Loss of a Father..

My cell phone blared in the middle of the night with the tone of “Summer of 69”. I was startled and hurriedly rummaged through my table for my mobile. Finally I got it lying below H.C Verma. The book I mean. Saurabh’s call it was but why at such untimely hour? It was 2.30am. I received the call and said a sleepy ‘Hullo’. What I heard next wiped out all the traces of sleep and lethargy in me. I was shocked and getting numb. All I could muster up to say was ‘when’. I disconnected the call and stood rooted near the table. Had I heard the right thing? Maybe I was dreaming. But no, it definitely was real. Saurabh wouldn’t lie about such a thing. Though I was wishing he was. It was still hard to believe. ‘Ronit’s father had expired’. Those were the exact words of saurabh.

Ronit, saurabh and I were the best friends in Kota. We were always there for each other like a family. This was the time Ronit needed us the most. Who else could he count on to be with him in this strange city. That’s why saurabh was coming over to my place so we could go together to Ronit’s room. I quickly put on my jacket, locked my room and quietly walked down the stairs. I didn’t want to disturb the landlords at such untimely hours, hence got out of the house through the back door. I climbed over the compound wall instead of using the gates.

It was the month of November and it was pretty cold outside. The winters in kota were treacherous. However I was too shocked and numb to bother about trivials like cold. I stood there on the road waiting for saurabh. He turned up exactly 6 minutes later though they seemed more like 6 hours to me at that moment. He parked his scooter outside my house and we started walking towards Ronit’s room. He lived a lane away from my room. Both of us walked silently pondering over the news. It was difficult to talk and we preferred to stay silent. Not because of the cold but the pall of grief. We reached D-44 Ronit’s house and saw him standing on the terrace. As soon as ronit saw me, he hugged me tight and broke down. We didn’t say anything as words were insignificant. Even we were finding it difficult to stop our tears. Losing a father was a big loss. After a while ronit quietened. For the next two hours three of us sat there on the terrace, on this dark wintry night, huddled up together. We had hardly spoken a word in these two hours. Silence was what we yearned for. Finally it was saurabh who asked when he was leaving for home. He was to take the 6’o clock train. So we went back to his room to pack his stuff. As we were packing he told his dad had died of cancer. He had been on chemotherapy but since last few days he had been suffering. The doctors were confident he’d make it through. Alas! Their confidence was not enough to save him..

We hadn’t met his dad but still we could realize what ron was going through. Also since we were so close to each other it felt as if it was our own personal loss. All packing done we set off for the station. We had to walk a while to reach the square where we’d get an auto. Fortunately we did get one even at such early winter hour. When we reached the station I went to get the ticket while they moved to the platform. Saurabh had got some snacks for ronit to eat in train. Though I doubted he’d be eating it.

At 6.10 the train rumbled in. There were not many people boarding it. We got up and gave each other a final hug. We told him to take care and try getting over it. Ten minutes later the train started to leave and we waved him Goodbye. As we were getting out of the station I made a silent prayer to God to help Ronit get over this TRAGEDY, this loss, the greatest ever- “The Loss Of a FATHER”…