64

Sham reported to the police station in the afternoon and went away hurriedly. He had a meeting with his old accomplice, Rattan Singh Thakur. The information was exchanged. Sham had managed to dig out the closed file of Nirmal Singh Thakur of his death some eighteen years ago. He was found dead and the file was closed unsolved. 

Nirlmal Singh Thakur had been to Lucknow and on his return was killed by unknown person for unknown reason. No charges were framed and nobody was arrested. Sham had found out that Nirmal Singh Thakur had been to lucknow to sell a property and the prospective buyer was one Mr. Shamsher Sharma. Shamsher was the last person who had seen Nirmal Singh Thakur, alive. But investigation proved that he had nothing to do with the death of Nirmal Singh Thakur!! Sham and Rattan Singh Thakur filed a petition to reopen the case of "Murder ofr Nirmal Singh Thakur!

** ** **

"The keys... could be heirlooms!" he had a weak explanation which no one could buy.
Papaji got up with a jerk. "That's it! And what about the funeral they saw together when they were awake?" he asked. 

"That's hallucination! They were hungry and were almost unconscious!" said the psychologist.
"Ok. Now I have some facts and a legendary story of a person... which strangely matches the dreams..!" Papaji created enough excitement, curiosity and suspense. Everyone gaped at him. He looked once at Nani and said "Arnav's Nani and Guptsa too have heard about this legend!"
"A boy was a loner since he lost his mother when he was a day old. His step mother systematically tarnished his image and he was called a cursed boy. He grew up alone in a Haveli full of family members and servants. He stayed away from everyone. He had an aura of some mystery around him. His step mother kept him away from her biological children. Only the youngest of her daughter was close to him. Only she could talk to him. He never interfered in family affairs but the family members were scared of him; May be because of the guilt conscious about doing injustice to the child. 

He went in adoption to his eldest, issueless maternal uncle at the age of fifteen. The moment he left his family, the family's downfall began. He went to his adoptive family and that family flourished. He took over the entire family business as the eldest son at the age of sixteen and with his business acumen took the business to the top.

The cursed child became the good luck charm for his adoptive family. He gradually took over the entire business and property of his biological family. The children in his earlier family hated him to the core blaming him for their plight as they were left with nothing, thanks to his step mother who tarnished his image!!... They were dragged on road. 

His business grew exponentially but his mysterious side of life remained in the dark. Though he got married and had a son, he never was emotionally involved as a family man. 

He was a ruthless person with no mercy or kindness in business. He achieved what he wanted at any cost by any means. He always had pursed lips never letting a single extra word leave his mouth. Everyone was scared of him. He didn't care!"

Papaji waited for some reactions. 

"The man I saw in my dreams is the same!" Arnav spoke after a while in deep voice.
"It matches your description!" said the psychologist. No one spoke anything.

Papaji continued...

"But he had a softer side! It was said that he loved a girl. He loved her more than he loved himself. It was said that the girl got married. The man was left heartbroken. His hatred towards the world intensified. He focused on his business and succeeded ruthlessly, killing all his competition with his business prudence. He became one of the top five steel manufacturers in the world. He succeeded in everything he took up with his Midas touch. The softer side of his life remained untold. It was a tragedy conventionally. They could not be united physically. But they were soul mates. No one could separate them. Their eternal love made it to a legend.
At a very young age of Thirty, he left everything. He transferred his business to his loyal associates, Most of the agricultural land he gave away to the cultivators, He transferred his belongings and a huge haveli in Delhi to his youngest step sister and left his adoptive family. He came back to his native and ... it was said .. 

He died of no apparent cause. He was just found dead on his bed with a silk dupatta on his face. It seemed he had just stopped breathing at his will. He had a smile on his face. 

It was said that the girl too died on the same day at the same time, and for no apparent cause of death. She had just stopped breathing....!" Papaji went out of breath and waited for some time to stabilize his breathing and sooth his throat with chilled water. 

Mummiji said nodding her head "This legendary story matches with what these two were dreaming of!" 

"Exactly!" the psychologist was excited too. 

"This affirms my theory. These two must have heard this kind of story in their childhood or infancy for that matter and are now recreating their so called dreams!" He said looking around for appreciation.

