In the Moon Light

 Friday 7:45pm

‘I don’t think so I could come for work tomorrow’ pedaling with all his efforts.

‘why?’ Ranjan on his age-old Hercules Roadster ‘your two presents count to a month.’

‘I can feel the nervousness inside, Suvi asked me to stay home, in fact she is saying that since last three days.’

‘Better consult a doctor Venkat before it grows worse’ maintaining a feet distance from Venkat cycle.

This road is fifteen kilometres inside from the main highway, it is being a mud road since years. The village is not sanctioned with a concrete or bitumen road from the last twelve years, as the same political party is in the power for the third consecutive time. Last night’s rain turned the mud to clay, Haul trucks moulded it with imprints of its hefty tiers, creating U-shaped valleys in the mud. Factory management never bothered about the lighting along the road, as the factory worked only during the day hours.  

Venkat balancing his cycle with one hand and placing the other as a support to the rucksack clutched to cycle carriage, under the moon light. Concentrating on the track made by truck, continuing his conversation with Ranjan, when it is just a half kilometre from home, he could see bulb almost like a dot at a distance towards village. He observed that the point slowly fading out, he realized that not the bulb but his eyes closing in, he could see nothing, Venkat clutched both the breaks at a time till they touched the rubber spiked grip on the handle. Cycle came to sudden rest making sound, tilting right. Rucksack added its weight, made the cycle hit hard on the ground. Head banged the road, body got dragged forward by inertia, leg got struck under the chain guard and man with no conscious.

8:15 pm

Pulled out his leg in great affliction, with both hands-on the knee helping out, dusted off his hair, swept his elbow. He memorized what had happened, clutching of breaks, thumping to ground and Ranjan. But he didn’t find Ranjan in surroundings.

‘RANJAN…RANJAN’ he called out with possible effort. He walked back and forth dragging his injured leg shouting out for Ranjan. The area around has no traces of Ranjan, not even his cycle. Stream of thoughts came and went finally settled at, that he went to bring people for help. Managing his total body weight on his left leg, lifting up his body, limping towards cycle to examine its condition. Noticeable dents on the front rim, mud stuck in to the holes in the handle, rucksack burst out like a tissue, sand formed a mountain beside it which flown out of it. Venkat came to a conclusion that it is difficult for him to drive it home.

Half n hour passed in pain, he could find no one in his help, collapsed out of feeble.

‘I can feel something is going wrong’ Suvi grasped her saree, pulling above ankle, quickening her feet, with four men backing up holding long bamboo sticks, mufflers hanging around their necks, along the only mud road in search of Venkat. Suvi praying deep inside for his safety.

After covering a distance of half kilometre with the same intensity, they found Venkat groaning in pain, Suvi made herself dropped beside his head, fed him water.

‘Ranjan.. find..him, find..Ranjan’ eyes still closed, water droplets on face, no jaw movement, just the lips made the sound.

Villagers mind blown away, looking at each other in uncertainty and a bit scared.

‘Who, is he talking about?’ one of them turning to Suvi ‘Ranjan, who died six months back.’  

‘You know that they were friends from their childhood’ Suvi began to answer, one handled the cycle; two of them carried Venkat in two person drag Technic; bamboo sticks carried under the arm by other, ‘they both joined this factory at a time so that they can be together, every day they went this way & came back together, Venkat never went alone. One stayed home when the other is sick. When Ranjan died of sudden massive cardiac arrest, Venkat couldn’t take that, he got into psychotic disorder that he still assumes to see Ranjan, talk to him, they go to factory together and return.’ They stopped and swapped Venkat with other two. ‘Ten days after Ranjan passed away, I found this disorder in him. Then I took him to a psychiatrist he prescribed a five-month medicine course, which needed to be mixed in his dinner. This course ended three days ago, doctor told that effect is shown within a week after completion of course, he primarily feels dizzy and gets normal.’ They reached home, made him sleep on cot. ‘I think it showed the result today, he is all right now he don’t see Ranjan anymore, so he asked us to find him.’

Suvi thanked them for a great support and they left the house. Venkat hailed Suvi to come, at his lowest energy and voice ‘Ranjan told me that he was feeling hungry when we were returning from factory, I saw him sitting in our veranda, ask him to come in and have dinner.’ Suvi went out of words.