The Pebble
It was a bright summer day. There was a lot of commotion around the waterfall; the birds sang, chirped, the butterflies danced around, rabbits and hare played in the bushes and blend in the sounds of all these, was the continuous gurgling of the waterfall. The collision of the gentle spray of water and the first summer ray, made a beautiful rainbow on the mouth of the waterfall. Saili sat on the same stone she did two months ago, her legs, ankle deep in water, back slightly arched forward, one hand supporting the chin and the other clenched in a fist. She sat there, exactly the same. Well, almost the same, because the last time in the fist, instead of the pebble, she had a bottle of poison.
Two months before today, Saili would have never thought that she would live to see this day. She suffered, not from a deadly disease but from life itself, in its worst. Being raised by her aunt single-handedly since the age of 5 was not what one would call, a perfect life. She lost her parents, when she needed them the most. Saili and her aunt Neha shared a very special bond. Whatever time Neha got time from working two shifts to fend for the two, she would spend it with her niece, pampering her, taking her new places, and making sure that she got everything what she wanted. Saili from a young age knew how much Neha cared for her and she would do her part to make sure she never caused her trouble. She would save all that she could in her little piggy bank; she would walk home from school instead of taking the bus, eat a chocolate less on her ‘treat’ day, make little cards on Christmas and New Year and sell them. Then, every year on 25th March, she would count all the money she had and give aunt Neha a birthday party she deserved. Somehow, over the years, this bond had started getting weaker. Though deep inside, they both knew that they could always count on each other, it just wasn’t the same. It may have been because Neha missed a companion, more so with age, or maybe because Saili found Rahul.
Rahul was Saili’s senior in college. None of them knew how and when the first day ‘introduction’ session blossomed into friendship and eventually, love. After three years of officially ‘going out’, Rahul had finally popped ‘The’ question on Valentine’s Day and they had instantly gotten engaged. Since, both, Rahul’s parents and Neha, knew about the two, they didn’t have any objection. Everything was blissful.
Saili’s work was good. Though she always wanted to be an artist and do something creative, she had quickly adapted to her job as a receptionist at a leading firm. Though the job was pretty hectic, it hardly invoked her creative side. That is the reason why she would paint heartily on weekends and soon had an attic full of her ‘weekend meditation’ paintings.
When Saili woke up that morning, she knew something wasn’t right, or wasn’t going be right anymore. Hardly did she know, almost everything wasn’t going to be right. The monsoon had hid the morning sun with a blanket of clouds and the entire atmosphere was gloomy. Her aunt had already left for work. She reached office that day, late, after a mud splash on her new yellow dress, getting chewing gum stuck to her purse, breaking of her sandals and almost getting crushed by a bus. With great difficulty, she had managed to look presentable. When she entered office, she found a letter on her desk informing her of termination of her contract of work and that she should move out immediately. She will have 15 days of paid leave following which she will no longer be an employee of the firm. As Saili stared in confusion, the new receptionist entered Saili’s no-longer office. Saili thought that she had seen her somewhere but couldn’t place where. It was after her boss entered that she remembered that she had seen her ‘replacement’ in a coffee shop with her boss laughing teasingly and playing coy. Without much ado, Saili picked up her things and walked straight out. She was determined not let the incident get to her. She would find a new, a better job. A drop of tear rolled down her cheek even as she fought to control the rest. She headed towards Mocha, the only coffee shop that served just the perfect blend to clear her head and calm her so that she could think better; right from her college days. Mocha had also been hers and Rahul’s favorite place. It was ‘their’ place. Just as she was going to enter, she saw Rahul, lightly holding hands with another woman and kissing them lightly. There was no doubt that they were more than just acquaintances. Dumping her stuff on the counter and asking the waiter to keep a watch on it for a while, she strode over to Rahul. ‘Maybe she’s a cousin’ she thought. As soon as Rahul saw Saili enter, he let go of his company’s hand and rose to welcome Saili with an expression of surprise and guilt. “Saili!! What a surprise! Meet my friend Shruti. We were best friends in high school. I met her after so long! She just shifted here” Saili smiled at Shruti n turned to Rahul, “thanks for everything Rahul.” She removed her engagement ring and handed it back to him. She took her belongings from the counter and walked out into the streets. She could no longer hold back her tears. Somehow, she found an auto and headed back home.
Neha wasn’t home when Saili reached. Only a note ‘Be back late.’ Saili streamed tears uncontrollably. Since the coffee shop incident, Rahul had not even bothered to call her and explain. It had been over an hour since the confrontation and still nothing. Her eyes had now swollen red like cherries. Then she received a message, from Rahul. Millions of thoughts stirred through her head,‘Thank God! It must be a misunderstanding! I over-reacted. There’s nothing like what I’m imagining! Rahul wants to meet and reconcile and explain everything.’ But instead, there was a single word, “sorry”. That's it! A single word to sum it all, a single word to end it all. Saili saw she had nothing to live for anymore. Her aunt didn’t care, she lost her job, Rahul was no longer hers and even her own Mocha was not hers anymore!
Saili wasn’t the kind who would make a dramatic exit. Even suicide, she wanted to do it quietly, without anyone really finding out immediately. She wanted as little people as possible to witness and she knew the perfect spot. Half an hour from the city, there was a waterfall, still undiscovered, luckily. As far as she knew, only she and Rahul knew of that place. They had stumbled upon it while looking for a quite picnic spot. Thought it was hardly quite, it was perfect. Saili knew that if she died there, it would be days before anyone found her. She wrote a note to her aunt “I cannot go on now. Thank you for all that you ever did and I’m sorry for the pain I have caused. I have always loved you and will always do. Saili”
Saili sat there on the stone, arched forward, legs ankle-deep in water, one hand below her chin and the other clenched in a fist with the bottle of poison she stole from the kitchen cabinet. She was staring absent-mindedly at the waterfall, going through everything in her head, looking for one reason to shun the bottle and live, and then she found it. As a fish swam across her foot and broke her thinking trance, she noticed a pebble. It was oblong, smooth, and grey; perfectly like those all around it except, that someone had inscribed in kanji (the Japenese script) and English the word “hope”. She picked it up and flipped it. There it was written “life”.
‘I am so lucky to have a life, to be born. This inanimate, pebble asks me to hope and live even though it hasn’t ever experienced life of its own, then why can’t I hope through little hard times?? Do I need really an external reason to live? Isn’t living for myself enough? Is life so worthless to be thrown away like this?’ Saili got up and disposed off the poison where it couldn’t harm another living soul.
And today, sitting there, Saili thought about how life had changed since the day she put that pebble into her pocket. Her aunt was hysterical when she reached home. She bombarded her with a dozen questions followed by a million kisses and hugs. That night they had re-bonded as though never apart. Saili poured her heart out. Neha suggested a friend’s gallery to showcase some of Saili’s work. Since she was good at it, Saili’s work sold fast and was highly appreciated. Soon, she had enough money, to set up her own gallery and office for designing consultations. Rahul was a still a painful memory but the wound was healing and eventually, there would be no scars left. Saili got her life back, all thanks to a lifeless pebble.
Saili saw the pebble in her hand and smiled. It had been her constant companion and support through these two months. She gently put it back, near her feet, in the water, where she had found it and hoped, someday, it would save another life, another soul, just like it had saved hers.
