The Planeteers - In Search Of Greatness - Part 5

Read Part 4 here 

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He never came back to his love so fair
And so she died dreaming of his kiss
His kiss of honey
A taste more bitter than wine

I will return
I will return
I'll come back for the honey and you
I'll come back for the honey and you

Her head felt substantially heavy, but heart heavier. It was like the painting emerged out of the canvas to tell her the story. The result of the altercation that happened two nights before would eventually scar her for life. She felt like her heart was bleeding, but she couldn’t scream. She was stabbed with a knife so slow, and gentle that she didn’t feel anything at all. Nitra balanced herself on the washbasin, with water dripping from the corners of her jaw. She was soaking wet, half from sweat, and other half from water. She looked at herself in the mirror, and a pale face stared back at her.

*****

"Miss, we think there were four of them. Local teenagers, but they acted only in defence", police officer had told her.

"In defence?"

Nitra clenched her teeth at the police officer. Gaia had placed her hand over Nitra's before she could react. 

"Whose defence ? Ma-Ti attacked them ?", she snarled at the police officer.

"Miss, we don’t know that yet, but it is quite possible. These are the statements from all the four boys", he passed on sheets of paper to her.

The letters in printed in black ink danced between pages, and she only caught on some of the words like knife, looked dangerous, punched them in their faces and so on. 

She knew Ma-Ti wouldn’t have done any of that, because as strong as he was in his heart, he wasn’t so strong physically. Even four people of decent physical strength could overcome Ma-Ti in few minutes. The statements from the teenagers didn’t make sense at all. 

"What was the reason for the fight ? And why did it happen on the road, when Ma-Ti was in the bar?" , Nitra heard Gaia ask the police officer.

The answers were in the papers that Nitra held – teenagers made a friendly joke, Ma-Ti was offended, so he chased them and began to attack them. The police officer parroted the words from the paper.

Everyone was aligned with the murder, and blamed it on Ma-Ti.

Murder, a word so pungent , yet vulnerable. Something we often hear, but think we never have to pay the price of it. Today, Nitra was paying the price of love.

She slammed the papers on the desk. 

"There is nothing else to talk about, Gaia. Can we leave ?"

"If there is nothing else, or evidence, then could you please sign here. It is only for the confirmation for closure of the case", police officer circled a space down the paper.

"This is not fair, officer, we will not…..", Gaia was broken off in between by Nitra, who grabbed a pen in a snap and signed the paper. 

"Let’s go", she said, raising from the chair.

"But, Nitra, we can.."

"Let's GO!"

Gaia nodded, and walked out with Nitra. 

****

She filled the tub with hot water, exactly how Ma-Ti had always wanted it. The steam from the water filled the bathroom. She emerged herself into the water. The heat was turning the colour of her skin to red, but she didn’t flicker. She felt like Ma-Ti was in the tub with her, caressing her spine. Tears rolled from eyes, and the emotions that she had hidden for past two nights dispensed out. The water felt like she had entered a scorched territory. But, it was the heart that burnt. 

***

Suchi looked at the ring and was reminded how it had sat on Ma-Ti's fingers. Over sized for his lanky fingers, Ma-Ti had filled the gaps with thread. 

Suchi smiled at the memories. There was not one instance where Ma-Ti showed less love towards his brother. They shared their deepest fears, insecurities and intentions. Ma-Ti was Suchi's hero in every sense.

'Ma-Ti always wanted only goodness for the world. He was the true bearer of the Heart ring'

Suchi immediately felt undeserving of the ring. 

"Monkey, you can take my ring whenever you want, ok ? Just let me know when you want it, young Ma-Ti had told him.

"But, mom says only you can have it, and she will get me a new ring"

"Yes yes, you will have a shinning new ring. But till then, you can have mine", Ma-Ti had shoved the ring into Suchi's fingers. Suchi had gone announcing to Gaia that the ring was gifted by his brother. Gaia was shocked at Ma-Ti's actions and explained to the boys that only the older brother of the family can have the ring, and Suchi will get a new one when he is older. 

'Ma-Ti was a pure soul. Full of love'

Suchi immediately felt guilty. It was love that had set them apart for past few weeks. It was because of love that Suchi was not there for Ma-Ti to save his life. He regretted leaving Ma-Ti alone. 

"When I am gone, take the ring with you, will you Suchi ?", Ma-Ti had told him at the hospital bed when bees had stung him. Suchi had laughed at Ma-Ti and explained that nobody died of bee sting. But the intentions of Ma-Ti had been sincere. Everything was coming to him now. The memories, laughter and all the happy times he spent with Ma-Ti. The brotherly gimmicks, wasted hours and lost love.

His heart was brimming with love.

It was at this very instant , Suchi slid the ring into his finger. 

He closed his eyes, remembered Ma-Ti's smiling face and said 'heart'

******

Read Part 6 here



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While we are here, most of you know I am a huge fan of Vijay Deverakonda . To help with the COVID-19 situation, his team has started a Middle Class Fund, which aims at providing the basic necessities to middle class families. The team has been very transparent in their work, and you can watch the behind the scenes on Youtube (link here )

Last time when I had tweeted about VD, I saw a lot of fans comment on my post, so I felt I could use (my so called writing) platform to make people aware of the foundation. You could donate, volunteer or just spread this message around.

(If you did any of the above, please let me know so that I can give a shout out on my blog)

More details on the foundation can be found here

(Also, if you absolutely hated my writing, please feel free to let me know, and I will donate to TDF :D )

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