Lover

(Curtain rises)

Scene: A church filled with hundreds of people, waiting for a beloved saint to show up. Everyone grows silent as he eventually shows up. He is well known across the country, not for his knowledge but his ways of enchantment.

The Saint (addressing the people) – “Ask for those who keep the silence can’t be answered.”

Finally a hand emerges from the crowd, a man stands up.

The person – “Sir I want you to tell me about love and its loss…”

The Saint – “Ah love! (He exclaims with delight) Love my son, can be defined in different ways there is love in a father’s scolding, there is love in mother’s hug, there is love in a partner’s kiss etc. People, you will find love everywhere, even the hardest person can be the person you love the most. But god is just one. People throw away their lives by means of suicide due to loss of a lover, a lover who could practically be termed as unfaithful because he abandoned the person who loved him so much, without caring for that god who loves them most, the god who never stops loving anybody, throwing away god’s beautiful gift of life into waste just for another human being.

Boys, there are millions of beautiful girls out there and thousands among them are beautiful from heart and soul and you can pick any…”

He was interrupted in between as a hand shot up in the air and before he could respond, a man stood up and spoke in between.

The Man – “But there is just one girl among the thousands of them whom god chose for you, the one that’s truly made for you, only one girl whose presence makes the presence of millions of other girls irrelevant and makes them invisible. And when that girl goes away from you, the only thing you can do is go back… Back to your god and ask him, ‘why did you give me so much pain? Why? Why did you do this if you love me so much? And why did you create me in the first place if you wanted me sad?’ And maybe then you’ll find some comfort.”

People were now looking at this newly originated offender with open mouth. There were murmurs which soon turned to chaos. The girls who were earlier giggling at their profound sense of beauty were now getting complexes by just the mention of someone special. The priest spoke up finally restoring the peace.

The Saint – “Don’t be distressed my people, calm down. Strong words my child…strong words indeed, but my son, life has its own ups and downs. It has various meanings which you probably can’t comprehend at this point of time, maybe that’s why you’re saying all this. There are many surprises in life, many things you can cherish, that make one’s life worth living. Perhaps you haven’t discovered them yet, but if you try, happiness isn’t that hard to find. After all, god wanted men to see everything and be happy with what he has. Its man who craves for more than required. You have been sent here for a reason and your existence is necessary for the deeds you are destined to perform, but if you turn back from your responsibilities, then perhaps even god will think twice before he forgives you.

Like me, I have been sent by god to inform you of his presence and cherish the life he gave to us all.”

The saint had now turned his attention to the crowd but his eyes were still transfixed over the out bursting one. Slowly but confidently, the guy again raised his hand.

The Saint – “Yes my son, you have something to say?”

All the eyes once again turned to the guy and slowly irritant murmurs began to float through the people.

Somebody said – “Throw this pessimist distractor away from this meeting of god.”

Another person said – “Why do such people come to these places if all they want to do is criticize the holy purpose.”

One man shouted – “He’s a messenger of Satan! He’s trying to lure us falsely! Let’s teach him a lesson!”

The boy did not respond. His eyes showed disrespect but at the same time, he managed to be excessively calm, his eyes resting on the face of the saint. Finally, the saint spoke up.

The Saint – “Silence!!”

His loud voice startled everyone. People were shocked at this reaction of his.

The Saint – “You have no right to disrespect any person as long as you are sitting in this holy place. I command you to leave this church if you can’t hold your patience. Now let him speak.”

The Man – “When you have come down to such a low point in life that even your soul doesn’t allow you to think of going up, you lose faith and instead of being thankful to god, you begin to question and curse his for giving you such a life. They say love is life, and when you have lost the only person you loved the most, the only person who meant so much to you, who perhaps meant everything to you, you lose the meaning of your life or rather you lose yourself. And then there’s no such thing (he said emphasizing on the word thing) left in the entire universe which you can find to give you the comfort you desire. And the more you search, the more you discover, the little details that hurt you even more and you lose the meaning of life. You say happiness is easy to find, would god be happy about me, his own creation asking him about his ways arguing him over his so called dictatorship in my life.”

Slowly the man had changed the subject from others to himself. Driven with such force, he seemed unstoppable, his words hitting the exact center points pinpointing every dark corner. He continued…

The Man – “You said god wanted me to be happy, it is me who craves for more. All I ask for is my love; give me back my rightful soul mate. All I ask for is what is mine. Do I ask for so much? Am I being selfish? I ask for a reason, I ask for a reason from that god that why in the world he compelled me to question his authority if he wanted me to be happy? Why? All I require to live is love; my love…Is my demand unfulfillable? Then why in the first place he wrote her in my destiny? Why did he make me meet her? However distracted I may be, how can I miscomprehend my only irreplaceable love? How?

How can I complete my deeds, how can I fulfill my responsibility when he took away the only aim I had? If someone snatched your god from you, what will you do? How will you complete your destiny when your god is no longer there for you? Tell me, how long will you search, and what will you do when you can’t find him?”

