Love Reincarnated

Chapter 1: Madness

Not that I had walked through those narrow streets before, it seemed strange. There was something in those suburbs that was attracting me with a force stronger than gravity. I didn’t know where I was going, and it was the winds whispering the directions in my ears. It was one of those moments when brain doesn’t work, and it is the heart that takes the lead. Is it wise to follow my heart in an unknown land? Are these the positive signs of the universe or am I just being a fool? Should I go ahead anyway? No, I probably shouldn't. Or perhaps, I should. Random crazy thoughts were diving deep down my mind. My heart was pounding faster than a train on a rickety track. I had no idea what the dangers lay ahead. I was forcing myself into the horrors of bizarreness.

It was extremely likely that I was overwhelmed. It might just be a normal peaceful neighbourhood where people liked to mind their own business. There shouldn’t be anything strange about the crimson, yellow and orange leaves hanging on the dry trees and being ready to fall off. It was how an autumn was supposed to be like. Strong and gusty winds were blowing across the streets. The dark prominent clouds gave promise of rain. I cleared my mind of all the negative thoughts and started to move ahead. I was just about to turn around the corner of the street when an old lady came out of nowhere. It was hard to tell if she was surprised or shocked. She gave a strange smile and said, “Long time no see. How are you doing?”

The quality that I had built up over time to ignore the strangers and keep me to myself forced me to move ahead without speaking a word. However, I could not but bother myself to keep her face out of my head. Her wrinkled face with a strange smile and her shivering lips with a familiar voice were moving like a clear picture in my thoughts. When I was far enough from her sight, I stopped to think where I was going and, hell yeah, I was lost. The intuitive guy inside me was dead, and I knew I was going to have a hard time finding the way back. "Nice try again, dude," I said sarcastically to my idiotic self and decided to get back home.

There still laid a probability of encountering the same old woman, but that was the risk I was willing to take. And when you think you have had worse, the worst begins to show up. The nature had kept its promise by blessing the dry land with infinite showers. Pity me for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The right time, I would say, was when I used to be a teenager. I didn’t mind the rain; I rather enjoyed it. I enjoyed everything around me: the nature, the music, the weather, the people, and above all, the liveliness—the liveliness of the innocent hearts around me. But there are a few things that come with age, and whinging nature is one of them. Oh man! I would give anything to be my real self again.

I was so lost daydreaming that I didn’t even realize I was drenched in cold showers. From the soreness of my throat, I could guess that I had almost caught a very bad cold. I could feel the influenza viruses attacking my helpless body, with full power. Maybe the universe was conspiring to make me terribly ill, or maybe I was relying too much on the universe. Either way, I had no point being there. I decided to run, and I ran with full speed until I reached my apartment. My apartment was not a cosy one; it was just enough to keep alive a lost person like me. It had one spacious room with a clear view of the mountains which was enough to keep me further lost. Its walls reminded me of something of which I had no idea. The only good thing I can remember about it was that it kept on giving me random clues at certain interval. Those clues kept my belief alive and made my madness stronger.

Chapter 2: The Clue

I must say I was a difficult person to understand at that time. People of my age appeared to enjoy life—yes, at least they appeared so by their activities on social media. When I make remembrance of my life, I was busy doing the treasure hunt in an unknown land. I seemed to be following my heart, which had gone fishing a long time ago with no intent to further return. I didn’t regret what I was doing except for the moments when I had to pay the price. For that particular moment, the cost was high fever. I dried myself off after reaching the apartment, put on some warm clothes and slipped inside the blanket, but the fever didn’t want to show mercy on my poor soul. I was shivering terribly as my body temperature was rising. I felt helpless like a baby who was craving for mother’s care. And mother’s first advice in this situation would have been to take medicines. So I dared to get up and took aspirin and paracetamol. Luckily, I survived with my mother’s first advice, but my heart didn’t seem to agree with what her second suggestion would be: stop all the lunatic acts.

When I was trying to sleep the previous night, I saw a magical maze building on my ceiling. The structure of the maze was changing rapidly. I felt the need to go inside the gigantic structure. I started walking on the wall of my room until I reached the ceiling. As soon as I stepped in the maze, a strong force pulled me inside and the next moment, I was standing in front of an urban park. I hadn’t been in that park before, yet it seemed friendly. There was familiarity in the fragrance of the flowers carried away by the wind. I couldn’t see the surroundings clearly as my vision was blurred, but I could very well sense dearness in the neighbourhood. Do I know this place? Was I here before? Is anyone else with me here? Do I know someone around here? Am I lost? Am I dreaming? Am I dead? Am I in heaven? A million questions were racing across my head, and I had answers to none of them. It all appeared to be fiction like the Game of Thrones series; nonetheless my curiosity was hundred percent real. I had to find what that place was; so I started wandering around. I couldn’t see much, but my all other four senses were working perfectly. After roaming listless for long in the park, I came to a section where something was written on the board. I had to go closer to figure out what it was. All I could decipher was two words and a letter: KINGS FOREST P.

