Part38 10/06/2019
Shaurya'sPOV
It was really exhausting travellingfor almost 24hrs plus. Though I manage to get some sleep in the flight butwhenever flight had turbulence Mehak got startled and I calmed her down till itwas fine. We landed Schiphol airport and took a cab to our rented home. Imessaged the landlord once we get into the cab that we are on the way. Mehakwas busy looking out from the cab. It’s obvious from her facial expression sheis having culture shock seeing the new people and this environment. We reachedthe address Mrs Janssen give and she welcomed us warmly. Once she showed aroundthe house and left the place. I took the bags and guided Mehak to upstairs. Ishowed her the room and placed her bags there and asked her to change herclothes and rest a bit. She nodded and I closed the door and walked to my room.I plopped on the bed after leaving the luggages at the corner. I squeezed myforehead with my fingers and slowly massaged my nape and turn right and left torelief from the tensed muscle. After changing to something comfortable and Islip under the bed sheet.
Almost two weeks went by for Shauryaand Mehak. She hardly says a word to him. Shaurya prepares all the meal byhimself as its quiet hard to find vegetarian meals outside. During night time,Shaurya always has to rush to her room as Mehak will start to kick and throwher hands out in the air as her eyes closed in a cold sweat. Her sharp shrieksas she mumbles please let me go, please. He calms down her by saying soothingwords and wait till she relax and goes back to her sleep. He caress her headgently like a mother caress her child. Once she goes to deep sleep he willplant a kiss on her forehead and goes back to his room. There are times he willbe so tired to walk back to his room he will fell asleep in the couch inMehak's room. He will go back to his room at early morning before Mehak wakesup. He called Dr Kaur to ask about Mehak's nightmare and Dr Kaur explained itsnormal for PTSD survivor to have nightmares as they will have recurrent flashesof the incident and someone must be present with them at night to calm them andassure them they are safe. He understand that Mehak needs time to recover andhe will do everything and anything for her. Mehak most of the time will sitnear the window aisle and look outside. There are times Shaurya find her cryingsilently while watching the rain she traces the rain drops on the windows inthe pattern it runs. He knows she is not alright completely but he can’t seeher in that state, he cleared his throat to gain her attention, she quicklywiped her tears away and kept her face stoic as usual. Shaurya walked in withtwo cups in his hands, he forwarded one to Mehak and she reluctantly took itfrom him and sip it slowly.
Shaurya: So tomorrow can we go forsightseeing? It’s been almost two weeks we are here. We just went to do ourgrocery shopping and walked around the nearest park.
Mehak stayed quite as she drink herhot chocolate. Looking at her silence Shaurya wanted to leave the room whenMehak said okay, he asked her to rest well and tomorrow they will go out forsightseeing. The next morning they headed to Zaanse Schans Volendam and Marken.The joined the tour for full day discover and admire authentic windmill tourthen headed to cheese factory to sample local dairy products and laterproceeded to the wooden clogs factory. They joined the scenic drive by the busthrough the Dutch picturesque countryside. Later Shaurya bring her to ferrycruise and also visit the fishing village. Shaurya can see that Mehak seems tobe relax a bit when they visiting all these places. He kept his contentment inhim and followed her as she walked freely. She look cute with her jeans andtops. They sat down in a park bench and she looked around at the people who arebusy them self with playing with their kids, some couple sat together enjoyingeach other's company others walking with their fur kids. Seeing so many puppiesplaying at the park, Mehak gets up from the bench walks towards them. She askedpermission from the owners before patting them. Soon she started to play withthem. Some of the dogs’ sizes were so huge like a wolf in the forest. Aftersuch a long time Shaurya sees a small smile sprout Mehak's face. She spent timewith the dogs for some time till some of the owners started to leave fromthere. Shaurya walked to her and saw her waving at the dogs as they wiggletheir tails following their owners back home. Shaurya called her and Mehakturned to look at him he asked her shall we go and she nodded as she tuck herhair behind her ears.
