A Bend in the River of Life (31 page)

Kim answered, “Fortunately, not so far.”

Rana asked, “Did you try to sound your mother if she would move out of Taiwan with you temporarily, should it be necessary?”

Kim answered, “Yes, I did. My mother cried a lot and said she was not young anymore; that she suffered enough in life and at her age she did not want to move anywhere and she would prefer to die in Taiwan.” She paused a little and then continued, “Rana, you understand, I do not want to press her anymore.”

Rana said, “Kim, I understand quite well. I can also understand that you have to take a decision now before any danger strikes you. I told you that the most important thing for me was your safety and that of your mother. Accordingly, I do not envisage any other alternative for you but to surrender to your father's abominable self interest. I know it is going to be crushing for you and me both. However, we have to accept this as the verdict of God.” He heard Kim sobbing on the other side of the line, but continued, “Kim, you know how much I love you. But your father is not behaving sensibly with you as a normal human being would with his own daughter. In his senselessness he might hurt you grievously and I shudder to take any chance with his erratic behavior. Nonetheless, please do me a favor.”

Kim asked, “What favor?”

Rana responded, “From his increasingly insane behavior it seems that your father is in a hurry. When he comes to threaten you the next time around, you tell him that though you do not like his proposal, you accept it to help him against his partner.”

Rana's heart was breaking to give this advice to Kim. However, he was genuinely concerned for her safety after witnessing her father's brutality on her body. So he continued in a voice cracking in
emotion, “Kim, when the wedding date is set, please let me know as soon as possible. At least, I will be able to write my last letter to you and send you the wedding gift.”

Kim asked, “Rana, are you angry with me?”

Rana answered, “Kim, why should I be angry with you? You have done nothing wrong to me. My heart cries for your sorrow. If I had no love for you, it would have been much easier for me to advise you to resist your father and suffer the consequences. But given his unpredictable behavior how can I take that risk? If something serious happens to you, it will haunt me forever. So please do what I say.”

Kim cried helplessly on the phone and said, “Yes Rana, I will do whatever you ask me to. But please do not misunderstand me.”

Rana said, “I will never misunderstand you, Kim. I wish you all the best. A wonderful young woman like you does not have to suffer abysmally like this. However, I will await your urgent letter.”

It did not take long for Kim's letter to come and it was pathetic. Her father gave her an ultimatum and Kim had no other alternative but to accept his proposal under duress. Wedding would take place in two weeks. Though the situation was already bleak, Rana did not expect Kim's dream to be trampled at that lightning speed. His mind said there must be something really wrong. Otherwise, how could a father force his independent daughter to go through such a nightmare? Anyway, Rana needed to act swiftly. The parting letter and the wedding gift must be sent as soon as possible. Time was of essence.

An important client of his bank, a jewelry merchant, had their family jewelry business scattered all over the Pacific Rim countries. He responded to his urgent request. He said any gift chosen and paid for in Calcutta would be manufactured in Taipei and delivered to Kim in three days. He called Kim to say that both the letter and the gifts were on the way. He said he understood her plight totally and she had nothing but his love and best wishes. He gave her the name and the telephone number of the company who would deliver the
gifts to her at her convenience. He also said he would call her back as soon as he received confirmation of the delivery of the gifts to her. Kim cried helplessly and asked for his forgiveness. She said she could hardly reconcile with the situation.

In his parting letter Rana wrote, “Kim, I consider myself very lucky to have met a wonderful lady like you. It is my misfortune that I could not bring you home. Perhaps we will never know the reason why God brought us together for such a short period to an inconclusive end… Whatever happens to me, you will always remain in a very special corner of my heart…. If ever you need my help, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me. I will not be here always. But you can track me through our Regional office in Taipei…Take care of yourself and your new family. Please give my regards to your mother. I hope she finds peace through the rest of her life…..I sincerely wish you all the happiness in the world.”

