top of page

The loop.

Writer's picture: Maniraj AdhikariManiraj Adhikari


Prologue,


Joe was looking at the reception counter for over 25 minutes as the waiting time went too long, was he patient about his schedule, Just in a while he took another pill and drank a glass of water,

It was a wide open waiting area, all masked in the row, a lady walked through and asked him to follow her for his appointment,


Joe and the lady entered the doctor's room.


Please wait here doctor will see you soon,


She also got him a cup of tea.


Joe held back comfortably on the couch holding tea soccer in his right hand and taking a sip with his left, A wall clock was ticking loudly, and behind a few certificates hung on the wall, he looked over.


Dr. Grishma enters the room.


Inner Joe,

Is it my focus on overpowering hearing sense?

I tried to remain focused escaping the interruption that was causing me to be inattentive at my fore facing Dr. Grishma.

A fair complex late 20's brown-eyed female doctor, I have a feeling her visits will definitely bring changes to Joe's life and also could say his one and only female mate, Apparently doctor somehow, but she has been more than anything at this stage of his life, I mean important point of view as a counselor. Though it is his second visit, he still feels so connected.


Hello Sir, how are you feeling today?

Grishma, asked and checked the note in her diary and wrote something on his report,

The office location was exceptionally great. The Bayside sea-facing view is very calm and peaceful. Joe was referred to her by the Community hospital, She is a full-time government-employed Psychiatric, who Consults the Community hospital patient but does private consulting in her spare time, I guess.


Dr. Grishma Finally broke a word she was busy getting the reports ready since the first Greeting,

"So Joeseph, Do you mind if I call you Joe?


Joe nodded, Sure Dr either one is fine.


She gave a charming blush,

So this is our second Official meeting.

'We met earlier in our visit, 2 weeks ago for paperwork. Now you have been officially assigned to me for 9 sessions this will help you feel less pressured with your ongoing problem.


Joe has already started feeling polished, with her verse.


Yes, sure.


Tell me about yourself, Joe, Grishma asked.


I am Joseph Markham, and moreover, you have my report lying on your desk,

... She interrupted and took the file below the desk,


She folded her palm into a triangle and joined her chin

Please tell me something that isn't here, Grishma replied.

She seemed interested,


I have a sleeping problem, I take 3 doses of anxiety Pills every day and have been prescribed strong medication and ... Joe took a pause and broke after 3 sec of silence, Nothing is going right at this point.


Why would you feel such? Grishma responded promptly,


Maybe Karma. he said in a small tone.


Is that what you have been believing so far besides a good cause?


Yes, That is about it until I am here to meet you for the assigned session. I wanted to tell you about all this but it's already in the report, But moreover myself this is the situation is carried out in my life for no good reason. I was once a happy person which was shaded by the darkness when everything I had with me was taken away,

he fluently had spoken everything at once,


She took a pause glanced back and asked,

Why do you think, everything was taken away from you?

(Trying to make her feel calm).

Look,.. Joe, I know this must have been hard for you, but I could only be able to help if you will share everything with me. I mean freely.


Okay, please take a long breath..


Joe follows what Dr. Grishma requests and takes a long breath. This process exactly took for 3 minutes,


Alright, let's start from the beginning and not look into the report instead like to hear it from you,

How did you come into this situation? Why do you think your life isn't going right at this stage? ...


Joe interrupted in between and asked


Can I say something? You reminded me of someone, She was as beautiful as you are.

Grishma interrupted with a blush, Why do you think life isn't going well at this stage?.... (Maybe she wanted to correct herself this time)


Let's start from the beginning.



Chapter 1

5 years ago, Kent Street.


The room was endured with Gossip and talks, people chattering, drinks, and loud music.

Drinking is sensational, it keeps you focused on whatever you are doing either Talking, Dancing, Texting, or Missing. The loud music doesn't even make any alteration to your conversation, instead gives you a good feeling to merge into the situation you are pinned, It has no limitations nor Boundaries unless Alcohol is off your mind, the body could handle the suffering.

