© Ashish Kumar Tripathi 2020 All rights reserved All rights reserved by author. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within. First Published in July 2020 ISBN: 978-93-90119-10-3 BLUEROSE PUBLISHERS www.bluerosepublishers.com [email protected] +91 8882 898 898 Cover Design: Tyngshain Pariat Typographic Design: Namrata Saini Distributed by: BlueRose, Amazon, Flipkart, Shopclues

Dedication

Dedicated to Divine Mother Lalita, who is the Guide and Guru of all my pursuits.

Preface

Love is an evolution, a transcendental state, an upliftment to the higher realm of life, far beyond the ecstasy of union and pang of separation. Those who “Loved not, lived not”. An eternal love saga, unlike any other, published so far. The theme revolves around two characters-Shruti and Shreyas. Shreyas falls in love with Shruti at first sight and develops eternal pining for her. He is quite aware of the social milieu and is sceptical about the future of his love. But he cannot not resist his pining for her and believes that prayer can do the miracle. He resorts to deep prayer and writes her name in the prayer book as a reminder to his favourite deity, that his eternal desire must be fulfilled. His pining for her, one glimpse, is akin to the pining of Mira-the legendary devotee of Lord Krishna “O black vulture! Eat away everything, of this flesh, but discriminately, only leave these two eyes, for they still hope to see the Beloved. O black vulture pull out these eyes as well and take them to her presence. Only let them have one last glimpse of her before you devour them.” His love is unrequited, Shruti trusts him and is very considerate, but precautious on her part. The astrologers have predicted a very high status for her, she is the ardent follower of the family Deity Shriji, and is endowed

with miraculous spiritual power. At one stage they are quite at the verge of marrying each other but eternal patience and elaborate prayer of Shreyas cannot prevent the inevitable corollary of their fragile love. Papa, Shruti’s father has been in the hard pursuits for a decade to find a suitable groom for Shruti and will not compromise under any circumstances. He finds the boy of his choice and decides to marry Shruti to him. In his sub-conscious mind Shreyas has foreseen such a consequence and he tries to reconcile to his fate but his agony is exacerbated by the insistent demand of Shruti of his coming to attend her marriage and extend his blessings. He accepts the invitation but realizes that being present in the marriage of one’s sweetheart is not an easy task. At the time of the blessing ceremony, he hides himself behind the crowd and is unable to garner the courage to climb the stage, take the flowers from the basket and hurl them at the couple, to bless them and circumambulate the stage. In the end, he must participate in the ceremony, but when he climbs the stage, The Last Rose is left in the basket. He blesses her with it and leaves the place, never to come back. But as Shruti is such a strong devotee of Shriji, if she asks her for any boon, that is granted to her. Before going away from Shreyas’ life, she had prayed for two things for Shreyas - first, success in his career and second, a very beautiful bride for him. Both boons are granted.

Contents

Chapter-1 Chapter-2 Chapter-3 Chapter-4 Chapter-5 Chapter-6 Chapter-7 Chapter-8 Chapter-9 Chapter-10 Chapter-11 Chapter-12 Chapter-13 Chapter-14

Glimpse ...................................................... 1 The Prelude ............................................... 9 Elixir of Life ............................................. 17 Perseverence ............................................. 25 Divine Invocation ...................................... 32 The Pilgrimage ......................................... 38 Paradise ................................................... 45 Over the Moon ......................................... 53 The Angel ................................................ 63 The Devil ................................................. 72 Angel Revisits ........................................... 82 The Mirage .............................................. 93 Prophecy ................................................ 109 Adieu ..................................................... 117

The Last Rose

CHAPTER-1

Glimpse

And then it happened. It was almost an amalgamation of autumn and winter. It was quite cloudy, windy and showery. A left-over of monsoon which had long retreated. Everyone hurried towards a shelter, students towards their classrooms and teachers towards their staff rooms. Three or four of the students were running towards the college gate and behind them walked the divinity. I halted my step, came at a standstill and waited for her to pass through first. I was captivated by the grace and grandeur which had beautifully co-mingled in her. The moon had descended and blissed me with her effulgence. So sublime, so elegant, a rare passing moment was not enough to have full glimpse of her, all I could see was a face which could not be alluded with anything mundane. My worshiping eyes glanced at the goddess, before crossing me, she returned the glance and there was a slight eye-contact. All I could see was good health and height, a robust look and a dominant personality.

