A STRANGE LOVER!

In the month of November, the sun sets at about 1745 hours around Chandigarh. The weather was not so lively on the fifteenth day of November 2008.
It was drizzling. Also, a strong wind was blowing. Sumesh was sitting alone in the balcony of his house. It was total darkness because there was regular evening cut of electricity supply in the town. Sumesh was worried about his wife who had gone for shopping with his daughter to the market. He was contemplating whether to go to the market to pick them or not. Lazily , he started looking for his mobile to contact his wife to know her exact location in the market. The shopping complex of 17 Sector Chandigarh is a huge open market plaza. It is not easy to search someone there. He got up to locate his mobile phone-------.
Suddenly then, a voice resonated his ears," Do you believe in ghosts?" It seemed a familiar voice. How familiar , he was soon to find out. She was there, right behind him ,when he turned back.
Sumesh had almost shrieked when he saw her face. Yes, it was this girl at his back whom he knew ages back .
He said in a hysterical tone, " Yes, S--u---m--a--n what are you doing here?"
" I was just passing by, when I saw you alone with this damn glass", Suman was explaining.
" But you are dead--you died some 34 years back", he was shaking with fear.
" Yes, I did-- but now I am out to set things right." she stated falling over him.
" Set things right? What had gone wrong? You mean there was something fishy in your death." Sumesh questioned her.
" A lot had gone wrong after you deserted me --you coward!" Suman replied while leaning on to Sumesh.
" What do you mean by calling me a coward? It was not deliberately done. we were just school kids when we had met. It was a mere infatuation and NOT love, you silly old woman" Sumesh responded.
" No, it was not mere infatuation---we had made promises to each other. It were you who had been mad for me" Suman reminded him, while falling on Sumesh.
" Enough. OK, fine. But do not fall on me; please stay away from me" Sumesh almost shouted.
" You stupid idiot! Do not shout; people will think you are mentally unsound because no one can see me" Suman gave him a mouthful.
" Yea, it is dark --no one can see you but how can I see you?" he said in panic.
" It is because I love you sweet heart!." Suman said emphatically.
" If you had loved me, then, why did you marry that man ---what was his name----Kranti", Sumesh became nostalagic.
"After we left the school, I joined the college---RK Arya College for the Girls-- You never came back" Suman intimated remoarsefully.
"I know that. My father was posted out of Ambala and I went away to Jallandhar. From there I joined the NATIONAL DEFENCE ACADEMY", Sumesh stated.
" I waited and waited for you--hoping that you would keep your promises but you did not. I did my graduation. Thereafter, I joined the PCS cadre and was posted at Gurdaspur---where I met that man Kranti Kumar, IAS, whom I married. He put up an act of desperate love and I fell for it", Suman had further given the input.
"He and his parents were greedy. They were lured by the affluence of my father. They saw in me a hen that laid golden eggs. When I refused to comply with their demands, the love had vanished. He started ill-treating me. I was accused of extra-marital affairs with my subordinates. I vehmently questioned them on my character assasination. This led to daily skirmishes in our married life." Suman had said everything so easily.
"How did you die? I suppose it was complications in your pregnancy" Sumesh asked matter of factly.
"No, No!! I was poisoned during delivery. He manipulated with the doctors. I breathed last when I was in the labour room" Suman clarified.
" You mean to say Mr. XXXXX, the ex-Chief Secretary of XXXXX is actually a murderer at large. He manipulated with the doctors being the Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur in those days. It is strange. He is such a respected man in the society--no one can think of such CRIMINALS IN WHITES" Sumesh showed his surprise.
" Yea, the visible INNOCENCE IS MOST OFTEN VERY DECEPTIVE and it does not give a true picture of a real person." Suman stated.
" I agree. OFTEN, WHITE COLLAR CRIMINALS GET AWAY FROM THE CLUTCHES OF LAW, while simple folks pay for their crime" Sumesh amplified.
" Exactly, while I was poisoned by the doctor during my labour pains--a poor NURSE was made the scape goat for UTTER NEGLIGENCE and punished. It was so cleverly done that the poor nurse had to lose not only her job but spend some five years behind bars. I saw all this helplessly. But I have got the chance to take revenge now" Suman let out some information.
" Revenge? How? I can not see the case being reopened after so many years." Sumesh was aghast.
" You see, Ramneek, son of that NURSE SAMEEKSHA, who was falsely implicated in my alleged death by negligence, had joined IAS and is now posted as deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur. My husband and doctor Sanjeev's wife, Seema, had illicit relations. Doctor Sanjeev learnt it one day and he threatened to expose my husband. Thereafter,Doctor Sanjeev disappeared without a trace. It was suspected that he was murdered but his body was never found. It had happened 30 years back. My husband and Seema re-married. Doctor Sanjeev's daughter REENA did not like this. She always suspected her mother and my husband's hand in her father's death. Strangely, she is married to RAMNEEK. She is more keen to get the case on her father's death re-investigated. " Suman elaborated the cross connections.
" But, how does it reopen your case, Suman?" Sumesh had questioned.
" You will soon see this. Doctor Sanjeev's soul had told her daughter, REENA, the entire story of her disappearance and alleged murder. The soul had also informed her the place where his body was burried. On Reena's insistence the case has been reopened. " Suman had said.

