A Never Ending Hope.

It was ten in the morning. For the past fifteen minutes, she'd been standing in front of her cupboard, rolling her eyes up and down to select a good attire. It was a special day for her and she, obviously, wanted to look good and make the evening perfect. After a few more minutes of selection and rejection, she finally found a peach colored suit and in another fifteen minutes, she was ready. 


                                Previous Day-23rd December, 2004

" OK now let me tell you the details once again. My flight AI 008C will leave at 3:15 in the afternoon and i'll reach Delhi by 7:00 pm. From there we will go to your favorite restaurant and will celebrate our anniversary"

"Anniversary? oh yeah...its been 1 month since we tied knots. You remembered it. That is so sweet"

"Of course i did. And ma'am this is the reason i'm coming two days earlier...just to be with you on the special day. OK now I've got to go. See you tomorrow"

"I miss you."

"Miss you too. take care."

Before going to the airport, she thought of buying a present for him. Having plenty of time in hand, she went to a store, bought a nice antique photo frame, selected a photograph which they once clicked during their courtship period and got the whole thing beautifully packed.
On reaching the airport at around 6:15 pm, she decided to have a cup of espresso but before that she went to check the status of his flight. She had no idea how the the next few minutes would change her life forever...


Flight No.               From                             To                          Status
AI 008C                Indonesia              New Delhi             Cancelled


It was hard for her to believe and she was still tingling with what her eyes saw when something even worse came out. She heard someone saying something about TSUNAMI. On turning her head around, she saw many people rushing in and out, frantically talking on phone, to their relatives may be, but she was still not able to make out what was going on till she saw the news herself


"A devastating tsunami has struck the Southern Asia and parts of East Africa. Lacs of people have been reported dead and missing and the major impact is seen in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Maldives."


The news came as a bolt from the blue. She immediately dialed his number but it was not reachable. She called on a few more numbers which were of his colleagues but all were not reachable except one.


"Hello.....hello??.....", someone did pick up but his voice cracked and before she could even say something the call lost. She tried again and again....for hours. And after trying zillion of times, she waited...in despair...waited in vain...for her phone to ring. She waited for her husband to call and say that he's in the pink of his health and there's nothing to worry. But she never got any call from him.

Its been more then five years since her fate did a somersault and jolted her inside out. But as we say, life goes on, so has she. And going on doesn't only mean re-marrying. For she has found other ways to keep herself busy and to keep pace with her life.


Her husband's name was no where among the deceaseds'. He was still counted among the 37,000 missing people in Indonesia. And somewhere down the line, she believes that he'd show up and when that day would come, she would give him his present which she has kept safely with herself, packed with their beautiful memories.