A sea of hope

Based on a real story.

     The strong sea breeze is blowing on the left side of my face; the waves try to interfere in my path. My heart pounds every time I cross this stretch at the marina, I am sweating now, jogging to be precise, I am tired and about to fall down but I want to leave this place soon. Earlier I was never able to see this place even on television but now after a rigorous counselling and a renewed will to succeed, I am chasing my demons out of my life. As I gather enough courage to recall what happened on that eventful morning, I am holding my knees and panting heavily. I was a software engineer, working ten hours a day, rigorous work, tension, coffee -breaks, night and day shifts swapped every week but one thing never changed those beautiful Sundays. What can make a weekend beautiful when you don’t have your family of friends here? Love indeed, she worked in a call centre near my office; she was simple, sweet and special. Special in a way that she didn’t have a leg, she lost everything below her right knee in an accident before we got acquainted but I never felt that she was disabled in any way. No one would raise an objection if I carried her in the marina sand; even the cops don’t stare, never did anybody stop me from carrying her to the top of anna tower. Like any couple, we kiss, we fight, we go for movies etc. Similarly like all parents mine too didn’t approve of my relationship but for a different reason, no one in my family saw that she had a heart, everybody saw only her cripple. We split for a brief while but she couldn’t be kept away from me for long. I decided to propose marriage to her. I wanted to make it a special moment for her. One fine Sunday morning, like always I carried her to the edge of the beach, blindfolded her with her black duppatta and I went on my knees. I took the ring out and said a small prayer. As I had my eyes closed, everybody was shouting, I thought that we have made a scene here. Soon I realised that there was commotion. A huge wave hit us hard, I hugged her and held on to a catamaran. I thought that the danger was over but then came the actual fatality. The wave began to retreat, people with able bodies itself found it tough to survive the calamity but my Durga stood with the help of my support. She checked if I was okay , I got hurt in my head but importantly she was fine, I regained consciousness and held to her tightly. I saw women, children and a few men getting dragged into the sea. We wept for a few seconds, I found that my ring was missing, it was no time to be romantic I lifted her and tried to see if the wave had retreated ; another huge wave , more than double my size hit us from behind, Durga was robbed from me, I was not able to hold on to her. While the wave retreated I clinched on to a pole with my legs, Durga didn’t have one. Had she not been so special we would’ve survived, I survived but we didn’t. She never knew that I was courageous enough to stand for her and was ready to live a life with her. We had crossed all barriers possible to live together but mother- nature didn’t want us to. I tried to die but couldn’t. With some medical help and support from my colleagues I am here. My therapist, I prefer to kill the psycho, wanted me to spend time here so that I can overcome the sorrow that occurred here. But never will I overcome it, I am learning to live that nothing in life is permanent. I will live.  

Thanks for reading .