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Until I Met

by Swagata Roy, Kolkata, India

“My life was good enough. I was happy with my loving husband Debarth and my 3 years old twin sons. Everything was going very well until I met him.” Samayra told Nehakshi.

On 3rd April 2016, Aryaman came to Samayra’s office for an interview as her assistant. He was a solemn, intense, idealistic man and also ideal for Samayra’s “assistant” job. When Samayra saw Aryaman for the first time, he wore a formal slim-fit green shirt with tight fit khaki chinos. Samayra couldn’t take her eyes off Aryaman. After having done with the interview Samayra learned that Aryaman was also an artist and worked in a gallery where Samayra had worked before.

After one month, one day Aryaman was talking to Mindy. Mindy was Samayra's colleague and also a very good friend. Samayra heard them talking about some exhibition. Samayra asked Mindy, "Who is having the exhibition?" Mindy pointed at Aryaman. "Wow, that's great news, congratulations…" Samayra wished.

"Aryman was asking if anyone from the office could go to the exhibition… then he will be motivated…" Mindy informed Samayra to look at Aryaman, his eyes were restless, he was staring at Samayra, vividly. "But today I have dinner plans, so I can't go…" Mindy replied. Samayra nodded as she informed.            

“Hey Sam," Aryaman said, Samayra looked at him, "will you join me today at my art exhibition?”

“Yes,” Samayra replied. Mindy looked at Samayra, Samayra didn’t think twice, and suddenly that 'yes' came out with excitement and rage, in a flow from her like it had to be that. Mindy frowned seeing her, Aryaman was looking at her confusingly, when Samayra gave a thought to her reply and realized that ‘why did she say ‘yes’ like this?’. Samayra looked at Aryaman, a smile was fighting on his face, then she looked at Mindy, who was frowning at her.

“Sorry, I was thinking something else… and you suddenly asked me" Samayra laughed awkwardly, "Sorry I can't come, I promised my husband that we will spend time together today…" somehow Samayra saved herself for that response and turned the conversation differently. Aryaman remained silent that time, he was blank. Mindy's phone started to ring, she was excused to receive her call. Samayra looked at Aryaman, he looked upset. “Arya… are you alright?” Samayra asked. Aryaman was startled when he heard Samayra’s voice again.

“yeah.. yeah... I’m fine… Why am I here?”Aryaman asked Samayra. Samayra was surprised to learn that Aryaman just forgot everything.  

“You just asked me to be at your exhibition, but I can't go, I'm sorry,” Samayra said.

"Oh… yeah, I remember now," Aryaman said, Samayra nodded, she understood something was wrong with Aryaman, Aryman sipped his drink and said, "you know what Sam, lately, I'm having this problem, that I am in the situation then suddenly I blackout and I don't remember any of the things, I was doing before the blackout," as Aryaman explained Samayra looked at him, frowning.  "I think you should see a psychologist then, Arya," Samayra suggested. 

"Psychologist? I'm not mad, Samayra'' Aryaman replied rigidly.  

"No, I'm not saying you are mad, psychologists can help you to fix this problem," Samayra replied.

"Yeah, okay… I'll see," Aryaman said and left the cabin. Samayra understood, and Aryaman got vexed. Later that day, she went home and spent a great time with her family.

One day, at night Samayra woke up from sleep, having a dream about Aryaman. She dreamed that she and Aryaman were going somewhere by palanquin. Two months passed, and in these two months, Samayra saw several dreams about Aryaman. She became frustrated. 

One day Aryaman came to Samayra's cabin, "Hey, Sam," Samayra turned to see him, "I want to talk to you," he asked. 

"Yeah, come in," Samayra said. Aryman came into her cabin and sat in front of her, "I want to apologize for my behavior that day," Aryaman said. "Hey, no no it's okay…" Samayra replied. 

"And one more thing, you were right… It helped me to see a psychologist…" Aryaman informed. 

Samayra smiled, "well, I'm happy for you, I'm relieved to hear that you are recovering…". Aryaman smiled vaguely, he looked down then up, at Samayra. His look was different. Samayra's smile faded. Aryaman was staring at her, he was looking deep into her eyes. Samayra started to paint. "Anything else, Arya?" She asked.                    

"Yeah, I have something to say to you," Aryaman uttered. Samayra was having goosebumps, she nodded. Aryaman sighed, wet his lips, he looked at Samayra and noticed a picture of her and her husband was framed, kept on the table. Seeing that he didn't say anything, "nothing, it's a random thought, not important,". 

