Birthday Girl

It was 11pm when three girls were busy decorating the house for a big birthday bash. Yana, Krishna ands Kiran were looking very busy as if they were running out of time. “Everything has to be at place before Richa reaches home”, said Krishna. In the last five years all of them knew how crazy Richa was about Birthday’s celebrations either its other’s or her own. She always made sure that everyone’s birthday had been celebrated in a special way; so all of them were trying to make everything special when it was Richa’s birthday. Yana was looking busy wrapping up the gift and Kiran was arranging the candles on top of the cake. Krishna was putting the chocolates inside the balloons and waiting for the cake cutting to get over so that she could have her favorite chocolate truffle. That’s when Yana called up to say that she might take half an hour more to reach home. Yana and Kiran started shifting the things to the balcony slowly, hearing this. Someone rang the bell and Krishna went to open the door thinking that it would be Richa, but it was the delivery boy with a cake n flowers. There was a mouth-watering strawberry-cheese cake. Krishna’s immediate reaction was, "Thank God , it’s not another chocolate cake."

Richa’s birthday celebration had started at her office. Her colleagues were the first to make her cut her 25th Birthday cake. Finally it was five minutes to twelve when Richa stepped in the house. Everything seemed normal to her till the time she had not opened her balcony door. The moment she went to the balcony, there was a crowd waiting for her with cakes, flowers, balloons, musical candles n knife. Yana had kept the video camera ready and Kiran was busy capturing each expression on Richa’s face. The moment Richa blew off the candle n touched the knife to the cake there was music. There was not only B’de song but the songs dedicated to their friendship. Richa was surprised as she was told that only Yana would be there for her Birthday; Krishna n Kiran were supposed to go home. So it was a big surprise to her, another birthday with her three best friends, lots of flowers, chocolates, cakes and gifts.

All of them were busy eating the cake when a car stopped in front of their house. Few other friends came out of the car and decided to go to another friend’s house who had organized a party on Richa’s honor. But the car took another direction and they landed up in a nice club. The surprise was a pool-side party which went on till the early morning. All of them were back home after enjoying the dance and music for two hours. At home everyone fell asleep other than Richa who was lost in her deep thoughts. She was little relaxed as she got an off on her birthday but the charm on her face was telling some other story, telling about Aadi. Few more hours and her Aadi would be with her.

Aadi, the other side of Richa’s life where she’s a complete different persona, someone who made her feel complete with his presence, someone who had filled her life with love; someone who meant the world to her. No wonder her diary says, “My Aadi- My World.” No wonder she kept telling to Krishna, that her world started with Aadi and ended with him too. Richa was doing the most difficult thing that time- waiting. She just wanted the next few hours to fly. She had waited for two years after Aadi left to USA for his higher studies but the last few hours were testing her patience. Aadi’s come back to India was the biggest gift to the birthday girl.

She reached the airport before Aadi’s flight arrived. Each moment was difficult now. Finally the flight landed another fifteen minuets for her to see Aadi. A big crowd coming out from the terminal. Richa could now see Aadi. It was not possible for her to hold back her tears the moment she saw Aadi. She held back her emotion for two years, but not now.The happy tears were rolling over her cheeks. She could remember Aadi’s promise of being the reason for all her happy tears. Aadi reached near Richa and took her into his arms; their silence was telling how much they had missed each other during those years. They went home and got lost in their own world. But Aadi wanted to make her birthday special in some other way. So he took her to their favorite restaurant, there was cakes n champaign. There was music- the songs they really meant a lot to them like- jab koi baat bigad jaaye... Richa wanted time to freeze there forever. She said; “I am so happy that I don’t want anything more in life, I have lived it completely in the last few hrs” Answering this Aadi said that abhi to bahot zindegi jeena baaki hai Michael. Michael- that’s what Aadi used to call Richa with love.

Aadi was taking the car out when Richa went to the other side to pick up some flowers and while crossing the road banged on to a car. Aadi could do nothing but screamed standing at the other side of the road. He somehow managed to get Richa inside the car and started driving towards the hospital. Her off-white silk kurta was looking red when the doctor was taking her to the emergency ward. She was immediately taken to the operation theatre. Aadi was scarred to sign that bond. How the doctor could say like that. He could never let Richa leave him alone like this. He could never let that happen. He was consoling himself. In the restaurant why Richa told that she had lived her whole life in those few hours. Why he did let her go to the other side of the road alone, it could have rather happened to him. But whatsoever might come on his way, he would live with Richa, that’s what he kept telling himself and to God. In the meanwhile Krishna, Yana and Kiran had reached the hospital and waiting for the doctor to come out of the O.T. It was more than three hrs when the doctor came out of the O.T.

