Mr Dev, and his family worried about the changes that has come in from a few days. Everyone is trying to cheer up someone special. Everything looked normal in their regular life but somewhere something was wrong. Everyone kept looking towards a closed brown door. Mr.Dev walked to the closed brown door, knocks and very patiently calls out, "Son, you must be hungry, how long do you want to stay in? come out and see what your mother has prepared for you.All your favorite dishes and yummy gulab jamuns." But in reply all he gets in silence.
Mr. Dev's son, Simon on the other side of the brown door, has locked himself from past two days, without food and water. no one could find the the reason for his changed behaviour. till few days back he was the life of hid family and friends. a person who gets life to any dull party or get together. everyone came to him for help, any kind of problem and Simon has the solutions for it. a lively person when goes silent all of a sudden, it does effects the surrounding. the confusion of his silence had struck Mr Dev's family.
Time to time there were unattended phone calls heard from Simon's room. Mr Dev's wondering if his son is safe inside the room. Simon's cell phone rang continuously and suddenly stopped, but the caller could only hear silence. it wasn't the silence of peace but a silence of pain, anger, agony and defeat. the caller understood Simon's silence without any difficulty. he disconnected the phone. the same caller called again and again till Simon got bored of the ring and finally took d call. irritated Simon yelled and abused the caller. the caller patiently heard everything Simon screamed about and when he was done with his monologue he heard a female voice of the caller say, "Simon, i know you are worried about something, and you don want to share it with anyone. i respect your decision but i too want to help you. if you don want to talk to me, i'l not force you but please do me a favour, please don not disconnect the call. please leave it on loud speaker.i'll not disturb you. i just want to feel being with you from here. i had promised never to leave you, even today i want to be by your side."
to avoid further disturbances Simon kept the phone as it is on his bed, right next to where he was sitting. he dint keep d call on loudspeaker, nor did he even follow her instructions. he just sat on the floor. placing his head on his bed, unintentionally leaving the phone near his head. the caller heard his silence and understood it like ever. in such an environment a call on normal mode can also be heard clearly. after a longtime Simon pulled his head up to see if she was still on the call.to his surprise, he found her patiently waiting on the other side of d call.he asked her 2 keep the call but she refused and asked him to listen to what was happening in her life recently.
in the beginning he did not listen to her, but gradually without much hesitation started listening to her funny incident. when she tried asking him why he had locked himself in the room, he refused to respond directly but spoke a few normal words, "you keep speaking." she took it as the best opportunity to cheer him up and gave her best shot. like the last time she began to speak, without knowing if he was listening to her or not. but this time c was more confident, and asked-
"you like being in the open right? lets go out?" "NO" came a rough reply. it was enough for her to understand that this time she was being heard. she went on, "OK, we wont go out, where ever you are, just close your eyes and think nothing but just follow my words. will you cooperate Simon?" after a long pause a faint "yes" was heard from Simon. she went on...
"you are in a calm place and you can feel the cool breeze. can you tell me where you are?" - "A beach" came a soft reply. she continued with confidence this time. "you open your eyes slowly and find the sun in its best color that doesn't hurt your eyes. is the sun setting or rising, Simon?"
--"setting" replied Simon.
you slowly feel some one's hand being placed on your shoulder. that hand slides and reaches your hand. it slides in between your fingers and locks it. you too respond to it, but do u lock your fingers or just let it be?"
--" i lock it." a full sentence is heard and the caller sounds much happier too. " do you like it?" --"yes" Simon. "now you slowly open your eyes. you can see a new sun coming up. the night with darkness is being empowered by the day light. hopes, joy, opportunities are all that comes along with a new day. a new day and the hand to hold on for life, hope it is making you feel better?"
-- "yes" came a soft reply. "do you want to see whose hand you are holding?"
--"yes, but i am scared." says Simon.
the voice goes on "do not worry Simon, it is someone who knows you in and out. knows well when you need a support.when your hands lock up, it makes a new world. now slowly look at the hand you are holding. it can be anyone, someone whom you know or might have to know still. what do you think, whose hand is it?" Simon closes his eyes once again and felt himself in the same situation, the sun rise, the beach, the birds, the sea and most importantly a hand in his hand. the voice said, " tell me what you see there, more about the hand and then slowly moving towards the dress, color, eyes and lastly the face. OK?"
--Simon, "sure, lets try. it is a beautiful morning with a warmth of being needed, of being cared and loved. with this hand locked in mine, i feel complete."
the caller,"look at the hand Simon.
--Simon" "its a soft caring hand, a hand of a lady. it looks familiar to me. she is in a light blue Saree. looking at her eyes gives me hope."
--"look at her, who is she Simon?"
-- after a long pause Simon spoke with excitement, " i can not believe my eyes, its a person who was always around me when i needed support. it is true that i overlooked her when she was with me. i wish she was with me right now, i would have never locked myself in my room like this."
--caller, "who is she Simon?"
--Simon, "when are you coming back?"
-- caller,"very soon dear. but first tell me who is she?"
--Simon, "you come back and I'll tell you. i cannot afford to miss your reaction."
--caller, "do i know her?"
--Simon," yes you do."
-- caller, "OK, its nice to hear that you have found the right girl who can support you during your time of crisis. i am glad you stayed up with me till now. now please do me a favour. will you?"
--Simon," yes I'll, anything for you dear. after all you gave me a reason to start afresh with the person i needed to be with."
-- caller, " OK OK... enough, now please go out of your room and have something. everybody is worried. uncle thinks you tried doing something stupid again."
on hearing this Simon pulled his right hand from behind his back, a knife held hand came to sight. he gently pushed it under his bed and replied to the caller, "no dear, i don think I'll need to do crazy things like that anymore. you have shown me a better way to lead life. anyway tell me when are you reaching back?"
--caller disappointed, "why do you need to know that? you didn't even reply to my last letter, nor did you come to pick me in the station."
--Simon suddenly realised it was 1st of may, and his buddy Asmi was coming back after completing her masters. he jumped up and tried finding out where she was right now. but she refused to tell him.
Simon, "Asmi please tell me where you are, I'll come and pick you up.i want to meet you first as usual. i am very sorry, i completely forgot about picking you up."
--" its OK, don get so worried and open the door. i am somewhere very close to you. go and freshen up, have something than we'll sit and chat. ok?"
-- Simon,"no no... you come home first please. we'll have dinner together. i'll wait for you."
--Asmi," that is not required. first you come and open the door dumbo. i cant wait long out side your house. your neighbour's think i am being punished."
--Simon jumped up from the floor and sprang open the brown door, that was closed till now. he ran to the main door and pulled it open. behind it was the girl he was longing to hug. they greeted each other with a warm hug. Simon could not stop smiling.
-- "now tell me who she was?"
--"come and have something. relax and than we will talk about her." told Simon.
-- Asmi," no, please tell me right now"
--"you wont come in if i don tell you?"
--asmi,"no"
--Simon, " OK than", he slid his hand on hers and locked his fingers through hers as he had imagined. "now i feel complete."
--confused asmi," means?"
--smiling Simon," means? means its you who understood me the best way possible. its true i had a solution for others' problems but you had all the solutions to my problems.even today, you got me out of my room with great ease.you make my life the best place to life in.only after you had gone back, i missed you so much that i even forgot that you were coming back today.i had lost track of date and time. i had a feeling that you'll never come back."
asmi too locked her fingers through his and looked into his eyes, signaling him to stop talking. he read her eyes and stopped talking.
Simon slowly bent his head forward and kissed her forehead. she accepted it with a smile, closed her eyes and leaned on his chest. his arms went around her making it a picture perfect moment...