It’s Raining Whole Night

‘Did anybody come yesterday?
Whom do you expect to come in this rain? I asked.
He smiled and said, “What does this mean? If it rains, one should not come to meet people who are in distress!”
“Who is in distress, you?
“No, not me but you! You are in distress. That’s why you go to that window and stand there for long hours. What do you think? I am sleeping always and can one sleep by just closing the eyes? It’s possible that one may close the eyes but all his senses must be working. The whole world thinks that you are sleeping, but you could see the fun of how others react to you when you have closed your eyes.”
I don’t know whether he has this childish mindset to close his eyes and then see how others are reacting; what topics are they discussing; what plans are they making for the funeral. I am now more scared of him and his behavior. He is going beyond my comprehension these days. His first question itself was puzzling. Whether anybody came to meet him or not? Whom does he expect to come and meet him? All my uncles have come and visited him in between. All my aunties have sobbed for his greatness. All my uncles got married to the girls of his choice and he picked up his daughter in laws with lot of efforts and from small families. They are always obliged to my grandfather for his greatness in bringing them to the house which otherwise they would not have got married into in normal circumstances. He also never treated anyone one of them different from his own daughters. He is a great man and is always biased for one person i.e. myself. Beyond me, he has kept his equity in decision making. But when it is about me, he is biased for obvious reasons. Those who know about my life and how I grew up, they know the reason why he is so biased to me. Let us not talk about his biased behavior towards me at this point of time. It all started when we talked about rain last night.
He expected some people to come and meet him while it was raining whole night. It is difficult to go out of the hospital also. The whole street is chocked with water. Nayagarh is a hilly town, just the base of two small hillocks and from there onwards, one can see the hills starting and you have entrance to the western ghat extensions of Orissa. It rained so much that all nullahs and drains got chocked and were over flowing. They brought all the stinking stuff to the street and it is like hell now. One of the nurses told me that the water reservoir that supplies water to the town is also overflowing and people are getting fishes on the street (those which have jumped out of the pond. All the shops were closed and large part of the city was blacked out. Last night also I could see the whole city looking like a ghost town. And he expects someone to come and meet him.
Only ghosts can come and meet him. I don’t wish ghosts to come and meet him.
He broke the silence. “You know, when your uncles were falling sick, I had hardly cared for the rain, snakes or water blockages. When you start from the village, near the palace of the king, you will always find a big banyan tree. In some dark nights, when the wind is blowing very fast and whistles through the jungles nearby, the braches create cracking sound and people fear that ghosts are around. I have never cared for that. Even sometimes the witches will be out on the street in the dark nights and your grandma will always tell me not to venture out. But my children need medical attention. Which father will bear the pain of his children, particularly when he has lost four kids before? I never cared for the night and its darkness. I believed there is some truth and darkness is like a cover over the truth. Farther you are from it, scarier it is. Closer you go; darkness runs away like a little child scared of an unknown person. So I have never cared for darkness. Snakes also are another danger for us. I think other than the human being; it’s a snake that can bite you for no reason. Being so close to the forest area, I have seen bigger snakes; snakes that can eat a buffalo also. Why one should be scared of someone in life. If you wish to meet someone, how much do this darkness, snakes, water and rain block you? You should have zeal to meet people and ask about their whereabouts”
I could sense some level of emotion in his voice for the first time. He was missing someone and was expecting the person to come and meet him. It was suddenly a power cut again and sisters came running into the room as the silence in the room was disturbed by blipping machine sound. Sisters brought with them the smell of their sweat and some cheap perfume. They also looked tired as they had to put more effort in previous night to monitor the patients due to frequent power failures.
I came back to my usual position and opened the window. The naughty wind blowing outside threw small rain drops on my face. I was not ready for such a sensation and moved away from the window. The whole sky was full of clouds. Damn dark clouds that may bring more incessant rain again. It’s already flood situation in Orissa and many of the rivers including Kusumi have crossed their banks. One of the uncles was saying that this year the sugarcane crop is going for a toss. I don’t know what time it was when I looked back to him. He was sleeping like a small child with the pillow looking like his doll. The wires and tubes are the binding ropes that have made him to stick to this world. Through the deemed light spread across the room, I was wondering how many days more both of us will be there together. I am not in a hurry to close this chapter. I wish him to continue his conversations with me; I wish him to continue sleeping like a small child for ever and with childlike innocence, expect someone to drop in. I know lot to be done now. I need to decide about my job. I need to work out Google’s school and need to relocate to some city and plan a life of my own. But all these can wait for some months or a year so as I wish to be with him in this wee hour of life when there is no light for miles and miles of hopelessness.
I wish time to stand still and wait for things to happen. I wish if I could become God and reverse lot of things in life forever. I wish….. If wishes are horses, they would have got wings too….