"Prerana; ...........................................Now, he knew the answer. Time had taught him with enormous cruelty. " Contd.: After all this incessant toil; completely exhausted, he grabs and devours couple of over ripe bananas from underneath the table and inattentively tosses the peels out of the window. He stands and watches the traffic underneath for a while. The warm mellow evening, a certain hubbub in the road in front; even the moon in her shining glory, have emerged to partake in the merriment and exhilaration that he was experiencing. It appeared as though entire kathmandu was on the road. Or maybe whole nation was on kathmandu. How his personal fortune have been in sharp contrast to that of his beloved motherland. He decides to lie on the couch for sometime. It is 7:00PM. Prerana and Anuj would be there at 8:30 PM. He still has time for a quick nap. As he lays on the couch, for a well deserved respite, he could not help but think and wonder, remember and reminisces. "How dad and mom would have done it?" he wonders as he tardily loosens up. Anyways, he is in peace with himself. He has done all he could and some more. His dad would be proud of him for taking such a good care of his little sister. Prerana had been just 12 months, and he himself - a lost, scared, and docile 11 years old boy, when that fatal accident had changed the course of their lives forever. It was never the same again; ever. A truck had collided into their parent's car as they were returning from Nagarkot, after one of those romantic gateway weekends that his dad treated his mother with every now and then. He was not only a good father and a son, but also a fine husband. Their car had fallen off the cliff, and their mom left them to meet her maker on the spot. He still remembers with painful clarity; dad's rasping shaky voice as he struggled to speak through the pain with tubes and stitches all over his face. "Divyaj, you must take care of your baby sister. Come what may she shouldn't feel the loss of her parents. You have to be there for her all the times, especially when granny is no more." He had held his dad's hand tight, shaking his head, affirming on his dad's wishes as he looked on the corner where granny was in her prayers and Prerana in her lap; so serene... Divyaj was too scared to even tell his dad that he was scared. He had known he wouldn't survive and that granny was too old to drag out for more than couple of years and people would act on bereavement alone for so long. Perhaps 'someone up there' had seen enough of the turmoil and pain a scared 11 year old felt when he looked in to his oblivious, innocent sister, that 'they', in their kindness decided to let granny live for another 8 years. By the time granny passed away, Divyaj was 19 and on the verge of earning his degree, which he duly did earn with distinction and managed to get a job in a bank. All these years they had been surviving on his father's insurance payment and whatever little savings his dad had managed for them. Much had been spent on grandma?s medical expenses. She was a moral support, a wall if you will. Without her, perhaps he could not have made it. Indeed even she would be glad to see Divyaj succeed. (To be continued....)