It was 6’oclock in the morning, with a coffee mug in my hand I was glued to the television seeing the same pictures and news repeated again and again. It had been a harrowing weekend for me, with constant phone calls from the media and reporters camping outside my house, after all I was the only living relative of the kidnapped reporter Srichand Rajput : His Fiancé.
These thoughts were suddenly disrupted by a foot note of Breaking News coming on the screen. “Sad Valentine’s Day for India”, it said, followed by “Inside sources say that Terrorists have killed the hostage”. I was shaking all over, my feet went numb, I could barely stand; I somehow managed to reach the phone which was ringing for the tenth time by now. It was Sri’s boss “It’s not true…huh…tell me it’s not true…”I asked in a croaky voice “Its True Priya…I am sorry…though the official confirmation is yet to come we got it from a reliable source inside and….” I wasn’t even aware that he was talking after he said “Its True” I barely kept the receiver and was struggling to stand on my feet. The coffee mug from my hand was lying on the floor and everything around was appearing to be moving at a fast pace, suddenly everything blacked out.
Valentine’s Eve one year ago:
“Honey, are you ready I have to leave in half an hour” Srichand said in his usual sweet tone, “Yes I will be out in a minute” said a croaky voice from the room. “Oh my god, Priya, Are you crying again?” he said entering the room “Please!!! I am not going for a war…it’s just a story”. “Yes, just a story, in terrorist infested Kashmir and that too POK!!! I would prefer you going for a war then…” I said, now more composed than before “I don’t understand why you have to go for this. Don’t you have any other journalist to do this job??!!”. “Honey we have talked about this before, you know I have asked for this assignment…Its my passion and love for journalism that couldn’t let me leave such an opportunity…I want to do something like Daniel Pearl, even in his death he showed to us the cruel and heartless nature of those Islamic Fundamentalists…He made the common man aware of the extent of their cruelty and inhumanity…I want to do the same thing when I go there, I want to expose the reality to public…you know how much I love my work…Don’t you Dear?” he said with my red-eyed face in his hands, “Oh Yes I do, when my mother first heard that I was in love with a journalist she asked me if he worked for Page3 , does he know Aishwarya Rai?...I told her that he found gun-wielding Bearded dirty people and barren cratered lands more attractive than anything in this world…even Aishwarya Rai…”I managed to smile in a sarcastic manner and walk away, “Don’t say that, didn’t I fall in love with you, The Most Beautiful woman on Earth” he said embracing me from behind, “Huh…you wouldn’t even care to wait for one more day to celebrate Valentine’s Day with me and you say you love me” I walked away pretending to be angry “You must have forgotten my gift also…” and I stopped in the door staring at the bouquet of Roses kept on the table in the Living Room “Happy Valentine’s Day My Love…”He whispered in my ears while holding me from behind “…I may be anywhere in this world but I will never forget to send the Roses to my Rose, TILL I’M ALIVE”
I could feel a ray of white light piercing my eyes. I opened my eyes slowly and looked around and tried to come back to my senses. After a few seconds I heard the doorbell ringing very hard, I forced myself back to my feet and literally dragged myself to the door and opened it. It was Shyam, Sri’s best friend and colleague. “I tried calling you as soon as I heard the news from boss…I am sorry Priya…”I didn’t let him finish I just hugged him and started crying “Priya, calm down I know its hard but you have to be brave, as brave as Sri was…” He said leading me to the couch “the press has been stopped by the police downstairs…the government officials and the negotiators want to talk to you” “But before that they wanted me to give you something which Sri had requested the negotiators to give…wait a minute I will get it, I managed to sneak it in avoiding the media glare…”Waiting for him I heard the news reporter on screen saying “ Three negotiators were sent back by the Pakistani government citing security reasons saying that only one diplomat would accompany the body back to India…The negotiators say that in the tense conditions that they met Srichand Rajput, he managed to give them hints regarding where he had hidden the tapes which had his entire operation on it….The negotiators have managed to get it back to India and say that these tapes will expose the truth behind the terrorist training camps to the whole world…They saluted him saying that his exemplary show of bravery under tense conditions deserves a salute from the Nation…They also said that he made an unusual request to the negotiators which they said was too personal to announce it to the media… ”. “This was his request Priya…” I heard Shyam’s voice behind me .As I turned I saw a bouquet of Roses in his hand, he gave it to me and I again felt the dizziness. I controlled myself hugged the roses and started crying when I heard Shyam say in a suppressed croaky voice “Read the card please he had told the message that’s written in it…” I opened the card with trembling hands and I read “Happy Valentine’s Day My Love …remember…TILL I’M ALIVE”
-Ashish Shekhar Kirtikar
