Designs of Destiny

As the December sun rose amidst the thick strands of clouds, bringing a splendid aura of warmth of and brightness. The sunlight, stretching through the breaks of shafts of clouds into the earth and simmering the grass. It was dawn in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India.
Somewhere in this city of jostling crowds and myriad opportunities to try your luck, Sana finally sat up with a sprang, before it dawned upon her that she had to get ready for a holiday sojourn to Dubai. It is one of most exotic locales for holidaying and shopping in the world.

She had a quick glance at the clock and to her utter shock and despair, it had struck a perfect “9”.Within minutes she was down from her four poster bed, and lurched around to get ready; putting things in order which she managed with much difficulty and hours of tiring efforts. Meanwhile in this process, she was feeling a sense of euphoria and ectasy gripping all over her….She had longed and waited for nearly six months to unwind herself: after putting in all her vigour and verve in the job she did; for a well deserved break and now finally the day had arrived.


Having arrived at the airport well in advance, she was now passing through the stringent security checks which continued for a hour. A frisson of delight waved through her ,with the snazzily dressed up women escorting her towards the aircraft.. She slowly clambered up the steps leading to the inside of the plane, embarking upon a journey ; pretty ignorant what future had in store for her….

“Fasten your seat belts firmly”, was the call from the crew members; the beautiful ladies draped in hues of white and red staging a demonstration. Finally , the heavy rolling sounds of the engine and whirring of the blades set off the plane, which temporarily muted the cacophony of voices and muffled noises of the passengers..Slowly but steadily the plane hovered up and up kissing soaring heights ,the city seemed so tiny now and everything appeared as miniature dots and figures.


The airline’s services had commenced .The airhostesses nearly a dozen of them moved in and out offering food and drinks; much to the delight of the passengers. Sana warmly beseeched for an apple juice along with sandwiches., she had forgot to have her lunch amongst all the flurry of activities she engaged in.Some of the passengers had visibly fallen asleep,while the other tuned in to their favorite music and a few of them engaged in ludicrous conversations. While on the other hand Sana,hunched in a corner seat was busy gleefully watching at the vast entrail of clouds and sipping the drink.

And then all of a sudden like a bolt from the blue; a group of hooded figures ,enormously built,tall and brawny with guns in their hands rose up They instantly took up their positions ,with some scurrying towards the cockpit while others bellowed at the top of their voices ,berating the airhosteses and stewards to kneel down.
The ambience earlier replete with joy and happiness was now filled with an undefinable air of gloom and despair.Terror struck the passengers who now sat huddled together,their faces were as white as sheet. Smiling ,gleaming faces had turned to grimaces of shock and helplessness.The stern baleful presence of the masked terrorists and their furtive glances made them further panicky and grief stricken. Sana slowly couching down reposed herself against the seat;the realization was hard to sink through her that the plane had been hijacked and she was a victim of the mid-air terror.She sat there watching the horror ,her buoyant spirits sank to an abysmal low with tears in her eyes.How happy had she been in the morning,but now everything had took a turn for the worst…

As the terrorists bobbed in and out of the cabin,the air was only filled with sounds of abuses being hurled at the passengers not to mention the warnings and death threats,amidst the squeals and shrieks of horror of the passengers.One of the hooded figures now stood rooted to the spot with his eyes fixed upon Sana…..Her eyes perfectly hazel-brown, long auburn hairs which curled down the shoulders,scarlet faced and now tears cascading down her small nose.
He went through a swirl of emotions and memories, with a feeling of sudden awe, exhilaration, numbness and grief with each state leading to the other …..he now moved inadvertently close to her to have a beter view of her, and torn apart between curiosity and disapproval he finally recognized her….His memory drifted back to the days when he and his sister would play together..How protective he had been of his sister then; when he would wrangle with others at the faintest trouble caused to his sister..

Her tear glistening eyes finally met with that of the hooded ,half hidden, half resenting figure of the lanky man standing close to her…..then her world tore apart,her vacuumed dank innards were now brimming with unknown gush of emotions..she felt so numb…she tried repulsing it,but it came back to her..her heart pounding fiercely in her bosom….and she exchanged a paroxym of grief blended with joy with the stranger….ironically who was her own brother Imtiaz; who had been painfully separated from her during their childhood. How excruciating the pain had been upon the separation of her brother! She had not ate for weeks, wept bitterly, almost demented and virtually dead without her brother..And even to this day she would frantically search the newspaper for any trace of him but in vain;but now after 10 years she finally had him in front of her as a terrorist and she did not know what to do……

He knew what to do now….and in a quavery tone spoke something that was only heard by Sana; done so surreptitiously that no one had noticed them.He skulked hastily towards the cockpit ,informing his group in the cabin. Wiping away the tears that sloped down his cheeks, he called over to their only colleague and gave a mighty blow with the shining knife and killed him. He now instructed the pilot to move them to a safer destination and also to inform the authorities about the hijack. Intrepid as he was, he killed his fellowmen one by one as he flounced towards the cabin with deftness ; a profession which he was forced due to pangs of poverty and with his strength and daredevilry had carved a niche for himself in the underworld…but now there was a revulsion inside him. With the help of the assistant pilot, he tugged the dead bodies into a corner with each perched precariously over the other.

As he entered back to the cabin the bunch of six hooded figures still worried him,and with an approving smile he signaled to the others that, everything was fine and soon they would be reaching their destination as planned.The grumpy, diabolic and impudent terrorists guffawed more loudly now, which petrified the passengers even more.In a shortwhile ,”the plane is going to land “ message over the microphone was loud and discernible to everyone ..Within several minutes the plane touched down,the terrorists leapt up in joy .One by one they moved in a line; shamelessly cheery to dismount and greet their head and be showered with rewards and accolades, with Imitiaz following them .To their utter dismay and bewilderment, they found that the airport had been besieged by black cat commandos and police personnels.Anger and fury rose inside them like a vomit but it was too late….Imtiaz fired a volley of shots and shoved them so hardly that they fell cascading down the stairs;the commandos overpowered them instantaneously..Imitiaz hied back to inform the flabbergasted passengers about their safety and the passengers rushed to alight down.
Amongst the crowd she stood still ….and he moved towards her and embraced her showering all the warmth and affection with his blood stained hands..which she was bereft of and yearned for over nearly decades…He crumpled down and was shoved off by the cops…a singular mirthless smile curled his lips…..And she stood frozen…..

The intricate fabric of life is indeed, woven by the seven sisters of “FATE”; as they say. Life is nothing but an interplay of fate and destiny in this real world of opportunities and impediments, the theory beyond the realms of man’s understanding. Ofcourse when we are met with failures we have a sudden temptation to name it as “destiny”, only to console ourselves . But then sometimes, at somepoint of our lives we come across situations which keep unraveling the enigmas of life, situations beyond our control where we can only gape in awe without any answers and compelled to accept the irrevocable truth.