ChainedCan you escape fate?

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ChainedCan you escape fate?

Mehek Bassi

NotionPress5 Muthu Kalathy Street, Triplicane, Chennai - 600005

First Published by NotionPress

Copyright © Mehek Bassi 2013

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9789382447887

This book is sold subject to condition that it shall not by wayof trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or hired out, circulatedand no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (exceptfor brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be madewithout written permission of the publishers.

This book has been published in good faith that the work ofthe author is original. All efforts have been taken to makethe material error-free. However, the author and the publisherdisclaim the responsibility for any inadvertent errors.

This book is dedicated to the most inspiringAnd loving couple in my life, my parents!

Thanks for everything!

Acknowledgements

Since this is my first book, so it’s going to be alittle long. Please bear with me!

To start with, first of all, I bow to the almightyKanha-ji, whose teachings guided me, and theinfamous maxim from Sri Bhagwad Gita, ‘Karmakar, phal ki chinta mat kar’, always inspired meand kept my hopes high, throughout the book-writing process. Then, thanks to all the elderlypeople at my home, for blessing me, mygrandparents, and everyone else!

Then, a special thanks to my parents, my fatherDinesh Bassi, who instilled in me the habit ofreading; the ultimate source of inspiration in mylife, a self-made man, who taught me to alwaysbelieve in yourself and your work. My motherKiran Bassi, who would always make sure I waseating enough! Without you, I would not havebeen able to do anything mom, let alone writingfreaking fifty thousand words for a book!

Gurleen Gill, my friend and a motivator, is thefirst person I would thank, who is behind mycourage to start with this book. HarshvardhanSingh Sachdev, for encouraging me to revive mydead project (surprise!), Aakash Saxena, mymentor, my first critic and my ultimate supportthroughout this book; I thank you from core ofmy heart (literally!). Garima Dua, for helping meformulate the character of Razia Sheikh. AnjuriMittu, for not contributing at all for this book, butfor sorting out my mind every time I had creepythoughts. For every time helping me out when I

was on the verge of crying, or puking, or on theverge of puking while crying. I love you…

Thanks to my brother Ankit, who never believedin me, and who would always say that I can neverwrite a book, your discouragement encouraged meto do this! And I know, deep within you’re soproud of me, I love you too…

Thanks to Jenil Gogari, for always being theultimate support and a great listener! Then, GrehaLodaya for correcting so many grammatical errorsand in the end, reviewing it like no one else did!Mayur Sharma, Nishita Salia, Moulshree Tripathi,Jinee Goyal, Mehak Sharma, for guiding andkeeping my hopes high! Manjot Sagoo, ArshitaArora and Ekta Mittal for simply beingsweethearts! Lastly, Riddhi Kumra, for beingRiddhi Kumra (your phone call, did it all!).

Thanks to my teachers, Surmit Sir, for guiding me,Barjinderma’am for always blessing me, and all theKundan-ites and Genconians who wished me luck.Sorry if I missed out anyone!

Then to Notion Press, for simply being AWESOME!Had you guys not been there, everything wouldhave been so tough and messy.

Lastly, to that one person, because of whom Istarted writing poems and sonnets, andsubsequently, this book too; the one person whotaught me that life is not a bed of roses and notevery story has a fairy tale happy ending.

Some stories are simply meant to remainincomplete, forever…

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Vo pyaar hi kya jo dobara ho jaaye,