I woke up amazed. The fever was gone, but my brain was totally messed up. What the hell am I supposed to do with KINGS FOREST P? What would ‘P’ mean anyway? Pee? Piss? Penis? Peacock? Parrot? Park? Hell yeah, it is park. It is Kings Forest Park. I opened Google Maps immediately on my mobile and typed the name. You wouldn’t believe how much I loved Google at that moment. It showed me the park was just 14 kilometres away from my location. Surprisingly, the neighbourhood I was chasing earlier came in the way of this park. I guessed that the park wasn’t a prominent one as I had never heard of it before. There wasn’t time for further imaginations. I booked a cab and left for the park immediately.

I am a very patient person; nevertheless, I could hardly wait to reach there. Every second seemed like an eternity. I was too restless to sit in the cab. I wanted to kill the cab driver for driving the cab at the pace of a bullock cart. My restlessness had no effect on him; he was just enjoying the drive of his lifetime. When I could not wait any further, I yelled, “What the fish, mate? Do you think I have whole time in the world to enjoy your boring ride? Let me take the wheel if you can’t drive any faster. I am not going to sit idle in your bullock cart because I have got a job to do. A job which is much more important than your useless day dreams. So, why don’t you take your job seriously and move this thing faster?” The driver stared at me without saying a word and started driving faster. He was driving faster, but still not fast enough. There was nothing I could do about it then. I closed my eyes, held my breath and sat back trying not to think anything. A few minutes later, I reached the long awaited destination: Kings Forest Park.

Chapter 3: The Girl, My Girl

When expectations meet reality, most of our dreams are shattered. The vision that lay in front of me was definitely not up to my expectations. It wasn’t any urban park that I had come to; I had come to a burial ground. Is this burial ground my destiny? Even the thoughts scared the hell out of me. Maybe it was time to stop all the madness, but somehow the heart didn’t seem to agree to that. I hated myself more than ever for doing all this. But I had started an expedition and there was no way I could leave everything in a mystery. I had to finish what I had started, even if it meant a war against the millions of ghosts.

And that was how I went inside a cemetery. When I entered the place, I started having flashbacks. The flashbacks were from the dream I had the former night. My brain signalled me to stop. When I stood still, my brain started drawing pictures from my dream. In my subconscious state, the smartest organ started comparing the drawn pictures to the present cemetery. Colourful pictures from my dream were placed on the left side and the present black and white cemetery was in the right. Initially, there wasn’t much similarity, but as soon as my brain started playing jigsaw puzzles with the pictures, things started to make sense. My neurons immediately created an imaginary realm where they placed the black and white picture from the right hand side of my brain. They started working smartly on the placed picture of the graveyard. The broken door from the picture was fixed and made alive. The debris and the dried leaves were cleared from the track. All the burials were removed, and the wandering spirits were sent back to heaven or hell based on their deeds. The fallen trees were planted back along with their fruits and flowers. The grasses were made greener all over the place. After making a lot of similar adjustments, the people were positioned in the picture. When that picture was assigned back to its original position, it looked similar to the one in left hand side.

I wondered what I could have done if my brain was a little less intelligent. Its intelligence made the reality as clear as crystal to me. The graveyard was, once upon a time, a park—a park filled with happy people. I reflected upon the potential causes of turning it into a tomb factory. I could find none, so I moved ahead with my endeavour. I wandered for a long time around the park paying attention to every minute detail. I was hoping to find some clues for my next step. But the tides didn’t seem to be in my favour that day. I sat on a nearby bench hopelessly. I didn’t have anything else left to do, so I started reading the inscriptions on the gravestones. Some died young, some died old, but everyone seemed to be a good fella over there. They were loving father, great mother, caring husband, obedient son, faithful wife, and wonderful buddies. I was thinking how their death would have affected their loved ones. The ones who died early would have left a tragic impact on their families. Some families might have moved on while some might still be grieving. I was really moved to emotions while reading all these when one of the inscriptions really caught my eye. It was the date on that particular tombstone—the date was my birthday. My eyes were fixed on that grave, my mind was blocked, and I felt a quick shiver inside my body. I didn’t know what to make out of that subtle coincidence. Before I could draw any conclusion, my attention was moved to another grave beside the previous one. It was of his wife; she had died exactly two and a half years after him. Mr. & Mrs. Parkinson were sleeping permanently in their coffin and their discovery had scared the shit out of me.

