The Final Act
"Last night, wreckage of a car was found in the valley , the couple in the car succumbed to serious head injuries", the morning news flashed on the TV. Radhamma glanced at the news flashing on the screen through the fumes of her customary morning coffee.
The filter coffee was perfect just the way she liked, the perfect blend of all the ingredients with a pinch of sugar, with the melodious chirping of bulbuls and mynas, who were frequent visitors at the tharavadu(ancestral home).
"Ram and Meera….the couple who succumbed to death in the car crash."
She was taken aback, a chill ran down her smile. "Is this for real, or a dream?", she wondered.
The world seemed to have come to a standstill or that's how it should have been!
"What's the purpose of my life now without my son?"
When all she had in life faded into oblivion, lost into the lurking eyes of death.
Her existence seemed to be frivolous in this world.
***
It was just last evening that the newlyweds had left for their trip to Munnar.
The eventide sky with its harlequin hues bedecked with innumerable clouds stood witness to the golden sun paving way for the twilight.
Being their first trip,it had to be the best one, the last rays of the sunset penetrated through the windshield, love was in the air, a perfect ambience indeed! It was indubitably the dawn of their love, a new life together, and their hearts seemed to be tugged forever.
Munnar was still a few kilometres away, and it was already pitch dark around, with just the blinding headlights of the approaching vehicles to lead the way.
As they drove their van through the woods, a red car seemed to be following them,stealthily tracing their path.
"Did you notice the red car stalking us?", Ram uttered in dismay.
Meera too had noticed the car, she was dubious about its intentions.
The resort they had booked was still a few miles away, so they speeded the car.
The red car soon dashed into them, the intentions turning obvious.
And as Ram turned to see the culprit, he was agape!
"What? Ravi Mamman?", he jolted.
"Why?"
Just then the car seemed to be getting out-of-control, it was a ardorous ride through the pass, each moment the night getting creepier.
Again, the culprit dashed the car, Ram tried to steer the car on the sharp twists and turns of the hill, but it was a dead end.
"Finally, the game is over!",the culprit smirked after his final act.
Back in tharavadu, Radhamma was completely shattered with the news.
"Was it really an accident or was it revenge?"perplexed, she was numb and cold.
"You'll repent for this!" , his words echoed again.
It was just a year back that Radhamma turned aloof to her relatives, her very own siblings.
"Sign the papers! I need a share of my land, no one can deny my birthright!" , Ravi demanded placing the papers on the table.
Radhamma wasn't ready to demarcate the tharavadu, it held a trove of memories from her childhood.
She bore the weight of his words...
Loneliness writ the walls of tharavadu!
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