ROSES FOR RAJANI (RANJANI)

I don’t remember his name.  On a hot afternoon, his car stops midway in a residential locality.  He thinks pouring water into the radiator would solve the issue.  When he opens the car boot, he finds an empty can.  With the can in hand, he knocks the door of a house nearby.  As he waits at the door, he observes “Major” prefixed to the name on the name board.  A graceful lady in her late forties opens the door.  He requests her to give him water for his radiator and she directs him to a tap in her well-maintained garden.  He carries water and tries to start the car and fails.  He seeks her help again to make a phone call to his mechanic (those were pre-mobile days) and she obliges.  When the mechanic expresses his inability to come and repair the car on the same day and he fails to find one in the nearby locality, she offers her garage. He pushes his car into the garage and returns with a mechanic the next day.  As the car is being serviced, she invites him to her living room and offers him a cup of coffee.  They start a conversation and he learns that her husband was an army major and is presumed to have died in a war.  She learns that he is a “confirmed bachelor” sharing home with his aunt, his only living relative.

He feels very good in her presence, a feeling he never experienced before.  He visits her a few more times after that and they discuss many things like politics, sports, education, inflation, economy etc.  He likes her very much.  When his ailing aunt suggests that he marries and settles down before she dies, as she does quite often, he thinks about this lady and is tempted to discuss her with his aunt.  He feels, it is appropriate for him to first propose to her and if she accepts, he would then inform the aunt.  On a fine morning, with a bunch of roses, he goes to meet her.  When he rings the bell, an elderly gentleman opens the door.  As his eyes search for her, he hears her welcoming him inside.  She appears very bright and cheerful and introduces the elderly man as her husband, who was believed to have died in the war, but was held by Pakistan Army as a prisoner of war and released a few days back.  He hands over the flowers to the couple and after exchanging pleasantries with them for a few minutes, he walks out.

He gets into a depression, but gets out of it on his own.

This was a two-part story published in The Hindu in early 90’s in the Sunday Magazine supplement.  I don’t remember the name of the author.  I don’t know if it was fictional or autobiographical.  The story is narrated in first person by the male character.  The lady is Rajani, referred to as Ranjani in a few places.  The story focuses more on how the protagonist overcomes the depression by jogging, every time he remembers Rajani.

Whenever someone known to me is going through a bad phase in life, I recommend books or stories I have read and feel would be relevant to them, so that their perception changes and they would be able to arrive at a solution for their problem.  A friend of mine recently lost his spouse and is working very hard to come to terms with the loss. Looking at the plight, I remembered this story, but could not trace it on the internet.