Forgotten Love

By Pritesh Ganatra

The story is set in India and England and spans over an 18 year period in one man’s life. A young man fell in love with his dream girl only to have her brothers beat him half to death when they found out about the relationship. He was found just in time by some passers-by and taken to hospital. His parents fearing the worst, especially as he has total memory loss, decide to send him to his uncle’s house in London, from Mumbai, India. The girl is taken by her brothers, who believe that she has brought shame on the family give her a worse fate than death. Not knowing that she is pregnant, they drug her and take her to an isolated village over 300km away from her home, to live with their grandparents. Ten years later, in England, the man is involved in a car accident, after which he suffers from flash-backs of his youth and his first love. The chase begins back to Mumbai to find the girl and to find out what became of her. There will be twist and turns to keep the reader engaged to the end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pritesh Ganatra
• Release date: Feb 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310622793

Pritesh Ganatra

Hi! Welcome to you. Thank you for taking the time to read and learn about me.Since 1990, I have been involved with technology products and have seen advances in the electronics and communications industry, which of course, includes the massive WWW, which now is enabling me to promote my own books. Writing has been a passion of mine for many years but always felt that "I can't do that."That all changed in when my wife, Geeta, said, "Yes you can do it and you will!"Forgotten Love, is my first published work. I do hope you enjoy the read.I am a total novice with no idea at this stage of "how to" but have a passion for learning and am looking to inspire others with a "can do" attitude that comes from having had to work my way up in life.I hope you like the books now and in the future. There will be a feedback page on this site for constructive comments and/or encourgement.I live with my wife and son in Northampton, UK.

Book preview

Forgotten Love

Pritesh Ganatra

Copyright 2016 by Pritesh Ganatra

Smashwords Edition

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Chapter 1

No, no....no!!!! Let me go. What do you want?!! Then he felt it – a blow to the stomach, followed by a thundering strike to the head and a paralysing kick to the chest. He was struggling to breathe.

What’s wrong, what is it? she asked him in a blind panic. She had woken from a deep sleep by his spontaneous jerking movement.

He had seen it again, but tonight, the images being shown in his mind were like a home movie being shown from a projector on white screen. Clearer and more vivid than ever before, he had woken up from his apparent dream in a cold sweat. The duvet was soaked from his tossing, perspiring body. She asked again, what’s wrong? It was dark, darker than usual, as the street lamp, which usually illuminated the room from the gap between the curtains, wasn’t lit so the room was in complete darkness. She held his right hand with her left and put the other arm around his waist, as he was sat upright by now, frightened by the life-like images projected in his head.

I...I had that dream again and, and it’s getting more realistic every time. He was gasping for air, trying in vain to control his emotions and regain control of his bodily senses.

She let go of him and reached over to pick up the glass of water that was on her bedside dresser, switching on the lamp before she could do so. She held the glass to his mouth to drink from, as she could now see that he was shaking. He drank as if he had not seen water for a month, as if he had been stranded in the desert and had crawled in a heat wave, lips parched and throat dry from an increased intake of air to compensate for his thumping heartbeat. He waved his hand and she put the glass back and got up from the bed to get a towel from the en suite shower room. She found a face towel and rinsed it in cold water, walked back into the bedroom and this time, sat next to Sav and he flinched slightly, as the cold towel touched his explosively hot forehead. She carried on wiping his face and down to his neck. Jenny put the towel in his hand, stood up, kissed his cheek and smiled. Her smile always took his troubles away; it was radiant, even now, in the dead of night.

I’ll just check on the kids. You let out a scream, are you OK now?

He nodded and she turned to go to the other rooms. He reached out and pulled her back. Thank you he whispered, I hope I didn’t scare you too much.

