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surrender to my feeling, then there is only the flow of that feeling, and there is no need for anything else. And throughout my day, I feel I am a stronger shore for being so deeply united.”
"O Usha!” Rup exclaimed. “We are learning so much from this river, this life! Let us see that whatsoever happens in our lives, we wilfnot let the water between our shores run dry. Then we won't fall into the trap which other people fall into, letting trivial things take hold of their mind and dry up their love."
“And I too,” Usha answered, "would rather drop all in order to continue the flow between us. Everything else may come and go but that feeling will always keep us united.”
Full Circle
It was towards the latter quarter of the year 1941. Rup's work with Gandhiji had taken him to Ahmedabad, in Gujarat State. From there, he went home to be with his father in Tumkur, and later to Bangalore to visit Usha. When he reached home, he found an urgent message waiting for him. Usha had gone to Calcutta with her family for a small vacation and had contracted a dread fever. It was thought to be malaria. Rup leapt up without delay. He was ready to take the next express train to Calcutta. His father urged him to wait for more news. But his heart was pounding and he knew there was not a moment to lose.
He reached her bedside on the tenth and final day of her illness. The depth of their last wordless reunion remained eternally in his consciousness. As she breathed her last breath in his arms, the curtain fell upon him.
A deep anguish pervaded his spirit.
“Once a throbbing life," he murmured, "now she is no more. Where has she gone? Why has she gone? Why? Why?"
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