Papaji shook his head. "May be! But I know this is not a legend! It is a true story!" he said.
"When I came to know about this, I was not aware of the other side. The girl's story still remained untold. I knew they were cremated at the same time...!" Papaji said gravely.
Arnav got up from his seat with excitement, so did Khushi.

"We saw the funeral. We saw in that outpouring rain on the gomti bank!" Said Arnav looking at Khushi.

"See! Hallucination...!" Declared the psychologist. 

"Agreed! But now listen to Arnav about his journey upto the banks of Gomti river to see the funeral!" Papaji looked at him and he nodded.

"You know, when Khushi went away, I had a strange feeling that we are close to solving the mystery of our dreams. I accidently stumbled upon the images of old structures in Lucknow. When I saw this building of oberoi hotel... I knew that this was the badi haveli I used to see in my dreams. I went to the oberois and talked to the owners. I told that I was here only to ask about the old building. To make them tell me the truth, I talked about the Maliks who sold them the haveli. The manager said, that this was the ghost building and the top floor was still kept intact while everything else got renovated, keeping the look and feel of the old building intact. It was said that the Ghost of the owner still stayed in the room. I asked him to show me the room. He was scared to enter but I took the keys and entered. The moment I entered I got the deja vu feeling that I had been there .. in my dreams!! 

"I knew where the vault was camouflaged and opened the vault and brought the contents here" Arnav stopped to breath so did everyone else. 

"I Looked at the old papers and I found his Will. The property still belongs to his descendents. I found this key in that vault!! " said Arnav.

"When he died no one dared enter his room. The servants just maintained the room as it is. It was said to have haunted. Whoever opened it with malicious motive died a painful death. That's what the legend says!" Said Papaji looking at Nani and she nodded.

He was a terror in his lifetime. No one was close to him. Though married, he always lived alone. He had been ruthless, merciless and full of vengeance when it came to business. He literally brought his opponents on their knees. !" Papaji went on unfolding the story.

"Yeah, this is it! The legend... these two must have heard the stories... Remember this is a story! It need not be a fact. The story running through generations and everyone making his own addition to the story!" Said the psychologist. But papaji stopped him in the middle and said.

"I have the proof of this. "The Pioneer, which used to get printed and published from Lucknow, published the news of his death since he was renowned personality." I dug out the digitized copy of 28th July 1948. And its mentioned there that the cause of death is a mystery. He took out the paper print and showed it. 

"You see, when I heard the story from Khushi, I read the entire paper carefully and see here... in obituary a small mention of Mrs. Nirmaladevi Sharma's death on the same day. The cause of the death again is not known" Papaji looked at Babuji for confirmation. 

"Babuji nodded. Khushi's amma said "Yes, Nirmaladevi Sharma is Khushi's grandmother! She died when Khushi's father Shamsher was very young. When Khushi's parents died in an accident, we brought her with us collecting her belongings from her house!"
Arnav and Khushi looked at each other.

"And Shamsher Singh Thakur died survived by Nirmal Singh Thakur, Arnav's father!" Papaji continued. 

"The keys are heirlooms! They are of our grandparents. And these too!" Khushi was still standing flared up.

She took out a wooden box and looked at Arnav. He took out similar box from his bag and started taking out the things..

She took out dried leaves folded neatly in silk handkerchief, took out zoomkas intricately designed with real stones, took out choodis, took out silk scarf, a wedding photograph.. !"
He took out property papers, some beads, some pebbles, and a small photograph of a girl, a black thread, a broken mirror and some pearls!" 

"Look at the identical boxes... these are the heirlooms too!" she said looking at the psychologist. Everyone just gaped at Arnav and Khushi. "Do you still say It was only a legend?" The psychologist had no answer. He said "Might be.." 

Khushi gave a hollow laugh.
"You know, we were haunted by these dreams for so many months... and when we finally got to know what they were... we found out that we were destined to meet each other and no one can separate us!" she held Arnav's hand. 

"You call it anything... say that we have a psychological problem... but you cannot deny the fact that we found out the identical keys and the boxes, which we used to see in our dreams so vividly" Said Arnav putting an end to the discussion. Everyone else lost in their thoughts did not notice that Arnav and Khushi had left the room...