Mona and Her Questions

The fateful phone call had come on an early December morning. I began to recollect the fun days we had with Mona as I walked the cold snow covered streets of Hoffman estates,Chicago.I began to sweat in -5 degrees.The very proximity of Mona's house brought in spasms of fear and sorrow.
When I say We its me and Jaish.The two cool guys from Illinois Institute of Technology.If anyone says "happy go lucky" I would say it is more like us.We both met in school and it dint take to long to figure out that our frequencies matched to the last possible decimal hertz.We both loved Chicago ,Nickelback and hated girls.Girls are the emotional clutch on this society Jaish would curse in a drunken drivel.

If 302 pond forest apartment was our country then swear words will be our language, hard rock will be our anthem , alcohol will be our water and Breaking rules will be our first rule.I was good
at drums and Jaish was good at Guitar.

We had never imagined this daring duo to become a trio until Mona came to sing in our college band.Jaish opposed it.
"Why the hell do we need a girl in the band" he would shout.
I couldn't go to his rescue.After all Mona had a magnetic voice.We dint know when we started talking so well but eventually Mona had become a part of 302 Pond forest.Unlike Many Indian girls Mona would never say No to alcohol.I cant count the number of times we were thrown out of the local bars because of Mona.Even then Mona would sit in the road and say

"Lets change our Moods..lets go to Moody's" Moody's was a popular pub in Chicago

The night never seemed to end. Me being the most sober of the 3 would have drive Mona and Jaish back.It seemed all the more fun.
I had my drums set up in the private balcony facing the woods.There were days when I would play the drums ,Jaish his guitar and Mona would sing all night.

We missed Mona when she went on a vacation to India. There was a weird change in Mona when she returned.Most of our phone calls went unanswered.She always had one reason or the other to avoid us.Me and Jaish were slightly worried of her strange ways.That's when we decided to go to her house.
She opened her door after 3 bells.
"Hey Guys " said a preoccupied Mona.
"What have u been doing all night.U look tired" asked Jaish
"I was reading this book on cosmos by Itzhak Bentov "
"Itzhak who??? What the @#$%%^&%&$$&" said an angry Jaish
Jaish left to the balcony after claiming a head ache from Mona's speech.
"You must be Crazy Mona..Wat's going on? Did we do something wrong?" I asked

"No ..No Everything needs to be in its constitutional position and I have decided to be in mine.I have zillion questions about life. Where did we come from? Why do we live in this world temporarily.If this isn't real Wat is real ? Are our bodies mirror of this whole universe?"

She went on and on.I had stopped listening long time ago.I watched her speak animatedly.At that point I wanted to believe in spirits and they possessing people.The change in Mona killed both of us.

"So what do u say Mona?" asked Jaish before leaving
"I need some time to understand this universe.I ll come back if I ever believe the way we had fun was life "

She seemed all the more stubborn now.There was a sense of peace about her.I am not sure if I imagined that We reached the driveway.I wanted Mona to run behind us and say "It was a joke.Fools u believed it".I dint mind to be a fool at that point.But that never happened.

Its been 3 months.

Today I got the fateful phone call of Mona's death.I reached her house at end of what seemed to a long walk.She had died in a Heart attack.

"She had heart problems when she went to India.But I dint know it was so serious.Her parents are flying in today" said her new roommate I have never seen.

I somehow was convinced that Mona knew about her Last days when she returned from India. I looked around .There were lot of books strewned and an Open page in a book which read

"Asothama Sath gamaya
thamasoma Jyothir gamaya
Mrthyoma amrutham gamaya"

and a translation

Let us move forward
from untruth to truth
from darkness to Light
from death to immortality"

Tears rolled in my cheeks as I said a silent Prayer,one in many years.Mona's death left me with many questions.I hoped Mona found answers to her questions