He woke up cursing his throbbing head and check his table clock at the side of his bed which read 4.00 am in the morning- his time for morning jog which he had been doing since his high school days. Whispering a few more curses, he was out of his front door in ten minutes sprinting towards his destination- a small hilltop that over looked the sleepy town in the morning which would soon be bursting with activity as the day progressed.
His morning routine had always relaxed his muscles and gave him the solitary peace he needed to unfold the day. As he jogged, his headache continued which made him curse again aloud;
“Why didn’t I stop myself when Namgay went for a third round of that bloody ara! Damn! My head aches so”.
Cursing on his foolishness he continued his jog and reached a turn on the road when he felt a sharp pain on his chest which almost chocked him. Suddenly come to a halt, he tried to take a deep breath. The other joggers thought he was taking some rest and waved as they passed him. He could merely try to smile and wave back. As the second passed, the pain started to suffocate him and he passed out.
When he came to his sense, he found himself surrounded by strangers in a strange room with lots of tubes connected to his body. He looked around alarmed and a man in white coat smiled and came towards him. After making a few queries about his personal information, he left the room. Slowly the other strangers too followed the first man. He was left alone. His first thought was to call his only sister but he decided against it because it would mean her travelling all the way for two long days with two small children and he didn’t want his sister to go through that.
A few minutes passed and he saw his friend Namgay dashing through the door with a bewildered eyes.
“What happened?”
“I donno. I guess I passed out”.
“Thank god you are alright now. Any way let me check with the doc”.
Sonam smiled through the pain which seemed to have somehow subsided said; “hey. Don’t worry man. I think its due to the stress with work and I am sure it’s due to the drinks we had last night. Chill man!”
When the door closed behind his friend a chill went through his spine as he recollected a similar scene. His father was occupying a similar bed and his mother was beside his bedridden father. He had been called from his college saying that his father was sick but he had no idea of how sick he was until he saw him lying almost lifeless as if waiting to see his children before he departed from this world. He saw his father breathing his last in the similar room and the thought made him scream which brought the nurse attendant to his aid in a matter of seconds.
He was given seductive and kept under observation. Later in the evening, when we fully regained his consciousness he decided to go home but the doctors advised him against it and he had to spend a night in the hospital. He was informed that his was a case of mild cardiac arrest and was advised to seek medical help. He agreed and he started getting the medical aid and continued his work with the same zest at his office but he felt the change in the attitude of his colleagues against him. He was looked with pitiful eyes and he hated it when the people whispered behind him as if he had some rare disease.
He wanted to live a full life and didn’t want any sympathy from people around him reminding him of his heart problem and decided that he would move away from the place. He got transferred to a branch office in the east as manager and started working there. He kept mostly to himself but made a few acquaintances who didn’t know about his story. The people in the area came to look upon him as eligible bachelor and many parents tried to make an extra effort to woo him as a potential son-in-law but his decision remained adamant for marriage had no room in his life. He had seen enough problems in his sister’s life to understand that it gave nothing but sorrow.
Thus he continued to live among the strangers and continued his medical treatment on regular basis. He would disappear from his office every two months on the so called tour and people started doubting whether he had a family some place away but none asked him about it. No one knew that the time he spent away from office was spent in the hospital examining his poor heart and get consultation from his doctor.
The three years he spent among the strangers made him understand the life better. He had more time to himself to reflect on his life and he saw life in a new light. The small community lived in harmony and every occasion was celebrated as a family inclusive him. He started participating in such celebration and came to know a few people but never revealed about himself. He spent money regularly to his sister every month and saved for his two nieces whom he hadn’t seen since their birth. He kept their pictures at his office and home and called them every fortnight but his relationship with his drunkard brother-in-law remained same.
Three years of solitude and his life had to end in the flood that could have claimed the life of others had he not sacrificed his life.
As Sonam breathe his last, a small girl couldn’t help her tears. There were many like her who owed their life to the man who had just sacrificed his own for people who even didn’t know him well. The girl made a small prayer to the departed soul and wondered about the man who had saved her a few hours ago from being washed away by the gushing river. The figure though known by all was a stranger to all yet he made his mark at the dusk of his life.
(fictitious work purely based on writer's imagination)