On receipt of the confirmation from the jewelry merchant that the gifts were delivered to Kim personally, Rana called her and said, “Kim, I have been advised that the gifts have been delivered to you, but I have no idea if you received my letter.”

She said, “Rana, I received both the gifts and the letter. As usual, the gifts are exquisite and the letter full of warmth. I do not know why we have to part company like this; why I have to lose a friend like you. My mother is with me, helping me organize the last few days. She keeps saying your heart is as big as the ocean. She sends her best wishes to you.” Kim was crying like a child.

With his voice cracking in pain and emotional upsurge, Rana said, “Kim, don't be sad. I will always remain your friend in heart. You have my best wishes. I trust it would work out well for you. I am glad that you have liked the gifts. Please give my regards to your mother.”

Kim said, “Rana, many thanks for your words of encouragement and everything you have done for me. I will always remember you in admiration. Please give my love to Saurav and Smita.”

Rana said, “I guess this is God's wish. With lots of love and best wishes I have to take your leave now.”

Kim said, “Rana, bye-bye.” Rana heard her sobbing again.

He put down the receiver in the silence of the graveyard. Another chapter of his life short, sweet but sad, just came to an end. A relationship that began out of the blue in a Far Eastern island with such a promise, just died even before it could develop into a beautiful bud. Rana was silent in sorrow. It was a Friday evening. He was alone in his office. Everyone else had left. He said to himself, “Never again will I be involved with any other woman so emotionally.”

Rana should have known better. Usually savvy, he lost his mind in the misery of the moment. For no one on earth is in control of relationships and all the relationships develop out of the blue only. There is nothing like pre-conceived and pre-determined earthly relationships. Not even the parents know their children before they are born. Nor do the siblings have any prior knowledge of each other and their common parentage. Husbands and wives do not have any premonition about each other before that chance encounter. Nor do the friends and lovers have any inkling of their relationships prior to that unpremeditated meeting. And individuals know not at birth either their alma mater or their workplace. Nonetheless, from the inception of the River of Life, all the relationships are planned and interwoven by the Architect of Relationships in an intricate pattern well in advance of their coming into being. The wisdom of the Architect in interlacing those relationships without the foreknowledge of the participants thereto is discernible from the ease with which the River of Life keeps flowing relentlessly to its nimble destiny, carrying in its stride the joy of hopes fulfilled and the pangs of dreams punctured with equal felicity and grace.

A
s the swelling river at the height of monsoon returns to normalcy at the advent of autumn, so too did Rana's over active heart, due to sudden snapping of his emotional relationship with Kim, gradually come back to its near normal state. He did not hear from Kim anymore. Hopefully, her forcible marriage with her father's partner worked out well. So the world began following the beaten track again. Days came with soulful offerings of work. Days departed in weary strides with prayers for the work destined for tomorrow, for work is God. Seasons came with the easy grace of a consummate ballerina entering the stage. Seasons bade adieu with a veiled longing to linger just a little longer, as a sensuous performer bids farewell to the season just gone by with a hint of nostalgia. The River of Life was flowing to the beat of time through the valley of life to its distant destiny. Another year and a half was consigned to it as a drop of water in the ocean.

Much deferred move of Rana was announced. He got promoted as Vice President and was slated to be transferred to London to oversee the company's African Operations. However, his actual transfer had to be delayed, for the wife of the newly designated CEO of the bank in India became terminally ill of brain cancer at his home base in Denver, Colorado. His arrival was postponed for six months. The incumbent CEO in India already moved to a high profile job in New York. As such, Rana was asked to fill in for him for six months as the Acting CEO before moving to London.

So Rana came back to Bombay, a very familiar place, on a purely
transitional posting for six months. He was not unhappy for he loved Bombay. He had many memories of his post-marriage romance with his departed wife Keka in Bombay and the adjoining Malabar region. The staff was mostly known to him. They had always been supportive of him. He also knew most of the corporate clients and they would love to see him back. So settling down in the new position for a short assignment was not difficult at all.