When the currents of strongest fear run on the nervous system, brain and heart are left pretty much paralysed. It perfectly applied to my situation there. My rear was set on fire, and I was running at the speed of a cheetah. However, the cheetahs aren’t as easily asphyxiated as I was. I had to stop to breathe as I wasn’t getting enough oxygen for my body. For a moment, I thought I would be dropped dead, but a second later I sensed that the place I had stopped was the same neighbourhood where I was wandering in the beginning. It was almost the similar situation for me as Shakespeare had described, “cut the head off and then hack the limbs.” I felt pity for myself; I had to regain consciousness as I was scared as hell. I needed a sudden rush of adrenaline in my body. I don’t know what kept motivating me, but I took courage and started running again. I didn’t stop until I reached my apartment. Then, I just fell off on my floor. I wished I could die as my body had given up, but my mind was just not willing to give up.

I lay senseless on the floor for a very long period of time. As I stayed motionless, all the current events were rotating sequentially inside my head. Despite continuous struggle, it was hard to deduce anything from the events. Absence of the facts at that point of time gave result to the limitless possibilities. It might be possible that all those events were a sheer coincidence, but a logical person like me would never agree to that. Given the condition, there wasn’t any choice left for me other than to dig into the truth. I planned to start the digging the next day. In the meantime, my brain forced a series of obvious questions to me. Was I Mr. Parkinson in my previous birth? If Mr. Parkinson is reborn as me, is it possible that Mrs. Parkinson is reborn too? Would she also be looking for Mrs. Parkinson the way I was looking for Mr. Parkinson? Is it probable that we might end up meeting each other? The last question did bring a spark in my eyes. My hopes were high again. I started believing that my girl was out there somewhere whom I needed to find. I didn’t know how she might look. I didn’t know when and where I would see her. I didn’t know anything about her beliefs. I had no idea if she even existed, and if she did, would she be available. The confusing confusions tried to weaken me a lot, but the courage of my convictions could not be shaken.

Chapter 4: A Step Ahead

All the inferred possibilities constructed me huge expectations. These expectations hinted a new journey to begin. I wasn’t sure of my destination and I knew the path to it would be the most difficult one. Nevertheless, I had gathered enough courage to embark on the voyage. My high spirits made me feel like a warrior who has only two choices in the battlefield: fight a great war or die a cowardly death. I was definitely not a coward, so I chose the first obvious option. I didn’t have any definite plan, but I had a strong will—a will to do the impossible. I wasted no time on further imaginations. I left my apartment at once to visit the Kings Forest Park. I booked a cab, took the same route as before, and in the same duration of time, I arrived at the same graveyard. Everything was similar, except that I was over excited about my findings. I controlled my excitement and went inside without any hesitation. The graveyard was very different from the previous time. There were many visitors and no sign of melancholy existed. I performed a deep inspection of the graveyard paying attention to the every single detail. I gazed over the graves of Mr. & Mrs. Parkinson closely. I read the inscriptions aloud in my mind. I checked out some other tombs, and then got out of the graveyard to search the surroundings.

After my inspection of four hours, I stood still to process the collected information. I had already deduced earlier that the graveyard was once a park. My recent information suggested that it had been around thirty years since that park turned into a cemetery. It was because the oldest tomb in there was of Mr. Parkinson, who had passed away some twenty eight years ago. Mr. Parkinson was the first person to be buried there, which meant he would somehow be linked up to the Kings Forest Park. From the inscriptions on his tomb, I could guess that he had no significant family member other than his wife as there wasn’t anyone worth mentioning. I couldn’t get much help from the surroundings as it seemed to be the newly constructed neighbourhood. My next plan was to meet the graveyard’s caretaker. I hoped to get some useful information out of him.

I went inside the cemetery again. I recollected to have seen a cottage deep in the corner of the park. I guessed that to be the caretaker’s house. I followed my instincts and reached the cottage. It was a fancy cottage with fresh paint and a beautiful garden on the outside. I must say the caretaker maintained a high standard of living there. I put up the courage to knock on the door. On my fifth knock, the door opened and a man came outside. He was a brown coloured six foot tall person. I could estimate him to be in forties. He had grey hair and maintained a broad moustache on a clean shaven face. He answered in a surprised tone, “Yes?”

