That was Viju—when i looked at him, he flinched and lowered his eyes. My mother's attention snapped to him. "Oh Viju, come here, beta. I knew you'd come. Ever since you went missing, not a day went by when Arjun didn't ask about you. When I told him you were found, he almost went crazy with joy."
"Still, you didn't come yesterday, Viju bhaiya. Did you go to the madhouse for treatment?" Anaya asked, her tone sharp. I didn't like the way she said it, but I understood—Anaya knew something about Viju. I watched Viju; he just sat there, letting the tears fall, looking at me.
"Anaya, what are you saying? Don't be harsh. Viju, don't mind, come sit. Eat something, and then you can tell your friend everything. Real friends like you only locky ones get" Mom said. Viju wiped his tears and sat beside me. I met his eyes and said, "It's true, Mom. Only the lucky get friends like that."
"Whoa, this place is the best, right?" Viju said, trying to shake off the mood.
"It is. But anywhere's better when we're together," I replied.
"Aww, so sweet," he grinned.
"Where are we heading now?" Priya piped up, suddenly excited. "Goa feels different today — it's going to be so much fun."
"Come with us, it'll be more fun," called a group of boys from nearby — five of them on bikes, making lewd comments at passing girls. They'd just targeted Priya. My temper rose. I took a step forward, but Viju grabbed my hand.
"Bro, let it go. They just arrived. Don't start trouble," Priya said, placing a hand on my shoulder and calming me. I backed down, but then the leader of that group sneered, "Look at him — thought he'd be some weak guy. But he's hiding behind a girl?"
"One girl with two guys, huh? She can handle two, why not us?" another laughed.
I pulled my hand from Viju's grip. A naughty smile tugged at my lips. "These idiots want to die, maybe." Viju muttered something low. Before I knew it, I sprinted at the leader's bike and gave a flying kick; he crashed. His cronies started to move, but I'd already punched two of them — both noses bleeding, they sat down holding their faces. One ran toward me swinging; I caught his wrist, twisted it so hard he howled and collapsed. Another lunged at me and got a kick to the chest from Viju.
Viju grabbed the guy I'd held and slammed him toward his own direction; Viju slapped him across the face. I did a backflip as one of them charged me, my foot catching his head — he sat stunned, clutching his skull. In a minute, the fight was over. We dusted off and started walking away.
"Why did you have to pick a fight?" Viju asked.
"And what, sit quietly after learning martial arts?" I shot back, raising my hand to stop him. "Come on Bastard, let's go."
He heard me and, still sitting, hugged me, whispering something in my ear before pulling away. Everyone started eating. Mom fed me as usual. Everything seemed normal — except Anaya kept glancing at Viju and Viju ate with his head bowed.
When dinner finished, we gathered in the hall and sat on the sofa. The servants lined up by the stairs, and the whole room seemed to be focused on me. My father, Harish Rathod, sat across from me; next to him was Anaya, and my mother, Meera Rathod, sat on my left with Viju beside her. I knew what was coming, and I braced myself.
"Son," Dad began, "tell us — where were you all these years? How did you end up in the Himalayas? How did your language change? Didn't you try to come back before?"
He'd caught me with the question I'd been avoiding. I inhaled and scanned their faces curious, worried, waiting. I saw Mona aunty standing between the servants; I signaled her to sit closer, and began.
"When we left Goa, we chose the train instead of a flight. Somewhere on the route, my foot slipped and I fell out of the train. I lost consciousness. When I came around, it was very cold. I found myself in a small hut where a female ascetic was applying herbs to my head."
When she first saw me wake, she was overjoyed and called for help. Soon a sadhu came and asked who I was, where I lived. I tried hard to recall, but nothing came. My mind was blank. When I pushed too hard, a terrible pain hit my skull. They told me to rest. I stayed there for days, slowly regaining strength. As I wandered outside, I realized I was in the Himalayas. The sadhu asked again if anything returned to me, but still nothing — only fragmented images came and then faded.
"They told me I was found near a path to Kailash, unconscious," I continued. "They took me to their ashram and treated me."
"But Kailash? You fell from a train near Mumbai — how did you reach Kailash?" Dad asked, puzzled, staring at me quietly.
"I still don't know how I reached there," I said.
"What happened next?" Anaya asked, colder than the others. There was curiosity in everyone's eyes, but Anaya's had a hint of doubt.
"I stayed with the sadhu and the sadhvi. They treated me like a son. I called the sadhu 'Baba' and the sadhvi 'Maa'. Baba taught me the Vedas — that's how my speech changed. Maa taught me everything she knew: meditation, memory practices. I kept meditating every day, hoping my memory would come back. Still, nothing fully returned."
Then one day everything changed — a terrible blizzard hit. Our hut was destroyed. While trying to save my parents — I slipped. I fell down the slope, hit my head. I lost consciousness. I can't explain how Baba saved me, but when I woke up, I was in a hospital. Baba and Maa were with me. When I saw Maa, a lightning of memories flashed through my mind — it came like a flood. I remembered my name, everything. 'Arjun,' I said. I told them my life. The police questioned me, and when they realized the truth, they contacted you. I was overjoyed at going home, but when I asked Baba and Maa to come with me, they refused. They said they'd accepted renunciation, that they couldn't come back to worldly life. They told me to remember them, and that whenever I wanted to see them, I should close my eyes — and they'd appear. They left. I couldn't stop calling after them, but sleep came and when I woke they were gone. The police brought me to Delhi."
My mother had been listening, holding back tears. She kissed my forehead. "My child, you suffered so much. I won't let you go anywhere now."
I smiled and said, "Okay, Ma. But let me go to my room. I need rest."
She ruffled me and said, "Get going, you rascal. Sleep now. And stop speaking in Hindi like that — try to stop."
"I'll try, Ma. But habits cling on." I stood up. Faces in the hall held questions, but I didn't have time for all of them. I went to my room and changed clothes. Just as I was about to, there came a knock.
I opened the door. It was Viju. I let him in and locked the door behind us. He dropped to his knees.
"Forgive me, man. I lost it. Please—kill me, do whatever, just say once you forgive me." He looked broken.
I helped him up by the shoulder. "We'll talk, but not here. It's not the right place, and timing's off. Don't make things worse — go."
He stood to leave, then turned at the door. "Your tone— what happened to it? You used to speak perfectly."
I gave him a wry smile and said, "Come on Bastard, let's go."
— and we stepped out into the night, both of us carrying our own quiet storms.