A mighty heart..

                             

                      Have you seen the movie "A mighty heart" ? I recently happened to see it. Anyone who has ever loved and cared would be on verge of panic and tears. At least I was. 
                      The story is based on the real life incident of Daniel Pearl- the American journalist who was kidnapped and later beheaded by an organisation in Pakistan. 
                      The story touched me. I was quite young when this incident happened and I remember reading about it. Never did it cross my mind that he might be having a wife waiting for him.. What I was imagining back then was- An American journalist goes on work to Pakistan and gets kidnapped. His family back home is worried about him missing and days later they find him beheaded. I was completely wrong! His wife had accompanied him to Pakistan and was 5 months pregnant when he was kidnapped. For 10 days, they knew he was kidnapped and the constant fear of him being killed was looming over their heads. 
                     Some portions of the film were so heart wrenching.. His wife keeps calling on his cellphone to only hear "Currently unavailable". In one part, she was so scared of the repeated false alarms of his death and she send a text message to his number- " I love you".  The scene brought me on the verge of tears. Painfully it is all true. At the end of it, when she realizes he is no more, she deals with everything with dignity. The book itself is an attempt to keep her husband alive in the memories of the people. It requires courage to go through those dark moments again while writing them down. Although the book, penned by her, talks about her husband as the "Mighty heart", in my eyes she is the mighty heart..
                      I tried googling up a bit on the story. Although an online version of the book wasn't available, I did manage to get a small excerpt of the book. It is the first chapter of the book. The way she writes about her husband, you wouldn't know he is no more! She brings him alive in every word. 
                     A small excerpt from the first chapter that I read follows.. This part of her writing stirred something within me.
                     Danny is back before four P.M. for a brief visit. As usual, I run into his arms and bury my face in his neck. I stay there, wanting to get drunk on his smell, wanting to feel some of his sweat. I do not like to be separated from him. Sometimes, after I've gone somewhere, I find him at the front door waiting for my return. He takes me in his arms and tells me how much he has missed me. He squeezes me tight with one hand, and with the other, he caresses my face, calling me "My wife, my life."

Occasionally I like to be separated from him for a few days just to savor this feeling we have -- painful but delicious -- when the one we love is absent. Just for the pleasure of finding him again when he comes to pick me up at the airport. Of reading the emails he sends me from a stop in transit, for the mere pleasure of hearing him tell me, "I'm on my way." Only when I am back with him do I feel whole.

             I m dying to read the book, but at the same time I do not know if I will be able to read it to the end without crying.. 

                          The very same evening after I watched this movie, I tried calling S. I couldn't reach him.  "The airtel number you are trying to reach is currently not available" kept repeating each time I tried.  For the next two hours I keep trying every 5 - 10 minutes. This never really happens and it instantly got me worried and my over imaginative little brain started panicking. I mailed and texted.

                        Finally when he called me to tell that there is some network problem, I couldn't help but sigh! The whole movie was still playing at the back of my mind. 

                        Later at night when he came on skype, I gave this whole wide grin and he said, "Itni khushi! Abhi zinda hu dekh ke kya?"  Even the thought sends terror down me. I have a weak heart S. I cannot bear to miss you even for a day.. 

                        I pray that no pair ever gets separated in such a cruel twist of fate.. 

P.S: The first chapter of the book can be read HERE