After a day or two because of rush created at the guest house due to arrival of our batch, another colleague of ours was asked to share our room , who most reluctantly joined us as he was not happy to share the room already occupied by two persons. He was in no humour to have chat with us either, because he appeared very angry , as he had a hot argument with guest house manager over sharing of the room. We did not also like his presence much in our room as we took it as an intrusion in our privacy and it could make our room crowdy. But we were helpless to stop the entry of third person in our room. Later on he compromised with the situation and slept like a log till late while snoring throughout the night.
In the morning after breakfast we all shifted to our workplaces with out much ado.
After a few days he started conversation with us . His name was Jugal Dhar and he was also from Jammu. He was very handsome person having fair complexion with a tuft of brown hair on his head and with blue eyes. He appeared very intelligent and daring. He was very much concious of his rights and would fight with any person who tried to compromise with them. It was not only his own rights , he would fight for others also if he found somebody in distress.
He mostly used to talk about his father, who had passed away before his birth . He once said, " My relatives tell me that my father was just like an English man , very tall and fair with golden hair." Whenever asked about her mother ,he would cut the sentence short by saying, "she also died after my birth and I was brought up by my uncles in a joint family". Sometimes , he would narrate the harrowing tales of his torture by his uncles, aunts and cousins right from his childhood . They appeared to us like horror tales. One of the tales which I still remember is that once he was going to appear for exam. through snow laden paths wearing the shoe of his cousin and when the later came to know about this, he chased and forced him to take off his shoes. Jugal had to reach exam centre bare footed. There were so many horrowing tales of his torture which he had to undergo during his childhood. But being intelligent and fast in accademics he completed his education and got a good job . Thereafter , he started living independently . Later on he married a girl from an affualent family after falling in love with her. After his marriage the horrowing experiences of his life came to an end. He loved his wife and children so much.
Once he told us that he was having some heart ailment for which he had an operation recently and now he was alright but he was taking some high antibiotic injections weekly at near by hospital . Sometimes I also accompanied him to hospital as it was advised to him by his doctor that he should not go alone to the hospital for taking injections. One day he said to me, " I am very much scared about my health problem. It is not for me that I worry but it is for my children , who are in their teens yet. I consoled him by saying that nothing will happen to him and he will live a very healthy life but he said nothing in response and looked at me with a fake smile.
In the meantime one of our colleagues was transfered and Jugal was alloted new room to share the same with another person. But the bonds of friendship developed with him for the last few months continued.
Later on somebody told us that the mother of Jugal was very much alive and not dead as stated by him. Actually after death of her husband and birth of Jugal , she had remarried and left her toddler son with his uncles at parental house. She never cared to know about Jugal till migration of our community to Jammu. It was after the death of her second husband her step sons, whom she brought up with love and care, deserted her at jammu as they themselves were living in small one room hutment because of scarcity of rented houses at jammu those days
Jugal had already constructed a house at Jammu for his family as he had shifted to jammu much earlier. His biological mother came to know about the whereabouts of Jugal and one day knocked at his door. When Jugal opened the door of his house , she disclosed her identity to him. Jugal was shocked to see her all in blood and flesh.
She said to Jugal," it is an old saying -whether ilegitimate or legitimate one should have her own child and you are my legitimate and biological son. I want to stay with you in this old age.
But Jugal refused her offer and shut the door of his house. When Jugal entered his room , he fainted and recovered from the shock after a long time. Then Jugal noticed her several times on the road side waiting for him ,whenever he was leaving for office. But Jugal never entertained her.
Now reverting to Story it was month of December of the same year , the Jugal came to Srinagar after a long leave to join his duty. He was alone in his room and I was also alone in my room. He requested me to join him in his room. I promptly accepted his request . He offered me a drink or two. We both enjoyed the evening in his room listening to ghazals of Jagjit singh as he was a music lover. Next day when I came from office , somebody knocked the door of my room.
As I opened the door, it was a waiter who told me that my friend Jugal is sinking in his room . I hurried towards the room of Jugal and noticed that some of our colleagues had already arrived . I touched the face of Jugal and then his pulse . His face had turned blue in colour and I could not find his pulse . In the meantime ambulance was called and we took the Jugal to hospital, where he was declared brought dead . Next day body of Jugal was brought to Jammu and handed over to his family for cremation.
In cremation ground people noticed an old woman wailing and weeping a little far off. Perhaps she was his estranged Mother. After this scene no body ever noticed her.
No comments:
Post a Comment