “Promise me that you won’t leave me back home!” Read on
He looked straight into her eyes bewildered. She continued to keep her hands up. He thought for a while and then put his hand on hers. “Promise, I promise that I won’t go against your wish. Let your words be done.” She sat back and took a long sigh.
“Well, as I have told you before, my name is Jessica Jones. I come from a traditional Anglo Indian family and I have also lived in the city in an Anglo-Indian colony with likeminded neighbors. My father is a film maker and has always been involved with Bollywood movies and its celebrities. My mother was a simple, sweet woman, she was a home maker. I am their only daughter. Life was really good although my father rarely stayed at home. Most of the times, he had to go out to shoot movies at various locations. But whenever he came home, he was a very loving and responsible father. He would enquire about my studie stake us out for short picnics and share his experiences in the Bollywood world and what not. Trust me, ours was a happy family.” she then took a deep breath.
“Then what made you to come along with me leaving behind so many loving people? Won’t you miss hem? Why are you refusing to go back? What happiness do you have here in this slum?” asked Stalin.
“Hmmm, that is fate; I said mine “was” a happy family. Not anymore!” she replied.
“But tell me what happened Jessie?” he was curious to know.
She closed her eyes for a while staring blankly in the distance.
“Things were very fine for a few years and changed to be exactly the opposite. As I have told you before, my dad was in the Bollywood industry. We used to hear a lot of rumours about his affairs but my mother bestowed a lost of trust on him. Unfortunately, he did not keep the trust my mother had bestowed on him,” she explained.
“Yes, he had an extra marital affair with one of his colleagues. Initially, my mother did not believe the rumours till the day he was scheduled to leave for Switzerland. He informed my mother that it was a business tour and was helping out with the packing that was to be done.”
“Are you going alone?” she asked my dad.
‘Yes dear, I am all alone. The others left yesterday and I had to stay back for Jessie’s birthday. I will be back in a week. It is just shooting for a song sequence,” he replied
. “What time is the flight?” Mom asked.
“I am waiting for a mail to confirm my air ticket,” my dad replied looking up from his computer. “I think it is at 6:15 pm or else I am sure it will be the 7:30 flight.”
A call flashed on dad’s mobile phone and he ran to answer it. “Hello?”
Mom and I couldn’t make out who was at the other end. “Oh! So it is the 6:15 flight that is confirmed? Good! Yes I’ll rush now. Bye.” hurried dad
“He did the rest of the packing in a hurry, kissed mom and I bye and rushed off to the airport. Mom went back home to clear the mess and I went out to play with my neighbours. I had two very good friends. My best friend, Sharon resided in the house in front of ours and the other was Declan. He stayed next to our house. We went to the same school. I am a very conservative kind of girl and I didn’t talk to anyone much but Sharon and Declan were my close friends and I used to trust them a lot. They were also very loyal and faithful. They liked me a lot. We were very comfortable in one another’s company. I was 10 years old then.
That day I played with them till 9 o’clock in the night and returned home to find my mom weeping. I was surprised by her behavior because I was too small to understand anything. But now I know what had happened. Dad in a hurry had left his mail box open. Mom went to sign off from his mail box and she saw a new mail. It was from Jet Airways. The subject read: ‘Tickets confirmed’. Mom opened the mail and the tickets were confirmed for two people and not one! Her husband had told a lie. He said he was going alone but she was shocked to see his name in the tickets along with a ady’s. Out of curiousity, she browsed through the other mails in dad’s inbox. She found many indecent mails, greeting cards and such things sent by the same lady whose ticket to Singapore was booked along with my dad. As she was digesting this fact, the land line phone rang. Mom answered it with trembling hands. “Hello?” “Good evening ma’am. May I speak to Jones please?” The voice on the other end said.
“He is not in the town; may I know who this is?” mom replied “
I am Govind, your husband’s colleague, is he at home?”
he asked “He left for Singapore just a while ago, for the shooting of the song sequence,” mom replied. “Actually he is on leave for two weeks and I expected him to be at home. Anyway, sorry for disturbing you ma’am, bye,” he said and put down the phone.
Mom was so upset. I think she could have worked it out but she made a hasty decision and took out one hundred sleeping pills and slept. She never woke up again. I was a very small girl that time to realize what was happening around me. Within no time, dad got married again to the same lady who was the cause for my mother’s death. She became my step mother.