Vo dil hi kya jo kisi ek ka na ho paaye,

Mohabbat karna to koi unse seekhe,

Jo juda hoke bhi ek doosre ko bhula na paaye,

Pyaar ka matlab to koi unse puche,

Jo door reh ke bhi kisi aur ki taraf na jaaye,

Dil mein us ek ki tasveer jab hamesha ke liye basjaaye,

Usi ek ke intezaar mein jab saari umr beet jaaye,

Jab aankhein band karke bhi bas usi ka chehranazar aaye,

Koi us paagal ko yeh samjhaaye,

Ki vo pyaar hi kya jo dobara ho jaaye…

--Mehek Bassi

Prologue

2121stst November,November, 20152015

It was Saturday morning and as usual, Arjun hadnothing much to do, he was sitting idle on thebalcony of his room, surrounded by a beautifulhanging garden with water dripping from theearthen pots, a mild rainfall, and with a hotcoffee mug in his hand, staring blankly at the sky,random thoughts flowing into his mind.‘What went wrong? How did he come so far?Without her, life had been difficult, every singleday passed as a challenge. His each breath wascausing an unbearable pain in his heart. Pain ofbeing alive, without her, and with every second ofhis life he cursed himself, for he killed her…’With a teardrop in his eye, and a heavy heart,he moved inside, and opened the drawer. It wasnow two years since she left him. He looked at herphotograph. She was still alive, in his memories,and his heart. She was always there with him.With her picture in his hands and millions ofthings going on in his mind, he could not stophimself. He screamed out loud, hugged herphotograph and begged her to come back. Toldher that life without her was miserable, he beggedfor forgiveness. Every day of his life had becomea suffering now. He was not only used to her, butobsessedby her, and now when she was away, hecould nottolerate even a single second of isolation.This empty life was killing him, and he wantedfreedom, from everything.He somehow gathered the courage to stand up andlook at her picture. The morning just passed awayin her thoughts, bright sun was shining overhead.

It was afternoon, his mother called him for lunch.He simply did not feel the need to eat anything,he just wanted to get absorbed in his bed andsob, and this was his annual routine. On every21st of November, he would isolate himself fromeveryone, for this day was special in every sensefor him.Every week he would bury himself in work andon weekends, he would drown himself in eitherhis bar or pool of her memories. His friends,colleagues, parents, all failed to convince him, toget married again.He was becoming an insomniac, he could hardlysleep. Work was what he did, every second, andhe had made his life so busy that he simply didnot require any girl to keep him company. Hermemories were a company enough. His parentswere worried, they tried talking to him, counselledhim, they told him it was not his fault, but he waslost in the guilt of killing his own wife.‘Arjun, come out, enough now son. Come out forlunch, and look who has come to meet you. Openthe door, son’ said his father, beating his knuckleson the door, but Arjun was lost in his own world.‘Later Dad…’ he said with watery eyes andquivering voice, digging his face in the pillow.His father opened the door of his room, saw himwith his head buried in the pillow, he sighed, ‘Son,for how long are you going to live like this, andpunish yourself? You are nearing your thirties nowand we understand you loved her, but now…’‘Dad, you know its 21st November today, pleaseleave me alone’.‘I’m sorry. We are waiting downstairs; Mr. Khuranaand his family have come to meet you. Hisdaughter, she wants to meet you too. He hascome with a proposal, for your marriage’ his father

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stressed on the last word of the sentenced, and itthrew Arjun out of his senses.Arjun got up in disgust and left his home, hewas always reluctant, to even talk about havinganother girl in his life. His wife was his first love,and he could never forget her. Nobody in theworld could take her place. She was amazing, shewas perfect, and she was the only one who wasmade for him. He had promised her that he wouldbe with her till the last breath of his life, and nowhe was fulfilling that promise.Arjun left the house, and went to that place again.It was a sunny morning, with birds chirping, a coolbreeze blowing his hair, the gentle warmth of thesun, caressing his body. He was walking with hishead held down, in sheer despair. The same soundsurrounded him from the past two years.Nurses busy with their jobs, doctors rushing hereand there, some sweet cries of newborn babies,and some excruciating mourns of people who losttheir loved ones. Some crippled patients beingcarried to hospital for treatment, while some deadbodies, being carried away. The very contrastingenvironment was his abode from the past twoyears now. It was the Hospital where his life wasresiding, her heart was working, but her body wasnumb, she was in comatose.‘Hey Shiya, happy anniversary baby… see, itsexactly two years, that we’re married now. Nobodyunderstands me, since the day you’ve left, I’mparalyzed. I told you to never leave me aloneand you know I’m so dependable, then how couldyou…?’ His voice cracked and tears gushed outfrom his eyes.‘It’s been two years now baby and I can’t bear thislong distance relationship anymore. Sweetheart,please, come back, please, wake up baby’ he held

