Rano was in her village ever since Rajjo’s disappearance. She felt betrayed and abandoned by her sister. As the days passed and nights wore on, alcohol doused her senses and her pain subsided she realized how desperate she was to hold on to her sister. She had sent people to hunt Rajjo down, to get her back before anyone else got to her. But it was all in vain.

She’d parked herself in the village in her old house and begged her old mother to not reveal her daughter’s whereabouts. Saroj was glued to her prayer beads. Rano knew it in her bones that Saroj knew. Finally after repeated attempts Saroj looked at Rano with disdain and said – ‘Let her be, she does not need saving.’

Rano was shocked to realize her mother supported Rajjo in her act of suicide. But a tiny wriggling voice said perhaps she was supporting Rajjo’s attempt at freedom. Rano played and replayed the video over and over on her laptop, witnessing her self-immolation like million others. It left her numb, it made her cry, it made her sing, it made her howl like a child.

Karam had been on the move ever since Rajjo had disappeared, in a desperate attempt to stop her. Long after her self-immolation video had hit the channels, Karam still refused to give up. While Karam hunted her down Rano prepared to let go. Rano went back into the fields, the fields sparkled golden, the railway tracks as vivid as she remembered. She befriended a grasshopper perched next to her as she sat watching the trains come and go. She sat on their favourite spot day in and day out remembering her time spent with her sister.

She visited the tracks every day to relive the monsoons, the winters, and the little games they played. She was learning to say goodbye to her favourite sister. A part of her was gone forever.

Just when she’d given up hope, she’d heard about the car crash and Harsh’s sudden death. It was like a sapling growing in a desert. The bad news had shocked her but also ignited a hope. There was hope that her sister still lived on with her lover.

If that were true, she did not want to catch her or haul her back, she only wanted a sliver of hope that she found her lover and eloped with him like she always wanted. Or perhaps Harsh was truly dead. But Rano lived on in hope, that somewhere in this realm she was breathing, watching the setting sun and remembering the games they played in the village together. She rememberd Rajjo stating emphatically by the railway tracks. ‘I will elope from the world.’ She had truly done that.