The Second Time..

(This story is a continuation of the 3rd part of the story. Please read the 1st 2nd and 3rd part also)

Part 1 - Unusual Train Story

Part 2 - Ultimate B'day Gift

Part 3 - Last Message
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“Stop crying dear. He has just gone to US. Don’t worry. We will meet him soon”, consoled Shekar looking at his teary eyed daughter. Never had he seen his daughter cry so much in life. They drove back quietly to their home.

On reaching home, they were quite surprised that the hall lights were switched on. I had switched off the lights before I started to the airport.. Hope Ganga has not woken up.. She will create a big problem.. Shekar’s thoughts wandered randomly.

Shekar opened the main door and saw Ganga sitting in the sofa with her arms crossed. Madhu stopped crying after seeing her mom.

“Could somebody explain to me what is happening here?” questioned Ganga.

“Its nothing big.. I will explain in the morning...” explained Shekar, trying to calm things down.

“Tell me now..”, demanded Ganga.

Not seeing any options for escape, Shekar told her what had happened till now.

As soon as Shekar started speaking, Ganga’s eyes widened and she sat back upright.
She was completely awake from her sleep. Ganga was visibly shaken at the events that had happened. When Shekar finished, Ganga stared at Madhu and then looked back at Shekar and spoke, “Shekar, what has happened to you? What have you done? Did you really understand what you were doing? You did not bother to tell me anything..”

Shekar kept mum. Ganga turned towards Madhu and spoke, “Do you want me to live anymore?”

Madhu stared at her and tears rolled down her cheeks once more. “Amma..”, she started to reply. Ganga raised her hand. She spoke in a low voice to Madhu, “Just because I scold you a lot it does not mean I don’t understand you”. Madhu’s eyes lit up. Ganga continued, “But if you ask me what is more important to me.. my religion or my daughter, you know my answer.”

Madhu waited with bated breath for her mom’s decision. Ganga continued, “It’s my religion”, Madhu sunk back into the sofa. Shekar was unmoved. He had known Ganga for far too long to expect something different.

Ganga got up and spoke to both of them, “ I am telling you both about this one last time. If you want me to live, stop all this crap”. She looked at Madhu, “You don’t want me to die.. do you?”. Madhu nodded her head in disagreement. “Good then”, Ganga spoke.

She looked deep into Madhus' eyes, “You know I mean it..” and she went inside her bedroom and slept off. Madhu and Shekar tried to sleep but could not. Shekar hugged his precious child and they both slept off in the Sofa.


“Please put on your seat belts, the flight will take off in 10 minutes”. The airhostess voice disturbed Sam’s thoughts. Sam went back to his thoughts. Who is that guy who spoke in the phone. Will Madhu ever think about me.. She must be hugging her dolls and sleeping..

As the flight took off, Sam could see the lights, the roads and the beautiful river that criss-crossed his beautiful city. I miss you Chennai.. I miss you Madhu.. You will be forever in my thoughts and my soul..


Sam was exhausted after the 28 hour long journey. He joined a big queue at the immigration office.

“What your name?”, spoke the officer.

“Samuel Jackson”

Sam then completed all the enquiries and had his I 94 attached to his passport.

“So first time in US?”, questioned the officer.

“Yes Sir. I am going to miss my family”, replied Sam.

“Don’t worry young man.. You will be alright.. who all in your family?”

“Dad, mom, my sis Rebecca and Madhu”, replied Sam without thinking. Quickly re-thinking he said, “Just dad, mom and Rebecca”

The officer looked at him and smiled. “Good day Sir”

“Thank You”

Sam started towards the main exit. No signs of any person from onsite he wondered.

“Hi, What’s up dude?”, came a voice.

Sam turned back and saw Mr. Sundaram. He replied, “Hello sir, how are doing?”

“Good man.. Long flight?”, smiled Sundaram. He grabbed a bag and led Sam towards his car.


After about half an hour into the drive, Sundaram spoke, “So how are you finding the place?”

“It’s good sir, but very very cold. I am seeing the snow for the first time in my life.”

“You have come in the middle of winter dude. And please don’t call me sir.. call me Ram”

“Yes sir.. I mean.. yes Ram”

“Good. I have asked my associates for your accommodation. You can stay with them. I am married man.. no place in my home..”, chuckled Ram.