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Ashish Kumar Tripathi

In the college, it was a make-shift temporary position for teaching the degree college students without being paid any fixed amount on the regular basis. A very meagre amount was sometimes extended but even that was at the grace of God and mercy of the Principal. Out of the four posts, one regular assistant professor was appointed and the other three posts were lying vacant for many years while the strength of the students was rising phenomenally year after year. Such posts were always filled by aspiring ex-students of the college who were preparing for competitive examinations for becoming government teachers or professors. They would join this responsible yet penniless job in the name of revising, and updating the syllabus. And occasional earning was of great help to meet the expenses of their preparation. It was not even an adhoc position, but it certainly helped many students in the past to discover their confidence, qualify for the examination and even find some tuitions to earn their subsistence. I held such a position in the college. I was very reluctant but successive failures in the competitive examinations and uncertainty of the future compelled me to join it. But after one month, I realized that it did not suit me. Instead of helping me, it was hampering my preparation. Therefore, I had almost made up my mind to quit it. When I was at the verge of doing so, the divinity intervened, and destiny disrupted my scheme. She was called to join the college a month before, at the beginning of the session but she could avail herself from that day onwards only. She was introduced to me by our HOD on that very day. She was Shruti, another ex-student of the college, has joined the same position to fill the remaining vacancy. I was some ten years senior to her and that was the reason I had never seen her before in the college. Though we had met at the college gate in the morning, we did not talk, just customary exchanges -2-

The Last Rose

and congratulations. She was so reticent, that it was difficult to speak to her for any reason. Except in the classroom, she was forever quiet. If she ever spoke, she did it in monosyllables. Life was never the same for me again. I was born and bred in a village, belonged to the most orthodox and conservative family and was naturally shy. It should have been virtually impossible for a person of my temperament to become a devotee of an unknown goddess. But I was not the first victim of the indefinable and inscrutable arrow of Cupid. All my life’s priorities had vanished like stars at the rise of the sun, my whole soul and whole existence was focused now on one thing. In an instant, she became the soul of my soul, life of my life, dream of my dream, heart of my heart and breath of my breath. I was trying to redraw her lovely image in my mind’s eyes all the time. My previous life ended abruptly, and I was reborn. Born to worship and dedicate my whole being unconditionally to an unknown moon goddess. I dreamt only of her and found her omnipresent. I saw her everywhere, in the moon, in the sun, in the sky, in the flowers, wind, landscapes, music, song and every face reflected her image. For many days I did not try to talk to her or to give away any sign of my devotion or emotion; I was so afraid of making any adverse impression on her. Everything was confined to glimpses, glances and vision. Every day I experienced a new realization in my inner world. I heard the melodies where there was no music, I smelled the fragrance where there were no flowers. I became the happiest person at one moment for no reason and saddest person at another and that too for no reason. I laughed for no reason and I cried for no reason. The way I walked and talked was transformed. On her part, she remained or pretended to remain disinterested, but she was conscious of my infatuation towards -3-

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her. She was aware of the glimpses which I stole at her. She was aware of my feelings, and was somewhere pleased and knew the sanctity of it. But she remained quite aloof outwardly. She accepted my glances gracefully, made herself available whenever, wherever I badly needed to have them. She maintained distance and closeness simultaneously. In the eyes of my eyes I have seen and in the heart of my heart I had felt that my emotion for her was not altogether one-sided or was not totally unrequited. Within I had formed eternal union but without I was advancing slowly yet steadily and solidly. I checked and restrained my devotion and chose not to display it outwardly, resorted more to prayers than pursuits. From the early childhood I was indoctrinated that everything or anything could be achieved by prayers and rituals. So far, my prayer and temple going was restricted to my desire to succeed in the exam. But now I had a new objective. I prayed now for the sake of her only. At the end of my daily prayer book I had written her name. ‘SHRUTI’ in the capital letters as a reminder to Almighty that my eternal wish was to be fulfilled by Him. Faith can move mountains and prayers can do miracles became my sole motto to win her. If I glimpsed her or got a chance to exchange a few words with her, I credited the miracle to my prayer. If she was absent from the college unexpectedly, I would pray longer and harder. And yes, her coming back was an answer to my prayer. Though my success in competitive exam was much delayed but the last result was very close, and I hoped to clear it in my next attempt. I had not given-up and invested my every moment in study, was very economical about time, very ambitious about my goal and normally did not spare a single minute for anyone. But there was a great compromise in this respect, and I had hours to spare for one glance of the effulgence of my divine -4-

