Friday, May 8, 2020

Richa’s discovery


Since my childhood, I have been hearing the hoo-has of the people who saw me the first time. I knew God had endowed me with unusual beauty and a perfect figure and I was naturally proud about it. While at my college, I toyed with the idea of becoming a model and had my portfolio made. As my parents expressed their disapproval, I dropped the plan and plunged into my studies to become a lawyer.
We were a small happy family of three with my parents showering all their love on me. Nothing was denied to me and all my whims and wishes were promptly complied with. My heart would swell with pride when they often called me a sensible girl. I was my dad’s favorite and not a day would pass without our exclusive short conversations after the dinner in my study room. He will look for long with satisfaction at the enlarged photo of mine that I had hung over my study table. That incidentally was the best photo from the portfolio I had chosen. I did not hang any other photo in my adjacent bed room.
“Richa, I was mentioning to my lawyer friend, who is the chief partner of the leading law firm, Roshan & Sharma, that you would be completing your Masters in law shortly. Do you want to hear what he said?” said her father one day
“Surely, what did he say?” I asked eagerly.
“He said that you should join his firm and that it would be his responsibility to mentor you till you become a partner of the firm eventually. Poor man, he has no child of his own.,” said my father.
My dad has been keeping indifferent health and had a multi graft bypass. He was always of wanting me settled well in life.
“Stop worrying about me,dad. I hope to do very well in the examinations and would be happy to join them.
Months passed by and I had secured high rank in the university examination. My dad’s delight knew no bounds when I joined his friend’s firm as junior assistant. Life was becoming hectic and often I spent late hours in office preparing briefs for the seniors.
I must share with you one curious thing about the strange behaviour of my dad of late since a couple of months. He retired to bed usually at 11 pm after watching some serial on the TV along with mother. I have been seeing him entering my study room daily at 10.45 pm as if stealthily without making any noise and spend a few minutes there. Since he was doing this without commotion, I did not confront him when he entered daily. I respected his wish for privacy. I wondered what he found interesting on my study table. Neither the law books nor the briefs that I prepared would interest him as he was no lawyer. My curiosity overcame my initial disinclination and peeped one day unobserved when he was there. I saw him sitting crouched on the chair before my table and staring at my photo and mumbling something.
I knew he was worried about his deteriorating health and he saw less of TV these days spending more time resting on recliner. But why was he not meeting me instead of entering my study when I was not there. Was he trying to avoid me for any reason lest I find about his declining health? I decided to confront him the next day.
I had heavy work that day and had to also attend the court. I was in the bed listening to Shreya Ghosal. When I saw the watch, it was 10.42pm and I rushed out to see my dad walking back to his bed room. I tip toed silently behind him and stood unseen at the door to see my mom readying to ask him something. I strained my ears to hear my mom admonishing him, “How many times should I tell you to take care of yourself? At this rate I am afraid you will fall sick seriously sooner than later.”
“I was just spending a few minutes in Richa’s study. What is wrong with that and why do you make a fuss about it?” he replied rather diffidently.
“It only means you are still grieving much over her even after she left us bereaved in an accident three months back. It is not good for you in your frail health or for her. If you wish, I will have the photo fixed tomorrow opposite to our bed,” my mom softly said wiping her tears as she led him up to the cot.
I suddenly felt very lonely and lost.







30 comments:

  1. Nice twist Your signature style of narrating a story , where the reader starts visualizing the characters in one way and ends up seeing a twist in the story pattern or characters’ nature Well-written !

    Take care
    Keep writing
    Chitra Solomon

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  2. This is really shocking....the twist. Feel sad for both the parents and the unseen daughter too!

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  3. Oh my God! May hair stood on end here! Totally lost in shock! Seriously, you need to get these

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  4. Omg..this blew me to smithereens..so unexpected and unanticipated turn of events, a very different one that has the readers absolutely curious!

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  5. unexpected end to the story. Good one!
    Vasudha

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  6. A totally unexpected twist. Should say you hv been able to take your reader off guard with a good narration. Kerp writing.

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  7. Unexpected turn of events. Beautiful story.

