Just Another Story

Aayushi grew up in an orphanage. She didn't know what it meant to have a family. To celebrate festivals together , to go on family dinners.

  When she married Vikram , her college mate and then colleague she was welcomed by a large joint family. Vikram's 4 uncles , their kids and his grandparents too all lived in the same locality. They all bought homes close to each other to be able to drop in at any time and not let a busy life disturb some family time. There was never a day when Aayushi and Vikram would be alone. Tina maami would get the pickles one day and his mother would bring home the Besan ladoos the next, or her father in law would just drop in for a chat and tea.

  Aayushi and Vikram didn't have much privacy even in the early years of marriage. But Aayushi didn't mind that , all the love she had missed in the early years was suddenly coming to her in large volumes. Vikram's grand mother read the Bhagwat Gita to her every morning and they prayed together. Aayushi had voluntarily decided to be a housewife, sometimes she did freelancing writing jobs from home but mostly she was not working. Vikram was excelling in his career as well, and they had a good married life.

   Aayushi was brought up as a Catholic, since she lived in a shelter home belonging to the Church. She was taught to pray in the church, which she visited sometimes even after marrying Vikram , she didn't know what her religion was , she was orphaned in the Riots that took place in Mumbai in '93. But Vikram's family had taken to her very well, never making her feel like an orphan again. Much to her surprise they didn't even object to the marriage and had decided to meet her before they took the final decision. Aayushi had charmed them that day, she was smart , beautiful and warm. Vikram was proud of her , she had won over the whole family just the way she won him over.

 Two years after they got married. Vikram and she decided to have a baby , Vikram was doing well enough to support a family and Aayushi too wanted to be a mother. She had wanted to be a mother since the day she had cradled her toy doll in her arms and dressed her up . She wanted a daughter just like that doll. She smiled at every kid in the park when she went on her evening strolls. Once when Aayushi fainted in the supermarket suddenly ,and was rushed to the hospital the doctor announced that she was pregnant. Vikram's happiness knew no bounds. He couldn't wait to hold his baby in his arms. 

   7 months 28 days later Aayushi gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. They named her "Ahana" which means first rays of the Sun.

                    ----------------------------------The End ------------------------------------------

That's it . The story is over. What? It feels incomplete? Leaves you with a confused expression does it ? That's cause no one takes well to happiness anymore. Even if everything is fine and things are blissful we tend to find the crack and see from where sadness can creep in , we are never content , never.

  Rainbows and ponies and colorful balloons don't exist even in our imagination anymore. We complain, crib and refuse to see the sunny side of things . A happy story doesn't touch you as much as a painful one does. You almost felt like something terrible was going to happen as you read each line. That's how cynical we have become.

 I read this really nice paragraph somewhere and it changed my perspective :

Sometimes in life we feel so blue, 

but someone somewhere is not happy as you.

Somewhere far at the border when a soldier sleeps, 

missing his loved ones he silently weeps. 

Somewhere a mother painfully sighs cause, 

her new born baby didnt open her eyes.  

Somewhere a poor dad silently cries, 

when he sees his son begging for a bowl of rice. 

Somewhere in an orphanage a little gal is sad,  

when she misses her mom and dad. 

So at times a reason to smile you may not have any,  

say to yourself that you are happier than many. 

''cause life is beautiful and its not always blue, 

and someone somewhere is not as happy as you......

there is no way for happiness, HAPPINESS is the way

Ps : I know my absence was too long for people to even remember I write here . My apologies .

Love 
BluBluBling

  

Keira : The not-so-perfect girl (Final Part)

Read Part 1 and Part 2

The lady finished talking and looked at Keira who sat there shell-shocked that she could not even bat her eyelids. Too shocked to react to anything. How is this possible? Same story? How did the lady knew that she had the exact story as hers? Is this lady crazy? Should she believe in the story? Something inside her said that she wanted to get out of the creepy place. She pushed the feeling away and asked the other Keira if she could see the mirror. That is the only way of finding out if the lady was insane or if this whole freaky incident is really happening to her. The other Keira went inside the cottage and re-appeared with what looked like a broken mirror which was missing a half. Keira took it with trembling hands and looked into it. And her eyes grew wider with every passing second.

