Nishabd

NISHABD

No one could stop her from crying...no one...not even her love n how she could stop herself,
she had lost her son...
Lets go ten yrs. back...
She was in the library holding one of Shakespeare's novels in her hand but her mind was somewhere else, when suddenly a warm touch held her by her shoulder, warm enough to bring her out of the trance. She turned back to see a compassionate face with its eyes looking at her as if trying to inspire her. Yes, he was her best friend 'Rishabh'. He took her out of the library & both of them went to the place where they used to go whenever they had to share some secret. out of the main city...near the river...From their childhood they used to come here, talk for a long time , sitting in the lap of nature gave them new energy to fight against life's troubles...Today also Rishabh brought her here to comfort her & help her come out of the trauma she was facing.
         Reshu was in love with one of the professors of her college.
He was young, handsome, and intelligent, having a dynamic personality that almost every girl was flat on him. Few months back she had proposed Reshu, & for her it was as if a dream come true...Rishabh was the first person whom she told about it. He warned Reshu about the consequences of this relation, but Reshu was so firm & serious that he gave up. Now, she would think of the Prof. (Kritarth) all day & night, not taking her studies seriously anymore. Their relation grew serious day by day & on the part of Reshu she could do anything for him. Prof. Kritarth did his PhD. from Astronomy. His research work received appraisal from Indian Deptt. & was send to London. A few days back he got a call from there for his outstanding research work. He was called to London to work as project head for the project undertaken by the company. Now it was a dream come true for Kritarth. He was joyous & at the same time somewhat tensed to think about his relation with Reshu. He was a person with high ambitions & for him his safe future & rich life was better than his present love-life. He called Reshu to inform about this opportunity. But for her it was as if someone took away her life. She went to Kritarth's residence to ask him give a thought over their relation, but he was firm...She cried, argued, gave him all possible reasons to stop him from going, but he was also a good debater. He tried to convince her by saying that he would come back but she knew & he himself knew that it was all fake. Who would like to leave a job of 5000pound per month for his girl friend or say for a college job of Rs.20000/month.The next day he packed up for his bright future. He took the plane for Bombay from the airport & Reshu could not stop herself from seeing him off. The plane took off & there was Kritarth in the air going higher and higher to make his dreams come true & here was Reshu sitting on the floor, crying, feeling as if she was going deeper into the ground and could easily watch all her dreams shatter...
         When Rishabh came to know about this incident, he immediately went off to see her. And now they both were here. Reshu could not control her tears from emerging out of her big black eyes. She poured out her emotions in front of the person who loved her really loved her since the time of their teens. But he never told her, because he did not want to hurt her. He was a man of high principles and believed that if u love a person truly than one day he will be yours. When Reshu had first told her about Kritarth he was a bit jealous. He could not sleep for few days. But then he told himself that love does not demand anything, it is just giving...He could not see tears in her eyes, and himself burst into tears. They did not say anything to each other(Nishabd), just sat there watching the deepness of the river & as the sunrays started to grow dimmer, they went to their homes. That day seemed to be the longest for Reshu & smallest for Rishabh for he wanted to be with her for some more time. He did not want to leave her alone in this condition. Both of them could not sleep the whole night, and prayed to God that the new day bring new hope & zest. It took almost a month for Reshu to come out of this state and she could do so all because of Rishabh. He would never let her feel alone, would do anything to make her happy... During all this time Reshu came nearer to Rishabh, she got to know about him more deeply. She realized that although they have been best friends since childhood, yet there were many pages of Rishabh's life which were untouched. She had never felt as secure with him as she was feeling now. May be it was because this was the time when she needed a support, a shoulder to cry...She was unaware of his feelings for her, but she was really touched with his affection, his warmth and his style of keeping her spirits high. And then she realized that she was in love with this guy, one who was always there with her, be it her achievements or sorrows. Now she came to know what true love was and with Kritarth it was probably infatuation which turned out to be painful. Then one day, although its not common for a girl, she proposed him. There was a long silence and then Rishabh held her hand and they hugged each other. And yes, of course Rishabh's joys had no boundaries...After completing their college, by God's grace; both of them got jobs in same company. They got married on 29th Feb. which was also Reshu's B'day.
This is not the end...there is yet more to this story...
One and a half year later Reshu was blessed with a son. He had beautiful eyes like Reshu and sweet smile like Rishabh. Shabd was a cute, obedient and affectionate child. All his teachers used to praise him. He was not only good in studies but also had keen interest in swimming and karate. In a young age of 8 he has learned a lot more than the children of his age do. But...God's will was something which no one would like to even think of. One day Shabd was returning from his school by school bus. On the way, suddenly there was a jerk and the bus stopped. There was a huge crowd near the river shore. People were shouting and there was panic in every face. Shabd got down the bus and inquired what had happened. He came to know that a child drowned in the river and was swept away by the wave. The child's mother was out of control, crying and crying...And probably it was Shabd's God gifted character that although being so young he was so much emotional that he could not see the lady crying. Before anyone could understand anything he jumped into the river to save a son.
He knew that he could swim up to four kms. with a good speed. He swam with full effort and was able to reach the child at a long distance of eight kms. He held him by hand and with all his energy tried to drag him to the shore, fighting with the vigorous waves of the river. He was completely exhausted. By the time few people reached the shore and helped them to reach there. The child was safe but….. Shabd's body collapsed. People were talking about his bravery but did it matter to him?
He was lying there NISHABD. 


For readers: Nishabd means absence of words.

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