-Idque Vos- Part 3: Page 6! - Page 3

Years passed by and today Amaira had turned 21. In these six years, Amaira faced a lot without her father, getting separated from her father made her face her real mother. She was tough for the world professionally, but on a personal front, she was crude. She treated Amaira nothing less than a step daughter or maybe even worse. Shaziya had her goals set, to make AGI the biggest and the most advanced industrial chain in the world and she was marching towards success with glory but behind she was leaving scars, on the heart of her very own daughter, whose existence mattered to her only for the business world. It wasn't as if Shaziya never showered her love on Amaira, she did but in the most formal way at her business deal evenings. Hardly did she ever bother to concern about Amaira's needs.

It was Amaira's big day, her 21^st birthday. Ever since she was a child, her father always told her that becoming 21 always makes a girl older and wiser; she had waited for this day since then. Hardly did she know that she would spend the day alone. Nonetheless, she decided not to worry on this day, at least till the time she could pretend. She woke up and did her courses just like any other day but she knew that something good was going to happen, her gut feeling had always been very strong. Be it guessing about a surprise test or her mother's absence at yet another function of hers; she was always right. That day Amaira wore a smile on her face all throughout, she knew today nothing could go wrong. Nothing at all. She spent the entire day with her dog, Toughy. She had no real friend with whom she could share her happiness; she definitely had companions in college but they were just companions loitering around her, eyeing her credit cards and branded clothes, nothing else. At least today she wanted real happiness and what better to spend the day with that one living being who loved her unconditionally, Toughy. Her afternoon went smoothly and she was surprised that her mother didn't bother her even once. She was upset that Shaziya didn't even care to with her Happy Birthday but she didn't think about it much. Amaira still waited for something good to happen. Something. Anything.

It was evening when Hussain Uncle visited her. He helped the Qureshis with their business decisions, a legal business advisor. Hussain and Zahir were always very close, infact they were childhood friends, raised as neighbors, then schoolmates, college mates and then finally business partners. Eventually, Amaira also felt very homelike with Hussain. After Zahir's disappearance, it was Hussain who always visited Amaira to make her feel a little better. He brought a lot of gifts for Amaira, like always and greeted her with blessings. They sat down to talk when suddenly, for the very first time in six years, Hussain spoke about Zahir. Amaira always tried to avoid any conversation about her father, not because she was still mad at him but because it reminded her that how one night, one unfortunate night, had changed her life completely. She wanted to leave but Hussain insisted not to.

"I know, it always hurts you when I talk about Zahir, but you have to let me do this today Amaira. Just once, let me say whatever I want to and then you can do anything you want", Hussain spoke. Amaira just looked into his eyes, she knew him since she was a young girl but today, for the first time, she saw his teary eyes.

"Zahir always mentioned to me how Shaziya treated you both. I know everything. I know how you always want her care and she always refused. Zahir shared every detail of his life with me, he told me how he wanted to grow you up into a mature and a sensible woman, he never wanted you to become extremely professional like your mother, he wanted you to be just you. Like you are, full of life and sensible. He spoke to me every day, whether I was with him or not, I was like his talking plant, he shared everything with me. So when he left, I was surprised too, because even I had no clue about it."

Zahir wiped his tears and Amaira looked straight into his eyes with no expressions at all. This was the first time in six years that someone had mentioned her father. For the very first time.

He continued, "I looked for bhaisaab everywhere, the mosque, his old home, the garden, everywhere I could but I could not find him. I enquired if something unfortunate happened, yes I did, but nobody knew anything about it. It was like; he just vanished into the thin air without anybody having the slightest idea about it. And then I contacted Tulsi Kaka."

"Tulsi Kaka, who is he? I never heard of him", Amaira questioned in complete astonishment.

"Tulsi Kaka was Zahir and my caretaker. It was very fortunate of us to have him during our childhood days; he was like a father figure to us. But when we had to leave for college, we left him behind. He used to write to us at times but eventually that also stopped. When I could not find Zahir bhaisaab anywhere, I went to him. I knew that Tulsi Kaka would still live in his village because he couldn't afford a living in the city. And I was right, he was there and he knew about Zahir."

Amaira's eyes widened. She could not believe that finally someone did know about her lost father, someone did know where he was, why he left and what he was doing. The questions she never asked because she was scared thinking about the most unfortunate answers would finally be spoken about.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ronak had now shifted to New Delhi; he left his parents back in Banaras 3 years ago. He did not want, he was forced to. Even if today someone would ask him to go back to his normal life, he would have loved to but his parents would never accept him back because of one decision of his- Dance.

Ever since his school days, Ronak had a desire of learning dance but due to his father's poor earning, they could not afford one. He always kept this desire of his under wraps. During all his school functions, Ronak was always chosen as the lead dancer and always excelled but his parents could hardly see that this is what their son wanted. The Indian society never really encouraged dance, dance was either looked down or was only for girls as a matter of fact. It was difficult for Brijesh to digest the fact that Ronak wanted to become a professional dancer. He tried every which way to convince his parents that dance can be made into a career but they did not listen to him at all and then one fine day, he was asked to leave. More like a command, no reasons, no explanations, just said to leave. Ronak knew that he had hurt his parents; he wanted to talk to them but decided that he will prove them wrong. He wanted to show them and the Indian Society that dance is not a silly thing to do, it is infact one of the toughest career options, and he will live by his dream. It was not as if Ronak had no feelings towards his parents, even today, he sends some money to his parents through money deposit, he did not know what they did of that money, but whatever he earned, he sent a share of it to them, because he did love them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here you go with Part 2 guys! Sorry for being a little late, was caught up with some work. I hope you guys like it. Do leave back your reviews in the comments. I always love to read them. 😳

Love,

Rish. ❤️