Through the mirror, she could see her dad feeling proud of her with each and every step she took in life. She could see her mom swell with pride as she saw her daughter grow up into the bold woman just as she dreamed. She saw her boyfriend look at her as if he had never seen a woman as beautiful as her in the whole world. And she saw her life through the eyes of everyone else who had lived with her and everyone's view was much different from her own. And better.

Keira's heart beat faster than it ever did. This means that the crazy Keira lady was right. But she has to go back. She cannot just give up and stay on just like the other Keira. She ran to the cottage and picked up her backpack and starting walking in the opposite direction from where she came to the cottage. The old Keira yelled out, "Hey you! You are not going to make it. " Keira did not bother. She would not just give up. Definitely after what she has just realized. She walked on and on and on until she felt so tired that she could not take another step. Just as she was about to pass out, she noticed that she was on the green lanes along the main road from where she started. She felt that, that was the happiest moment of her life. She saw a bus approaching and she waved her scarf to halt it.

Once she boarded the bus,it struck her. The other Keira. She said no matter how hard she searched for a way back, she was not able to find it. But the way back was not all that complicated. It was just long. Did the other Keira give up that soon? Some piece of the puzzle was missing. As she fidgeted around, not knowing what to do, she felt something sharp in her jacket pocket. It was the broken mirror. In an impulse,she took it and looked into it. She saw the cottage, the other Keira. She yelled out, "Hey! I made it back. I am going home. How could you not find the way back home?Don't worry! I will ask the driver to turn back the bus and I will come and get you." And she went to the driver and frantically yelled her lungs out to stop the bus and turn it back. An obviously irritated driver asked her the reason and she told all about her and the other Keira as fast as she could and about the mirror. The driver eyed her suspiciously and told her that if she didn't shut up and go back to her seat, he would have to leave her there and drive ahead. Keira got mad at the driver's ignorance and waved the mirror at his face and asked him to see for himself. The driver took a look at the mirror and said, "Ha! I need a hair-cut." Keira was shocked and looked into the mirror herself and saw a disappearing outline of the cottage and the other Keira. Just as she slipped out of the frame, the other Keira said "No need to come back for me. I knew you would find your way back. You have already collected me and yourself and we both are going back to live the awesome life that is waiting for you." And with that, the fading became complete and she could see her reflection looking back at her. And then she knew. In an instant, the mist lifted.  She did not know how all this happened and she could find no logical explanation for the bizarre chain of events that have happened. Had she just been to the future and back? Will anyone believe this? Could this actually happen? She pushed all those questions away. But she did not want to go back asking questions. She had a lot more to do now. She has to live. Her life was waiting for her.

There are no second chances in life. Take up the first chance and live it, good or bad that it turns out to be, it is better to have lived it and tell that you did it that way rather than trying to be the best/perfect one who did not try it just because you know that you are not going to be perfect at it.

Until later,

Keirthana :)

Keira : The not-so-perfect girl (Part 2)

Read Part 1 here

This continued on until one day, Keira got so fed up with her life that she decided that she was not making any difference to her life or any others' and hence there was no real meaning for her life. The constant restlessness drove her crazy. In an impulse, she packed her bags and left the city without telling anyone.

She switched off her mobile and got into some random bus without even looking at where it was headed to and took a ticket for the last stop. After what seemed to be an hour of journey, the bus stopped abruptly. Her co-passengers got down to investigate and she followed them to find out it was a break-down. Even the bus she came in was not the perfect one. Frustrated, she started out on her own, with her little backpack, walking along the green lanes along the main road. After sometime, when she looked around, she could not recognize where she was. There were tall trees all around her. There was little light, though she was sure it was early evening judging by the time she got down from the bus and took off. Unsure of what to do, she trudged along the path until she came upon a cottage.

