She was about to wrap up at her workdesk, when her phone rang, an unknown number flashing up on her newly purchased i-Phone. Guessing it must be one of those analysts from the new client's office, she reluctantly picked up the call, expecting to be held back in office for a few more hours to cater to some last-minute request.
But, there was a cold sobbing female voice at the other end, "Hello Koyel, am I speaking to Koyel? Hello!".
Then there was a deafening silence. For a moment, Koyel glimpsed at the last traces of the golden hour caressing the coldness of her cubicle on the tenth floor of one of the most majestic buildings of Gurgaon.
The lady at the other end repeated, her voice still drenched in sobs, "Koyel, are you able to hear me? This is Diya, Arindam's friend."
Koyel unconsciously threw herself to the lavish chair at her workdesk while softly uttering, "Yes Diya, I have heard of you. Are you crying?"
"Koyel, Arindam wanted to see you one last time. Even yesterday evening, he said he would get well if only you came to give him flowers. Karan and I tried to connect him with you on the call yesterday but he kept pressing not to."
"Diya, where is Arindam? How is he? Give him the phone", Koyel's face turned pale and she could feel the goosebumps on her hands as she struggled to hold the phone.
"I wish I could", Diya broke into tears, "Arindam is no more."
"Diya, what are you saying? Diya, this is not a prank, right? Diya, please answer."
There was no answer from the other end, just the heart-wrenching cries of Diya and Karan. Koyel could feel her voice getting choked and her eyes getting wet with warm droplets even as the chill of December and this news froze her body.
After a minute or two, Karan broke the silence, his voice still husky, "Koyel, Arindam loved you and only you, he never recovered. He did not try to recover. Probably the pain he held on to was the last string of his memory of you."
Koyel felt her hands turning cold as Karan continued, "He had been lying unconscious by his car in the basement yesterday afternoon. When the security guard called us, we reached and rushed him here to NM Birla hospital. In the evening, he spoke to us for some time and even this morning, he uttered a few words in drowsiness. After lunch, when the nurse went to check his pulse today, he was gone." Karan broke into tears again, while Koyel sat petrified.
After some moments of silence, she spoke, "Karan, I want to see him last. Can you wait till then?", her voice choked but she continued, "I am trying to reach, please wait for me."
Koyel did not care to pack the remnants on her desk and ran for the elevator while frantically searching for the earliest flight to Kolkata. Down the street, she got a cab and asked him to take her to the nearest flower market. All these years later, she still remembered Arindam had once told her how much he loved sunflowers while they were counting pebbles by the Himalayan stream. But alas, it was a Tuesday, most of the shops were closed, and the few counters that were still open had roses, tulips, chrysanthemums and marigolds. As she raced against time for her flight, she decided to make one last try at the Chhatarpur Phool Mandi, but was again disappointed.
She decided to head for the airport and try at the gift store there but the long queue at the entry gates and frisking zone made her almost miss the flight. All through the flight, she blankly stared out of the window, the darkness of the night skies engulfing her thoughts - how they had met in college, how jubilant Arindam used to be then and how he suddenly started becoming the quiet one, how he always treated her with respect and never dared to come close to her even as he shared so many confidential stories of his life with her.
Her heart ached as the aircraft landed at Kolkata - the city that Arindam spoke so highly off, and had once expressed his desire to explore with Koyel. Who knew, this is how her first visit to Kolkata would look like. Her phone beeped with the message from Diya, "We are taking Arindam to his flat. In his will, he expressed his desire to be buried rather than cremated. Sending you the location ....".
Surprisingly, there were plenty of cabs today at the Arrivals and Koyel did not find it difficult to get an old person who agreed to drive the taxi to Arindam's flat. He also assented to stop at florist shops on the way when Koyel requested him in her broken Bengali, "Uncle, please gari rok deben phool dukaan pele, bahot urgent achhe". Arindam had taught her some Bengali words while they chatted in the library or sat in the shade of the pine trees between their classes.
They stopped at five shops on the way, but all of those were about to pull down the shutters for the day and none had sunflowers. Her hands were now trembling as she felt disgusted at herself for not being able to arrange a single stalk of Arindam's favourite flower. She cried all the way while the taxi whizzed through the bright lights of the city, until the old man spoke again, "Didimoni, ese gechhi. Ei address tai to?". There was an ambulance standing beneath the apartment and it did not take Koyel any time to realise she had reached the right location. Her legs trembled and hands froze as she walked towards the elevator. The security guard on duty interrupted her, "Aap Koyel Madam hain? Karan bhaiya aap ko upar le jaane bole hai."
As they waited for the lift, he regretted, "Bahot achcha aadmi the dadababu, itna jaldi chale gaye. Haay kopaal."
At the doorstep, Koyel recognised some faces she had seen in pictures of Arindam on social media, most of them she knew by name, all with gloomy looks on their faces. She could not control her tears and burst out once Diya came out to hug her. Karan and Diya took her to the bed where the lifeless body of Arindam lay in the unperturbed slumber. Koyel stood like a rock for several minutes until Diya put her hands on her shoulders. "I could not bring his sunflower", Koyel uttered in an almost inaudible lifeless voice. They stood like that for a long while, a deafening silence engulfing the room every minute, till someone said from the drawing room, "Karan, let's take him to the cemetery now, it's already too late."
As they took him to the ambulance downstairs, Koyel sat motionless on the sofa, Diya holding her cold hand between hers while her head rested on Diya's shoulders. Simbu, the orange cat that Arindam had brought home from the litter a year ago, sat calmly on the top of the fridge, gazing at the vacant bed. Once in a while, Simbu made a strange sad sound that caught Koyel's attention. She freed her hands from Diya's and slowly rose to pet him. As she touched his furry forehead, Simbu stood up and jumped to her feet, and instantaneously Koyel yelled with astonishment, "Diya!". Two sunflower strands, with somewhat flaccid petals, and a small yellow note, had fallen on the ground from the fridge-top with Simbu's leap. Diya picked up the note, "Uttor Asbe Na, Tumi Asbei Ami Jani" while Koyel fumbled for the sunflowers.
Back at the grave, Arindam was laid to rest under the warmth of the grassroots while Koyel kept the sunflowers on his chest and kissed his forehead, her tear-drops drenching his face with an unusual glow which had vanished over all these years. Diya consoled her and took her to their car, and they drove back to Arindam's flat to complete the formalities. At the drawing room, Karan handed her a large sealed envelope, "Arindam's last wishes. He had handed it to us a few months ago and asked us to send it to you if he passed away."
With twitching fingers, she opened the envelope and dragged out what seemed to be a legal document. Her eyes flooded with tears as she read it:
"I, Arindam Dutta, son of Late Koushal Dutta, resident of North Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata, hereby declare that I am writing this will out of my free volition and without any coercion or undue influence
whatsoever.
I bequeath the following assets to my dearest friends, Karan Banerjee and Diya Sen:
My plot of land at Shantiniketan. Mouza No.......
My car bearing registration number ......
I bequeath the following assets to my beloved friend, Koyel Gupta:
My apartment, located at North Road, Jadavpur.
Bank balance of my savings account nos.âĻâĻâĻâĻâĻâĻâĻ
All my securities, mutual funds, FDs, stock options and NCDs held in demat account numbers...........
Any other asset not mentioned in this Will but of which I am the owner.
All the above assets are owned by me. No one else has rights on these properties.
I bequeath the following assets to my alma mater, Jadavpur University:
The ancestral house and all other tangible assets owned by my late parents.
Witnesses:.............."