Richa’s fine but she would have to be under observation for the next 72 hrs, told the doctor. Each second was difficult for them but Aadi was really breaking down seeing his Michael at this stage. All were curiously waiting for Richa to wake up from that long sleep, but when she actually got up, she was different. She had hardly remembered anything about her past. She was attacked by Amnesia, she had lost her memory. This was the biggest shock to all. “The girl who remembers every small and big thing about everyone, how can she lose her memory?” said Yana. “She lost her memory, you mean she doesn’t remember me?” asked Aadi to the doctor. “That’s not possible, I think the doctor has not examined her properly.” said Aadi to all. Krishna and Kiran were just stunned, not sure what to do.

The doctor said that she would take time to recollect her past with proper medication and treatment. But that would take time; might be months and for some people it might be years too. Though there was hope that Richa would be normal one day, the uncertainty in the time-span made everyone upset. Richa’s memory cells were blank when she was up after the accident. Even if she had forgotten most of her past, Aadi was still there in her fainted memory. Knowing that he was not a complete stranger to Richa, Aadi was feeling little better. Her birthday was still there in her mind. When Aadi started interacting with Richa, the talk had started with her Birthday. Gradually with time, her health was becoming better. By then, her parents were also around. She was under strict medication and the doctor had to change one of her medicines since that ran out of the stock in the market. That’s when everyone had to go through another phase of trauma. Unfortunately due to induce drug, Richa was affected by vitiligo.

Richa was broken this time. She kept complaining to God why she had to undergo all these. She was tired of her treatment, she was tired of life. She decided not to go ahead with Aadi though she knew that this was toughest decision she had ever made. Aadi was surprised to know about her decision. It sounded absurd to him. Knowing Aadi’s denial to this decision, she was broken. Aadi was surprised at how she could make such a decision. He could not think of not standing by his Michael when she needed him the most. He reminded Richa of her own words, “you could love someone for only one reason and that’s love, so love could never end with any reason ”. Richa was not convinced by what she had told in her past. Finally Aadi kept mum instead of telling yes to all her conditions, which probably Richa took as a Yes. He decided not go go back to tey Silicon VAlley and took up a job in India so that he could be with her. It took her more than two years to recollect her past, to grow beautiful; both mentally and physically again.

It was Richa’s birthday again. This year the birthday meant a lot to all, it was a rebirth of Richa. Aadi was planning to do something special, but he was not sure what really could make her day. Finally he thought of buying her flowers; something she was always passionate about. The city was looking desolate to him before the midnight. There was no florist opened. He had to somehow cross the same hospital where he would never want to step in again. This was the place where Richa’s treatment was going on. There was a flower shop where Aadi used to buy flowers for Richa everyday to celebrate her birthday when she was hospitalized and her birthday remained safe in her fainted memory. He bought the flowers. and reached her before it was twelve. He was still blank on how to make her day special. When the hour, minute and second hands were touching twelve, he held her hand and bent down on his knees. Seeing that Richa was surprised. It took him no time to tell her the three magical words, "I love you Richa, will you marry me?" .She was silent for a while but the blush on her face told him everything. He knew that he had made the day of the Birthday girl.

Those special lines !!!

See the world through my eyes,
Life is so small to waste on cries.
When the sun rises in the east again,
It’s me you have seen.
When the gentle winds buzz your ears,
It’s my voice that you hear.
When the foams of sea kiss your feet,
It’s my caress that you feel.
When you touch that morning dew on the grass,
It’s me whom you have touched.
Believe me this is the truth,
Till we meet again,
Don’t tell me you fear the end,
When your journey's just begun...

You HAD got the mails

A chilled winter evening in Bangalore, Madhvi was sitting in Chaibar spending time with her favorite pals- books. However Madhvi was very shy yet a straight-forward girl but she had big dreams like any other girl to touch the sky, at least to go overseas and make name, fame and money – the three most wanted in today’s generation. A calm girl with no attitude but a fear to mingle with people; probably that’s the reason why she had hardly any friends after staying for so many years in this multi-ethnic city. Books and music drive her crazy. Her endless passion for flowers always adds color and fragrance to her beautiful world.

The city was famous for its open-mindedness and cosmopolitan culture, the city that made people stay here forever who visit it once. Madhvi‘s family was not an exception to this. They were Maharastrians from Mumbai. After spending nearly twelve years in Bangalore, she was not completely touched by the glamour of the city. The distance had kept her away from the typical Mumbaiya style, yet she loved those first ten years of her life in Mumbai where she had lots of friends. She still cherished those days when she used to go for bicycling on the sea-beach, go to the club to learn swimming and tennis. But she had to leave all her friends when her family shifted to Bangalore. That is one of the reasons why she could not be a part of this cosmopolitan city after so many years. But there was nothing much that she could do about it other than making friendship with books, music and flower to hold back her interest to finally go back to Mumbai. After she completed engineering, she joined a software company and then she realized at least a part of her dreams started coming true when she flew abroad. In the meanwhile she had started exchanging mails with a guy whom she had never met- an email friend, whose name was Aman. The shy girl never wanted to make friendship with someone she had never met but as they exchanged emails, they got to know each other better. The became close friends when Madhvi came to know that this guy was from her favorite place where she’d spent her whole childhood; where she had spent the best days of her life whether it’s the school, the sea-beach, the tennis club or the swimming pool. They became close when she flew abroad and started missing this email friend more than anyone else. She started missing the way he used to bring her up when she was down; she started missing the way he used to give her Gyaan when she had confined herself from meeting people and making new friends. The dimension of the relationship changed for her when she kept missing him more and more day by day after she came back home. But providence had decided something else for them. When Madhvi came back, Aman had to go to London. The desperation to meet Aman was touching the sky and Madhvi was getting confined in her own thoughts. She had her own perceptions and had developed an image of Aman who used to understand her best even without speaking a word to her. In one of her mails she had dedicated the most favorite Ronan Keating number, “you say it best when you say nothing at all” to him which added a nice grin to his face as incidentally it is Aman’s favorite song too.

