NOTHING

‘’Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah’’

‘’What happened Raghu ?’’

‘’NOTHING’’

And then he blanked out.

This was the scenario around Professor Robert Dsouza’s coffin when Raghu fainted.

Raghu was a happy go lucky kid from Mumbai.

His Dad was a student of Professor Robert Dsouza.

Having a pleasant persona ‘Prof Rob’ as he was fondly known in the educational circuits made an impression on his students.

Raghu’s dad graduated, got a good position in a multinational company, married and was settling down in life. Professor Robert was his idol and Life Guru and he was proud to have been tutored by him.

When he was just a few days old Raghu had been blessed by Professor who had visited hospital.

As a kid and in his formative years, due to the impact Professor had on his dad’s life, Raghu had earful’s of

stories about the good Professor

No mention of Professor’s personal details was ever made to him in terms of his family etc but it was more about his deeds as a teacher and human being and his influence in Dad’s way of thinking.

It was just few weeks before Raghu’s SSC final exams that the bad news came that Professor Robert had a heart attack and had passed away.

Professor had retired and moved from Mumbai to his Family house in Khopoli.

It was a sudden heart attack that came calling in the midst of the night and Professor had passed away peacefully in his sleep.

As the news crept in, Raghu’s father who was terribly shaken by the news decided that he would be attending the funeral of Professor which was scheduled for two days later. He would travel to Khopoli.

He felt that Raghu, having being

blessed as a child, now as a big boy should accompany him and both father and son should take a final darshan of Professor before he was put to rest.

Umpteen explanations and even SSC exam preparation excuses went to deaf ears and his dad insisted on Raghu accompanying him.

He was indebted to Professor.

He felt the blessings would go a long way in Raghu’s life.

Raghu’s mum also could not make him change this decision.

She advised him to carry some exam reading material so that he could do some revision on the bus journey.

Finally with a bit of a heavy heart the teen tagging a backpack with books did the bus journey along with his dad and reached Khopoli.

The house was a darkly lit bungalow and the place was filled with mourners awaiting the hearse from the hospital where the body had been kept overnight.

The atmosphere was tense.

The plan was that the body would be brought home and after performing mass and prayers by the local priests the coffin would be kept open for his near and dear ones to queue and pay their final salutations.

Following this the body would be driven in a cortège to the local cemetery for Professors final resting place.

Knowing that it would be a long wait Raghu’s dad took him to one corner of the large dilapidated house where there was an unoccupied room.

Making him comfortable alone with his books his dad left him with the intention of bringing him for Professors last darshan later.

As Raghu sat immersed in his revision he heard a creak as a heavy door opened and an Einstein like gentleman drifted into the space.

His prominent white curly hair and Gandhi glasses caught Raghu’s attention.

He looked pale and ashen.

Hobbling around he came close to Raghu and in a very hoarse voice said ‘’ Good that you are sitting here alone and studying.

Nothing should prevent you from achieving your goals in THIS world ’’

Before Raghu could respond or get into a proper conversation he realised that the owner of the voice had flitted away.

He delved back into his books and continued reading deeply lost in studies when his father came to take him for Professor’s last darshan.

They joined in the queue outside the main hall.

As the mourners passed the open coffin and father and son inched closer in the queue Raghu saw the body of Professor from afar.

He could not see the face clearly but noticed that Professor was lying on his back in the coffin dressed in a black suit with shiny polished black shoes.

A beautiful tie was knotted in a white shirt.

His gloved hand was joined together at his chest holding a cross and a rosary.

There were cotton swabs in his nose.

The smell of eau de cologne filled the air trying to depress the stench of death in the air.

There was a hum of hymns and the whole scene was somber with the flickering candle lights throwing shaky shadows around.

As father and son reached the side of the coffin Raghu peeked in at the face to receive Professors final blessings.

What he saw shocked him !!

Curly white Einstein type hair and wearing Gandhi’s style round shaped spectacles Professor was

lying serene and with a calm neutral expression.

This was the same face he had encountered a couple of hours earlier in the unoccupied room.

That’s when he heard himself scream and when his dad asked him

‘’What happened Raghu ?’’

The only words he could manage was —— ‘’NOTHING’’

He then blanked out.

When he regained consciousness he was in the bed of Dad’s classmates house who was a doctor and also lived in Khopoli.

He could not come to relate his experience to anybody and explain why he screamed or fainted.

Having watched M Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense a few weeks back he felt he was a medium like Cole and could ‘see dead people’

How could he share this ?

They traveled back to Mumbai that evening.

Life moved on and ‘NOTHING’ remained his secret for a few years till one morning enjoying his cuppa and flicking through the pages he came across an obituary in the paper he was reading.

The cup fell from his hand and shattered in the floor splattering tea all over.

The face staring back at him from the column was the same face he had years back encountered alone in an unoccupied room.

It was for a Mr Ronald Dsouza from Khopoli.

Ronald was Professor Robert Dsouza’s twin brother.

His dads voice came from the adjoining room.

‘’What happened Raghu ?’’

This time also all that he could muster was —- ‘’NOTHING’’