Mehak'sPOV
Ever since the incident happens, Ifelt somewhat lonely kind of unwanted or unloved feelings. I can’t seems toconnect with anything around me. Shaurya has brought me to Amsterdam. We havetalked about this place long ago. I have seen the windmills in Shaurya's laptopand he told me it’s a must see place and he showed me other interesting placeto see in his laptop. So when he asked me about going out of India for sometime and when he told me about seeing windmills I agreed. The first two weeksit rained almost every day and it was quiet cold though it was their summer. Wedidn’t do much except for walking around the neighborhood, taking the publictransport and familiarizing with the city. We did some groceries shopping andluckily found a shop which sells Indian items too. We get all our items thereand the owner Mr Srinivasan is quiet friendly too. He suggested us to go aroundand see some places and we agreed. I always sat quietly in a corner and watchthe rain from the window seat and I feel like the sky is crying along with meas my tears runs down my cheeks. I don’t feel like doing anything here, myfavorite things to do is cooking even that I can’t concentrate. Once I burntthe onions and the entire house smell burnt. Shaurya rushed to the kitchen andturn off the stove and put the pan into the sink. I feel so bad that I can’t doeven a small thing. But Shaurya ask me to sit at the kitchen counter and he didthe cooking. I saw his face, he was not upset at all. I was expecting he turnedto be like the husbands in the daily soap where they became angry for burningthe food instead he ask me to sit and watch how he cooks. Night time sleepingin that room alone is something I hate it so much. Whenever I closed my eyes Ionly see that horrific night. Even today I jerked awake from a nightmarescreaming and with cold sweat. I can feel the man in the mask is laughing at meas I scream for help and saying no one can hear me but a warm tender drippingvoice was there calming me down saying nothing will happen and assure me that Iam safe now. I know from the voice even with my eyes shut its Shaurya. Hecaressed my head tenderly and put me to sleep and I always hold to his hand tosleep. I don’t know what time he will go to his room to sleep but I knowbecause of me he is becoming restless. Whenever I wake up I can smell hiscologne lingers in the air and that’s made me feel safe. Today we went out in atour. I saw the windmill, the shoemakers with wooden clogs, and also the dairyfactory where they make fresh cheese and other items. The tour guide explainedeverything about the place and we even went for the river cruise also thefishing village. It was altogether a new experience to me. Once we back to ourtown in the evening, it was still early we went to the nearest park beforegoing home. I saw kids playing happily around the park, couples sitting holdingeach other’s hands and some others bringing their pet for walk in the park andseeing the fur kids it melted my heart. I walked to them and kneel down to patthem. One of the golden retriever reminded me of Naughty. I wonder what is hedoing back home. These dogs here are huge, they are heavier too. They warmed upto me quickly. I feel so light when playing with them and didn’t realize itbecame dark. The owners bid good night to me and walked with their fur kids,even the dogs wiggled their tails while returning home.
After that it become our routine tovisit the park because of the dogs I always play at the park. One day when Iwas in the park, I saw a kid tripped and fell down. I rushed to her aid. Iquickly lifted her and dusted her knee and asked if she is okay, she replied, Iam okay don’t worry. Just then a lady came to us, I believe it’s her mother.She kneel down to us and looked at me and said thank you. I replied welcome toher. We straight up our self as the little girl said you are looking so prettyand I like your cheeks and I smiled as I replied her I like her too as she iscute. Her mom asked me are you new to Amsterdam? I nodded and said yes. Sheintroduced herself as Diya and the little girl is her daughter Janhvi. I smiledand introduced myself and I pointed to Shaurya who is at the bench. Diya isfrom Mumbai she is working as early childhood educator in one of the school'shere. After get to know about where are we staying and etc. we parted our wayafter exchanging phone numbers. I am happy at least met someone who we canspeak in our mother tongue and also from our home country.
