She looked at the camera one last time as she doused herself in oil that consumed her from head to toe. It clung to her clothes, ornaments, face, hair and eyelashes. She kept pouring the silken liquid, the thick dark menacing oil till it filled up her pores. Till her body was ready to offer itself to the hungry flames.

Abandoning all devices and contrivances, I have sought his sanctuary.

She turned away from the camera and walked inside the circle of wood. The dramatic pyre created for her in the backdrop of the ancient temple. The wooden pyre was set on fire as the camera zoomed in. The act of Rajjo lighting herself with a matchstick – the sari engulfed in flames within seconds, was captured forever on film. The entire screen was taken over by the burst of fire from the pyre and the body till they became one. The final burst of fire engulfed the spot, rose up to the skies and rained down to the ground. It was yellow, all consuming, definitive, defining the end.

The last words Rajjo had muttered echoed in Kesar’s head as the fire consumed her body:

As God’s pen has written on your forehead, so it shall be with your soul.

A tear escaped his eye as he clicked his mouse and restarted the video clip – to take a look at it one last time before he was going to send it to a nondescript town – from where it was going to reach the entire world.

He reached the part where he saw Rajjo walk into the fire, and then he had to make his magic work. Two figures merged as one. He had worked round the clock for the last couple of days to amalgamate the video. Sitting in a sleepy locality in Seattle, listening to the thunderous rain, Raahat bid adieu to a friend he loved and missed.

His pregnant wife with a sweet smile and a toddler with golden locks and blue eyes glued to her hip looked at him curiously.

‘Are you all right? You have been holed up here all day…’

Raahat turned the screen to an angle to shield it from curious eyes.

‘Just owed something to a friend that I need to finish. Just give me a couple of hours.’

Raahat could sense the whirlwind of emotion inside him.

She gave him a peck on his cheek and whispered, ‘We are right here,’ her words like music in the thunderstorm that raged outside.