The Tenant

Holy Banyan tree

After strolling in the medicinal garden Aami took him back to the outhouse ...

Aami : Bence I think you must be

hungry now, come have your food.

Bence : How can you be so sure that Iam hungry.

Aami : what do you think why I took you to the medicinal garden, there are certain herbs the aroma of which helps to improve our appetite... Come now, have your breakfast..

Bence has his breakfast and later gets bored ... His routine is listening to music, news and having a catnap at daytime ... And in recent days, he has sleepless nights, as loneliness is haunting him.

His vision is already black and he just spend his night in queer silence which is killing him, the only sound he could hear is the occassional hooting of train , ticking sound of the clock and the barking of street dogs. He himself chose this life but now he is not able to lead it anymore.....

Aami after visiting other patients meets Bence and saw him sleeping.

Aami watches him and caresses his hair. Bence wakes up from her touch.

Aami : Sorry to wake you up...

Bence : It's okay, I too didn't want to sleep....

Aami : Bence can we have a check up for your eyes....

Bence : (coldly) No need..

Though Bence wanted to see her, he knows that his face is not so attractive as before. He doesn't have the confidence to face not only her anybody with this unattractive face.

Earlier he was such a handsome that wherever he goes men envied and girls drooled, and there were many girls who would die to become his girlfriend. And that made him a renowned playboy of the city.

He was an successful businessman from his younger age and by fate he had to act in a movie produced by his own film production company. In the movie his character was a superhero named Bence and the film has almost ten series in which all he acted. It was a big budget movie and broke the records even at international level.

Thereafter he became Bence to the world and everybody from kids to elders called him Bence. Even he himself sometimes forgets his real name, as people has bannered him with the new name from last 9 years.

When he became ugly and gradually lost his sight the media celebrated that too as breaking news, his fans mourned for couple of days and eventually forgot him. To escape from the fake world he chose to remain blind and left his country and came to India. He wanted to stay here without any body's knowledge but here he met one of his close acquaintance and was compelled to undergo treatment.

He had been here for past six months but since he is not taking medicine properly his sickness is not healed.

Aami compels his to have his medicine and also wanted to give him his vision.

Aami : Bence please don't refuse , kindly co operate just for once, I have already requested the doctor and she is on her way.

Bence : (angrily) Who asked you to call doctor without my consent

Aami : You are here for treatment so aren't we supposed to do the needful.

Bence : Iam not here to cure my eyes..

Aami : Iam sorry, I didn't know... But for once can you please allow the doctor to examine you. She is already on her way... Please..please please..... (holds his palm)

Bence with hesitation agrees on the condition that, only examining and he will not do treatment .....

Aami"s cousin sister Anitha is an eye specialist and on Aami's request she comes to check Bence.

Anitha gets stunned by seeing his face, and it took her sometime to come back to sense and proceeds with the check up....

Anitha : What about his face, can it be cured....

Aami : Yes sister, its showing good result...

Anitha frowns "is this how the good result look like" His skin is too dry and ripped out and few fissures are there too that makes him look scary.

Anitha : Being a doctor Iam not able to look into his face, how could you girl....

Aami smiles...."Sister, how is his eyes, can it be cured..."

Anitha : Of course it could be, he just had to undergo a minor surgery nothing much,before that for two weeks he needs to apply eye drops.

Aami : Sister will he be able to see immediately after surgery.

Anitha : Yes, but should take rest at least for one week without exposure to too much light, heat and dirt. After that he will be perfectly alright...

Aami thinks to herself so within three weeks he will be alright... "sister if we delay surgery will there be any issue ...

Anitha : Other than being blind for that long, nothing else... It can be cured anytime he undergoes surgery...

Aami : Thanks sister for coming...

Anitha : Hey silly, don't be too formal with me, after all Iam your sister... And why you are not coming to meet grandparents, its been almost 4 years....they miss you a lot.

Krishnan : Aami child (Anitha frowns) that kid in room no. 12 is crying....

Aami : oh... I will come now,

Sister grandpa is not here so I have to take care of his patients...

Anitha : Aami?

Aami : Here everybody calls me Aami.

Anitha :(smiles) OK Aami then let me leave... I need to take kids from school.

Aami tells bence that he will be able to see after the surgery.

Bence : (smirks) First you heal my skin then we will think about getting back my vision.

Aami : if I cure your skin will you give your consent to do the surgery....

Bence : Yes you can take my word for that...

Aami : hmm.. OK deal...

Bence smiles....

In the evening Aami takes Bence to Yoga room to do Yoga. Since he is blind she had to teach him the postures holding his hand and touching his body. She was so close to Bence that he could feel her sweet body scent, warm breath and occasionally her body being rubbed on him, he don't know what's happening with him. He liked to have her presence, he feels safe and happy when she is around.

After Yoga he was taken back to his room....

In the night when Aami after bath was drying her hair, she looked out through her window and saw Bence sitting on the retaining wall of the banyan tree. Bence was smoking cigarette and stopped when he heard the sounds of anklets approaching him....

Aami : Bence...I have told you not to smoke, when you are undergoing treatment you are not supposed to take any intoxics...

Bence : Just one more puff...

Aami pulls of the cigarette from his mouth sternly saying "No.."

Bence wanted to shout at her but he was lost in his memories... Only one person who was dare enough and was allowed by him to do such things to him. His first pure love... Only she had the liberty to do such behaviour with him and only she had shown the courage to do so...

Aami interrupting his thoughts... "what are you doing here at late night, why are you not in bed"

Bence : Night... For me it's always night..

Aami feels guilty for saying so.. "Bence it's sleeping time, go to bed on time."

Bence : Aami Iam not able to sleep....

Aami : (holding his hand) Come with me...

She takes him to his room and massaged his forehead and caresses his hair. She hasn't done such things for anybody but don't know why, she wanted to help this man who seems to be lost and pitiful always.

Bence from her gentle touch slipped into deep sleep. Aami covers him with quilt and goes to her room.

She don't know why again before going to bed she checked out through her window whether her tenant is still under the holy banyan tree and she wished if he was still there...