Joe was calm looking through the chilled bottle of Corona, which he has been holding for the last 25 minutes but couldn't finish completely yet. Maybe he isn't enjoying it, Sankosh turned 31 today, it was all about him celebrating his birthday. Joe was an associate friend from their workplace, and Sankosh's wife Menuka was a very friendly character, It was the third time Joe is meeting them socially and occasionally. Menuka also had a few friends come over to the party, She looked really busy managing everything, while Sankosh seemed very joyful today, He has already been 4 beers down. But they are a very beautiful couple. It was very unusual to interact with all new faces for Joe, He is a very Mild and unrecognizing character, but he has his own way to Flourish his charm.


Menuka just offered Joe a beer, she smiled and shifted her eyes, maybe she wanted to say something indefinitely. Poor Joe couldn't understand her and Smiled instead and said thank you. When he looked to his left, he immediately paused his attention, He was either surprised or excited but he has an even reaction to either, so can't really figure out the actual feelings, but this reaction I assumed was because of the Girls, Sitting at the corner right next to the lounge room. He immediately stood and marched to the Balcony, Sankosh saw him rushing, so he followed him, soon he went behind and asked,


Have you got a cigarette?


Joe turned back as he didn't realize Sankosh was following,

He immediately checked through his pocket and Gave him a Cigarette, Sankosh went to the corner to light it, just making sure his wife doesn't see him smoking.


Joe, why don't grab a new bottle? Are you enjoying yourself here, Sankosh asked him.

Joe smiled and took a sip of the beer he was holding,

Yeah, it's absolutely great. thank you so much for inviting me and happy birthday. I will take another one shortly.

His Balcony was pretty wide, which could fit at least 20 people at once, it was most likely A smoking junction. Joe stood by the corner Since the space was already full. Sankosh passed the smoke to Joe and waved to his other mates around the balcony, Joe then hold through the cigarette and took a few puffs, and asked Sankosh if all these are your friends or Menuka has invited a few of her friends too, because there seem to be fewer Girls, in compare to Guys.


Which he didn't exactly say but the only thing he was concerned about was the Girl sitting near the lounge room is either your guest or Menukas,


Actually, Menuka has also invited her few friends, they are in the next area near the lounge room,

Hey, Joe, I am heading inside, are you coming?


Joe,

No, please get going I might be here for a while, Finishing the cigarette, Which has already come to an end,


Okey See you in, Sankosh left.


What made him so nervous about that particular person sitting near the lounge room,

He quickly finished his Beer and went looking for the washroom, There were a total of 3 bathrooms in the house, which two of them were already occupied and the last option was near the lounge room, Now he had no other option besides pissing on his pants, so he quickly sneaks to that area without making any eye contacts, and Quickly hold the door but it was also occupied, he looked very nervous as he couldn't face the situation,

but slowly looked back and realized the Girl that he was concerned about wasn't there, she might have gone elsewhere for a while, and in distance, Joe can see her talking to Menuka,

The toilet was soon vacant but wasn't good to breathe, but I assumed why would he act so seriously and feel so nervous looking at this Girl, There should have been a story about this,

Joe stayed 20 minutes in the bathroom where he spend only 2 minutes pissing at the bowl, while the rest of 18 minutes he spend thinking and shaking his foot. He could hear there was a queue waiting to get a hold of the bathroom. So he flushed and went out, and found everyone has left which were actually Menuka's friends,


Except he saw Shital, Talking to someone on the Balcony. Now he feels a bit relieved and went for another beer, He was actually happy and anxious at the same time I hardly could understand him because he wanted her to stay and also obliged to face her at the same time, so What is this exactly leading him to, Menuka just walks through him and asked Joe, are you really enjoying the Party, have you met my friend, Sheetal? soon Shital walked inside the door and caught her eye on me, I couldn't actually see her continuously so looked back to Menukas, following on to her conversations.