She smiled again, "You are my rock, and I would be frightened if you weren’t here!" Jenny kissed him again, a passionate kiss this time, each opening their mouth ever so slightly, letting each other’s tongue slip through, just for a few seconds, then pulling away to look at each other for a few seconds more. She walked onto the landing, switching on the light which was enough to see into the other two rooms, one where the twins slept and the other where their oldest son, Sam, was sprawled out in his bed.

They were all safe and undisturbed. She switched off the light and returned to her room. Sav and Jenny changed the bed linen for a fresh set and within a few minutes, she was able to climb back into the now cold bed while Sav went to have a quick shower. He came back into the room wearing only a pair of Calvin Klein boxers and finished off drying. He was muscular but with a softness about him. He draped his towel across the rail that spanned the radiator and climbed in next to Jenny.

Hey Jen, you OK now? he asked, using her pet name.

It was 2am on a Sunday morning; Jenny was back to the relaxed state of mind she had been in when asleep. Without saying anything, she pulled him closer and this time, kissed him harder, hard enough to arouse him. They made love until they had satisfied each other and fell into a deep sleep in each other’s arms.

Daaadddy!! Muuummy!!! Sam’s chasing us The twins stormed into the room, launched themselves onto the bed and buried themselves deep into the duvet in between Sav and Jenny. As six year olds go, they were sharp minded and very quick to be mischievous, but never with malice, especially with their older brother, Sam, who they stick to like glue. Thankfully, as it was Sunday, there wasn’t the daily panic of school and work. Within a second, there was a loud thud outside the bedroom door. Sav leapt out of bed and ran towards the door. Sam came in with his hands on his forehead. Sav knelt down next to him. He rubbed Sam’s frown, asked if he was in pain, picked him up and took him to Jenny.

Little man’s had a bump. His PJ’s are a bit big for him still. He’s in-between sizes.

The twins lifted their heads above the duvet. We don’t like it when you get hurt. It was almost like the sound was in stereo but with the balance adjusted slightly to the left channel, as Lauren had a thinner voice than Jordan and Jordan was sat to the left of the bed, closer to Sav.

Jenny stroked Sam’s hair, checked his head for any bruising and ushered all three children to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Sav, being the meticulous type, firstly aired the bed, fluffed the pillows out and straightened out the duvet. He picked up the remote to his Bose wave sound system and selected a track by Shivali Bhammer, the Hanuman Chalisa. It was soothing, especially sung by this artist, as her voice was angelic. Then he put on a t-shirt that he had taken off the night before, drew back the curtains and let in the ray of light that had been forcing its way through the gaps when drawn. The light filled the room and the heat warmed his chest. He took a deep breath, stretched out his arms and let the air in his lungs release slowly, making his whole body relax, ready for the day ahead. From behind the window, it was hard to imagine that it was winter and the temperature outside was around five degrees Celsius. The only thought on his mind was that dream. He contemplated the images that had begun to haunt him some six months previously, two months after his near fatal car accident.

He had been involved in a head-on collision. A car had been overtaking a truck and had not seen his dark green Jaguar XJ-L coming the other way. Sav had nowhere to hide; the car heading towards him was on his side of the road. It was inevitable that the two would collide, worst still; the car hurtling in his direction was a Porsche Cayenne 4x4. Sav instantly knew that he had to react quickly but there was no time and whatever he decided to do, he did not know that the outcome would change his destiny for the second time in his life. He had seen that there were people walking on the path ahead and he could not veer off kerb side to try to avoid the wayward driver. It transpired that the driver was over the drink-drive limit and was not in full control of his senses. The driver’s life ended in an unsightly manner, through the windshield of his car as he had no seatbelt around him, nor did the airbag activate. There had been a fault with the gas capsule, which snaps to inflate the safety device. For Sav, these essential devices had saved his life. However, the intensity of the impact left him with a cracked rib, leading to a punctured lung and a broken leg. This was caused by the engine having been pushed so far into the cockpit of the car, due to the front of the car folding as if it was a cardboard box being crushed under foot. The pain was agonising to say the least. His life flashed in front of him in an instant. Jenny, Sam, Jordan and Lauren (the twins) all came into one instant snapshot, his head fell back and he was unconscious.