“I am sorry to bother you at this hour. If you aren’t busy, I need a little bit of your help,” I requested.

“You did disturb me in my afternoon nap, buddy. What help are you talking about?” He replied rudely.

“Nothing much. I was just curious about the history of this place. It would be really grateful if you could provide me some information.”

“Listen, mate. Do I look like an encyclopaedia to you? Are you crazy? This is not a museum and I am no tourist guide. So, why don’t you get the hell out of here before I am forced to report trespassing?” The guy was unnecessarily being angry.

“I am not any trespasser. I came to know recently about my relative: Mr. Parkinson. He is buried here, so I was wondering if you have any information on him. It’s okay if you don’t want to help. I will find someone who can,” I lied politely.

He calmed down on hearing the name of Mr. Parkinson, but he was nevertheless not willing to help. He stated, “No one is around here to help you, chum. It will be better if you go back where you came from.”

“I have come too far to go back. Anyway, it’s fine. Thanks a lot for your time,” I said disappointingly and turned to leave.

Maybe, he felt pity or the humanity was aroused in him. I had only taken a few steps when I heard his voice, “Hey! Come back here.”

I controlled my excitement and turned back slowly. I came back and asked, “Yes? You said anything?”

“Frankly speaking, I can’t help you much. Nor can anyone else around here. Everything is history, mate. I can just tell you whatever I have heard from the former caretaker. Once upon a time, there used to be a good soul called Matthew Parkinson. He came up with an idea of an urban park in this neighbourhood. He, along with some residents, persuaded the government to provide funds for that park. The building up of Kings Forest Park went very well for him, but his own life didn’t. He died shortly after the park was completed. I think the residents decided to give this park as a tribute by burying him here. That’s all I can say,” he narrated.

“Do you know how he died?” I asked curiously after hearing the story.

“No, man,” he nodded.

“I don’t understand only one thing in whatever you narrated. Mr. Parkinson came up with an idea of a park for recreation of the people. Why did people gifted him a graveyard? Wouldn’t he be merrier if this was still a park?”

“Don’t know, friend. Crazy days, crazy people.”

“Have you heard from the previous caretaker, anything about his wife?” I asked what I really needed to know.

“There wasn’t any mention of his wife. I wish I could tell you more regarding this, but there isn’t anything else. However…” He paused for a while and continued, “I think I remember an old lady visiting the tombs of Mr. & Mrs. Parkinson a couple of times.”

“Which old lady? Is she an acquaintance?”

“I can hardly tell you anything about her. I have noticed her only once. She came, stared at the headstone for long, and left. Seemed like a lunatic to me.”

“How old she might be? Can you please describe her?” I asked excitedly. Things were really going somewhere now.

“I suppose she might be in her sixties or seventies. Quite a short woman, barely five feet, I guess. She had grey hair and wrinkled face. And she was on her walking stick.”

The description sure as hell ringed a bell. The first thought came to me instantly, Could the old lady be Mrs. Parkinson? Then came the second one, No, that can’t be possible. By her age, she would have definitely born before Mrs. Parkinson died. The last one hit me hard, Isn’t the old lady same whom I had met around the corner of narrow streets? Oh, yes she is. I didn’t know that was simply an assumption or a truth. But I depended too much on my assumption to find out the truth. Without further ado, I thanked the caretaker from the core of my heart and left immediately to find out the old lady.

Chapter 5:  The Old Lady Hunt

When it comes to making plans, I firmly believe in what Christopher Nolan’s Joker has said, “Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just... *do* things.” Nonetheless, I assumed that day I had a very straightforward plan to execute: find the old lady and get her help in finding my girl. A very hypothetical plan in the eye of any normal person, but in my perspective, it was an idea supported by immovable pillars of convictions. So I did what any visionary person (or a crazy person, but aren’t all visionary people crazy?) would have done. I went back to the former neighbourhood and started hunting that old lady in the streets. I passed across all the blocks, looked around every corner, and waited in front of every house. I kept on looking for her in the morning, afternoon and the evening. I followed my instincts everywhere I could, but that old lady was nowhere to be seen. I repeated the same cycle for the second day, the remaining week, and the remaining month, however I had no luck for an encounter.

