Preeti is delirious. Blurry faces, fading voices, dim light, blinding flash and then a sudden calm sweeps over her. Silence! as if she is suspended in outer space.
Santhanam and Parvati are by the ICU watching helplessly, waiting for the doctors to come out and inform them that their dear girl was going to be alright. Fear and anxiety had taken hold of their senses. Nothing mattered now at this moment. Their dreams, hopes and aspirations surrounding their only child had come to a sudden standstill. They are devastated. Frightening thoughts kept reeling in their minds. They wished all this was a dream they could wake up to. Reality had dealt a wicked blow that they were struggling to come to terms with.
******
“Ma, have you finished packing your bags? We have to be up early tomorrow. Why is appa still at work today?”
Preeti desperately wanted her father to be home early that night and get into the vacation mood. She did not like any last minute surprises. For a brief moment she even worried. “What if appa cancelled the trip due to some unexpected work commitment? After all, he was in a senior position with a pharmaceutical company in Chennai.”
Just like most little girls Preeti adored her father and admired him when he told her that he worked with a company which made medicines to help cure sick people. She wanted to be a doctor then.
“A little girl’s dream keeps changing all the time,” her father would remark encouragingly.
Preeti had meticulously packed her bags the night before. She reached out for Sophie’s World which she was reading for the third time and kept it besides her bag. She loved the book as it taught her a lot about ancient philosophers and made her think. Sometimes she would pretend to be Sophie Amundsen and quote funny things from the book to her mother who would be awestruck and say,
“Preeti, you are certainly getting wiser by the day, my dear girl.”
She would bask in that remark. Her mother always called her “my dear girl” when she was happy.She loved it when her mother was in a cheerful mood, as she could get away with her indulgences without much argument.
She was very excited about the road trip that her father had been planning for quite some time as a gift for her academic excellence in high school. The much coveted ‘Student of the Year’ trophy stood tall amidst the other sports trophies she had won. This month long trip was a bonus she earned from her parents for winning that prestigious award.
She ticked off her checklist satisfied. Preeti took great pride in being organised. Her room was very neat. Her mother never had to ask her to tidy up her stuff. Sometimes she would help her mother organise her wardrobe. But after a few days, the saris would be in disarray and Preeti would whine in dismay.
“Did I ask you to tidy up my stuff?” Her mother reprimanded her one day when confronted by her daughter. Preeti huffed and walked away muttering to never interfere.
“What a waste of time, I could as well be doing something else.”
Preeti did not get carried away by peer pressure and chose to stay with her parents and continue with undergraduate studies. She was not ambitious yet and did not want to leave home unlike her class mates who had already started applying for overseas universities. Deep down she also knew that her father may not be able to afford it. She was happy with her life and everything around her. She loved this ancestral home which reminded her of the time she spent with her grandparents. It was modest but very cosy, a typical Tamilian home with no frills and fancies, just too practical. Preeti would buy charming bits and pieces and place it in corners around the house to give it a fuller feel.
“Why all this junk?” her father quipped uninterestedly.
“Adults never understand,” she retorted crossly and buried herself in little Sophie’s world.
“Are you in bed, my dear girl,” looks like your father is going to be late again; her mother’s voice wafted from the kitchen.
“Almost ma,” Preeti replied and smiled to herself. “My dear girl,” how she loved that! She noticed with satisfaction that her mother was in a permanent state of happiness ever since appa said that he was planning to take one whole month off from work and take them on a road trip.
Preeti checks to see if her father had packed his bags, by any chance. Alas! He had not even started. She places a checklist on his bedside table and leaves a good night note. She then hastens to the kitchen, hugs her mother tightly and reminds her to set the alarm.
“Goodnight ma,” she says and goes to her room. In no time she is in deep slumber blissfully unaware as to when her father got home. Parvati finishes her chores and settles down with the newspaper waiting for her husband. She is used to his late hours. But today she had been expecting him to come earlier.
At 11 pm, as Parvati was almost dozing off she hears the door latch click and her husband lets himself in.
“Is Preeti asleep?” Santhanam asks as he enters the house.
“Yes, she is,” says Parvati. Santhanam takes a quick shower and starts stuffing his bag.
“If there is something left out we can always buy it on the way,” he says. Parvati merely smiles. She is used to this “talking to self” style of her husband.
He continued without waiting for a response from his wife. “The most important thing is my wallet and the car has to be in good condition, both of which have been taken care of. Fuel tank is full, tyre pressure checked. The hotel bookings have also been sorted. The road map is in the car. Anything else, he asks?” Parvati is quiet.
As he settles down in the bed besides his wife, he looks at the note that Preeti had left for him. “She is atrociously meticulous, who has she taken after?” Now he looks at his wife for an answer.
“The milk man, paper boy and maid have been paid off,” she says and closes her eyes. Satisfied with this Santhanam falls asleep.
******
"Cockadoodle doo……," The alarm goes off at 5.30 am. Preeti springs out of her bed, quickly folds her sheets and hurries to her parents’ room. Much to her dismay they are fast asleep. She is relieved to find her father’s bags neatly packed.
“Good morning!” she chirps excitedly and hops on to the bed in between the two of them. “Hurry up you two. It is now time to wake up,” she chirps excitedly. Just then Parvati’s alarm goes off. Preeti turns it off. We have a long way to go, “Kanyakumari to Kashmir bottoms up!”
In the next one hour, the house comes to life with morning chores and merriment to mark the start of their much awaited vacation. The birds come to life and street dogs bark ferociously. Santhanam checks everything carefully and locks the door. He hands over the keys to his wife. Preeti lugs the boxes and loads them in the boot of the car, followed by Parvati who arranges them. Santhanam starts the ignition and presses the accelerator. The engine roars with a deafening sound and calms down as the car sets into motion.
******
The vehicle lazily passes through the narrow streets of their neighbourhood until they reach the main road and then picks up speed. There is hardly any traffic at this hour to the point where the familiar roads seem unfamiliar. As the car touches the highway, Santhanam accelerates and checks his speedometer. Music fills the air and Parvati is gazing at the treeline of palm and coconut trees. Preeti props up a cushion and comfortably settles in the back seat, listening to her favourite Bollywood music. Santhanam usually is quiet when he is driving, but today he is relaxed and a bit more talkative.
An hour into this; in a matter of few seconds their whole life was about to change for reasons beyond their control. Serendipity struck like a thunderbolt.
A car crash... Some irresponsible driver on the cell phone loses control. The truck twirls on the opposite lane, jumps off the divider as it screeches to a halt after crashing against the lamp post. The wind screen is blown into smithereens.
At that serendipitous moment, Parvati’s eyes open wide and she lets out a blood chilling scream. Santhanam flinches involuntarily and applies the brakes sharply in a desperate bid to avoid the collusion.
Preeti sees the accident on the opposite lane. Her father is within the speed limit of 60 km per hour. He has always been a safe and defensive driver. But there is no way he could avoid the crash. His last shot at safety fails on that fateful day. She closes her eyes and slips into her Sophie’s World.
**********************************
{ Published in Woman's Era - March 2015 2nd fortnightly. Thank You! }
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