Prologue

{ PROLOGUE } 

Nobody ever asks how a man is feeling. Why are we always expected to be strong? I don’t want to be strong. Rishabh pressed the accelerator harder. It was 10pm on a Friday night and he was having a rough week. He just wanted to reach home and lie down. He sighed realizing that he would have to go back to an empty house, an empty room, with his empty heart. He wished she would call him. He hoped she would miss him. He knew she didn’t. 

Meanwhile, not so far away, Dr. Prerna Sharma sat by her window looking out at the moon- sipping hot coffee & reading ‘Flow: The Psychology Of Happiness by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.’ She was in her own deep thoughts. How do you help someone find their happiness? She had had a rough week too. So many patients came to her, she wanted to help everyone, she was good at it too. Everyone has a choice. How can I help them see that? It is their choice to be happy. They just have to take a small step decide. Mr. Mehra has a wonderful life. His wife loves him, his two daughters are growing up & he has a wonderful business. Why is that not enough reason to be happy? What is this desire for something more? Why does he feel so empty? She was lost in the lives of her patients not realising that her coffee was now cold and her mother stood right behind her. 

“Priyu! Yeh koi time hai coffee peene ka? Neend kese ayegi beta?” Her mother scolded, snapping Prerna out of her thoughts. 

“Sona kise hai maa? Abhi toh kaam baaki hai!” She said sighing again. 

“Bas kar beta, ese bhi poore din clinic mein hoti hai, fir raat ko aate hi kitaabo mein kho jaati hai. Apne liye waqt kab nikalegi?” 

“Yeh waqt bhi toh mera hi hai, aur kitaab bhi.” She smirked. 

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Bekaar hai tumse behes karna.”

“Toh mat karo na. Achi maa ke tarah jaake so jao.” She said getting up to hug her mother goodnight. 

I wish I could show you how proud I am of you. But this worries me too. You’re always working. When will you take out time for your life. You’re always so engrossed in the lives and problems of your clients, what about your life? Who is helping you out with that. When will you snap out of your books and find a partner who will hold your hand & be by your side in sickness and in health. Veena thought.

Veena hugged Prerna tightly and kissed her goodnight. She loved her only daughter so much. Prerna knew that her mother constantly worried about her. But what Veena didn’t know was that Prerna was drowned in work so she didn’t have to worry about him. He had already caused her enough trouble. 

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