The man looked like he had gone insane; he had lost his sense like he wasn’t there anymore, he was in his own doomed world. The people were gawking at him with wide eyes, shame in their wide eyes as they realized how truthful his words were. He spoke again this time addressing other people.

The Man – “Sure throw me away from here; throw me away as far as you can. Keep throwing me until you find satisfaction. If I can’t be happy, at least I can make you happy, come on people, I won’t be compelled. No not at all. You ask why I came here, well I came here in hope of finding some way to reconnect. But I guess, I was wrong, how you can explain something to a person who has lost all hope, who just is not ready to be happy. How can you explain anything to a person who only understands love and how can you give love to a person when he has lost it all. When he has forgotten the meaning of love when all he wants to do is curse his fate and trod along. You want to teach me a lesson, make sure you do: a lesson of life. Just do whatever you want if that makes you happy. When I can’t be happy, at least I can try to take away your stress.”

He had now stopped speaking; his eyes were full of tears. Heads of most of the people were hung down with the heaviness of shame for accusing him falsely while the rest held their heads up to show their support and appreciation. The Saint spoke up again.

The Saint – “My son, I am sure, there’s nothing I can do right now to ease your pain. I don’t know what you have been through, I don’t know what’s on your mind, and all I can say is be patient, trust over the god, and leave everything in his hands. Let the moment pass, slowly and slowly time will heal the pain. Believe me; it will heal all of your pains. And you’ll once again be happy.”

The saint had a light accent but his face was still sincere, maybe his last effort, one final act to convince the guy who could now be considered as a rebellion against him and maybe also god. People nodded in agreement with the saint. But to everyone’s surprise, the guy spoke up again. It seemed as if this common gathering had transformed into a private discussion between the two people while the rest were just listeners to them. Listeners who were uncertain whose side they were on and agreed to the both of them now.

The Man – “You say time will heal the pain, I have been waiting for years now, just to let the moment pass, just to let the time heal my pain but the pain won’t heal, it keeps getting worse, every year the dates come again and again, the memories from the past stab you again and again making the wound even deeper. The good times haunt you and year after year, you slowly eat yourself up. There is no healing of this pain; there is no getting over her…

You ask me to believe in god, I lost my god long ago; my god was my only love. And now I have come to your god, and it seems your god welcomes me but I don’t require an affectionate welcome, all I require is my love. I don’t want any god, I want my love back and there’s no god that can do that, so maybe not in this world but at least I can hope to find her in the next world where there is happiness that is me and her together. Maybe I’ll find her there… maybe not, but at least there is a hope.”

The guy had mentioned for the first time about his lover. Everyone in the church was sympathetic towards him and also helpless at the same time. There was pin-drop silence among the audience. Emotions were on the brink. Ladies were on the brink of bursting into tears after listening to such a sad person. Men were on the brink to leave their chairs and hug this guy tightly. The crowd, who wanted to throw him out a minute ago, was now more than interested in knowing his story. Maybe god exists, maybe he does not, but right now, no one was to debate on that. All they wanted to do was help this person by any means they could. All kind of people, businessmen, engineers, trainers, accountants etc., people who never thought well for anyone else in their whole lives, just eager to lend a helping hand to a stranger the had just met barely five minutes ago, the same stranger they wanted to kill two minutes ago. The saint finally spoke up again.

The Saint – “My son, for the first time in my life, I have nothing to say, nothing to recommend, I will ask my god tonight while I pray that how to face you when I meet you again. But before I do that I just want to know who you are?”

His voice was polite and low; the guy looked at the saint and said.

The Man – “I am a misjudged and mistreated man of destiny; I am the imperfect creation of god. Although my love is immortal, I fell in love with a mortal human. And I hold no regrets for that.

But now, I am nothing… In this loveless world, I am nothing more than her lover.”

The man closed his eyes and turned his head towards the ceiling, two tears rolled down upon his cheeks. No-one spoke anything, many of the girls and ladies were sobbing silently, and a man put his hand around his shoulders another held his hand in both of his palms. He slowly stood up and started walking towards the gate.

Someone said – “The man is broken down to the soul, he has suffered too much for a human being. Perhaps he has gone through the worse...”

Another person said – “Yes! He has been cheated by fate. He has probably been wronged by god himself.”

One man shouted – “He is god himself! He has come to show us the value of love in our lives. Bow to him, for he is none other than god.”

Ironically, the same crowd was giving out these comments about him. He had just been transformed from the messenger of Satan to god himself. Even god had been compromised at the moment to soothe and sympathize to him. Him, ‘a stranger’! And they left their god, the god they had been worshipping for years in just 5 minutes… Such is the power of love. The saint spoke again. He could be heard speaking as the man left the church.

The Saint – “Yes, maybe god chose him to tell you to value your love and I too would advise you to love like this is your last moment on Earth, because if you don’t one day you will lose your chance…” (Fades)

(Curtain closes).

Written By:

Atul Shrotriya.