Sav...Sav, can you hear me? His eyes flickered open for a split-second and then closed again.

Miss, you have to stay here now. The nurse stopped Jenny just at the doors of the emergency operating theatre. The nurse led Jenny to the nearest family room, sat her down and handed her a cup of strong coffee from the vending machine. Jenny was in shock. She had never even seen Sav with a scratch, let alone the devastating injuries he had suffered. As was her nature, she thought about the other driver. Was he married? Was his family informed? Did he have any children? Why had he been so irresponsible? She felt anger now. Anger, that her own children had almost been deprived of a loving father and her of a devoted husband.

The nurse put a hand on her shoulder, Jenny looked up. Can I get you anything else? asked the fresh faced carer. The girl had been trained not just to deal with trauma patients, but the shock-ridden families who accompany them.

Jenny had been taking a class, she taught modern dance as a form of cardio-exercise at the local community centre. Now the twins had commenced school, she had some free time to pursue her hobbies. She always loved dance. She had been junior champion in classical Indian dance, for Jenny was of Indian decent, but Christian by religion. Her parents were from Goa, where the Portuguese had settled in 1498 and had ruled the west coast of India for some 450 years. She spoke softly, Where’s the chapel? She needed to be in front of Christ and ask for mercy for Sav. She needed to plead with the higher power that she believed in, to plead that Sav was a good husband and father and not to take him away. To ask for forgiveness of any wrong doing that she may have been involved in, that may have led to her husband being punished in this manner.

The nurse led her out from the family room, across the corridor and through a door that led down one level. There, she opened the second door to the left that was marked as Prayer Room. The nurse left her after a quick reminder of the way back to the upper level where they had just come from.

Jenny sank her head into her hands; floods of tears ran down her face. She was sobbing now, unable to take normal and regular breaths of air, she suddenly took a sharp intake, which led to more violent crying. She let out a scream, Why us, why Sav? What has he done to deserve this!!? She kneeled in front of the makeshift altar where, behind the small rail, was the body of Christ, impaled on a gold cross. She found a ragged tissue in her pocket, wiped her eyes and blew her nose, which had started to run a warm liquid, mixed with tears, into her mouth. She gathered herself, returning to her calm and rational persona. She was always the rational one, but under the circumstance, even she found herself in a situation that was alien to her. She had almost forgotten the feeling of sorrow. The last time that she had felt such a loss of senses was almost eight years previous, when she lost their first set of twins. That feeling of loss had been all but wiped away, a mere two years later when she had given birth to the healthy twins that had been conceived after much deliberation. She thought of the children, she had to be strong for their sake now. It was her duty to be their mother in the full meaning of the word, to be loving, understanding and caring for them. She closed her eyes tight and asked for penance, asked for one more chance. She stood up, made her way towards the door, took one last turn and crossed herself, before walking back up the stairs to the theatre level of the hospital.

The operation seemed to take a lifetime in itself. In fact, within half an hour of the emergency helicopter landing, Sav had been cut open and the surgeons managed to contain the bleeding and by the next hour had stabilised all the vital functions. The second stage of the operation involved the complex issue of Sav’s punctured lung and broken leg. The bottom rib on the right side had snapped and pierced clean through the membrane. Fortunately and by a stroke of luck, the hole was only the circumference of the rib bone as it had lodged itself in and had not sliced through. A chest tube, which allows accumulating air to escape, was inserted to allow the healing process to begin. This would be removed at a point in time when the surgeons were satisfied that the lung had healed sufficiently. The broken leg had splintered in several places, so had to be resized using metal tubes that were fused together using wire and some screws to hold the structure in place.

