Freedom From Yesterday

A vibrant scene from a shopping mall shapes before Anita’s eyes.

- by Sreelekha Chaterjee

All cheerful customers are busy with their purchases—young couples, hands clasped, smiling at one another; middle-aged men and women mindfully shopping for their much-needed items; children laughing and running around, occasionally being reminded by their parents about appropriate behavior in a public place. Sounds of spirited chatter and light music fill the air, when suddenly gunshots are heard, initially mistaken to be firecrackers. Two masked men open fire on the crowd, and within seconds, blood-soaked bodies fall on the ground like dry leaves from the trees. Hiding behind a shelf displaying merchandise, far from the place where the gunmen are standing, she feels her body turn cold from head to foot. The screams and yowls enfilade her nerves like a hacksaw on her bones. While her heart attempts to stop, the whole world whirls in front of her eyes, as if she is on a Ferris Wheel, before she falls into a swoon.

The next thing she sees is her own drawing room, where she is seated, with her feet propped up on a sofa, leafing through a magazine. A wall-hung happy picture of her husband, Sanjay, her son, Neel, and herself stares at her. It has been ages since that incident, but whenever it surfaces in her pages of remembrance, she feels the noose of dread tighten around her neck.

Overcome by thunderhead storms of heartache and inexplicable sadness, her eyes well up with tears, as if she has chanced upon a long-lost lover whose separation she has mourned so deeply.