9

“What are you going to do?” asked Keerthi, sitting on the mat in our room. I said nothing. “Don’t you want to go back home?”

I looked at her questioningly. Her expression told she knew she was being selfish and was speaking against her conscience. But one couldn’t blame. She had come from the US to help her friends going through a bad patch in marriage. And she came here to help her sick uncle and restore the weapons to its rightful place.”

“Yeah…..I wanted to go home,” I said. “But I feel responsible for the state Vrinda is in.”

“Such feelings are unnecessary,” she replied insensitively. “Get those things out of your head.”

But I couldn’t be that practical.

“After our Final year exams, everyone went to pursue their own career…...and live their own life. Do you know where our classmates are at present? Each one of them? Where are they? I don’t know. I had come to know that Vrinda, who as we know was a bright student, had failed in her exams. I was dealing with the embarrassment of not being able to come first in the exams. And out of frustration and the desire to improve my self-esteem, I decided to try for a medical seat. If I had tried to find out why Vrinda had flunked…..if I had been considerate and empathized with her, maybe this wouldn’t have happened to her.”

“Shyam, that’s her fate.”

“Maybe I’m being unreasonable according to you. But it’s worth a try. I’m going to speak to her again and try to convince her to come with us.”

“Are you out of your mind?” she shot back, raising her voice. “We just came back from that…..that…..you can’t even call it a house. Do you think she’ll listen to you? She’s been living like this for the past two years. Do you think your words will make a difference? And what’s she trying to do? That witch!”

“Stop it! Damn it!” I yelled back before calming myself down. “The Gita says: ‘Even the worst of sinners can, using the raft of wisdom, safely cross the ocean of delusion’. Let me see what I can do. You stay here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I walked away without looking back at Keerthi.