It was a whole month following the emergency operation that Sav finally woke up; he had slipped into a coma from the trauma of the collision and the subsequent surgery. Although stable, he was weak, his blood pressure low, and was assisted by a ventilator to ensure his life-being continued. Slowly but surely, his body repaired itself, piece by piece, a further testament of his physical prowess, one inherited from a long line of warriors, strength that ran through the blood. The doctors were astonished; they had predicted a longer period for the recovery, unaware of this trait in the family line. Within two weeks of regaining full consciousness Sav was declared fit enough to have the chest tube removed and released to convalesce in the comfort of his own home.

Jenny had been prepared for his homecoming. She had had the conservatory transformed into a comfortable sleeping area so that Sav had every amenity to hand. A shower cubicle had been built in the downstairs cloakroom, something that had been planned and started almost two years previously but never finished, until now. Jenny had been asking Sav to complete the job for a long time and eventually stopped asking him as his work commitments increased. She knew that in the grand scheme of life, it was a minor issue. This incident had prompted Jenny to call upon the services of one of Sav’s friends, Pete, who happened to be a bathroom fitter. Sav had been reluctant to ask for Pete’s help in the past as he knew that Pete would never accept any payment for his services and assistance. However, Jenny had been very insistent with Pete that she will pay for his skills and time or she would break his friendship (that is to say, that she used reverse psychology with him). All these adjustments meant that Sav would not have to venture too much to the bedrooms and bathroom on the first floor of their home, thus avoiding the stairs as much as possible, in the short term.

On his arrival home, Sav was greeted by his children, each holding a small gift for him. The children had been primed by Sav’s mother not to get to excited, not to launch themselves at him, as she knew that they would be naturally ecstatic to see him as they had been taken to visit him whilst he was in hospital. Jenny had explained to Sam - the oldest child, the situation as he was very understanding. He in turn had explained in child’s speak to the twins, as to why Daddy was not at home and had assured them that Daddy was safe and would be coming back soon. For the twins, being four years younger than Sam, it was hard for Jenny to explain the absence of their Father and so it was easier for Sam to reassure his siblings. He had done a good job; Jenny had every reason to be proud of him.

The children walked their father to his new (temporary) bedroom, the twins leading by the left hand and Sam on the right. Jenny walked behind them as they made their way through the living room to the conservatory area where Sav settled himself on a rocking chair that Jenny had found at the local reclamation yard. Her mother-in-law had covered thick furniture foam with a soft cloth to make a back and seat cushion, so as to make the wooden chair more comfortable.

Sav sat down and gently leant back and lifted his feet onto a small footstool that that was being put into position for him by Lauren. By this time, Jenny had laid out some clothes for Sav to change into later and got him a glass of water in which she dissolved two aspirin that had been prescribed for him. The doctors had advised him that there was a risk of the blood clotting, which then could lodge anywhere in his body, causing thrombosis. This obviously would cause death if the blood clot lodged into his heart or brain. Therefore, as a precaution, it was good practise to take the soluble tablets every day. He drank the solution and handed back the glass. He held Jenny’s hand for a few moments and looked at her, then the children, who by now had settled down to play in the main part of the room.

Thank you he said.

What for? she asked.

He shook his head slowly. As she bent down to kiss him, the light of the sun pouring through the roof, made her face glow, her eyes still looked beautiful but he could sense the strain that the last few months of worry had given her.

Now, back on this present day, standing at the window and back to ninety-five per cent of his former strength, thinking of the images he had gradually been seeing over the past six months, he turned around, picked up the phone by the bed and dialled his parent’s phone number.

The phone rang at its’ destination and Sav’s father answered.

Hi Papa, Jai Shree Krishna (Hindu Gujarati greeting), kem chho?

Jai Shree Krishna beta, saru chhe, tari tabiyat kem chhe? (Greetings my child, I am well, how is your health?).

Saru chhe. Tame ghare chho aaje? (I am well, are you at home today?)

Are you OK? His dad spoke in English now; he knew it was easier for his son to express himself.

I need to speak to you and Mum about some dreams that I have been having?

