SHIREEN AHMED_
The name rattled in Vidhi's tired yet anxious mind as she flipped open the old file and started to skim through the pages.
"Name: Shireen Ahmed
Wife of Mazhar Ahmed
Age: 34
Suffers from Split Personality Disorder
Identification Mark: Green ink Tattoo of her name on left arm.
Last seen: Near Tollygunge Darga
Remarks: Abandoned by family on the pretext on mental health issues."
Vidhi read the information on the page with rapt attention, furrowing her eyebrows.
A passport size photograph of Sampurna was attached with the information as well.
She looked a little younger but completely messed up in the photograph, Vidhi thought.
The date mentioned in the report was from ten years ago.
She checked the contact number mentioned under the details and memorized it.
It was six in the morning already, soft sunlight had started to pour in abundance inside the mansion and Vidhi thought it would be the best idea not linger outside her room any longer.
She slowly crept out of the storage room and tiptoed across the hall, and back to her bedroom.
The bunch of old letters were still tucked under her nightshirt.
"Huff!" She breathed out, slowly stretching her body on the bed, as a deep relaxation took over her.
She closed her eyes.
'If Sampurna Maa is Shireen, and Anirudh knows about it, then why didn't he tell her so? Why did he keep her captivated here?'
The questions rang in her mind in a loop before sleep could finally sheath her senses into a dark calmness.
The morning sun rose up high, bright and shiny, as Vidhi entered the dining hall for her breakfast.
"Good morning Miss"
Sampurna greeted her warmly.
"It's a little too late for breakfast... I have prepared a brunch for you." She smiled at her, arranging the plates on the table.
"Shireen, do you have any juice here?"
Vidhi suddenly asked.
"Yes, Miss... Orange and watermelon. You can tell me if you have any other preference." She replied with equal calmness.
There was no flinching, no anxiety, absolutely nothing, that could be found in her demeanor at the mention of her original name.
Vidhi ate her food quietly lost in thoughts.
She couldn't help but feel sad for her... ten years, away from home, away from family and completely oblivion to the reality.
Why would Anirudh Roy Chowdhury do this!
Vidhi helped Sampurna to pick the dishes up after she had finished her brunch. Sampurna had vehemently opposed to this, but it was a bit difficult to win with Vidhi in the battle of logic.
"It's not a meager job Sampurna Maa, picking up your own plates after food is a basic human responsibility. I am not physically challenged... So, why would I behave like one!" She had reasoned with her.
Sampurna had smiled at this fiesty young girl.
"You know Miss, you remind me of someone... But, but... I absolutely can't remember who!"
Vidhi sighed at her words.
It was around two in the afternoon when Vidhi found herself alone in the mansion. She slowly walked out of her room and reached for the cordless telephone kept on the dining hall.
She closed her eyes, recalled the incidents of the dawn and dialled a number.
"Hello..." Vidhi's voice trembled a bit in apprehension.
A girl replied from the other end.
"Ammi... Someone's looking for you."
The girl screamed and asked Vidhi to hold.
It was after a full two minutes that a woman replied on the phone.
"Who am I speaking to?" The woman asked cheerfully.
"Um.. well, you won't really know me, but..." Vidhi fumbled.
"If this is any sales call, I'm not interested." The woman replied politely.
"No... No... It's not." Vidhi was prompt.
"It's actually about Shireen Ahmed.... I know where she is."
The line went absolutely silent as Vidhi could almost hear the woman's heavy agitated breathing.
"We don't know anyone by that name." Her voice changed completely.
From a cheerful chirpiness, the tone became grave and disturbed.
"How can you not know her?" Vidhi asked sharply.
"This number is listed in her contact details. I know her address. Do you want me to contact police first with her whereabouts?"
The line fell silent again, but this time instead of the rapid breathing, Vidhi could hear soft sobs coming from the other side.
"Please don't ruin my life... Please... I have three small children." The woman sobbed the words.
Vidhi's eyes narrowed and her jaws tightened at the words.
"What do you mean? Who are you?"
The woman sighed loudly over the telephone.
"Shireen Ahmed was a mad woman. I know her since childhood. She used to dream weird dreams and always talk about some ancient zamindar household. She would chant Hindu mantras in her sleep... She called them Durga sloke." The woman paused.
"She was very pretty... So, there was no problem marrying her off. But, she couldn't stay with her husband longer. Within one year of her marriage, on the night of her eighteenth birthday, she started speaking like an alien person. She called herself in some other name, and she was looking for some lost husband of hers!"
The woman paused again.
"And, then?" Vidhi asked politely.
"And, then... Everything changed! We took her to many doctors, but her condition worsened with every passing day. Untill one day when she ran out of the house... Then, we stopped looking for her. But, then, we found her in a women's shelter after ten years... but, we couldn't bring her home... And, then... Then she was lost forever!"
The woman had stopped sobbing.
"Why couldn't you take her home?" Vidhi asked.
The woman sighed sharply at her question.
"Because, by then her husband had already re-married, a happy marriage with three children."
"And, you know all these because?" Vidhi asked.
"Because, I am the wife. I am... I am Zarin Ahmed. Shireen's younger sister."
Vidhi swallowed a dry lump in her throat as she heard the woman speak.
"Shireen doesn't remember us... But, the knowledge of her existence would destroy my happy family...My husband had loved her! Please... Please try to understand! She is... She is dead to us..."
Vidhi sighed before hanging up the phone.
'Anirudh Roy Chowdhury is not a captivator, but, a savior it means!'
She thought, as a soft pain twitched her heart.
She had misunderstood him completely, whereas he had never given her any reason to do so...
She was... She was probably not worthy of his care, let alone his love!
A drop of tear unknowingly escaped from her eye as she dialled another number on the phone.
It was on the seventh ring that someone picked up the call on the other side.
Vidhi sniffed a tear.
"Hello... Mom!"
She sniffed another tear back as she heard the reply from the other side.
"I know..."
"Can I come back home?"