She waved to Shital and asked her to join us, Shital slowly approached and looked at Joe. Menuka then left waving to her other friend, now it was just Shital and Joe,

Joe tried to swing his eyes to hide the attention, but Shital just looked at him,

He then looked back at her as he couldn't resist to unsee her,


How have you been, Sheetal? Joe asked,

I'm good, .. Were you trying to avoid me? Joe,


Well about Sheetal, we actually met 11 years ago, for the very first time. It also includes an ideal character Sanjay in the story. This is when we 3 first met,


Sanjay is flying to Australia for his further education,

(He is about to fly at 8:45, his family was gathered outside the main gate)

They are at the Entrance of Tribhuvan International Airport. The echoing sounds of bags and trolleys, chattering, smiling and depressed faces, and People taking selfies probably stamp to announce I am free, but this is where the real struggle begins. Likes and reactions popping on their walls.


Dr. Grishma, Interrupt Joe,

Sorry, You were telling me about the party, You can't overlap the story, this will be very confusing and Complex to understand the context.

Joe wanted to make her understand one person that came into his life many times but in different timelines, which actually made him mature about understanding these things better. So we have to go into the loop of each timeline to find how it started to what it is now.


Joe contd the story,


I finished the gateway checkpoint and stood by the line for the form processing. I saw Sanjay first time there with his family, It is a very emotional moment for both the brother departing and even his Family, Everyone had arrived to see off him, While I was just holding my hand luggage I have flown for the third time in a row now, Well Sanjay looks quite occupied may his first time, Finally his Dad Dharam Gupta emotionally broke the word, Take care beta. That was very emotional. Until I confronted the actual story.

I entered the luggage and weighed nearly 5 kg. The lady smiled and said is that all you have for today?

I gently replied, Yes Mam.


You can go to room 22, please.

I saw Sanjay behind me holding his heavy luggage, while the lady asked him to put it in the weighing machine to confirm if it was not more than 50kg, as per the procedure, Sanjay seemed a bit nervous, maybe it would exceed more than 50 Kg,

I stood beside the crew and watched.

The Machine showed 56.5 kg,

Sorry, sir, your total luggage exceeds more than 50 Kg, so now either you have to get rid of 6.5 kg of goods or pay 3000 rs per Kg. I am probably sure it has been very hard for Sanjay to follow up with the situation, but now he got very nervous and started to call probably his family.

I walked through him and asked

Hey, do you need any help?''


He looked very confused and tried to explain to me the situation. He was a dark complex mid 20’s terai resident Madhesi guy, I figured with his accent and also his repeatedly explaining the same thing nature.

Well, he was a stranger but I still decided to help him because this guy had caught my attention since morning.

I went to the desk and requested assistance.

Hi again, my friend seemed to have a little trouble here, if this can be resolved without paying, and possible to share 6.5 kg of my space while I was only carrying 5 kg?

I don't really understand if it was really possible or if we got lucky but she agreed. Sanjay looked very happy now and thanked me over 100 times. He was a very decent and cheerful kind of person. While his luggage was sorted we moved along with the handbags, heading for Immigration and Security checking process.


Where are you flying to Brother, I asked.

Australia,


Oh, that's good, which city are you flying to?

I’m flying to Melbourne,


Oh, that's great, (I murmured to myself, Oh you probably gonna slog your arse for the first couple of months),


What about you, I don't think this is your first visit.

I am heading to Sydney, No it would be 3 times in a row over the last 6 months, and by the way, I am Joe.


I am Sanjay, thank you so much, Joe,

I smiled, you don't have to thank me again, which flight are you on?


I am flying with Silk at 8:45 PM, what is yours?

I am on the same flight too,

We walked over to the counters and got our passports checked, I waited for him on the security pass as I was ahead of him in the crew, But he didn't show up, not for at least 5 minutes, so I decided to head into the waiting room, room 22 as mentioned by the lady at the checkpoint, it was almost 7:45 an hour away from my flight. I Charged my phone and checked a few emails. It was 8:05 when I shut my laptop and still couldn't see him, So I decided to March forward to Room 22. It is basically a waiting room, with a lot of Screens on the wall, each specifying the Arrival and Departure time and Waiting on your call for departure.