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  8. What a twist! You kept the reader wondering what the dad was upto that I never ever imagined or anticipated the end. But once you read the end, the shock of the twist immediately switches to sympathy for the parents. What a torture for them to endure this kind of tragedy. Kudos to your imagination and skill to weave such stories.

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  9. Intrigue and suspense matching Agatha Christie or Earle Stanley Gardner. My guess is there was a twin given away in adoption in childhood and kept a closely guarded secret.

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  10. Wow. Really enjoyed this. I expected some twist but not this . Thank you for one more precious gem added to your treasure chest of stories.

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  11. Lakshmi SrinivasanMay 9, 2020 at 5:41 PM

    Very nice story. A twist that I was expecting but left me speech less.
    What a wonderful writer you are🙏

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  12. Frankly, the ending left me confused. Possibly I am missing something here. Or there is more to the story which you have chosen to leave it the readers to interpret in the way they like; and I am not able to get it?

    By looking at her daughter Richa's photo, the dad obviously is reminded of someone who passed away three months ago in an accident. But, if that person was so close to him, then why isn't there a photo of that person? Why does the father has to go to Richa's room and look at her modeling photo to remember the person?

    Or, is it that the modelling ambitions of Richa ended when she was involved in an accident? In that case, the father shouldn't be grieving over it because you say that the parents weren't in favour of such a career for her.

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  13. Nice story and a twist at the end. However, this happens in real life too. Several times in the past, while starting my car, I have automatically asked my late wife to fasten her seat belt thinking she is also sitting in the car.

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  14. What an unexpected and poignant twist to the tale!! The only way the memory of lost loved ones is kept alive is when we find solace in the things we do in their honor and memory. It lives in every silly little thing we do to stay connected to them . Perhaps they never ever leave us!!

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  15. Good one. Didn't expect the twist as you were narrating in the first person. But do I remembering watching a movie with a similar plot? :)

    Destination Infinity

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  16. I was coasting along merrily with the flow of the story, when it pulled me up short, gasping for breath. What an end! Felt sorry for the father and mother who had had so much expectations from Richa and of course, Richa too....

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  17. Blessings and Namaste my lovely friend.
    It has been ages. I am delighted to read this as it means more than one would normally think. It means you are doing well.

    Its a interesting story and highlights things we talked about in the Islands, when a love one dies so quickly and unexpectedly that they don't realize that they have died and they find their way home and continue their routine until reality encroaches and slams the truth home. It also brings forward the sobering reality that death comes to anyone at anything irrespective of age, class, ethnicity, health status. In the supposed norm of life, things would follow in order - the children bury the parents however in the real life order is whatever happens as your story points out, the parents bury their only child and have only each other to comfort and grieve the loss.

    great writing.
    please have one of your daughter's or grandchildren comply all your stories in a book and publish it.

    Stay blessed my friend.
    Stay safe
    Stay healthy
    Peace.

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  18. Oh my God...didn't anticipate that

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  19. Indira ParthasarathiMay 10, 2020 at 5:32 PM

    It is not at all good for you to write such stories of tragedy. I can't digest. Very sad ending

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  20. Wow! Didn’t expect this twist. Made a compelling yet left a feeling of sadness lingering in the mind.

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  21. Nice and lovely story. The twist to the story could not be anticipated. What a twist to the story?

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  22. Oh.God..couldnt imagine the twists and turns this story took..hats off to your imagination..such a beautiful narration as usual..nice one..

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  23. I just read your story Richa’s discovery. It is a beautiful story. The way you have narrated Richa& her parents , one could visualise a family of three people. But in the end came a bomb shell. The tragic end seems to have added more value to the story. I may not be right , but that is what I feel.

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  24. A nice story with an unexpected poignant twist.

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  25. Quite an unexpected ending to the story. It had a good building of suspense and kept the readers engaged all along

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  26. Sorry I caught up with this so late. Don't know how I missed.

    Wonderful twist. I just didn't expect it at all.

    Great reading it was. Thank you for sharing.

    Best wishes and warm regards
    Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy 🙏

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  27. A sudden twist to the story. Your imagination is too good. Keeps you at it till the last line.

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  28. Master story teller at work. Always keeps the audience hooked.

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