Love Never Dies, It Gets Stronger with Time by Naidu Lakshmi - HTML preview

Epilogue

So, this is the miracle I wanted to tell. For an arrogant and short tempered girl like me, marrying a terrorist is a miracle. Isn’t it?

I should say rehabilitated terrorist, because Abhi has left terrorism and become a typical law abiding citizen. I so would like to

say that he left terrorism for me, but it’s not true. Actually, he and his small group of friends were fed up with the hypocrisy and

greed of their leaders and wanted to come out. He and his friends were genuine people, who joined in radical movement

thinking that they will be able to do some good for people through revolution since they already tried other ways. But at the

end it became apparent that the so called radical movement is a big deception.

All the big leaders live in urban centres and lead luxurious lifestyles. They make the lower cadre live in jungles and fight with

the police for their own benefits. They loot money from big industrialists and landlords, but never use that money for common

people. In reality, these leaders are friends with major political powers in the country and use their cadre to fulfil their political

and other purposes.

Once Abhi and his friends like Vijaya realised this, they rose against this system and questioned their leaders’ motives. The

furious leaders couldn’t take it and turned the whole gang on this small group of friends. As a result Abhi wounded himself

while rescuing his friends from the fight, but by some means escaped from the main base. While on the run from their

enemies, his small group reached the waterfall area, and that is where Abhi lost his consciousness. His friends panicked and

kidnapped the doctor from the closest village, which was me. However, within a few days, his enemies came to know about

their hiding place and attacked again. That is when I was forced to run with Abhi.

It took almost one year for Abhi to clear all the police cases against him and start a fresh life. He joined the rehabilitation

programme offered by the government for people like him and helped his friends to do the same. It worked fine for them

because he and his friends were never involved in any violence. All they wanted to do was help tribal people.

Though the threat of his former radical bosses is always there, Abhi is not a person who cares about it. In fact, after our

wedding, we settled in Chinturu and started an NGO called Ashnita, which helps tribal people. We provide free medical help to

tribal people and help them to improve their living standards through education. I continued my painting profession as a hobby

and diverted all earning to our NGO. Whatever the little bit of fame I have, helped us get sponsors for our NGO.

I am glad to say that Rajiv and Maria are active collaborators in our NGO. Rajiv worked as a visiting surgeon as well as

responsible for getting the medical equipment. Abhi and Rajiv became friends and worked together. Though Rajiv never left

the city, he often came to village to serve in our small hospital free of cost. Maria and Sam were in charge of the funding

department. Because of Maria’s skills we got funding for the education project and other requirements from large corporate

companies.

Initially, my parents were dead against my decision to marry Abhi and tried their best to get me to alter my choice, but I was

adamant. I didn’t let Abhi go out of my sight and flatly refused to listen to anybody. At the end, dad convinced mom and we had

a simple wedding with only close friends and relatives. Though she agreed reluctantly at first, mom grew very fond of Abhi

later and loved him like a son. Eventually my parents and Abhi’s parents came to live with us in Chinturu and worked in our

NGO as teachers.

Following our parents’ example, we started this facility of giving a chance to all those retired people who want to do something

for the society. Many elderly teachers and other retired professionals came to join us and shared their knowledge with tribal

people. Over the years, our organisation gradually grew to become a big establishment and gained national fame. As a result

of our efforts, the death rate of tribal people due to lack of medical support came down and literacy levels increased. Now we

are spreading our wings and focusing on other areas like employment as well. In India, our NGO, Ashnita, is synonyms to

tribal welfare.

I wouldn’t suppose that mine is a ‘they-lived-happily-ever-after’ story, because I fight a lot with Abhi whenever I get an

opportunity, but I lead a contented and happy life, thanks to my passionate and loving husband.He is the best and finest thing

that ever happened to me. I need nothing else.

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