Time has already accelerated within this process but still can't see him anywhere near, the flight was about to take off in the next 10-15 min, but first I felt to just let it go because this character signifies nothing in my life besides a short and sweet helpful meeting, whereas somewhere inside I did actually look around still, I was just worried if he would be lost his way, look this is still comparable and also I was carrying 6.5kg of his luggage.

The bus services were provided into the runway, approaching on board. (The announcement was made for flight TSQD silk please fall in line to head in for the boarding), Soon it was queued with people. I saw him in the distance, just 5 min before boarding, he came along with a company, can't clarify until they came near, dammn Sanjay found a girl, well technically might have been a second help, but when he cracked a word introducing her as a childhood friend,


Hi Joe, she gave a dazzling smile,

( I wonder how she knows my name? And realized Sanjay stood next to her, who have almost thanked me 100 times, he might have explained everything during those times while I was looking for his whereabouts. )

Firstly she was uttermost a pretty girl, with slightly highlighted hair, beautiful eyes, fair complexion and dammn her smile is just something anyone could fall for, She had a tika patched on her forehead, her fair complex face and Glitter eyes. I don't have much understanding of female dresses but she wore simple, yellow tops, Blue tight jeans, and white sneakers. (Her neck was wired by a few red saggy pieces of clothes, well traditional way to Farewell)


I couldn't stop staring at her, I felt a bit unusual and moved my sight to Sanjay. And slowly look into her eyes,


Hy… and you are? (With a little smile)

Sanjay interrupts, She is Sheetal, my childhood friend,

Hi Sheetal,? I gently smiled. This would be the proper greeting now. (I literally can't move my sight away) but this actually makes a very different impression when you keep staring at a stranger unless you know each other.


Before we could make any further conversation, we had to sneak onto the flight,

Guys we really have to get going, So Sheetal, what flight are you in? I asked.

Silk Airlines, on board.

Well unexpectedly she was on the same flight,(She would smile at my every question) so this actually made me keep on questioning her.

We stood in the Que to get on the board.

Slowly people passed through the gateway and so did we, Bus was fully packed as only a few standing spaces were available. I had my handbag slide to the front around my belly and hold the pole. We 3 stood in a line together. It was just a 5-minute ride until we reached the airplane we were flying to.


The driver now announced the instruction to get off the bus and get on the plane that was standing behind the bus.

We couldn't actually talk because the bus was full and it was hard to even move.


Sanjay got off the bus at first, while I was right behind Sheetal, there were a few still standing ahead of Sheetal.

Sheetal are you heading to Melbourne? I ask.

No, I am going to Sydney, what about you ? she replied.


I will be going to Sydney too, is this your first visit?

Yes, the first time. What is your seat number? I guess we 3 are heading on the same flight.


I looked through my tickets and wasn't sure which seat I had booked. But I had a clear instruction to the travel agent on booking a window seat for myself.


Hmm, it's T36, what about you?

I was quite excited, to explain if we could make it in the same seats.

We got off the bus, and went into the queue to get on the plane, she then checked into her pass,

It's a T35, I think we have the same seats.

I remember Suraj Ji explaining to me that the seats I shared were Nepalese. Didn't realize this would be the best option,

Sanjay was ahead in the line, I waved to him and he quickly came and joined us,

What is your seat number, Sanjay?


It's T34,

So guys we made it in the same seats, did you realize that? I chuckled.


We entered the plane, and a beautiful Flight attendant greeted us, and helped us to settle into our seats.


Back at the party,

Sheetal waved in front of his face, as he came far away 9 years later after they first met, The party gossip and ambiance went through joe ears, does this beer take him way further, He goes back in time to recap those moments whenever he saw her.


Contd.
















229 views

Comments

Rated 0 out of 5 stars.
No ratings yet

Add a rating

Drop Me a Line, Let Me Know What You Think

Thanks for submitting!

© 2023 all right reserved by Syc Eboi

bottom of page