The simple, straightforward plan didn’t seem to work. I started believing again that I wasn’t meant to make plans; I was meant to just do things. I had a thought, This isn’t working. I am stuck in the path of my destination. My faith is being overwhelmed, and my strength is dying. I can’t give up this search as the old lady holds the key to further information. And at the same time, I can’t rely solely on her. I have to widen my jurisdiction and think something in parallel. Multitasking and persistence can be the key to success. Having thought so, I put my strongest ally to work, and my brain came up with a brilliant idea. Based on my last month’s experience of watching people in that neighbourhood, I could narrow down my timings in looking for the lady. And the remaining time, I could utilise to look up in the different direction. The grave’s caretaker had narrated a famous story of Mr. Parkinson. There was no way that could have gone unnoticed in the history. Local newspaper would have definitely covered it. Now where can I find newspaper that old? I could find it in library. What sort of library would have those newspapers? Government libraries mostly do. I just had to find a city library in the nearby locality—wonders that a human brain can do.

The split approach to address the problems of my life took some time to work. Initially, I could neither find the right library nor the old woman showed up. But the Lord did bless my dry heart with infinite showers. I was able to find a library where I could access all the newspapers of the past thirty years. It took me a complete week to go through the required newspapers in that library. My hard work showed the true colours eventually as I was able to unravel at least one aspect of the Mr. Parkinson’s mystery. As I went through the newspapers in reverse chronological order, I was able to discover the following truths about history:

• 13-July-1987: The civil court had ruled in the favour of public. The public’s appeal to use the Kings Forest Park as a burial ground was accepted. Bhanu Pratap Singh, the local millionaire, was barred from building a bar over the park ground. Mr. Parkinson’s soul could finally rest in peace.
•  08-Jan-1987: Mass petition was filed from the public in civil court to legally use the Kings Forest Park as a burial ground. The previous land owner, Bhanu Pratap Singh, had strongly opposed the appeal stating that the land belonged to him and its use should solely be at his discretion.
• 14-Sep-1986: There was an outrage among the public due to the death of Mr. Parkinson. They had buried him in the park and led a protest against Bhanu Pratap Singh. They proclaimed that the park belonged to public and would always be used by the public. If the local goonda would not let its smooth operation as a park, it would better serve the people as a graveyard rather than his bar.
• 12-Sep-1986: Mr. Parkinson had died of internal injuries. The definite cause of his death was still unknown. People held Bhanu Pratap Singh responsible for his death, but there was no valid proof against him. It was alleged that the autopsy reports were corrupted by the influence of the local millionaire. All such allegations were based on the motives of Bhanu Pratap Singh. The land previously belonged to him, and he had been making constant plea for the license of a bar. His request, however, was always turned down as the location did not meet legal standards.
• 11-July-1986: There was a huge fight between Mr. Parkinson—a government worker who had made the public dream of an urban park possible in the neighbourhood, and Bhanu Pratap Singh—a rowdy businessman whose land had been taken by the government for the construction of an urban park. The fight had become ugly as his dream of a bar had been shattered because of a simple government worker. He had publicly announced that he would take revenge one day and would never let that park run smoothly.
• 14-Feb-1986: This was an opening day of Kings Forest Park. There was a full length article on Mr. Parkinson. He was a local hero who loved his neighbours very much. He always worked for the good of people. He derived happiness from others. He believed in a place where all the people would gather and enjoy every day. The best gift he could ever give them was an urban park. People loved and respected him a lot. He was second to God for them. 

I was so lost reading the legendary story that I felt I was almost a part of it. It was hard to believe that I could be Mr. Parkinson in my previous birth. And if I were, the bigger question was, what happened to Mrs. Parkinson after I died? Will I ever be able to find her in this birth? The second aspect of my mission was still an open end. I somehow believed that the old lady could help me in solving this, but she was yet to be seen. I felt vulnerable, helpless, and lonely. There were too many ifs and buts in my belief. The impossibilities were greater than the possibilities. But did I lose hope and believe in the impossible? No, I am not made of that soil. I kept my hunt for the old lady going. I would not rest until I had found her. And believe me, good things do really happen to people who wait.

One fine evening when I was strolling through the neighbourhood, the old lady was just there where I thought she was. I had found her in the same street and in the same corner as my previous encounter of her. I was having happy thoughts as I expected the same warm welcome as before. However, her cold demeanour was quite unexplainable. On seeing me, she started dashing in the opposite direction. I had to run to get hold of her. When I walked past her, I turned around, smiled and said, “Long time no see. How are you doing?”

“Hey, mister! I don’t know who you are and what you are talking about,” she replied strangely. From her expression, I could guess that she wasn’t surprised to see me, but sure as hell, she was ignoring.

“Are you sure you don’t remember me? We had a brief encounter two months ago exactly at this location,” I said, thinking that the old age might be playing with her memory.

“I would definitely remember you if I had seen you before. Now if you will excuse me,” she replied, hurrying past me.