"Okay, " Samayra replied. "Bye," Aryaman said, Samayra nodded, he left her cabin. 

Samayra also had weird feelings for Aryaman but she couldn't talk about her feelings because he was her assistant, who was working under her. She was married and still those thoughts were disturbing her, that's why she was feeling guilty.

Last month, there was a promotion program. And Samayra was going to announce the promotions.

“Hello everyone, I am Samayra Mehta, the HR manager of this company, and today I’m going to announce the names of those who are getting the promotions this….” During the announcement, Samayra became unconscious and was falling on the stage but Mindy came running towards Samayra and held her. Aryaman rushed towards Samayra and picked her and took her to the restroom.

Mindy and Aryaman were there with Samayra at that time. Mindy was trying to regain Samayra’s consciousness. Samayra became conscious but she was so tired that she fell asleep again. After Mindy came out of the restroom, she saw Aryaman was waiting outside.                                                                  

“What happened to Samayra? Is she okay? Has she regained her consciousness or not?” Aryaman was asking several questions to Mindy. Mindy was confused why Aryaman was being so tense regarding Samayra.

“Yeah, she's fine. She is sleeping now…. I told her before not to take this responsibility of announcing promotions. But she is very arrogant, you know, at this stage, taking stress is not good, '' Mindy said. Aryaman looked at Mindy confusingly. 

“what stage?” Aryaman asked.

“in pregnancy! I mean she is two months pregnant… stress is not good for her and her baby’s health” Mindy said to Aryaman. Aryaman was surprised and became silent. In the meantime, Samayra’s husband arrived. “How is she now?” Debarth asked Mindy.

“She is fine now, she is sleeping just…” Mindy said to Devart.

“she is pregnant you know… I told her not to take stress but she is…..” Debarth said.

Debarth suddenly noticed Aryaman and asked Mindy about him. Mindy informed Debarth, Aryaman was Samayra’s assistant. Debarth and Aryaman shook hands. After a while, Samayra woke up from sleep seeing a dream that she was running, holding a knife. Mindy and Devarth rushed into the room and gave her water. Aryaman was watching, when Devarth kissed her on the forehead, Samayra noticed Aryaman's face. After some time, Debarth left for work and Mindy took Samayra to her office, “thank you so much Mindy…you did a lot” Samayra said. "Where is Arya?" Samayra asked Mindy.

"He got promoted as manager, so Mr. Tyagi called him," Mindy informed. Samayra nodded. “Now you take a rest and I’ll bring you coffee,” Mindy said and left.

Samayra decided to consult a psychologist. Nehakshi was her psychologist. Samayra told her everything about Aryaman, her weird dreams. Samayra was very depressed, which she shouldn’t be because she was pregnant. Nehakshi couldn’t give her pills for hypertension or depression because that would be unhealthy for the baby's health. So Nehakshi chose hypnotherapy for Samayra. Hypnotherapy is very effective and harmless for any patient. Hypnosis is more effective during pregnancy, it tends to have stronger bonds with their infants and is also safe.

On the 10th of October, 2016 Nehakshi started her hypnotherapy with Samayra. Samayra laid down on the sofa and closed her eyes. Nehakshi was trying to relax Samayra.

“You are in a good place, something good is going to happen to you, relax your mind, relax your body, relax your facial bones, and concentrate on my words” Nehakshi was continuously saying those, until she fell into a deep trance state. After some minutes, Nehakshi said to Samayra that, “ Samayra now I’m going to count 10 to 1 and when I say 1 you will be totally in your deep sleep… ten, nine, eight….. three, two, one”.

Samayra was in her deep trance state. After 40 seconds, Nehakshi decided to ask her something.

“Samayra, can you hear me?” 

“Yes,” Samayra replied in a lower voice.

“What are you seeing? Where are you now?” Nehakshi asked.

“ I see a lane, it’s kind of dirty…” Samayra said. Nehakshi was surprised that Samayra should have thought about her dreams or feelings about Aryaman but what was she supposed to establish by seeing a lane? Still, Nehakshi told her to go on.

“I see people… people running here and there… some people have hammers and sickles in their hands… houses are burning, blood…. everywhere, there is blood…. Children are crying…” by Samayra’s answers Nehakshi was surprised. Nehakshi had read about reincarnation but had never believed in that. She checked over 50 patients but something like this never happened to her. Nehakshi asked her the next question and the reply of Samayra gave her chills in her whole body.

“Can you tell me the year samayra?” nehakshi asked,

Pg 2 continued here....