Friday, June 29, 2007

chittiram...part 5

Trrrinngg... "Hello" Arjun answered.. an elderly voice from the other side questioned "Arjun where are you?" "I am in the temple ma,why anything ?" "No" Arjun's mum said. "I was just wondering where were you. Come back fast ok. Arjun then drove back from the temple back home. Still feeling confused and frustrated. He could not accept what was on the medical report. As he was driving back, he passed by this tall artistic building. After turning left, he stopped in front of the building. Way in front of his view was the same traffic light where his car broke down once. Long long time ago.



Ding Dong; Arjun's mum, Mrs Ambika opened the door. "Where have u been so early in the morning Arjun? Have u had your breakfast?" Yeah ma. I made bread toast with eggs. Why? Did u make anything ma? Yeah. I prepared your favorite Ghee Thosai.. Smiling with bitterness in his heart, he walked in..not feeling like he was "home".Arjun sat at the dining table and stared at his plate. His mum just placed the hot ghee thosai on his plate. "Where is Appa?" Oh, he went to Uncle Siva's office since they have to plan something for their next trip to Auckland the coming week. Nodding his head, Arjun kept staring at the thosai without eating.


From the dining, he was seeing the medical report lying on the coffee table next to the Main door. His mum walked towards the table wondering what was the envelope Arjun had brought back home. She picked it up with a shock on her face. Where did u get this Arjun? Why are you having this? Arjun just kept his silence and smiled with tears filling his eyes all at the same time. "I went to the hospital to collect the report ma. I know ma that everyone had been hiding this from me. This is not right. Why didn't anyone tell me? Why ? How can this happen?" Arjun tears was filling his eyes even more, but he just held it back to not make it obvious to his mum. "Arjun., take it easy aiya. How long u do you want to keep thinking about this? Please eat. We all know how bad is this, but we have to fight this together..please" Arjun's mum just held his head with her hand and brought him closer and comforted him. She was holding back her tears as well to not make him feel any worse.

Amma left the dining area, and Arjun had no appetite as usual. He opened his laptop and started browsing thru some files in his laptop. He was looking at some pictures in his folders and saw a picture which brought back some old memories. It was so funny, that he immediately smiled without realising he was smiling.. after a long time.. It was a picture taken with his business associates from Australia. Pictures of their funny faces and weired poses. He still remembers that picture. It was taken at the opera house after the play,in which they all headed towards the Zucchini Café after the show. It was one of those famous late night hangouts in Sydney.. That was a time of it's own.