I caught her up again and said, “How can you be so forgetful? Last time you were so happy to see me. You had even asked how I was and had said that it has been a long time since we have seen each other.”

“Oh! Did you really believe what I had said? I say that to everyone when I am drunk,” she answered listlessly.

I have the determination to move the world, but I felt hopeless at that time because I had relied on her for my destiny. Not that anything could change, I wished that I hadn’t. Please don't do this to me. You are my only hope left. Please, please, please, don’t ruin my months of sheer hard work, I prayed while I had started to taste my defeat. I was almost crying when a quick thought popped into my head. I said, “It’s hard to believe that you were drunk. Do you often drink? You seem like a decent lady. I don’t think you do.”

“I pity your judgement, mister. I am not decent when it comes to alcohol. And, yes, I drink more often than a fish,” she mocked.

“If you really do, why waste time on this silly conversation? I know a bar nearby. We could go there right now. All rounds on me. What do you say?” That was an offer she could not afford to refuse.

A few minutes later, we were in the bar and I had bought her two fingers of Jack Daniels. She asked me in curiosity while she was drinking, “Nothing for yourself?”

 “Today is not my day,” I answered casually and watched her drink in silence.

She didn’t utter a word for the next half an hour. She enjoyed rounds after rounds while I waited my prayers to be answered. It was only after the eighth peg she spoke, “I know what you want.”

“You do?”

“Yes, and I also know that you have been trying to find me for the past couple of months.”

“Were you not showing up purposefully?” I asked in anticipation.

“Yeah, I guessed that you had discovered something. I was avoiding you intentionally.”

“Wait, what? You knew that I was looking for you and still you were avoiding me? But why would you do so?”

“I have already had enough troubles in my life. I don’t want any more of them. I just want to live in peace, whatever life I have left in me.”

“I didn’t want to create any troubles for you. I was just looking for some answers. Your help would really mean a lot,” I begged.

“Don’t give me all these emotional crap,” she laughed and said, “Tell me what have you found out and what else do you seek?”

“Well! In the past ten months, I have had several visions. These visions have made me trust the strange instincts and follow the random signs. One thing has led to another, and I have somehow ended up finding out about Mr. Parkinson. I don’t know if it means anything, but coincidentally, I was born the same day Mr. Parkinson had died,” I said and paused to check if the lady was really listening.

“And?” she asked me to continue.

“And the thing is, while I could find everything about Mr. Parkinson, I could gather nothing about his wife. I was hoping you could help me in this regard.”

“Ah, I see. A woman, huh?”

“I guess so. I don’t know why, but I feel a deep connection to her. I feel she had been related to me in the past, yet I am not able to remember anything. It has been so hard to control the outflowing emotions,” I opened myself up and felt happy. I was amazed to see how sober the old lady was after drinking that much. She appeared drunk to me when she was really sober.

“And what made you think that I might help you in this regard?” she asked after some thinking.

“It has been just an instinct. I had an encounter with you initially, then the graveyard’s caretaker mentioned about you. It led me to believe that you knew this family closely.”

“Your instincts are true. I was closer to them more than you can imagine. I stayed as a helper in their house for seven years until Mrs. Parkinson died. But trust me, you wouldn’t want to know anything about her death.”

“But I really do want to know,” I insisted.

“You won’t give up, will you? See, this is not a happy story to tell. I can only tell you that she loved her husband so much that his absence took exactly two and half years to kill her,” she said and stood up to leave.

“Please don’t leave. I still have a few more questions,” I requested.

“That’s all for today, son. I would advise you to leave a few answers to the questions itself.”

“Okay, no more question. Just need your honest opinion on one thing. Do you think I am ever going to meet her in this life?”

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get,” she quoted from Forrest Gump and left.

Chapter 6: Eureka

The final chapter of any invention is the most difficult one. There are so many assumptions to consider, a lot of exceptions to make, great patience required, and the probability of failure is higher than the success. If the invention, however, is done right, it has the power to change mankind. My journey was no less than any invention or discovery. I had taken a break from a handsome job, abandoned my social life, and was roaming around like crazy for past one year in search of someone who might not even exist. There were a few questions that constantly popped up in my mind at that time. How far was I willing to go in the search of my love? Till the end of my life and beyond, would be my immediate answer. Will I do justice to everyone by this lunatic act of mine? There is no purpose of leading a void life. I will be complete only when I am successful in my mission. Everyone will understand this eventually. God! I must be the most stubborn son ever born. I felt very proud of myself. I had the courage of my convictions to continue my journey. And when the determination is very strong, no destination is far enough.