Shaurya'sPOV
Mehak seems to enjoy the park tripthese days as she spend more time with the dogs and seeing different type ofpeople who are very friendly, she opens up a bit with them and ready to mingle withthem too. She met with Diya in the park along with her daughter Janhvi. Mehaklooks happy meeting them as she can converse in Hindi. Janhvi is such a cutelittle girl. She is 5 years old with big eyes flashing her cute smile all thetime. So now evening park time is a must as Mehak wants to meet with Janhvi andDiya. Both will run around the park play with each other, playing chase withother kids at the park. One day Mehak was playing in the swing along withJanhvi and it was almost time to return back Janhvi insist that Mehak and Ishould come to her home and see all her toys. Diya invited us the next day totheir home and we agreed to go to their home. The next day evening we went toDiya's home. It was not far from our home and we took a bus and reached theirplace. We were welcomed warmly by Diya and Janhvi. Janhvi pulled Mehak to herroom and showed her all her toys. Just then the doorbell ring and Diya excusedherself to attend to the door. I watched how Mehak play along with Janhvi andboth make cute funny faces while playing with Janhvi's dolls. I am happy to seeMehak's behavior change though she is quite at home with me at least here sheseems to be happy and not gloomy like how she used to be. Diya called us downstairsand we went downstairs. Diya introduced us to Ruben a Hollander. He greeted usand shake hands and soon we sat down for dinner. We enjoyed the company and thefood.
Mehak'sPOV
We were invited to Diya's place and Iwas excited to go and spend time with Diya and Janhvi. It was a cozy house andJanhvi was so excited to see us there. Later we met with Ruben, a fairHollander and I wonder why Janhvi not calling him daddy but calling him by hisname. Though I am tempted to ask this to Diya but I didn’t want to be rude interferingin others business. He is quite friendly too, carrying Janhvi in his shoulderand talking animatedly about some cartoon. Ruben keep Shaurya accompany in theliving room while playing with Janhvi. I helped Diya to clear the dining areaand we sat down to chit chat.
Mehak: Thank you for inviting us toyour home, we really enjoyed the food and playing with Janhvi.
Diya: Mehak you are most welcome. Notall the time I can meet someone from my home country and I am feeling good to haveyou here.
Mehak: Your husband is very friendlytoo, I love the way how he and Janhvi bond together.
Diya's expression changed a bit and Iwonder why, did I said something wrong, I tried to apologies but interruptedwhen…
Diya: Ruben is not Janhvi's father. Heis just a friend to us.
I gasped lowly hearing it. Diyaunderstand from my facial expression that I am surprised.
Mehak: I am sorry for my rude behavior.
Diya: It’s okay Mehak. Since you areour friend, you should know this too. I came from Mumbai to Sweden to study.There I met Janhvi's dad and our friendship blossomed to love. Akash is hisname. He was doing his finals there. He promised me that once we go back toIndia he will talk to his parents and we will get married so we went overboard.I got pregnant and when I told this to Akash, he asked me to abort thepregnancy saying that he is not ready for a child now as we need to finish ourstudies and settle down prior to have a child. He tried to convince me that wecan have another child and now he needs to concentrate on his studies and laterbuilt his career. I told my family about my pregnancy and my dad is veryconservative. He disowned me and cut all ties with me saying that I am dead forhim. But I didn’t give up, Akash didn’t want to take responsibilities too so webreak up and I completed my studies. Give birth to Janhvi and raised her on myown. I got a job and moved to Amsterdam. It’s been years I have been to Indiaas I don’t have anyone there anymore. Ruben is my colleague, he is showing someinterest in me for years, I have told him that I am not ready to accept a newrelationship and I am afraid of Janhvi's future. He comes to see us every dayand spend time with us without fail. Janhvi loves to play with him and I amhappy in that way.
Hearing Diya's story really hit myheart badly. She went through so much and yet she stands there with a proudsmile in her face. That’s when Janhvi came running to the kitchen as Rubencomes after her. Janhvi screams mommy help me Ruben is going to catch me, helpme mommy. Shaurya came there and said we should go back it’s getting late. Inodded and Diya accompanied us to the door, she thanked us and we bid goodnight and left from there. While we boarded the bus my mind was still thinkingabout Diya and Janhvi. She went through so much and yet she give birth toJanhvi and living a happy life and now Ruben is there to take care of them. Ourstop has come and we get down from the bus and started to walk towards ourhouse. Shaurya opens the door of the house and let me in first. I slowly walkedup to my room and Shaurya trail behind me. I walked to wards my room and hewent to his. I tucked inside the warm duvet after change my clothes to mynightwear, my head were still rummaging with many things. One part of me I missmy family, the laughter’s, the food, the environment and all the happy moment Ihad with them. It’s something very close to my heart and I fell asleep in thathappy thought.
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