June 22, 2012, I am writing down these lines as memories of what happened on this day last year, June 22, 2011 came flooding back. As usual, I was a thousand miles away from home but this time I was overseas for a 6 weeks academic internship. As I flipped the pages of my internship journal, the pages of June 22 and 23 were torn off. It took me some time to recall why those pages were missing. Oh! Yeah, those two days I was making notes on the product shoots at my boss’ studio. He asked me for those notes so I tore them off. Nothing personal was written in those notes but what happened later that day was.
As the hand of the clock waved at 6, I was winding up my day’s work. 30 minutes later, as I was walking at the pedestrian way towards my sister’s apartment I called up a friend. Those conversations could have been just another ‘random’ words and sentences, until two days later I was about to realise they were the last words I’d ever hear from him again or maybe not...
Coming back to the present June 22, 2012; in the early morning after watching the Portugal-Czech Republic match of Euro 2012, I switched on the laptop to watch the movie ‘ A little bit of Heaven’ for a time pass as we have to wave off a friend at 4:30 am . The movie wasn’t a ‘wow!’ type of movie and if I had known the storyline I might have not watched it on this particular day. Anyway the movie shows a young woman named Marley who unexpectedly have cancer, but she had the time to bid farewell to her close folks on her final days. Pretty sad, I only watched it to keep awake as we have to see off our friend. But the movie brought back all those memories about the conversation of June 22, 2011. If others had seen my tears, they might’ve thought it was because of the movie; although the movie did evoke the memories and emotions of the past year.
June 23, 2011, again another regular usual day until I heard about the accident. Accidents do happen; we’ve all met accidents and survived. ‘He’ll survive’, that’s what we hoped. And there I was a thousand miles away, feeling crippled; nothing I could do but pray.
June 24, 2011, it was almost midnight and I received the inevitable call... ‘he was no more’. Rewinding the conversation two days back, I had thought those were his last words until two weeks later I checked my mobile inbox list; there I found his message, sent the night before his accident. Strange, I must have opened it while I was half asleep and I left it unreplied. Could that be a sign for a 'goodbye/farewell', I don't know. Unlike Marley, he never bid goodbye nor farewell. I guess he didn't have the time, may be it wasn't necessary.
These 3 days, I will always remember. And after two days, I know I might be weeping recalling the bygone years.
Is it a coincidence; I often wonder...remembering the first and last words spoken to a person. And I remember those two instances vividly as if it was yesterday. Strange...
