Page 217 - Till the Last Breath . . .

After dilly-dallying for a bit, because she didn’t want to leave the family

she had regained after so many years, she left the house. She met her school
friends after a really long time and they were surprised to see Zarah in an
ecstatic mood. After making them cancel the plan to watch the movie, she

dragged them from one shop to another to get her father a gift. Careful
consideration and rebukes from her friends, who progressively got more

impatient, made her decide on a beautiful Tag Heuer watch that she had
seen Shahrukh Khan wear in an advertisement.

It was a day of colossal shocks for her mother as she saw her daughter
give her father a gift far more expensive than anything he had ever owned.

Had she been carrying a tray of teacups, she would have promptly dropped
it like the quintessential soap-opera mom.
On the watch, there was an inscription which said, ‘We still have time.’

Later that night, her father offered to drive her to the hospital but she
refused. She got into her car and left, and her parents waved her goodbye

from the balcony like they used to in her schooldays. As her car lazily
zipped through the traffic, she wondered about all the times she had cursed
her father for her wretched life. Everything that didn’t go according to her

plans was attributed to a failed father. But that day, she was amazed at how
easily she had forgotten everything and had gone running into his arms. She

argued that it had been too long and her father had suffered enough.
Probably even more than she had. As penance, he had tried to kill himself

thrice and none of them were half-hearted attempts. The guilt must have
driven him to madness, she thought.

On certain levels, she even felt guilty about it. Maybe things would have
returned to normal a lot earlier had she mustered up the courage to pick up
that topic again. All said and done, there was a sinking feeling in her

stomach that all the years of hatred and loathing would never come back.
She parked the car and as she entered the hospital building, a winning smile

found its way to her face. She wanted to shift in with her parents. It was a
crazy thought and it would in no certain way be pleasurable, but there was

nothing to lose.