____1_____
"You have to meet him Somiah, he looks like your younger brother " Srinivas said..
Somiah just smiled, and continued to eat his sandwich. They had an hour for lunch and then they had to go back for training.
Somiah was sitting in the Starbucks in City Center Doha, eating his sandwich and having a cup of coffee, his standard working lunch with his colleague Srinivas Jain
They both were working at the Qatar Financial Center, walking distance from The City Center Mall , and were in the midst of a training for upgrading the systems.
Srinivas was talking about a cousins friend who had joined another company in Qatar, who had arrived from Australia. Apparently he looked like what Som looked like when he was ten years younger..
" Sure , but right now we need to go back to the office" replied Som
"How about this weekend, lets go to Trader Vicks ? I will call him too" said Srinivas
"Sure, that sounds like a plan ".They finished up and went back to training.
____2_____
Thursday came and Somiah picked up Srinivas in a taxi , and went to Trader Vicks, Srinivas hated driving, and they both planned to drink that night, so no car, just a taxi
They ordered a round of drinks, and ordered some starters, and some more friends joined them and they were chatting and then Srinivas, tapped Somiah on the shoulder and when he turned around, Somiah thought he was seeing a double of himself, wait ..only younger. Same eyes, same build, same toothy smile. They both were surprised , and then Srinivas shouted "See I told you" ...and introduced them to each other..." Pat meet Somiah, Som meet Pat...your younger self...ha ha" ..
After a few awkward words to each other, they settled down to talk to each other, and then slowly they started asking each other questions...Pat was 8 years younger than Somiah, his Mom was from India...an Anglo Indian ....Madras actually, then migrated to Australia with her brother from there. Married his Dad there, another Anglo Indian, two kids, one brother and him.
Somiah said " My Mom was an Anglo Indian too?"
Pat asked "Was?"
Somiah said "She left Dad when I was little, we are two brothers too, my grandparents never approved of her. ....I always wondered how she looked "
Srinivas who had been listening...suddenly said
"Why dont you ask your Mom, Pat , if she had any sisters who had kids in India?"
Both Somiah and Pat looked at each other and laughed.
Somiah said " You know Srini, its believed that there are 7 people in the world with your face, clearly one is standing in front of me. "..and nothing more was on the topic was said.
_______3_______
It was October and Somiah was travelling back to Coorg to meet his Dad and stepmom.
After a few days back, Somiah showed his Dad a picture of Pat on his phone, and said "Does he not look exactly like me? You know Dad, you never spoke to us about our Mother, what was she like? Did she have any sisters? "
Som's father, Mr. Belliappa, was quite for some time. He had been a stunningly handsome man in his younger days, and you could still see some of those looks. He was clearly struggling with something, and then he finally spoke
"Your Mom and me met, when I was doing short service commission in the army in Madras, I had broken a leg, during training, and she was the nurse who looked after me. I fell hopelessly in love with her, she was a beauty, and we eloped and got married. When I came with her to Coorg, your grandfather refused to let us into the house. We were expecting your brother then, and were quite devastated . "
"Your grandfather refused to budge, and I was young and hotheaded, turned and went back to Madras , Your mother was very upset about it. She never spoke about it again, but she felt very insulted.'
"Then you were born, two years later, and we started having fights, her entire family was migrating to Australia, and she wanted us to go too. I was not keen, things got worse, when her brother sent word for her, and told her to leave me and come with the kids. "
"She left alright, but without you guys, and sent me the divorce papers through a relative, and I was so upset, I signed it"
"I got married again, and completely forgot about your Mother "
Som looked at him and asked him "What was her name? Do you have a photograph?"
His father walked to a cupboard in his library, and took out a folder, in that was an envelope, with his wedding certificate, his divorce papers, and a black and white photograph of him and a beautiful woman.
"Her name was Anne, full name Anne Pearl Higgins , and she was your mother. "
_________4_________
Somiah was sitting opposite Pat at the coffeeshop at the Four Seasons , Doha. They had both ordered a strong cup of Amaricano
Pat was staring at Somiah, on the table in front of him, was the photograph.
Pat picked it up again, and stared at it.
"That is my Mom, she changed her name to Pearl, whenever we asked her why , she would say "Anne is a really common name.""
Pat said "You know Som, I can call you Som? My Mom never spoke about Madras, or her life in India, she would just say "I wanted a better life", I guess she meant moving abroad, and being near her family "
Pat then looked at Somiah and asked him " What do you want from me?"
Somiah looked at him and said "Nothing really, just closure "
___5_____
Somiah got a call from Pat, a few years later, " Mom just passed , she had been suffering from cancer, and in the last few months, deteriorated really badly, just wanted to tell you"
Somiah mumbled "My deepest condolences" and put the phone down.
That evening he lit a candle in her name. He felt nothing....absolutely nothing ...a strange calm had come over him .
