An entire year has gone by..an year of remembrance. Well, there was this fellow staying just next door. He hated girls ( for reasons best known only to him) . So me and my friends were on the top of his list of "Most unwanted beings on Planet earth". But at the end of the day it used to be "Grrrrr.... Theres no body at home. Would you just make tea for me ..please??"
Every morning began with "Rajeeeeesh ... Get up its 7.3. Dont you have to go to work??? and the reply would be "Mummy, keep the tea ready, I'll be out of bed within 5 mins" and so while hot tea would get cold, rajesh would just drag himself to the bathroom for a shower after he had been kicked out of his bed by his yelling mother.
But as soon as the cold water would gush down his body, it would carry all his laziness away with it and the real morning would begin. With a sweet song of "saad tugelo" ( a famous konkani song in Goa), he would usher the day in. the day would pass off by yelling at workers for not depoting the pesi stocks or not submitting the payment slip.
At dinner it would be summary of the hard day. This was a daily routine
On 8th March 2005, I was awake at 5.30 am for my college and i could hear rajesh having his shower in the bathroom. He was yelling at his mom to get withn her things. When i came out in the verandah Rajesh was already in his brand new black indigo which i saw for the first time and he told his mother he would be leaving for his work out of station which he generally never does and never do i really notice him go away in his car.
That evening when i returned home from college i saw a crowd of people gathered outside his house. they had gloomy expressions on their face. Some just stared at me blankly and i didnt know how to interpret their looks. I asked myself the question " what could be wrong??". It was only when i reached home that i realised... Rajesh was no more!!
I was dumbstruck when i was told that, early morning at 7.30 am ( the time he is usally kicked out of his bed) he had met with an accident on the highway as he collided with an oncoming lorry which proved to be fatal and took away his life. That was the last drive of his life!!!