Prologue vii

her hand gently and kissed it. He could feel herbones. She was becoming pale and weak.She wasn’t answering him from past two yearsnow, but still every time he visited her, he alwaysasked her so many questions, as if she waslistening, with full consciousness, as if she wasawake. But in the end, he had to answer himselfto his satisfaction. He got up, kissed her forehead,kept the bunch of white orchids on the bedside,with a note displaying:‘Happy Anniversary, baby!I miss you so much, Shiya.Arjun is incomplete without you’It was 4pm already, and he was supposed to goto the temple for prayer. Arjun was an atheist,but Shiya believed in God, and with her incurablesickness, he was forced to pray as well. He went tothe temple every Sunday, to beg for Shiya’s well-being. Although he was sick of this routine now,but he never missed it. God seemed to be his lastand only hope.But even God wasn’t answering his prayers. Shiyawas numb and unconscious from the past twoyears. Her family had lost all hopes of herrecovery, but Arjun had one single ray of hope,that she’ll come back, because she promised himthat till her heart is beating, she’ll be with him.Arjun got up, saw his sweetheart, took a deepbreath and started walking out of the hospital. Heraced his car, reached the temple, and spent hoursrecalling everything that happened on that fatefulday.He reached home, late in the evening. His parentsknew that asking questions or talking aboutanything can irritate Arjun. His mental state wasout of control, and today, he wasn’t in the moodto talk about anything at all.

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He ran to his bedroom, banged the door hardand went into the balcony. He remembered Shiya’s19th birthday, where after the party they wentto a hotel and Arjun give her the most beautifulsurprise. In that balcony only, they had their firstkiss.It was a beautiful place, and it was a beautifulweather back then, it was a December evening.Cold and foggy, and it was a perfect time to havetheir first kiss. He recalled her red, blushing faceafter they kissed. She could not even look into hiseyes properly, while he could not take his eyes offher.She was looking gorgeous that day, with asleeveless black one piece dress beneath Arjun’sjacket that protected her from cold, and huggedher fragile body so warmly. Her eyes weremesmerizing, with only a fainted tint of blackeyeliner and a fine streak of Kohl on her waterline,her huge bright eyes, looked so magical. Herlips, with little shade of light pink lipstick, anda natural pout, looked so perfect. She wore nomakeup, and she was looking no less than aprincess that night! He fell deeply in love with her.Arjun was tired of everything, his eyes were so redand puffed up, and they were paining. He neededsome sleep. He lied down on his bed, closed hiseyes. He could see Shiya smiling, laughing, andrunning after him with a bowl of face-pack!‘Come here you idiot, or I’ll pour it all over you!’her sweet voice echoed in his mind, and he got upwith a jerk!He opened the cupboard, took out a briefcasewhere Shiya was buried for two years now. Hehad kept all their memories, her diary, her photoswith him, their all videos together, everything init. He opened the briefcase that he had closed two

Prologue ix

years ago, with a vow that he’ll never open it untilShiya comes back. But tonight he just could notstop himself, for he wanted to submerge into Shiyaonce again.He wanted to drown in the memories of his love,to the times where he could see her smile. Hemustered his strength and forced himself throughhis tears to open it. His eyes wandered to thephoto album that spoke more than he did recently.He moved on to the bunch of CDs, some capturedthose special moments, some her voice, the voicethat her fans worshipped, a voice that plucked thestrings of million hearts. His hands then strayedonto the scattered letters that they wrote to eachother. Every time he scrimmaged through them hefelt closer to her, so close that he could sense herinside him.The feelings were overwhelming. His mindreplayed everything, all the special memories andthe feelings since the blissful day that he had seenher for the first time, nine years ago, his love atfirst sight…

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Part 1

The Rising

ChainedCan you escape fate?