I knew what I needed to do next. I considered Kings Forest Park as a milestone in my journey, and I strongly believed that I would get the next sign to proceed further in that neighbourhood. I assumed identifying her would not be a difficult process. Like I was looking for her, she might be looking for me too. Two likeliness would meet and magic would be created. I kept my approach pretty simple and started to roam around the same neighbourhood. A couple of months had passed, but I could not find any sign. I had seen a lot of women in that suburb, but I could not get a positive vibe from any of them. Sometimes, the caretaker used to show up. He would just smile and pass by. He understood what I was looking for, but even I knew there was nothing he could do. So, yes, I was left pretty much by myself. Two months got converted into six, and I was still in the same situation as before. There was still no sign of her. I had enough strength to contain my frustrations, however, killing time had become a very difficult task. Most of the times, I had nothing to do other than to wait. A fear also lingered in me that what I would do if I never get her in this life. This fear gave result to nightmares. The nightmares made me wake up in middle of the nights with pain. I would say that there was no end to my suffering.

As the time passed by, my mental state started deteriorating. I would hardly eat and sleep. I needed medical attention which I was just not willing to accept. I had to fix myself up and at the same time, I could not afford to lose focus. So I made a right decision when I saw a hiring board in front of the restaurant in a lane opposite to Kings Forest Park. It read, “Hiring now! Please contact reception for more details.” I saw that board as an opportunity which would serve two motives of my life: keep myself busy and keep an eye on the signs. I ran straight to the reception for a job. The receptionist told me to wait till the owner comes who would be taking my brief interview.

It wasn’t a fine dining or fancy restaurant. It was an average restaurant where the sophisticated people came to have good food. I waited in a corner chair without having any clue about the role of my job. After half an hour, a healthy person with a weird moustache approached me. I guessed him to be the owner and stood up to greet him. He didn’t seem to care much and signalled me to sit. After he had taken a seat, he said, “Hi! I am Dinesh, the owner of this restaurant. Tell me what are you looking for?”

“Hello, Mr. Dinesh. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Krishna, and I…”

“See Krishna,” he interrupted and said, “I will be very frank with you. We have all our positions filled up. However, there is one extra cleaner required for our restaurant. I don’t know if this line of work will suit you, but that’s all I can offer you straight off. If you are interested, we can have further discussion to see if you can fit in. Otherwise, I will have to say sorry.”

All the words he said were inaudible to me. My brain cells were stuck at the word “cleaner”. I truly appreciated his courage to offer me that job. Any other day, I would have shown him his limits. But that day, my conscience forced me to focus on my motive. After a long silence, I said, “I am really in the need of a job. I will take whatever you have to offer. I am ready for further discussions.”

“Ah! An excellent decision Mr… What name did you say? Oh… Krishna. See, I remember. Let’s go out for a walk and we will have a chat,” he said proudly.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” He said after he had walked me out.

I will talk only if you would let me, Fatso! I thought and said, “I do only…”

“Don’t worry, you will learn to speak very soon,” he interrupted again and continued, “So, tell me about your experience. How much do you know about cleaning?”

Son of a biscuit! I have graduated from one of the best universities of this country. I am an engineer working on the top projects for the government. I must have an IQ twice as yours, and I have enough money to buy this restaurant right now. Do these qualify me as a cleaner?  I was having adverse thoughts, but I controlled my emotions and replied politely, “I know the basics, and I am a quick learner. I can promise you I will do a good job.”

“I know you will. When I saw you I knew you are the one made to work here. Let me explain what I expect from you. This restaurant is two-Storeyed, yeah? Each of the floors has one kitchen. Your job will be to clean all the floors twice a day and the kitchens once in the night. Understood?”

“Yeah, I pretty much got the idea.”

“Cool! See you tomorrow at work then. Goodbye,” he said and left.

The following morning when I arrived at work, I was handed over the cleaner’s dress and cleaning equipment. A fellow colleague explained me what exactly I needed to do. In the first few minutes of my walk-through, I had calculated the overall restaurant’s area that needed to be cleaned. Including both the storeys, the total area of the floors would approximately be 1500 square feet and the total area of the kitchens would be 800 square feet. Twice the 1500 plus 800 equalled 3800 square feet—the space I was supposed to clean every day. My calculations weren’t intended to scare me off; I just wanted to know how much time it would take to finish my job. There was no rocket science in it and considering my fitness level, I had estimated five hours a day in its completion.

