- Two Weeks Later...
Fate is not a bitch.
Yeah, you heard me right. I think that it knows what it is doing. If fate didn't play with us, then our life would become boring and uninteresting.
After I woke up the second time in the hospital, I was much better rested but still recovering. My headache had lessened. I looked around to see my parents, my friends, their parents and some men in uniform.
After a heartfelt greeting from my friends, their parents, Aai and Dad, I was approached by the eldest officer among the four.
"How are you feeling, son?" He asked me in his deep voice.
"I've been better, Sir." I reply weakly.
"I can see the confusion in your gaze. Let me introduce myself. I'm Harshachandra Sadaphuli."
His words shook me to the core. It confused and baffled me utterly.
He further explained everything to me. Everything made sense then.
The man, on the island we were stuck in, was Otto Paul Schneider. The man in front of me at that time was the real Harshchandra Sadaphuli.
The story about the island was true except for the part about boats and the curse. The only falsehood regarding it was Otto posing as Harshachandra Sadaphuli.
Otto was an ambitious man who visited Sadaphuli Dweep, pretending to be interested in the culture and tradition of native tribe. But his real interest was to earn fame by unearthing the treasure of the island which many ancient books spoke about.
But there was no treasure on the island. The Sadaphuli chief explained this to him. The fight that Otto mentioned in his story was regarding the same.
The real Harshchandra Sadaphuli thought that he had killed his people's murderers and travelled to the mainland for a fresh start. But Otto was the only survivor.
All the pieces of the puzzle were now in place.
When the news of the plane crash reached my parents and my friends' parents, they rushed to search us. Apparently, all of us friends had a GPS tracking device fitted inside their shoes, which alerted our parents about our location.
Our parents then flew to India and sought help from the government. The government agreed and sent the Air Force and Navy Officers to rescue us.
Luckily, the officers arrived on the day I was stabbed otherwise I wouldn't have been alive today. I had lost a lot of blood, even though my friends had tied my wound to stop the blood flow.
This was the reason why I was in a medically-induced coma for a day and a half, before waking up to the beeping.
The Navy and Air Force held a trial and we confessed everything we knew as well as the death of Otto.
But we were forgiven as we had killed Otto in self-defence.
Now here we are after a tiring week and a half, on Lakshadweep. We still visited my grandparents. They are very different from what I expected.
I thought that they were very indifferent and unforgiving for not accepting my parents' love. But it seems that they didn't know true love could exist even before marriage.
I've learned to call them 'Azoba' and 'Aaji', the Marathi names of grandpa and grandma respectively. These three days with them have helped me understand and accept them.
Right now, we are staying at Azoba's house, which is big enough to fit me, Aai, Dad, my friends and their parents.
Life is good but sometimes the memories of Sadaphuli Dweep rush to the forefront of my mind and bother me.
"Good morning, Natu." Grandpa greets me as sits down beside me and breaks me out of my reverie. I love it when he calls me 'Natu'. It means 'grandchild'.
"Good morning, Azoba" I greet in reply as I get up and touch his feet in a form of respect.
"Sukhi raha, Natu." He says, wishing me happiness in life.
We sit there for a while in silence as reads his newspaper. Suddenly, he puts it down and asks, "Natu, you do forgive me for all those years of silence, don't you?"
"Of course I do." I answer, baffled by his question.
"Then why the long face?" He asks again, his face and tone full of concern. It pulls at my heart and makes me admit my greatest fear.
"What if I'm like Otto?" I whisper.
"Otto… hmm… the man who tried to kill you?"
I nod.
"What makes you feel that?"
"Otto was ambitious and I'm ambitious too. I want to make a name for myself in this world. Just like he wanted."
"Ahh… I get what you are saying, Natu, but you're wrong. Answer me something, ok?"
I nod again.
"Will you kill or harm someone in order to achieve your goals? Will you manipulate and mislead someone for your personal gain?"
"No. I would never." I answer vehemently.
"There you are, Natu. That's the difference between you and that man Otto. You see, there is a very thin line between ambition and greed. What drives you forward is ambition while greed is entirely different. Greed doesn't accept failure and destroys everyone and everything in its path. On the other hand, ambition righteously pursues your goal and accepts failure and learns from it.
The world's greatest 'anathema' is greed and it will be the downfall of mankind."
His words answer the questions troubling my mind and calms me.
Well said, Azoba.
Very true.
The greatest anathema of the world is greed.