Few Grams of Life - "DESTINED DIRECTIONS"

Few Grams of Life - "DESTINED DIRECTIONS"

The life has seen the test of times...it has witnessed hope..it has witnessed fear; New or old doesn't really matter...hot or cold doesn't really matter..we ran together...we crawled together..we smiled together, we sobbed together..but in the end, the life I want to live with you..where I love you more every year....every year- "Destined Directions "

INK ON

YEAR 2017 (1st January)

It was early in the morning, when I suddenly woke up and looked at the clock, the hands of the clock were showing the time as 8 AM, within no moment I realized that I was late and decided to rush to the washroom, but before I could have done that, my eyes from no where noticed the empty side of the bed, which was used to be occupied a few months back.

In several years, this was the first day, when I woke up without listening to the punctuality and pro-activeness gyan of a super active and super punctual female. Before she left after giving up on my unreasonable character and behaviours few months back, for me it was a daily routine, and rather I was habitual of listening to her cacophonic voice giving me lectures about what I generally do and what should be done. That day, I was not sure as, at that moment, whether I was missing the same or I was happy in her absence,  but with all those thoughts in my mind, I opened the window and against my expectation, the Sun was shining ridiculously bright, which was unusual in winters.

At that time it appeared to me as a perfect whether for the very first day of the New Year. Though, the so called adieu to the year gone by and the grand welcome of a new year never made any sense to me, as I always considered it as just a mere change in the calendar. For me the term "New Year" never had any significance, as I used to consider every day a new day, a day full of opportunities, a day full of hope, every day witnessed uncountable resolutions from my side to create a better self, but for a change, I felt, this new year I am going to embark into a  new tale of my life and why not, today was the day, for which I waited since the day I read my first novel. The dream of becoming an author and seeing my name on the cover of a book was finally being realized.

By the time I got ready, it was 10AM, I checked my cell phone and there were "10 missed calls and 1 New Message". I checked for the missed calls and noticed that my publisher tried calling me several times, rest of the calls were from family members and there was one message which said.."All the best, hope today you are on time. Finally the day has come..live your dream". I ignored the message, perhaps that was the last thing I wanted to see before leaving for my book launch session. It was from the girl, with whom I got married after being in a serious relationship and then we parted ways, due to the reasons unknown (at-least to me it is still unknown, that too when I was the one who said lets call off this relationship). I ignored the message, felt like deleting it, but not sure, something stopped me and then I walked out of the door to head towards the Landmark Store in Kormangala, where the book launch was scheduled.

While sitting in the cab, I realized, the day has finally come, I was few kilometres away from the place, which was going to give a birth to a new author in the town, there were people who were waiting to see me, who took out time for my book reading session after all the hype created by the well known publishing house .Though it was unusual, but I was not feeling scared and also there was no sign of anxiety or happiness. I questioned my self, this is what you always wanted, and when you are almost there, why such scarcity of emotions. I realised, perhaps this is what happens, when you want something desperately, and when you get it, it all ends, I think the chase has more charm then killing the prey. With all those emotions, I reached the Landmark store.

The organizers escorted me inside the store, against my expectation, the store was filled with a lot of readers and people who were there to join the book launch. With all eyes on me, I uncovered the book and took the microphone to address the gathering. I gave a background about the book and right away asked the people if they have any questions, before I moved ahead with the reading of the first chapter.

One of the guy sitting in the extreme corner asked "What is the motivation behind this book and to whom you will attribute this?"

Pretty simple question and I had a perfect answer for this "I always wanted to be an author and every book I read, motivated me to strive for the same". I was about to say this, when something inside me said, "REALLY? BE HONEST, TELL THEM THE TRUTH". I don't know what was that, but I actually stopped and said "I would like to answer the question by summarizing the first chapter of my book and the chapter is "THE Culprit BLOG-AN END TO BEGIN"

"Well, it all started with a blog, from nowhere, without knowing what this blog will lead me to, on one not so very fine day, I started a blog, where I used to write as a Friday Blogger. I posted my first blog, without any expectation of any acceptance or accolade, I simply published it. To my surprise, I got a notification, that some girl has commented on it. When I checked the profile, guess what, she was the one, whom this blogger was stalking since his school days. That one comment, gave me hope, I felt lively, I felt like living to the fullest again.  Soon I realised, the build up excitement was not for the comment but for the girl. Within no moment, I decided, I will write more, not with any motive to be an author someday but to impress the girl, to get more of her comments and to gather her acceptance"

I was about to utter the next sentence, when one of the girl sitting in the first row appeared very excited and said "What happened next? Carry on, please don't stop" Perhaps she was able to relate something.

I went ahead and said " The blog tale continued for several Fridays, the guy used to write to impress the girl and the girl used to comment, perhaps she was the only one who use to read all the blogs as if the guy was a professional blogger. So she was the one, who sow that seed, who said the way you write is different, its amazing. She was the one who nurtured the dream, she was the one who believed the author in me. With this, I closed my moist eyes and said "TO KNOW MORE.. READ IT",  "next question."