Time flew and they were still at the same place, just the emotion was going deeper and deeper. Aman was also going through the same phase of emotion where he used to think about Madhvi all day and night. He also felt that Madhvi became indispensable in his life even if he had never seen her. Aman use to feel that Madhvi was the most sensible and steadfast girl who would always stand by him. Every morning he used to get an email from Madhvi when he opened his computer and that’s how he used to start his day.
Being two people from the same industry whre technology was everything, they had neither heard each other nor did they have seen each other. They had decided to meet when Aman would come back. But this time also something else was destined for them. Madhvi’s father fell sick. Before Aman and Madhvi could decide something, Madhvi had to get married to Ashish.

Madhavi went through hell when she got married. She was so confused with her ownself- about the love that she had for Aman, about the warmth that she had felt only with Aman and the trust that she had in Aman’s virtual presence. She was confused thinking if she could make justice to Ashish whom she had never loved; what would happen to Aman for whom she had poured all her emotions. Finally she wrote about her marriage to Aman and in return she came to know about Aman’s marriage with someone else. But probably that’s destiny and she had no other go other than accepting life the way it had come.

Fortunately or unfortunately Madhvi started staying in the same city where she had dreamt to live with Aman, where she had spent her childhood, but now the same city was not making any difference other than moistening her eyes. With the passing days she was getting more confused about accepting Ashish in the true sense. She was not sure if could spare that place in her heart for Ashish what she had given to Aman. How long this marriage would last if it’s not poured with emotion; was it worth loving someone for the rest of her life whom she had never met, was it worth cheating her own emotions- she was just getting drowned with all these emotions. Finally she went ahead and told Ashish that she might not be able to love him ever because she had Aman’s strong presence in her heart and mind. Ashish was a good and caring person with a passion to make everyone smile in his surrounding. He also confessed to Madhvi that he had a strong relationship in the past which would have always an upper hand over his presence and future. Hearing this Madhvi was happy but gradually she didn’t like the presence of his past everywhere even if she had her own. The sweetness of the friendship among them gradually disappeared with the complication of each other’s life. It was nearly two years after her marriage but things were not moving. They were at the same point from where they had stared rather there was bitterness added to that relationship.

One morning Ashish told to Madhvi that he would go to Delhi for two days for some official work. Madhvi went to the airport to see him off. They looked at each other for a moment hoping for things to get better and at least wanted to land up on a platform of stable friendship. Madhvi also wished the same this time. After Ashish reached Delhi he called up Madhvi to tell her for the first time that he was missing her. Madhvi was not sure how to reply and just asked him to take care. The next evening Ashish’s flight landed in Mumbai and it was his Wedding Anniversary. He picked up a bunch of yellow roses to present them to her to start up a new friendship. But this time also something else was decided for him. His car bumped on to a bus and it was too late by the time someone took him to the hospital. That was the biggest shock to Madhvi when she saw Ashish’ s body on her wedding anniversary even if that marriage didn’t have any meaning in her life. It was not possible for her to stop her tears from rolling down over her cheeks for this friend who was a part of her life for the last two years. Her parents had come and decided to bring her back to Bangalore but she was not sure what she wanted to do. It was a Sunday morning and she was missing Ashish in every corner of her house. She just went near his almirah to arrange it, the way she used to do it over every weekend. But this time she wanted to arrange it completely so she took the locker key and opened it. She was stunned and scandalized, she was surprised and she was afraid that she was not dreaming. She took that file out from the locker, she could not stop crying and then screaming when she saw the copies of emails from Naina, the girl-friend of Ashish whom he had never met, a shy and straight-forward girl who was from Bangalore, who used to mail him every morning to make his day, who used to bring him up whenever he felt low and lastly who had dedicated the song “you say it best when you say nothing at all” to him, to Aman. Her heart broke into two hemispheres to know that Ashish was nobody else other than Aman whom she had loved so much that she could never love Ashish. And Naina was no one else but she, who had used this name to go away from the shyness that Madhvi had. Madhvi closed her eyes and she could visualize Ashish at Aman’s place now in all the mails that she had got from Aman and she could visualize Aman with everything that had happened in the last two years after her marriage with Ashish. She said “Aman you had got the mails!”
She gave a smile and fell down right there on the floor to be with Aman forever.