Precisely at this moment, Sunita, Sumesh's wife of 33 years, yelled, " Get up Sumesh, it is already 8 AM." Saying this she also pulled the quilt, too. This forced him out of his dreams. He had his morning cup of tea and began scanning the morning news paper.

Suddenly his eyes caught a glimpse of a strange news item which read," THE BODY OF A MISSING DOCTOR RECOVERED AFTER 30 YEARS FROM A CANAL BANK NEAR DINANAGAR, GURDASPUR".
Sumesh read the news item and found the same information as he had got from soul of SUMAN. He was stunned. The only thing new learnt by Sumesh was that the SSP, Mrs REENA KAUSHAL, had ordered fresh investigations into the disappearance and murder mystery. The correspondent had obliquely mentioned that Mrs REENA, the SSP was also the wife of the Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur. The news item had also stated that in a strange coincidence the late Doctor Sanjeev was the father of present SSP.

*************************************************************************************************************************** More than a month had lapsed, when Suman's soul had met Sumesh. He had almost forgotten about the incident. It was 9 PM in the evening of 16 December 2008 when Sumesh was sitting on his laptop when a strange thing happened. Suddenly a bold message appeared on his LAP TOP as if some one was CHIT CHATTING with him.
It was something like a NEWS CHANNEL breaking NEWS. Of course, it was News but it was NEWS in ADVANCE. The BREAKING NEWS was:
"AT 0100HOURS, THIS MORNING (17 DECEMBER 2008), WHEN POLICE WENT TO ARREST Sh. KRANTI KUMAR DUGGAL, EX CHIEF SECRETARY OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, AND HIS SECOND WIFE Mrs SEEMA DUGGAL FROM THEIR RESIDENCE IN SECTOR -4 IN CHANDIGARH, FOR THEIR ALLEGED INVOLVEMENT IN A CONSPIRACY TO MURDER AND DESTROY EVIDENCE IN THE CASE OF DISAPPEARANCE OF DOCTOER SANJEEV MEHTA, SOME 30 YEARS BACK, THE COUPLE COMMITTED SUICIDE."
It was a strange phenomenon. Whatever Sumesh was trying to write, he just could not do anything. He was writing only this message. He was nonplussed. He spoke, " Suman, are you there?"
A message flashed on the screen " I am there. I will soon have my revenge. This is for your advance information"
" Suman, as you can reach anywhere, why don't you go and tell that man" Sumesh asked.
" We souls can only communicate with those people whom we love and those who are PIOUS and SAGACIOUS. We can not communicate with murderers and frauds." Suman's soul explained.
" What if I forewarn the couple?" Sumesh said.
" Try it out. Where ever you ring up that phone will be dead. You have FOUR minutes to pass on this information. Their time has come. It has been 34 years of struggle in this FORMLESS LIFE--I have to succeed now. You better prepare for your own reunion with me, now. Your time is also up. Let us go, dear. Come"
"What?" said Sumesh and collapsed.
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" Sumesh--- Sumesh----Sumesh! Come Let us have our dinner--" Sunita was shouting from the kitchen. but there was no response from Sumesh. Having been fed up with NO RESPONSE, Sunita barged into the STUDY ROOM and she found SUMESH's head on the laptop. She shook him. there was no response. She checked the pulse. it was not there. And then ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE---SHE BEGAN CRYING LOUDLY-----but the message on the computer screen was time and again flashing :
"---PREPARE FOR YOUR OWN REUNION WITH ME----YOUR TIME IS ALSO UP------LET US GO , DEAR-----COME! "