What sort of dreams beta? asked his father, now with a slight tension in his voice.

Dad, don’t worry, nothing serious, I would like to come and see you today to talk about it, His voice was soft and reassuring.

We are in, come over for some food.

OK Dad, and with that he replaced the handset and went out of the room to see Jenny and help with the children.

Jen, I need to see Papa today about these visions I am having. They seem to be almost real. I saw that girl again.

OK darling, what time do you want to go? and as she answered, she looked at the children, as if to say that they will talk in more detail later. He had told Jenny the full story about the dreams and the girl that he had seen several times in which they had been intimate. He had not hidden these thoughts from his wife as he knew Jenny would help find a rational explanation for the visions.

About three o’clock, that gives us some time with these three. He understood. He did not want the children to hear anything that would worry or confuse them.

They spent the next few hours, in between finishing breakfast and setting off to her in-laws’ house, entertaining the children. In fact, this was a form of education that Jenny had learnt when training to be a teacher and was one of the reasons that the children had a form of brightness about them. Jenny took charge of the twins as Sav had a tendency to dote on Lauren, leaving Sav in charge of Sam. He loved reading with Sam. Reading to him was different from when Sav sat down with a good book. He thought to himself that these days the kids just downloaded their favourite titles onto the interactive 10.1-inch touch screen Tablet, where the pages of the book turn with the swipe of the finger. There was no half hour journey to the nearest library or charity bookstore to see what took his fancy. It was the interaction of the story, with Sav’s methods of subtle guidance and the occasional funny gesture to match the characters on the screen that made Sam more attentive as he clearly wanted to learn more and was never bored. Although at his age he did not know, he was very lucky that he had inherited good genes and had a very healthy appetite for learning because of it.

It was a ten-minute drive to Sav’s family home. For in Sav’s culture, although he had his own house, he still considered his parents’ house as his home.

What he did not know and would find out by the end of the day, is that the man he has called Papa for the last fourteen years, was in fact his Uncle, his real Father’s older brother, older by just two years. Sav would discover that he had been brought to England, unconscious, almost dead. The images that Sav was seeing would turn out to be real and the girl whose face he had seen, first as a ghostly image and then last night, clear as an image in a mirror would be his first love, the memory of whom had been beaten out of him by her three brothers.

Sav pulled into the driveway. OK kids, don’t be naughty with Granny. He smiled as he got out of the car and opened the back door to let the children out and closed the door behind them.

They ran to the door and at the same time, the front door opened. Granny!!! they shouted in unison. She held out her arms and bent down, all three children threw their arms around her neck and each in turn planted a kiss on her cheek.

She in turn, encased her hands around each ones face and gave them a kiss on the forehead. All three kicked off their shoes in the porch (they had been taught good manners), ran into the house and performed the same ritual with their Grandfather.

Sav and Jenny took some provisions out of the car that they had bought the previous day. Sav had always looked after his family and had made sure that every week they had enough Indian ingredients required for a full week’s cooking. This was because neither of the elders had ever learnt to drive since arriving in England in the late 1970’s. Back then, like some many other migrants, even if they had passed the driving test, money was sparse and the only types of jobs available had been low paid and barely covered the rent, food and bills, let alone buying and running a car. To that end, both husband and wife had taken two jobs each for the first five years and worked six days each week. They worked hard to save up enough money to buy a small two-bedroom apartment and rent out one of the rooms. As they had no children of their own, some of the money was sent back to India to help the family improve the way of life and to make small investments in property.

Sav took the bags into the kitchen, bowed to touch his mothers’ feet (as was customary) and gave her a hug as he always did. He then bowed to his father and they all went into the living room.

Jenny Sav called to his wife. Can you do me some tea?

Jenny was already in the kitchen organising the groceries.

I will go and help, you two go sit in the conservatory, it’s a lovely day and as she said that, the old woman waddled out of the room.