This time, the voice came from behind and a little girl sitting in the back asked " Why you have named the book as "Destined Directions"

Though, an obvious question for an Author, but the question appeared to me as a conspiracy, as with all these questions, I was being pushed into memories, which ended up in a vacant side of the bed in my room. I controlled my emotions and went ahead to answer and said "Again an obvious question, but this one I would really like to answer, I further added, you can read the detailed chapter in the book, but I would like to summarize the chapter "Destiny Conspires" to answer this. I am a firm believer of destiny, there are few stories, which appears simple, yet there are twist and turns which make them difficult, and that too to the extent, when it all seems an uphill and a never ending excavation. The same thing happened to both the protagonists in the book, they had a failed relationship, then they met, they got into a relationship, realized the love, destiny conspired and then the simply story turned complex, the elements of society, parents, likes, dislikes, differences etc. creeped in, both of them thought, that this is the end, they cried and cursed, why in this whole world this is happening to us, but the destiny had some other plans, they met and then....."TO KNOW MORE READ IT"... "Next Question Please, I said"

This time, an elderly couple raised the hand, I was expecting a difficult question this time and to my expectation, Yes, it was a difficult one. Out of the couple, the lady asked "You have few lines written on the cover of the book, "Life has seen the test of times.....", we two can relate to it, we are married for last 30 years and we got married after being in a relationship for 5 years, we too have passed the test of times, what do you think sustains a relationship and as you mentioned in the background, what is that something which kept the protagonist always connected with the girl and which went missing after a while. Also, is this your story?"

I was startled with the question, perhaps I was not ready to answer this and I knew the reason, they asked about something, which always existed, but perhaps was not visible due to the other things happening in the life of the two characters. They walked away, as it was not visible, other things superimposed, and a beautiful story became tragic and led to an unworthy end. I somewhere myself was not satisfied with the ending of my book and this question reinstated the fact that something was missing.

However, I gathered my thought and replied "The love sustains the relationship and that is the one and only thing, which prevails. Thy guy and the girl they used to fight, they used to shout on each other, they used to consider every argument as the last nail in the coffin, but the very next morning, guy used to hold the girl in her arms and used to give a tight hug, in return the girl used to forgive all his mistakes and reciprocate the love in supplemented form , because, the love between them is the most valuable thing they had in their relationship and perhaps during the test of times, they were not able to recognize it, hold it and collect it...and then...."

This time the gathering said in unison "TO KNOW MORE READ IT"

While, answering these questions, I realized I am answering everything to myself and all these questions are somewhere sitting back in my mind, the answer to all of them is one- She is the one which helps me dream, she is the one which is for me, which belongs to me...she is the love of my life. Perhaps we missed to forgive our mistake after one of our arguments , why I let her go, why I didn't hug her, the way I used to do after every argument, why she walked away and why I gave up on her......", with all this in my mind, amidst the sound of claps, few drop of tears rolled in, I wiped it and stepped out of the arena. Lost in my thoughts, I was heading towards the cab, suddenly I felt, a hand slowly touching my palms, I looked at it, and then I was all in tears. It was her hand, she was there to hold it again, she said- "this was our dream, how can I leave you alone". I couldn't utter a single word , we both in tears hugged each other tight, so that nothing can separate us again. 

YEAR 2017 (1st January)- REALITY

From nowhere,  I suddenly woke up due to a female voice encroaching in my sleep and dream, with all her pro-activeness gyan, she started shouting, that too on the very first day of the new year."please wake up, today is an important day Nishant, you have to meet the publisher, Wake up yaar!, that is why I say, you are too lazy, you need learn proactive approach to chase your dreams..Its you who wants to be an author not me. I am not going to shout anymore, you have to wake up in next 10 seconds or else be ready to face the music"  Though, it never bothered me and today also I didn't feel affected,  but still I decided to release myself out of the clutches of  my beloved sleep, tried dilating my pupil and looked at her face and said "Oh, it was a dream..Thank God, I will change the end of the story Aakriti, please be with me always, now the girl and the guy in the book will meet in the end, the girl will not leave, I will change the ending, I will always love you, you are the love of my life, I have all the answers now, I know I can't live without you, no matter what, I have to be with you and with this, I looked at her face, she was clueless on whatever I said, with questions still hovering on her face, I went close to her, looked at her child like face, still serene and innocent, I held her hand slowly, hugged her tightly and then slowly kissed her lips, it was the best morning kiss in last several months since we got married...she too got engrossed in the moment and said "I am not going anywhere, will never leave you..I am yours and not going to give up, though I know that you have to improve a lot...and with all these words she winked ;)   and played our favourite song on her cell phone which had these lyrics:

"It's all written down in your lifelines, It's written down inside your heart. You and I just have a dream, To find our love a place, where we can hide away,  You and I were just made To love each other now, forever and a day"

INK OFF till I get here again to write something to impress you...Wish you a very happy new year...Thank you for coming in my life...it started here...I am glad it happened...Thanks for everything..want to wake up with you in every morning of a new year...Lots of Love 

© 2013 Prashant Srivastava