“That’s fine Sir.. I will be good”

The reached their destination and Ram stopped the car and got down. Sam also followed him. Ram introduced him to all the other employees staying in the home. Ram looked at Sam, “I know you are going to have a great time. Sleep and eat well. You should be at the office at 8 am sharp. No delays. Gotcha”. Ram waved good bye to everybody and left off.

“So Major Ram firing full shots now itself”, chuckled Vishal. Major.. he he.. All of them started laughing.

After a good night’s sleep and after having some good food, Sam went to his office the next day. His day went way too hectic. He had never done so much work in his entire stay at offshore. He got his mobile a week later and spoke with everybody at home. He called up Bharath and he froze when he heard the whole story. His eyes became moist.

He then called up Madhu’s mobile. Not being able to reach it, he called up her landline number.

“Hello, Is Madhu there?” spoke Sam.

“May I know who this is?” came a reply.

Recognizing Madhu’s moms’ voice Sam replied, “I am Sam. Aunty”

There was silence at the other end. “So you are the person for whom my daughter ran off..”. Ganga then hurled abuses at Sam. She started shouting again, “If you ever try to call my daughter, you will have me directly speaking with your mom and dad
and the police.. You got it?”

Sam just listened and then replied ,“Ok aunty” and hung up. There was one hell of bitterness in his heart. Even my mom and dad have not scolded me in decades. What a family.. dad, daughter and now mother.. everybody scolds me.. This is definitely the last time.. I will speak to any of them..

His days became even busier with lots of work from office. Being on 24x7 support is damn tough. But Sam liked it. It kept him away from his thoughts of Madhu and his home.

After 9 months at the New Jersey office, Sam was buried under tons and tons of work. The 16 hour work shifts coupled with no entertainment or good food slowly robbed him of all the excitement in his life. With each passing day, he was very desperate to meet his mom and dad. He tried hard not to think about Madhu but no matter how much ever he tried, he could not keep his thoughts away from his angel.. his soul.. He sometimes repented having taking such a stupid decision to leave Chennai.


It was a fine Monday morning and Sam sat half asleep in the meeting hall along with team mates. ‘Major’ Ram was giving instructions on their new assignment. They were missing their client who was supposed to attend that meeting.

Ram looked at his team and questioned, “Where is Adam? Any ideas?”

“I know sir. He has gone to meet Eve..”, came a joking reply. The whole team started laughing.

Sam was fully awake now and saw a beautiful girl sitting towards the left end of the table. Such courage.. to joke in front of the ‘Major’.. hmm.. cool..

“No jokes here”, came the reply. Ram smiled at her gently.

Soon after the meeting was over, Sam went up to that girl’s desk. “That takes a lot of courage to speak like that”, he spoke to the girl.

“Not much I guess”, came back the reply.

“I am Sam. I work for Answers Interactive project”, Sam extended his hand for a hand shake.

“Hey cool.. I am also assigned to the same team. My name is Tarika”
Tarika.. hmm.. good name.. good girl. Sam smiled at her and went to his desk.


Soon Tarika and Sam became good friends. She was also from TamilNadu and spoke Tamil. They bonded well and started roaming the city together, eating outside. Suddenly Sam seemed to enjoy life much more.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” questioned Tarika.

“Nothing yaar.. Just at home. Some special pooja” laughed Sam.

“I know about all your poojas. I am going to Nigara Falls tomorrow. You have to join me”

“Ok dude.. Done!!”

However Tarika had to change her plans and she called him up later at night and spoke, “Sam, my best friend is coming here from India. I have to pick her up from the airport tomorrow. So we will not be able to go to Niagara tomorrow. Is that ok with you?”

“No probs dude”

“Hey, do you want to join me for the drive to pick her up?”

“Yeah that should be fine. What time?”

“I will pick you up at 8 in the morning”

“8am .. too early.. but I will come”, Sam sighed.

“Common dude.. get up early and work more.. lazy guy”, taunted Tarika.

“Ok madam..” Sam laughed, “take care..bye..”

“Bye sweetheart”, came the reply.


They reached the airport at 9am. Sam was in really good mood and was cracking all sorts of jokes. Tarika requested Sam to get her a cup of coffee while she waited for her friend near the exit. Sam jogged to the nearest Barista, got some hot chocolate for himself and coffee for Tarika. He walked back to the place where Tarika was standing. Her friend stood a little far off calling somebody on a mobile with her back facing them.