Dad tapped his son on the knee, Come on, let’s go talk, he said in his still broken English. They both got up and went into the glass room at the back of the dining area. It was as warm in the room, as it had been in Sav’s bedroom. They both sat down again.

Beta (son), tell me what is so urgent?

Papa, I haven’t told you before, because I didn’t want to worry you or Ma (Mummy). I have been having very specific dreams of what I think looks like somewhere in India. I keep seeing a very beautiful girl, not very old about twenty or so. I also see the town that is near your village. I remember this from the photos that you and Ma have in the album. He paused to take a breath.

What does the girl look like?

She has natural long hair, slightly curly. She has the sweetest smile. Slightly shorter than me and also with a very distinct birth mark on the right jaw bone, just below the ear. He gestured to the part of his face he was describing.

At the moment, he saw a drastic change on his father’s face, an anxious look, almost fear. Do you see anything else in your dreams? His voice had a quiver in the tone now.

Yes, something very strange and worrying. It’s me; I am being beaten by three men. Severely beaten, I can’t run anywhere and I thought I was going to die, be murdered. Now Sav’s voice was muted, he did not want the women, who were walking towards them, to hear what he was telling his father.

Let’s drink tea and then you can take me for something stronger

They all chatted while drinking traditional masala tea, the children enjoying some ice cream, given to them by their Granny. She always doted on the children and couldn’t imagine life without them.

She had seen her Son suffer after his first loss. He had come home from the hospital after having to make the fateful decision to turn off the ventilators that artificially kept his twins alive all those years previously. They had been prematurely born after Jenny’s waters had broken due to an abnormal condition inside her womb. Twins ran in Jenny’s family so there was no reason to suspect that the pregnancy would go so wrong. Jenny had to give birth naturally. It was a mother’s worst and most traumatic nightmare, having to give birth, when she has been told that her children only had a twenty per cent chance of surviving. By the tenth day on the ventilator, the twins had still not passed water, meaning that the kidneys had not developed enough to process the toxins in the blood stream. There was no more that the doctors could do. Their bodies were not strong enough to survive without the artificial assistance.

Sav and Jenny talked at length to the paediatrics team and the councillors about the steps that had to be taken. Throughout the meeting, Jenny sobbed for what seemed an eternity; she wanted to be taken to say the final good bye to her babies. Eventually Jenny was led back to her bed, located in a private room due to her situation and given a mild sedative to help her sleep. She had said to Sav that she did have the strength to see the machines being switched off and the pipes that assisted oxygen into the bodies being disconnected. As the nurses performed the necessary tasks to remove the special equipment, Sav had stood on the other side of the glass partition until all the tubes and monitoring wires had been removed, just watching, not moving, with a succession of tears rolling down both cheeks. The nurse came round to his side of the glass, gave him a small damp towel to wipe his face as he was sweating hard at the sight that he hoped he would only see this once in his lifetime. She led him to the incubator. There, the nurse let him look at his two babies; she had laid them side by side now. His look was one of a combination between bewilderment, amazement, hurt and anger all rolled into one. He thought to himself, ‘what had they done to deserve this?’, ‘why us?’, and ‘I’m I a bad parent to Sam and a bad husband to Jenny?’

Mr. Soni, please follow me. The nurse had put a hand on Sav’s shoulder to gain his attention and as he looked towards her, she said again, Please follow me to the back room, you can take a seat and hold them if you want to. Her voice was low and calming. She pushed the incubator out of the Intensive Care Room, into a room around the back and Sav followed her in.

He sat on the chair and the nurse asked if he wanted to take one of the babies into his arm. He looked up and asked, How long will they last?

Only a few more minutes, she replied. I can give you both of them, if you like.

He nodded. The babies were tiny, no more than 2.5lbs (1.1kg) each, so very gently, one by one, she lowered them into each of his arms. All he could do was to wait for them to die.

I will be outside when you need me and with that she walked out, gently closing the door behind