Dancing to the beats of life - Part 2

 

The banyan tree near Rakshita’s window was swaying mildly in the night breeze.  Rakshita changed to her night wear and sat on the bed gazing towards the stars that she could see from her window. Thoughts were running in her mind like the waves of the sea that can never be stopped. She was scared with the happenings of the day.  His husky voice still rang in her ears, the voice that had the hunger to own her. It irritated her, it make her feel uncomfortable. Turning right and left on the bed she knew this night is going to be long. 

“Did I take the wrong decision of sending him to jail? Is he really a bad guy like I think? What if he really loves me?” for the first time she thought something positive about him, yet she wasn’t satisfied. There was something in him that made her hesitate.

The chimes above her bed where playing a sweet melody, thanks to the breeze. She got lost in the rhythm and slept off in no time.

Varun leaped near Rakshita’s bed, she looked even more beautiful in her sleep. A strand of hair fell over her eyes and her pinkish cheeks invited him. He went closer and kissed her on her cheeks.

Rakshita felt the kiss and sat upright, her hands were shivering, she wondered how he got into the room, she was thinking of shouting and calling her brother.

“Rakshita, I need to talk to you. Don’t get scared of me, my love”, Varun sat near Rakshita’s bed, holding her hand he was questioning her.

 Trying to loosen her hand from his hold, she gathered courage to finally speak.

“Varun what are you doing here? Please leave my hand and dare you come close to me”, she pleaded but to no avail. Varun got up and sat on her bed and came closer to her.

“You sent me to prison Rakshita, but don’t think my love for you is going to be less.” He went so close to her that she could hardly move anymore, she was at the edge of the bed.

He held her face gently and lovingly between her hands, “Don’t you realize the reason why I do all this? I love you Rakshita, why are you making me take wrong decisions. I don’t mind dying for you too. Sending me to prison is not going to keep me far from you”. Rakshita had, had enough now and she screamed her heart out.

Hearing the scream, her brother and mother came running and opened Rakshita’s door. Rakshita was sitting on her bed alone.  Her heart beats were racing faster than the speed of light; she could hear her heart beat “Dhak Dhak Dhak Dhak”.

 “Rakshu beta, what happened”, her mother asked her worriedly. “Nothing maa, it was a nightmare”, Rakshita replied looking around the room. No one was there, she had dreamt of him there, it was her subconscious.

“Rakshu don’t worry about anything, your bhaiya will take care of you”, her brother assured her. Her mother sat next to her till she fell asleep.

The next morning Rakshita woke up and went straight to her brother’s room. “Bhaiya can I talk to you for some time?”. Sushant was immersed in his morning newspaper that barely did he realize Rakshu entering the room. He folded the paper and removed his reading glasses and pulled the chair close to him and asked Rakshu to sit there. Rakshita adjusted her skirt and sat on the chair.

 Her brother held her hands and spoke. “I know Rakshu, you are worried about that boy. Don’t worry he has got what he deserved and he won’t trouble you anymore.”

She replied, “I know bhaiya, but I am worried. Did we take the wrong decision of sending him to jail?”

Sushant assured her that he would take care of her and said, “No Rakshu, he deserved it. I had warned him, yet he continued to disturb you. I had no choice”.

 Rakshita went to class the next day and for obvious reasons tried not to bring Varun in her thoughts.  Raveena however was interested in his whereabouts just because she was asked by Sushant to take care of Rakshita all the time. Varun never returned back to class. No one knew where he was. 3 months had got over and the computer course was also over.  Rakshita had come out from her trauma and had gone ahead in life. She resumed her dance and was ever more dedicated to it. The scare of Varun was there somewhere; however her courage had overshadowed it.

  26th April finally dawned. The day Rakshita had waited for since long. She was going to perform in front of international audience who had come to choose few classical dancers from India for an exchange program.  Rakshita had been preparing for this from quite long. She had got up earlier than usual that morning and started packing her costume and stuff for the program. Her mother came with the aarthi thali and kept a tikka on her forehead. She bent and touched her mother’s feet for blessings. “Be happy child”, her mother blessed her and kissed her on her cheeks. 

 Rakshita was wearing her Bharatnayam costume which was dark blue in color with a red and golden border. She was never nervous when it came to dance. It was what she loved to do. Her name was announced and she went to perform. She could see her mom, dad and brother sitting in the second row that was reserved for the guardians of the participants. On finishing her performance the entire crowd got up to clap and cheer her. The judges were amazed to see her dance. She had the perfect blend of beauty, grace and charm. And her moves and mudras were more perfect than the experienced ones. 

