Chapter - 34 (A Memorable Date)
"Jack", "Jack"," Jack", Rose calls Jack for the third time. "There's a boat." She entreats him endearingly.
The next moment, a boat is seen with two shadowy figures standing on a boat, holding a torch each, looking down at the sea, searching for the unlikely survivors.
"Jack," Rose calls the man with the chin of his pale, blodless face placed just above the raft floating in the vast ocean, while the rest of his body is submerged in the water. Rose calls him for the ninth time. She turns her face towards him, apprehension writ large on her face. The look on her face of utter loss and loss gets reflected in the face then as the realization slowly dawns on her.
The Captain of the searching boat with his cap and badges, is seen crying out hopelessly for one last time.
"Hello, can anyone hear me there?"
Bending down, Rose slowly releases Jack's feeble grip on the raft by freeing his one hand off the edge of the raft first before freeing the other.
"Come back", she cries in a husky voice for the third time trying to put all her waning strength in her voice. The pitch of her voice rises as she tries to draw the attention of the Captain of the the boat in the distance.
Looking at the lifeless body of Jack, she remembers something and bids him a silent farewell by uttering: "I won't let go, I promise," Rose starts calling out to the rescue boat as the body of Jack stars sinking in.
Sitting on the last row in the balcony, Jishnu impulsively puts his hand on Akanksha's left after she had dabbed at her eyes and nose with the hanky at the conclusion of the epic movie. The twinkling lights in the Hall came back on, bathing the massive interior of the cinema in dazzling lights.
Slowly Akanksha and Jishnu got up from their seats and stepped down the stairs to let themselves into the throngs of the people heading towards the exit. Jishnu was still holding Akanksha's hand as they came out of the cinema.
"Akanksha, please wait here," Jishnu told Akanksha walking together past Shah & Shah, the dressmakers at the corner of the lane. Having walked across the main road, Jishnu nearly collided against an oncoming car. He then made her stand away from the multitude of people gatered on various errands in front of the car parking in between the cinema and the glittering New Market.
Once he thought that Akanksha would be safe there standing all by herself, while he fetched his car, Jishnu finally let go of her hand, a bit reluctantly.
He drove on and out of the jam past Metro Cinema into the rows of vehicles heading towards the right to Wellington Square, Jishnu turned to look at Akanksha. She had her eyes on the magnificent, one-carrige tram, the last of the remnants of the British legacy in Kolkata,
Sensing Jishnu's eyes on hers, she turned her head towards him. In the fading daylight, she looked even more beautiful than what she did when he had picked her up in his car earlier in the day. Her large, tear-strained eyes behind the glasses; the short, curvy hair that reached down across her shoulders; and the mouth of a girl, who had recently turned into a woman; held a promise, an invitation that Jishnu found difficult to make much out of. He had the good sense to take his car across the Moulali Crossings, into the road leading on to Philip's, when he heard Akanksha whisper for the first time since they came out of the Hall:
"Thank you, Jishnuda." Was there a trace of pain, sadness, worry at the prospect of the impending separation in her voice? "Thank you for what's been truly one of the most memorable days in my life."Akanksha said in a highly emotion-packed voice.
She fell silent again as the car got behind a waiting 45 bus at the Bus Stand.
"I can drop me here, Jishnuda. I really won't mind walking home from here." She added hastily as Jishnu started the engine and turned around the iceland towards CIT Road.
"What kinda man do you take me for, Akanksha? What will your parents think of me if I left you here, all by yourself?" He asked her without looking at her.
"I didn't mean it like that, you know. I said that only thinking about you." Akanksha replied and immediately bent her head as her cheeks turned red.
"Have I been such a boring companion? Is that the reason why you're in such a hurry to be rid of me?"
"No, no, please don't say that…"Akanksha refused his words vehemently, when on looking up at his eyes, she saw the glint in them. He was in his devastating teasing mood, Akanksha realized as a smile emerged on her face.
The next few minutes both of them kept quiet as the golden sun began its descent behind the majestic high raised buildings on the eastern side of CIT Road. Without turning to the right towards Bank of India, Jishnu drove some three hundred meters ahead and took a U-turn past Bandhan Bank on the opposite side before turning his car to the left towards Padmapukur.
He rode around the temple built in honour of Lord Shiva under an ageless oak tree. Jishnu finally stopped his Volvo near the entrance of the bylane in Deblane.
Akanksha took her time to get out of the car. She moved a step behind and crouched as Jishnu started rolling the window glass down. She saw the man behind the wheel, looking still as energetic as he was handsome!
"Won't you come in? They all will be glad to see you," she said a bit apprehensively.
All on a sudden the picture of Meghna making a similar request to him when he reached her to the door of her house at his mother's command, flashed through his mind.
The appearance of the sudden dark cloud on Jishnu's face, didn't escape Akanksha's notice. Probably, she was wrong about his abundant energy, possibly he was tired, missing his mom or missing Meghna? Akanksha found all these thoughts clouding her own mind, as she stole a look in his direction.
"Not today, Akanksha. I'm sorry. "Jishnu replied shaking his head. He was momentarily saddened by the hurt in her eyes.
"I've some important tasks tomorrow. I'll drop by someday soon to see how uncle is getting along." He added trying to lessen her hurt for his refusal.
Finding himself unable to roll up the car door, Jishnu pressed the remote button again. He stretched out his left hand on the door glass stuck somewhere midway through.
Finding Jishnu trying hard to scroll the door glass upwith the remote in his right hand, Akanksha lowered hers to help out. She was the first to get hold of the window glass. Jishnu's hand came down a second later. Two hands were placed on the door glass at the same time, the softer one beneath the other. The resultant impact that shot through the entire being of Akanksha was electrifying.
"Sorry, " both cried out at the same time as the glass finally started rolling up. Jishnu luckily withdrew his hand just in the nick of time. Akanksha had barely time to steady herself on her wobbly feet when she started worrying about any injuries to his hand. She heard herself asking him:
"Are you all right, Jishnuda? Shouldn't you splash some water on it? Can I get you something like Boroline or Burnall?" She asked him.
Jishnu smiled as he turned the engine key back on.
"Don't worry, Akanksha. Nothing has happened. I'm perfectly all right." He said and went on to add, " Okay then, Akanksha. Thank you for a lovely night. Take care."
"You too, Doc," The last word sounded magical even to her ears. Jishnu nodded smilingly, took a brisk look at her and shot ahead and out of her sight.
Walking down the bylane back home, Akanksha found the dim streetlight, bereft of any life of its own.
For the second time Anushka, while going through the diary entries, found it intriguing that there was nothing, nothing at all, written on the night before about Akanksha's supposed date with bro Jishnu.
She had burst up into her room since she learnt from her mother the reason for Akku's long absence from home. It was a Saturday and on Saturdays, she normally went out to teach English to that brat called Shaunak. She went to her student's at around five in the evening. There was nothing therefore, for Anushka to be suspicious of her elder sister. But on waking up at 10 in the morning, when she found Akanksha all dressed up in that green and maroon silk sari that Ma bought her on her creditable result in the third semester, Anushka felt curious.
Having asked her mother about Akku during lunch, she came to know about bro Jishnu's invitation. She had been seething in an indescribable, all-consuming rage since then.