“Here is your coffee..and hold mine too while I tie my shoelace”, Sam handed Tarika the two cups. Sam bent down to tie his shoelace.

“Sam, I want you to meet my best friend”, spoke Tarika.. and her friend turned back.. “She is Madhu.. and Madhu.. This is Sam.”

Sam looked up.. and was SCHOCKED!! Madhu.. his angel stood there.. right in front of eyes. I thought I had missed her forever.. I know God.. I know you are kind.. I know you will send Madhu to me somehow.. but what has happened to Madhu.. She is not the angel that I left off in chennai.. Why is she so pale and sick.. He just kept staring at her as Madhu stared back at him.

“Hello.. You guys know each other?”, interrupted Tarika.

“.. Nnn. No..”, Sam spoke as recovered from the shock of his life. “Where is the baggage?” Sam tried to change the conversation and picked up the baggage walked ahead. He could see from the corner of his eyes that Madhu was still staring at him.

He dropped them home. He was restless the whole day. He could not sleep properly at night. He got a call from Tarika the next day morning.

“Hey Sam, we are going to the Central Park. Want to join us?”

Sam thought hard. If I go Madhu will keep staring at me if I don’t then I will miss the last chance that god has given me to speak with her. I still love her. I have to go.. now or never…

“Yeah.. will join you guyz..”

Madhu and Tarika were sitting on the Central park bench. Tarika spoke, “What is the problem Madhu? You are a ghost of what I saw you last time. You don’t eat these days nor do you speak? What is your problem?”

“Nothing yaar. Mother is not feeling well.. That’s why..” her voice trailed off.

“Ok if you don’t want to say then fine.. oh there he is”

Madhu turned back to see Sam jogging in. He had two roses in his hand. Tarika grabbed the roses from him. “Thanks.. my man..”

Sam was speechless. He had intended to give each one a rose. He really could not do much when Tarika grabbed the rose from his hand. I hope Madhu does not get angry with me.. He kept quiet and and as expected Madhu got really angry with him.

“Oh.. come on fellas..”, Tarika jumped up.. “you guyz can keep staring as we walk”.

Tarika caught Sam’s hand and motioned Madhu to come. Madhu shot an angry glance at Sam. Sam wriggled out his hand. Tarika felt something was going on here. There is something between both of them but I am very sure that both of them will NOT tell me about it. I perhaps know what it is thought Tarika. She then caught Madhu’s hand and all three of them went for a walk. I am just not able to talk with her.. One chance and everything should be ok.. just one chance I need my lord.. thought Sam.

Sam could see Madhu talking on the phone with someone. He desperately wanted to know who she was talking to all the time. Could it be that guy who spoke to Bharaththought Sam.

“I am fine dad.. I am all ok with it.. I have some invitations here.. I will distribute.. Is mom alright? Take care”, Madhu hung up on her dad. Sam was not able to talk with Madhu with Tarika around all the time. After the walk, Sam reached his home while Madhu and Tarika went back to their home.


Sam could not work properly next week. Tarika was amazed as to how Sam had changed from a cool happy guy to a person who was always lost in deep thoughts. She invited him home the following Friday. Sam was happy that he would be able to meet Madhu and speak with her and tell her everything he wanted to tell her. He reached home and rang the door bell.

Tarika opened the door, “Come in Mr.Hero, want some tea?”. Sam nodded and went inside expecting to see Madhu.

“Where is your friend… Madhu?”, Sam questioned.

“She has left to India.. She came here for a small work..She has gone back”

Oh no!! not again.. Sam sunk back into the sofa and shifted his head back and closed his eyes in disappointment. He had lost his final chance. Tarika looked curiously at him.

“You OK?”, questioned Tarika.

Sam opened his eyes slowly and spoke, “Yeah..some tea please..”

Sam saw a yellow colored envelope lying on the table. He opened it and saw a brightly decorated card. He read it and his head started spinning fast.. “Madhu..”, he screamed and tried to stand up and then.. suddenly he fell flat on the floor..

Tarika rushed towards him and checked his heartbeat.. “Sam, you hear me??” She pressed her ears over his heart expecting to hear a feeble heartbeat, but she could not hear anything.. She took the card from Sam’s hands and read it ..“Madhu Weds Venkat”

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