This is the sixth part of a novella “The Confession”.
Read the rest of the novella here
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After having driven a good part of 7 hrs, Ram and David finally turned into Arya Gowder road in West Mambalam, Chennai at one end of which Ram’s parents stayed. After 10 odd mins of jostling through hectic weekend traffic , they finally parked the Honda City outside the house with one wheel on the footpath just like every other car in West Mambalam was parked and stepped outside. By the time they had stretched their muscles, a girl came running out of the flat on the ground floor and abruptly stopped in front of David.
Noticing no change in David’s reaction, she then turned quizzically to Ram, who smiled “David, meet Priya, my sister. And Priya, I am not going to introduce David to you. In fact for the sheer number of missed calls and text messages that you have sent me over the past 5 days I should not even have introduced you to David. He has no clue the amount of trouble he is in.”
From her expression it was clear that Priya had a lot of things to say to David, but without uttering even one word or even saying a hello, she quietly took both David’s and her brother’s backpacks from the car and took them inside the flat. David was quite surprised by this deadly silence from her as he had at least expected the basic courtesies that people usually extend to people they meet for the first time. Shrugging his shoulders, he walked behind her into the flat.
As soon as he walked in, he first saw Priya walking into a room and for some funny reason he thought he saw her crying. Before he could give this any further thought, an old lady who seemed to be Ram’s mother came up to him and hugged him. “David, how are you? Thank God your accident didn’t turn out to be any more serious than it was and you got away with just a few scratches.”
“Come, wash up and sit at the dining table. As usual, we have reserved your favorite chair for you, right next to uncle. He has just gone to buy some potato chips, which you love having with sambar rice. He will be right back. And also, save some space in your stomach for the Semia Payasam specially made for you.”
The sheer warmth of the greeting and the genuine motherly love that Ram’s mother showed David made him feel right at home even though he didn’t remember having met them before at all. In his heart he was sickened at not being able to remember this wonderful old lady, let alone reciprocate all the love she was showering upon him. He felt miserable at his condition right now more than anytime else. After all, what use were good memories if they didn’t come back to you at appropriate times.
Ram’s father turned out to be quite a jovial person although David did get the feeling that from time to time he held himself back from asking any questions which he might find odd or hard to answer. Although Priya joined them for lunch, she didn’t utter a word, all the while stealing glances at David whenever her dad or mom spoke to him hoping for any hints that he recognized her or any of them in that room. The only person in that room that David was having any real conversation with was her brother Ram, and that was also probably because he had know him for a full 5 days now, 5 days more than he knew any of the rest of them.
It was funny, she thought, how the human brain works, how one small bump on it could so easily erase countless moments of life, countless memories.
Funnily enough, coincidentally David was thinking of the exact same thing at the same moment.
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This post has been written for the Write Tribe Festival of Words 2 where today’s prompt had to be about travel.
This is the sixth post in a novella “The Confession” that I am writing trying to correlate the same to the Write Tribe Festival of Words 2.
Read the rest of the novella here
Soul mates!? So keen to know the connection between Priya and David now!! Is this story coming to an end tomorrow?
@Shilpa, yes, the story doesn’t end tomorrow, so do bear with me for at least 3 more days 🙂
I was actually going to ask this… i was waiting these past few days to finish reading the whole thing before commenting in toto… it occurred to me that tomorrow would be the last day of the festival 🙂
@Roshan, my novella actually has 10 chapters and I will post the rest of the chapters on Sun, Mon and Tue, and on Wed, I will probably put up the entire novella as a PDF for download as well. Feel free to comment on Tuesday after reading the whole novella 😀
Wow! Similar thoughts. 🙂
I hope the story is not ending tomorrow and we definitely are going to see some love and romance (at least in his dreams tomorrow) to add to the already interesting plot. 🙂
Thoda aur chalega! 😀
@Rekha, the story doesn’t end tomorrow, you will have to wait for three more days to see how the story pans out 🙂
Even I am wondering…if the story has to end tomorrow then how?? Or is this all a dream
@Bhagyashree, the story doesn’t end tomorrow, goes on for at least 3 more days 🙂
Aah …I absolutely loved how you interwove all the prompts into this beautiful novella . Now I am left wondering what will happen when once David remembers everything and how would Priya respond . Hope everything will end happily ..oops but not quickly though 🙂
@Sridevi, the ending is still a few posts away, the novella doesn’t end tomorrow, but 3 more chapters later, read the rest of it and enjoy 🙂
is it all a dream? oops… sorry for jumping the gun :p
@Shalini, it is not a dream, and it doesn’t end tomorrow 🙂
After all, what use were good memories if they didn’t come back to you at appropriate times.
how true!
I am waiting for David to regain his memory and how he will re-gain would be very interesting. Or will regain in Ram’s house? My inquisitive mind will allow me to be quiet.
@Kalpana, the novella does not end tomorrow, there are a few more chapters in David’s story. You have no option but to wait at least a couple of more days for the story to end 🙂
Jairam, I do not want your novella to end so soon. Its a pleasure reading your fluid narration.
@Kalpana, it won’t end tomorrow, there’s three more posts in the novella, so make the most of it 😀
Will be interesting to read how Priya is connected to David 🙂 Btw Chips with Sambar.. that was enough to like the post!
@Seeta, another favorite combination of mine as well 🙂 and wait for tomorrow’s post to find out more about how Priya is connected to David
Both thinking the same thing…awesome…keep going!
@Aditi, you noticed that, wait for tomorrow 🙂
Phew..finally I got time to comment on your post today Jairam. Was wrecking my brain to catch up with the daily prompts 😛 The suspense is still killing..I can see a love angle in this chapter 😉 let me catch up with your remaining posts.
@Sunita, not to worry, the story doesn’t end tomorrow but continues for 3 more days
Ah! I am peace knowing that this story is going to continue and will be then available for download 🙂
Wil re read then again and comment in details!!
@privytrifles, thank you so much 🙂
I think I like this girl Priya 😉
@Bhavya, thanks 😀
So tomorrow the suspense ends.. Right?
@obsessivemom, no, the novella has 3 chapters after tomorrow as well 😀
[…] [Chapter 6 – People] […]
If his old memories are not supporting him, he can enjoy the moment to create some new ones… Though too difficult in such condition, optimism makes the ways
@Shelly, that is a nice suggestion 🙂
So interesting, Jairam. I feel terribly sorry for Priya that David does not remember what she meant to him. I am assuming there is a romantic interest there.
@Rachna, am not giving anything away, we have three more chapters for the novella to complete 🙂
I hope you are going to turn this into a love story. Soulmates – thinking alike!
@Suzy, am not giving anything away, we have three more chapters to go before the novella finishes 🙂
More twists… and well I like that finally David has something more to his life than just the loss of memory. A love angle now!! Waiting!
Richa
@Richa, the story has another 3 chapters to go, enjoy 🙂
Loved this part. Nice people he met and a hint of romance as well.
It’s strange how two people think alive and sad how a small bump can erase memories.Loved it:)
@Vishal, thank you 🙂
[…] [Chapter 6 – People] […]
We never give so much importance to memories as such. We so take it for granted. Now that I read David’s story. .I see how horrible it is not to be able to remember loved ones and even basic stuff like what he likes to eat. It’s quite traumatic for both the person and the family.
@Preethi, glad you are able to enjoy the finer nuances of the story so far 🙂
[…] [Chapter 6 – People] […]
[…] [Chapter 6 – People] […]
Ah! definitely going somewhere now… 🙂 this line was a gem.. “what use were good memories if they didn’t come back to you at appropriate times.” true it is..