Keka's good old friend Iris was still working with the same British Advertising company sharing the same office complex with his bank. Since Keka's passing Rana came across Iris a few times on his monthly official visits to Bombay, mostly at the lobby waiting for the elevator or at the general cafeteria. Only once, immediately after Keka's passing she invited him for dinner at one of the restaurants at the hotel next door, for she wanted to convey her condolences to him more personally.

Since Iris had a few friends in Rana's office, it was rather easy for her to keep track of his comings and goings. As such, she was aware of his temporary transfer to Bombay. Before Rana actually moved in, she left words for him with his staff, congratulating him for the promotion, welcoming him back to Bombay and requesting him to call her upon arrival. Unfortunately, her trusted friends forgot all about it and did not convey her message to him. On hearing about his arrival, Iris left a fresh message for him with his secretary. He got that message, but since he was awfully busy scrambling to gather bits and pieces of his responsibility from different unrelated sources, he kept her message aside to call her on Monday the following week. Nevertheless, on Saturday night of the same week he came across Iris at a party close to his hotel. Usually, on Saturday nights South Bombay used to be a city of parties. If you were a friend or a common friend, no formal invitation was needed, you were welcome anyway.

Knowing that Rana was alone, a dear colleague of his took him to the party after a hard day's work at the office. There he came across Iris without any prior knowledge. Both were common friends of the
host. Iris thought that Rana was deliberately ignoring her. She felt slighted. Seeing him there suddenly, she asked somewhat excitedly, “Are you trying to avoid me? I left two messages for you with your office people. You don't even bother to call me.”

Rana replied, “Iris, why should I avoid you? You have done nothing wrong to me. Please don't be unnecessarily cantankerous with me.”

But then, she burst into tears unexpectedly. In the midst of a crowd of young people a visibly embarrassed Rana had to do a lot of hand-holding, cajoling and whispering to convince her that the delay in responding to her message was not deliberate.

Rana explained, “Iris, I did not get your first message. Perhaps your friends forgot about it. You may ask them. I received your second message from my secretary, but since I was extremely busy I kept it aside to call you on Monday. You may go to my office now, open the diary and see it to believe it.”

Be that as it may, that incident became the harbinger of his relationship with her for the rest of his assignment in Bombay.

After his relationship with Kim went awry, Rana became cautious about his dealings with any young woman. Specifically, in case of Iris his memory was vivid about her shattered love with her ex-boyfriend Vish, who was married but did not disclose it to her. He remembered that she was broken-hearted and depressed; that Keka and he had to devote a lot of time and effort to bring her back to normalcy; that she stayed with them few weeks during and after that crisis. So he was measured in his dealings with her. But Iris wanted more fluidity in their relationship. She was, therefore, fuming inside for the lack of it. One day, she brought it out openly in desperation when she said excitedly, “Why don't you admit it frankly that you have been deliberately avoiding me?”

Rana answered, “Iris, you know me better than that. I am not trying to avoid you. I am trying to avoid a misunderstanding. I am trying to make sure that we do not become so close that parting
becomes painful. You are aware that I am on an acting assignment for just six months and I have not forgotten how heart-broken you were when your ex-boyfriend left in a huff under a menacing cloud.”

Iris said, “I am very well aware that you are on a short assignment and I have learnt from my own mistakes. I am a matured woman now. I know how to stay out of emotional attachment to avoid a breakdown like that occurring again.”

Rana said, “Iris, you are playing with fire. Please keep in mind that no matter what you do, butter is bound to melt next to the fire. You are a very likable young lady. I have no problem keeping company with you, but do not blame me for anything that might follow. Keka will always remain my witness.”

Iris got some wind beneath her wings. She laughed and said, “You love to mince words. Keka would really be upset with you because you have been treating me like a doormat.”