Chapter 12
A/N: Hey there everyone! :D :D Here is the next update! :D :D
Happy Reading! :D :D
10th October, 1996:
The world is a brighter place after all.
Seven months ago, I would have thought differently. I was a boy from a small village who had accompanied his father to the city with a lot of dreams in his eyes. I still have those dreams but they were obscured by the brutal facts of the city. Obscured, yes, not broken. I had lost path to ever knowing what it meant to truly feel happy. But a person brought me along that path again, hand in hand.
She taught me what it is lile to live life openly; to live life with my head held high; to seize the day and live every moment to its fullest. She taught me more about myself that I thought there ever was to learn. She taught me what it was like to truly laugh; to know what it feels like to love and be loved.
She taught me how to be myself.
The past four months of my life have been a fantasy - something that I thought the city was incapable of offering to me. She's stood by me through everything, making sure to be my pillar of strength through it all. What happened to me four months ago wasn't easy to forget, yet she gave me the strength to do it. Mota Babuji changed my school in spite of the personal apology letters that the principal himself had written, and I could not have felt more grateful.
Ishaani too, changed her school. And honestly speaking, I love our new school. The crowd is much more simpler and bearable for the two of us. We are judged on the basis of our talent and not just our backgrounds. And it feels good to be looked at with a friendly glance, rather than the usual scoff or sneer. And the best part? All the restrictions have been lifted from upon us. Ishaani and I could meet whenever we wished.
And so in return, we've been trying to build a social life as well. Or so is Ishaani trying, because I... well, I'm beyond scope. Everyone is a friend by glance, but nobody can reach my heart the way Ishaani did. She'd broken through my fence, penetrating deep within my heart. A part that was supposed to be inaccessible even to myself.
But enough sad talk. Now that I have the chance to be happy, I will make sure that I radiate that through my essence and spirit as well. For how long is this new emotion my guest, I don't know. But I would love it to stay for as long is does. As Ishaani tells me, sometimes clinging on to happiness too hard ends up shattering us more so than any other agony.
She is a smart girl, her. For an eight year old girl, she is too mature I must admit. Her maturity levels to a girl in her mid - teens, but there is another beauty to it all together. She knows when to let the childish innocence claim her and when to let the maturity work its charm.
Should I admit it to you?
Alright, fine. I'll say it. It's not like I do have a problem admitting it, but it's just... I don't want to sound immodest or proud. Ugh, I might as well tell it, not that I'm very comfortable doing so. Alright, here it is. I think that my friendship with Ishaani has changed her a lot. Stupid, right? God, I sound so moronic. But I can't help feel this at times. Why I feel so, I cannot say, but it is something that I've observed to be true.
Before we grew to become friends, I did observe her quite a bit. She used to be cold and lifeless. As though there was no joy in living in this extraordinary world. But now she's a transformed personality where the sun rises from the smile on her face and the Earth revolves around her graceful steps. There is a new innocence that I see in her eyes each day now. An innocence that is endearing, making me fall in love with her just a little more.
There are so many moments where she is the only one talking between the two of us - recounting tales from the past that had given her immense happiness. And all I can do is stare at her in awe. Awe at what God had actually created. She was beautiful - not just physically or by her looks, but by her soul. Even though she had sought refuge in darkness, there was no denying that her soul was still intact like the purest of holy waters.
There is something about the way she smiled that puts me into a trance, making me feel as though I can brave it all. There is something about the way she looks at me that makes me feel like my existence is worthwhile - that her trusting gaze was reward to all my sufferings and hardships. There is something in the way she holds my hand in reassurance that suddenly makes my heart beat irregularly, as though somebody has shocked me.
And then again, there is the way how she protects me. Several times when there's an error in the chores here and there, Baa looks like she could do with a bit of violence but Ishaani is somehow always around me in those moments, her presence working like a shield. All that Baa manages to do is throw some insults before she walks away, disgruntled. Ishaani scoffs and we get back to doing our work, letting those incidents work like a silent understanding between us, never to be mentioned.
You must be wondering what has all this got to do with how my presence has changed her. I'm getting to it.
Prior to us becoming friends, she always used to have a jolly smile on her face with a customary twinkle in her eyes, but it was not real. Don't get me wrong for I know that I sound highly idiotic over her. But her happiness seemed forced, as though she tried to be happy, but couldn't ever feel it. I observed her for two months before we became friends - this was the first thing I noticed.
Yet post the incident with me four months ago, I've noticed a different personality about Ishaani. She is no longer cautious or careful about how she carries herself, neither is she conscious about how much she's been changing every day. I realize each day that her happiness is now turning real, that she has finally learnt to let herself go fully, that she has finally taken the risk of trusting someone entirely, and I feel honoured that the person is me.
The twinkle in her eyes is now real, and the playful gait in her steps have a different charm altogether. There is an addition to the way she smiles now; it still makes my heart flutter with an uneasy love, but her smile has that one extra thing that it lacked before - the innocence of childhood. And speaking of innocence, I've noticed that she's let her maturity tone down reasonably, and takes extreme pleasure in putting up tantrums at times, not because she actually wants to cause trouble, but because it makes her feel bountiful with a child's innocence.
And trust me, none of this was there before we became the best of friends.
It's as though the new Ishaani has gone back to appreciating the innocence of life, willing choosing oblivion over pretense. It can turn very deadly at times, I admit, but I'm loving this new Ishaani so far. And the best thing about her now? Where the old once could barely string two sentences properly in a conversation earlier, the new one can just not stop talking. It's as though she has an entire ocean of secrets to bestow and entrust upon me, yet it never comes to an end.
And I have no reason to complain as long as I see her happy.
For how long is this sense of safety and security over the two of us, I don't know. But for now, the world is enough for us. The two of us have found an entire universe within each other and we are content with it. Our parents are happy with this new progress and so far, we all have found our secret haven. I've bonded better with Falguni Maa and Mota Babuji and the two of them are just as happy with our friendship.
Baba, on the other hand, is glad that I've found a new companion who is just as loving and understanding as I can be. I did tell Maa about this too - she is apprehensive, worried that being friends with a master's child is not ethical or moral, but Baba makes her understand. I'm not sure that she entirely gets it, or maybe she gets much more than everyone else. But for now, she is happy that I have someone who I can trust.
The world is certainly a brighter place than I ever perceived it to be. But experience has taught me not to trust it a lot for light can very well get extinguish as soon as it can break through the darkest of places. But till the time our haven cracks again, I wish to remain happy and seize every moment with her, wanting to make a special memory of every minute that we spend together.
After all, the world is not enough always.Constructive criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for any typos. :D :D
Next chapter:
Epistle 13
Your reaction
Nice
Awesome
Loved
LOL
OMG
Cry
Post Your Comment