She knocked on the door and waited. The door was opened by a sweet old woman who welcomed her into the simple cottage. Keira asked the lady what the name of the place was. The lady shrugged and replied it was nowhere. Keira was confused. How could it be nowhere? She asked again and again but she got the same answer. The next shock was that the lady introduced herself as Keira. What kind of freaky coincidence is this? They shared the same name. There were too many questions running in Keira's mind but she was too exhausted to start with all of them. So she just requested the lady to let her stay in for the night to which the lady accepted gladly and offered her dinner and then a warm bed.

For the first time in several days, Keira had a peaceful sleep. The next day, Keira woke up to rays of sun shining upon her. Clearer than she was the previous night, she went straight to the other Keira and shot out all her questions like where they were, how did the lady end up living her alone, where were her family and so on. The lady smiled at her and asked her to take a seat. Then she started talking. Her voice echoed through the silence.

"I am not sure if I have all the answers to your question. But I will tell you whatever I know. I will tell you the story of my life as I remember it. I was a normal girl who lived her life to a humanely possible extent. I cannot say that I excelled in anything but I could  not say that I had a perfect life, being the best in anything. The life that I wanted to live. To be perfect in at least something. I did not have a lousy life, but this want to be perfect and outstanding in something nagged me from the inside. I felt that I was not fulfilling any of my beloved's expectations or even my own expectations, for that matter.

So, one day I decided that my life had no meaning and started off on my own until I came here. I did not recognize it and I did not know how to go back either. Then I found a shred of glass that was lying near that tree. As I looked into it, I could see every bit of the life I lived until then. But the difference was I did not see through my eyes. In that mirror, I saw my life through the eyes of every other person who had been with me until then. It was then I realized that what I had was an awesome life even if not a perfect one. It was then that I realized that not being perfect in anything or not achieving anything that the world would go "oooh!" and "Aaaaah!" over, is not the only thing that we were made for. It was then that I realized what a fool I had been, despising myself for not meeting some expectations. Life is not just about meeting expectations. It is much more than that. But by the time I realized it was too late and I did not know how to go back from here. How much ever I tried, I could not find a way and so I gave up and stayed on. And sadly, I have found another Keira who has done the same and ended up the same way I did."

The lady finished talking and looked at Keira who sat there shell-shocked that she could not even bat her eyelids....

To be continued..

Until later,

Keirthana :)

Keira : The not-so-perfect girl

Keira looked at the woman sitting beside her. Wow! The girl was beautiful beyond normal standards. Normally Keira would not give in easily and accept that a girl/woman is beautiful. Girls' tendency, you see! But if any woman who made her go "Wow!" would be a lady for whom guys would die for. She did not acknowledge women who are ordinarily beautiful. Maybe it is because of the fact that Keira felt that she was not very beautiful. She knew she was not ugly or clumsy. She was good-looking. Just good-looking as any other normal person. She knew for sure she was not the stands-out-in-the crowd type. And maybe because of that, she have always admired women who managed to look beautiful all the time - be it a fresh morning or after a tiring day at work. They managed to find time to gloss up their lips even on the way back home. Keira had had days when she wanted to be one of them and desperately tried on every bit of make-up she can and she felt that she was the same good-looking but nothing more. Nothing special.

Not only in looks, Keira had the same feeling about her life. She had been a good daughter, a good student,a good friend, a good employee, a good girlfriend, a good citizen etc. But when she searched an answer for what she has achieved, what special thing she has done that not many others have achieved, she drew a blank.  She felt dull and gloomy at such times when this line of thought crops up and she would make her mind to do something more useful, cooler than the normal. But then again, after a few days, she would realize that she is wrapping her in an artificial shell and she is trying to be a person who she is not.

This happened over and over again, building up her insecurities and making her life shades of grey. She knew that she had been a good daughter, but she felt that she could have been a better one if only she could have developed passion in medicine and had done the Doctor's course just as in her dad dreams. She knew she was a good student, but she felt she could have been a better one if only she could have got the hang of Mathematics and was the best at what she studied. She knew she was a good girlfriend, but she felt that she could have been better if she did not fight with her love. And so on. The list was really  endless. She felt she could have been better at everything, but she seemed to wind up at just being good.

This continued on until one day...

To be continued..

Until later,

Keirthana :)