Sujin was out in the café, the hospital cafeteria. As it was raining incessantly he couldn’t make out to the street. Taking a seat nearby the window, he ordered for a hot coffee. Just then he thought something and peeped out of the window. It was raining cats and dogs; even then it was a beautiful site to watch and a relief to eyes. Never ever before, he had seen such a heavy downpour. He felt a deep connection of the nature with our emotions and our feelings but he couldn’t figure out what the real connection was?
The window was open and it was squeaking, the wind was howling with utter strength. The air flowing around brought some moist with it even inside the room. Since, Sujin was near the window he could feel its complete mesmerizing appeal. The cool moist of air relaxed and refreshed Sujin to some extent. It contributed a little in making him comfortable after a brief sour moment that he just went through. He felt as if the sky too was shedding tears in his sorrow; the rain--they sounded tedious and hopeless, as though they were telling over something inexpressively dreary and awful, something of which they were weary to the point of repulsion, something from which they have liked to run away but about which it was nevertheless imperative that they should accept. He closed his eyes to feel the soothing breeze full of moist but the moment he shut his eyes, the distressed and perplexed face of Sarina flashed before his eyes…..…
………Sujin was studying in class 10. He was a smart, diligent and a commendable student. Besides being a laborious student he was equally versatile and talented in different forms of extra curricular activities. But the one that he loved most was football. He had developed a keen interest in football since his childhood and had even dreamt of being a football legend someday. After school he would always be found dribbling football in the school ground. He was even the captain of his school football team. If football was his passion then computer was his obsession. His grandfather who was a computer engineer by profession made him familiar with computer from his tender age. Fortunate he was, as he got to learn the basic alphabets on the computer itself. From grandfather he inherited quite a lot of computer knowledge in legacy. He had great love for his grandfather, and so he had for the computer too. He would easily spend hours before computer surfing net and playing different games; but his favorite pastime was chatting online….
As usual, Sujin was back to the home after school, got refreshed, took his lunch, and sat on the terrace for a while. From the terrace he could see the beautiful sunset, so he would never miss it in the evening. Just then he remembered that his brother who was abroad would be online, so he made his way towards his room and signed in to the net to see if his brother was there. But to his dismay, his brother had already left the net with some messages. Since he had already signed to the net he felt like being there for some more time. He surfed through different sites and landed upon Nepalnews. Nepalnews was the most famous site among youth at that time. Those who did not know about Nepalnews were considered out of vogue or an alien among the youth. Teenager would be found floundering in the net just to remain in the limelight or to show that they too know about the latest trend. But Sujin was different from them. He knew each and everything about the ongoing culture.
Sujin wobbled in the site and flirted in the lobby for seconds or two. He then scanned through the chat rooms. There were guys and girls with the most weird and strange names. He scrolled through almost every name. But just a single name caught his attention as it was different and stood unique among the crowds with the name nEw_ch@ptEr. At once he hit the keyboard for conversation “hi, wanna Chat?”. However he did not get the reply. It’s not necessary to give reply to each and every one who hits for the conversation and there is no such hard and fast rule. Sujin thought it was not his day, so diverted his mind from chat room to the mail. He started to type mail addressing his brother. He wrote everything he wanted to say and included some of his latest snaps.
He had nearly finished his mail. Just then he got a message that said “Sorry bg thiye la”. In return he wrote, “that’s fine, n it wz fun waitin’ 2 hear frm ya’”. “Gosh, ya r too forward and I think it wud be fun chattin wid ya” she wrote. This is how they got started. Since Sujin knew well how to play with words, in no time he befriended her. She was very much impressed with his wits and humorous side. They spent nearly an hour in fun. He convinced her to such an extent that she gave him her hotmail id without any hesitation. Since then it became his daily job to sign in the net at evening and have some cool chat with this girl with the name nEw_ch@Pter. For sure Nepalnews had opened up a new chapter in the pages of his life……
For Sujin it had been a habit, to return from the school and pop up in the internet and connect with nEw_ch@pter. Their talk would engulf everything, right from sun to the moon. But they never tried to go personal.
She would always say, “I won’t ask u for any personal information n I equally hope da same from u 2”.
So, Sujin never bothered to delve into this matter. He just wanted to have a smooth relationship, a relationship so unique yet so beautiful. But it was crystal clear for both of them that they were from the same age group as they shared nearly the same choices and to some extent their thought would synchronize with each other. In no time, they got so close that they virtually fell in love with each other. They got so attached to each other that they simply could not resist talking with one another even for a day. They had not admitted their love for each other but both of them knew well that they had deep feelings for one other.
Two years passed and they still carried the same respect and friendly attitude towards each other. Somehow Sujin could not control his emotions over the fact that he had passed his +2 level in first division, so he decided that he would share this happiness with nEw_ch@Pter. He had been before the computer for an hour but she did not turn up. The chances were dim that she would turn up, but he waited patiently and bingo, after nearly another half hour she greeted him with, “Sorry”.
He just typed, “Never mind, no worries”.
“Actually I want to share a good news with you”, said Sujin.
“Oh! Really, I also got one”, she replied.
“I finished my +2 and the result is first division”, Sujin told.
“Great, Congrats”, she responded.
“So, itz ur turn now, go ahead”, Sujin said.
“Well, we are moving to US a week later, ya know DV; my father got one”, she clarified.
Sujin got mummified, he could not respond to this news. He just stared at the screen for a while.
“Won’t ya even congratulate me?”, she broke the ice.