 “Bhaiya I will come home with Raveena, you go home with mom and dad”, screamed Raskhita from the back-stage waving to her brother. 

“Ok Rakshu, come safe”, Sushant went to the car to leave for home.

 “Raveena calling”, Sushant’s display blinked an hour later after he reached home. 

“Bhaiya, Rakshita is missing bhaiya.” Raveena was taking long breaths as she was panting and crying,

“Her phone is also switched off, after you left, she asked me to wait at the parking. I waited for sometime and called her after a while”, Raveena started crying all the more.She stood in the parking all alone and was informing Sushant.

“When I called her, I couldn’t reach her as her phone was switched off.”

Raveena continued rubbing her tears with her duppatta and told Sushant everything, “I decided to go in and check where she was. The back-stage was empty and everyone had left by then. I am getting very scared bhaiya. I hope she is safe.” 

“You wait there Raveena, I am coming”, Sushant rushed to the door with his bike keys and went to the dance academy. He searched the entire place but to no avail. Raveena who had been crying all along called up a number of her friends to find out where Rakshita was. It was all a futile attempt to search for her. Sushant finally decided to give a police complaint.

  “Sir, my sister is missing since evening. “, Sushant complained to the police at the booth. The inspector recognized Sushant and asked him a few questions about where he saw her last and lodged his complaint. He assured him that they would do the needful in searching her. 

Sushant got up to leave, when the inspector stopped him, “Sushant Sir, do you suspect anyone behind this?”

“Yes Sir, you know whom I would suspect”, Sushant was referring to Varun. The inspector said he would let him know the proceedings the next morning. Sushant dropped Raveena at her house and went home.

The road had never been so dark before, his thoughts ran back to Rakshita. He hoped she was safe, he wished she was fine. He screamed sitting alone in his car and cried for his sister. He remembered her as a baby when his mother kept her in his lap for the first time. He had taken her responsibility ever since. He was filled with rage and was worried if Varun had not done anything to her. He prayed, prayed to all the God’s he could think of.

 “Beta, where is Rakshita”, Leela came crying when Sushant entered home.

“Maa, please take care of yourself. Papaa I have informed the police and they said they will let us know the proceedings by tomorrow morning”, Sushant tried to soothe his parents.His dad who was trying to assure his mother was also in a state of shock and could barely realize what was happening around. That night no one slept in peace. They waited for the morning sun so bring their daughter home. 

“Ding dong”, rang the doorbell and leela ran to open it, she prayed to see her daughter standing at the door. But to her disappointment, inspector Tiwari had come with two constables.

“Is Mr. Sushant at home?” he questioned Leela.

“Inspector Saheb, did you get any news about our daughter?” Leela pleaded. Sushant came and held his mother and asked the inspector to come inside their house.

“Sushantji we have some bad news, Varun that scoundrel is also missing since yesterday evening, we are suspecting him to be the reason behind the disappearance of Rakshita, we will inform you if we get to know anything”, Tiwari spoke and got up to leave.

Days passed by, and there was no news about Rakshita. At times Leela would sit in the bench outside her house and see girls of Rakshita’s age . She would go and strike a conversation with them,”Betaji, How are you? Even I have a daughter like you. She dances like a princess you know. But my daughter has gone out somewhere, I don’t know where but I am sure she will be back soon.” At times she would walk aimlessly on the road and wander in search of her daughter. The mother’s heart was in pain. It longed to see the flower of her family.

Rakshita’s father left no stone unturned in his search for his daughter. He tried all the authorities he could to enable faster search. But it was pointless. One day they received a letter  from International dance academy which stated that Rakshita has been selected for the exchange program. All at home dint’ know whether to be happy about it or to be sad. Rakshita’s dream had come true but she wasn’t there to witness it. 

 On 26th May exactly a month after Rakshita went missing, Leela who lay awake in her bed early morning at 4.00 AM was still thinking about her Daughter. She remembered her last performance. Suddenly the doorbell rang. Leela got up wondering who it could be at this hour. She got up and walked to the door. Opening the latch making as less noise as she could, she opened the door. She screamed seeing something and Sushant came running, “Maaaa………………