The Last Rose

moon. All the classes were morning classes, I used to leave the college at 12 pm and she at 1 pm. In order to get one passing view of her, I used to hide myself in the public garden, every day without letting anyone know about it. My thoughts were indescribable and my emotions inscrutable. Every day brought to me new transcendences, the more I thought of her, the more purged my heart and mind became. My survival in the college depended on my performance which was reported by the students. Therefore, I had to be held high in their esteem. I started taking meticulous care towards my look and classroom performances. I read more, revised more and to everyone’s surprise I became punctual. My ever-lasting routine of sleeping and waking at fixed time, was totally disrupted and my afternoon napping was getting longer and longer. To my good fortune, some meritorious students had spoken most favourably of me. It was due to my shyness that despite total self-surrender and blind infatuation towards her, I showed no desperation and did nothing untoward in the college. I was calm and composed throughout and considered myself blessed and fulfilled because of our co-existence there. The piece of music and piece of literature were no longer the same for me. I had a deep, new understanding of them now. The lyrics of songs produced new meanings to me. The songs I would not have tolerated even for a minute some days ago, I was engrossed and enrapt for hours in a meditative manner. The mention of moon in the love song had true meaning for me and the sight of moon bore new ecstasy. The whole night could pass off in an instant at the lovely sight of the moon, the vision of the moon became the vision of her. The effulgence could uplift my soul heavenward, I would not have believed a fig a few days ago. Flowers produced her fragrance and roses displayed her complexion. I would have laughed at the idea a few days ago. -5-

Ashish Kumar Tripathi

The breeze sung her tune and carried her presence, clouds instilled rapture in me, she emerged in their patches and filled the whole sky with her name inscribed in the rainbow. I was not the only one to be mesmerized by her, others were fascinated by her as well. She had the maximum strength of students in her class, more of the boy students than girls. If she walked, she was always surrounded by curious students who sought her proximity on the pretext of queries. The guard at the bicycle stand always greeted her by calling her ‘officer Saheb’. She was flattered but she was too innocent to see the lust in his eyes. The book seller showed undue leaning towards her and gave her unexpected discount. The English Department which was quite deserted just a few days ago, got suddenly crowded by professors of other subjects as well. They started gathering there on some pretext or another. The most lecherous of them was professor Govardhan, of the Geography department, who was notoriously known as Gogo sir. He had a hefty salary, immense ancestral property, and ran a successful private school. A middle-aged man but still a bachelor, he chased her everywhere, wanted her as his life-partner. He was in a hurry, expected to win her in a snap of fingers. He bragged before her about his wealth and position. As he had built his house quite close to the college, he walked there every day. But only for crossing the distance of a few yards, he drove his new, bright blue Suzuki S Cross. I had an early rival in him, but I was more than pleased and relieved to know that Shruti hated him and maintained maximum distance from him. He had odd manners and a big belly, and was interested in everything except teaching. He was abhorred as a professor among his students, and his classes were always skipped by them. The more he pressed Shruti, the more despicable he became for her. Shruti no longer came to the Department anymore, she spent her spare -6-

The Last Rose

hours in the college, in the common hall of the girl students where she used to sit a few years ago as a student. There she was quite out of reach of Gogo and that made him more desperate and impatient. He started chasing her at the gate and in midway everywhere. She was scared, discussed the concern with me, and reposed her trust in me. I advised her to approach the principal and lodge a complaint against him. Though she agreed but decided to delay and wait. Every day Gogo stopped her at the gate, proposed to her and chased her. That day, she was determined to approach the principal. She did go to his office but that day she was informed that he had gone to the state capital, would return after two days. Gogo also had the news of principal’s absence and got bolder. While she was returning, he went after her as usual. When she did not yield to his advances, he caught her by her hand. She got angry and created an uproar. Many other professors and teachers gathered there. Gogo pleaded his innocence and swore that he had intended nothing wrong. The matter was suppressed, and she left crying. I remained a mute witness on that occasion. I wanted to talk to her but she vanished from sight shortly. So far, I only knew her name; I did not know her address or anything about her family. Her crying broke me down and I cried too. She did not come to the college the next day. I remained at the first-floor corridor of the college, peeping downward to catch a single glimpse of her walking in the college premises. To see her walking there was a heavenly event, but there was no trace of her in the college that day. She did not come the next day, or even the day after. I wandered for hours around the whole city in hope of meeting her by accident, but my search proved to be all in vain. Now one last option was left before me. That was to pray. I prayed, and chanted for hours before I came to college, hoping for a divine miracle. For the -7-