Having worked out all the above, I started my cleaning journey. Every morning and evening, I had to first sanitize the surfaces such as table tops, chairs, utensils etc. with disinfectant. Afterwards, I had to sweep the floor and mop it with soap water. And then, if required, I also had to do the deep cleaning with bleaching powder. My job was fairly simple, I guess, as I had to not utilize my brain at all. Five hours of cleaning every day, and the rest of the time I would keep looking for her. Sometimes, I would also visit the city library to check out the old newspapers. I could still not find anything about her, but I did discover one thing about Bhanu Pratap Singh. It seemed that he was diagnosed with lung cancer a year after the death of Mr. Parkinson. He was deceased within two years of diagnosis. I think karma had played its role very well. Only if I could get a hold of my lady.

I had been pushing my luck for the past two months, but it appeared to be entirely rotten. Despite my desperate efforts, she was nowhere in my life. I could not afford to despair, however, the negative thoughts had started to make me weak. I had begun to feel that she was unreal and merely the figments of my imagination. I experienced all the symptoms of a schizophrenic. It was only a matter of time before I would have gone totally crazy. I realized I had to do something to hold back my integrity. Therefore, I started focusing more on my cleaning job, although, she was there in every thought of mine.

The next few weeks of my life were mostly filled with bleaching powder, disinfectants and soap water. I was paying attention to every minute detail of the cleaning; I was doing my job very well and getting better at it every passing day. Very soon, I was the best cleaner of the restaurant. The owner did realize my potential and made me the head of the cleaning department. Essentially, I had to manage a dozen of other cleaners to make it the shiniest restaurant in the town. And since I knew the every detail of the job, managing them had been peanuts for me. Things were running pretty smooth at the restaurant, nonetheless, I was never distracted from my prime motive.

Six more months had passed and I was still chasing my imaginations without any success. Ever since the inception of the first vision, my whole life had been nothing more than a deadly nightmare—a nightmare I was unable to deal with. The angels silently watched from above, but they refused to drop any further clue. I continued my job at the restaurant. The owner was impressed and the colleagues were happy, but I was yet to discover my inner peace. So I wasn’t much excited when the owner decided to make me manager of the restaurant. He stated, “This restaurant is yours now. It’s your duty to take care of everything. I have other business to handle. Will see you in good times.” I was only wondering what possibly I could have accomplished if I had worked there whole heartedly.

That morning when I woke up, I had a vague recollection of the last night’s dream. My memory could only reflect it like a blurred motion picture in which the focus was sharply on the Kings Forest Park. In the foreground was the graves of Mr. & Mrs. Parkinson’s, all covered in crimson and yellow roses. I couldn’t make out what the dream meant, but I was in a cheerful mood in the morning. A happy tune was constantly playing in my mind. With high spirits, I freshened up and left for the work. I had nearly reached the restaurant and was ready to take a turn for the entrance when I thought I saw something. I came back a few steps and gazed on the opposite side of the street. There was nothing but the old rusty gates of the Kings Forest Park. I considered it to be an illusion and went inside the restaurant. Then again, I strongly felt that I had really seen something. I decided to take another glance and got out on the street. There was still nothing. To clear my mind of suspicion, I resolved to take a look inside the park. I crossed the street and started moving towards the gate. I might be about three hundred meters away when I saw someone going inside quickly. I started moving faster to get a clear view. When I was a few steps away from the entrance, I could again see no one.

Oh! What is this hide and seek? I thought and was just about to enter the park when a pretty face suddenly emerged from the left and stood still in front of me. It was the moment I had been longing for eternity. I felt as if the thunderbolts had hit me and cracked my chest open, spilling out my soul to unite with her and be the one. I no longer belonged to myself as my eyes were locked on her face, my breath was whooshed out of my body and everything was frozen for a moment. The whole world seemed to vanish, and I had a feeling that we have known each other for a very long time. I didn’t want that moment to ever end as I had never been happier before. She had completed me, and I had found my inner peace.

Before I could say anything to her, she excused herself and prepared to leave. I just couldn’t let her go. I yelled, “Hey, wait!”

                        

“Yes?” she answered in a sweet voice.

I wished to say, “What took you so long?” Instead, I asked, “Do you by any chance came looking for Mrs. Parkinson?”

“I don’t know that yet. I am still trying to figure it out. But how did you guess that?” she demanded.

“You wouldn’t believe how long I have waited for this day to come. I felt…”

“No, I believe you,” she cut in hastily and asked, “Did you also come looking for Mr. Parkinson once?”

“Yes, I did that a long time ago. And I have been waiting for you ever since,” I responded honestly.

“And why have you been waiting for me?” she asked slowly.

“I seriously have no answer for this. Would you like to help me find it out why?” 

And she said yes…