“Yeah, congrats…..” Sujin typed unwillingly.
“Since I m leavin next week, let’s meet, I really wanna meet and share some words wid u”, she typed.
Sujin pondered for a while and thought this is the right time to utter all my words that are in my heart. I must meet her now or else I shall lose her forever.
Instantly, he replied “Ok, for sure”.
The day was fixed, the place and even the time was confirmed. They shared what kind of attire they would be in and where they would be at……….
It was just five in the morning but Sujin was already at Pashupatinath. Sujin , a young man of just twenty is neither the one who holds a good faith in god nor the one who is a devotee so strong to be at Pashupatinath ; as early as five in the morning.
The sun had just risen throwing all its silver lights side lining the darkest clouds of nights. As a common epigram says, “morning shows the day”, the day was expected to be a good one for Sujin too. Sujin had been preparing himself for this day from a week or so. A week got so long for him that he felt like he had waited for this day from a year.
He took a seat wiping all the dew with his hand. The cold and moist dew gave him a chilling experience of freshness. He crumbled himself on the cold bench that was left there for visitors like him to sit and relax, while enjoying the beauty of the place.
It is from this very place that each and every corner of Pashupatinath can be covered in one glance. So, most of the people who make to Pashupatinath; seldom forget to stop their foot by this scintillating place. Though it was early morning; the place was crammed by the people; some faithful devotees, some eager tourists, some health freak joggers and some couples too. The loud but appealing sounds from the bells around the temples had engulfed the whole areas but the more engrossing were the aroma of incense sticks that would make anyone more energetic and rejuvenated. Some frantic hymns from devotees could also be heard and the enchanting glimpses of small monkeys juggling around were more like watching some engrossing shows. The erratic moves of those small monkeys were being captured by the eager and ever ready tourists on their mega sizes SLR cameras. It seems; that for now, the small playful monkeys were the point of attraction where everyone had fixed their eyes on. The visitors too, being happy were feeding some foods to those small cheerful monkeys. But in a matter of seconds, a huge alpha male came banging and trotted all those small monkeys away for foods that were hither and thither on the ground. Everyone got awestruck with its move. The show, they were enjoying was over for now.
Just then, a beautiful girl clad in well crafted dark blue jeans and tees on top appeared before him, he knew who see was. She was the same girl from his college, a year senior than him; on whom he had a crush; yet he never showed himself before her.
“Sujin….ryt?”, she mumbled in a small voice.
“Yeah!” , he said.
“nEw_ch@Pter here”, she spoke again.
This opened up the gates for both of them to chat out each and everything they had been waiting for. They articulated well and their expression showed as if they had been friends since very long. In fact it had been two years since they had been good friends but it was stuck just to the virtual world.
Oooho, it’s 9, I think I have to leave now”, she said.
“Fine”, I hope to meet again if everything works out”, Sujin directed towards her. He reckoned of putting his heart in front of her, but got back thinking-I shall tell her on the final day.
“Why not?”, let’s see what comes up”. She said.
“By the way I’m Sarina”, she said waving her hands.
Just the Sujin also stood up from his position and insisted to walk with her up to the micro station. She agreed instantly. So, they both trot ahead in company of each other. They kept on conversing along the way.
Ah, they were already near the station.
“Okay, thank you Sujin, now I have to leave. I shall cross the toad and catch the micro from other end.”
Oh, well its fine as ever”, Sujin spoke.
“Thank you so much for coming here. I am really glad that we finally met. I hope to continue this relationship like this forever”, Sarina said.
Sujin was just numb for a while. He was unable to utter anything. He kept on looking at her while she waved her hands and parted away.
Sujin turned around and moved ahead in the opposite direction than Sarina. As he moved ahead in the opposite direction, he heard the noises behind him. Actually it was a big screeching sound.When he turned around, he found people gathered in a mass right in between the road. He knew it was an accident and feared for Sarina.
He ran towards the place where the accident had taken place. He came to know that a young girl was knocked down by a bus. He was afraid and prayed for Sarina. But alas! His prayer did not do their job. It was Sarina who had got in the accident. She was bleeding profusely from her head, he shook her but she was unconscious. So, without wasting any time he stopped a taxi and took her to the hospital.
Since the traffic was busy and heavy, the taxi got stuck in the middle. Sarina was bleeding more. He tried frantically to stop the bleeding but nothing worked. Somehow the taxi driver took them to the hospital choosing an alternative route. She was rushed to the emergency ward in the hospital but in a matter of minutes the doctor came out and pronounced her dead. They told him that her brain was dead and the brain hemorrhage was the cause of her death.
Near the operation ward in the far left corner, some lines were scribbled ………
“Everything is pre-written, nothing can be re-written.”
“God to Whom the death of a sparrow is equal to the death of a human being, has thus in His mercy limited our knowledge, so that we would fulfill our duty to which we have been assigned.”
The room was dimly lit and it was plugged with stream of smoke emancipating from a small fireplace that was stuffed with some wet wooden laths. A woman had positioned herself near the fireplace and was struggling hard to make the fire but the wet planks would hardly give in. She was constantly coughing and gagging lost in between the jet of smoke. Sometimes, she would try to coerce away the smoke flapping her hands and sometimes she would use the towel hung on her shoulder to do so; in-between the reiterating action she would give a short glance at her daughter each time with her swollen eyes filled with tears. Even her daughter would give a meek look at her in anticipation that her empty stomach would soon have its fill. 
