AarYa OS --- Soul Connections
A walk through the road can sometimes bring one to a cross road --- one where you do not know which path to take --- you stop for a minute only to think but then are drawn by your instincts to move in a particular direction.
That's exactly what Yash did when he walked the path and felt he had been there before. He walked till he reached a little cottage and his footsteps forced him to take rest. A knock at the door and he saw a young girl in her early teens but Yash who was in his sixties wondered why he found her so beautiful. He saw in her a rare attraction --- it wasn't lust for sure, since he had had his share of an amazing life with his better half Aarti. Yet, ever since she left him to move on to another world of the angels fourteen years back, Yash felt her close to him every moment. His children had settled down and he had retired from his active professional life. This gave him more time for him to reflect on life and its cycle.
The girl: Hello uncle, what is it I can do for you?
Yash: May I please sit down for a while. A glass of water might help me regain some of the lost energy.
The girl: Sure, I'll get you some. Please make yourself comfortable.
She went in quickly and within minutes was there with not just a glass of water but some juice and some dry snacks for this old stranger.
Yash: Thank you young lady. You are so kind.
The girl: Yes, my mother told me that God comes in many forms and we need to be courteous to all who come knocking at our door.
Yash: Oh, so you think I could be the Almighty himself?
The girl: It doesn't matter, but if I feel good in doing what I do for you I'll sleep well at night.
Yash: What's your name young lady?
The girl: Aarti.
Yash gets completely astounded. He feels he heard her wrong. He in fact coughs up the juice he was sipping on hearing his deceased wife's name.
Aarti: What happened uncle?
Yash: Did I hear you say your name as ---
Aarti: I said Aarti.
Yash looked at her and adjusted his spectacles again to have a closer look at her.
Aarti: You find me pretty isn't it? That's what most of my friends tell me. Though I don't think one needs to look pretty on the outside --- I want to be known as one who is pretty from the inside.
Yash: Young lady, I wonder whom do you stay with? You seem to be different from all other youngsters of these days.
Aarti: I stay with my parents.
She then shows him the picture of her parents on the wall.
Yash noticed that there was a garland over the picture which made it very clear that she had lost them.
Yash: My child, you're one of a kind. Do you stay here alone?
Aarti: No, I stay here with Rajesh and Rashmi.
Yash: So how are they related to you? Are they your siblings?
Aarti: Yes, sort of ---
Yash: Where are they now?
Aarti: They have gone to work. I go to school and so am back early. We three live here and love our parents a lot.
Yash: Will you three come and join me for dinner one of these days?
Aarti: I'll ask them uncle and let you know.
Yash was getting up to leave when Aarti came forward and lent a hand to help him and he kept looking at this girl. She surely had something in her which he wasn't able to fathom as yet.
He went back home and looked at Aarti's picture on the wall.
He then decided to retire for the day.
He closed his eyes and to his surprise that night Aarti came in his dreams.
Aarti: Yashji, how do I look now?
Yash: What do you mean Aartiji?
Aarti: I mean ---- you saw me today. I gave you juice too isn't it?
Yash: But was it you?
Aarti: Yes it was. I am now staying with Rajesh and Rashmi.
Yash: But I don't believe this. How is it possible?
Aarti: Yashji, people whom you love, you tend to meet them again even after they are gone and take the form of another being. After all the soul is the same --- just that one does not remember.
Yash: I don't know if this is true or I am imagining things. Can you please tell me a few more things.
Aarti: We three don't have parents now--- I mean Rajesh, Rashmi and myself.
Yash thinks in his dream: Yes, that's what I saw in that house with that garlanded picture of the girl's parents.
Aarti: Also, the couple in the picture --- they are not our parents in the true sense. They took care of us ---- three orphans, reared us and bequeathed their property for us---- So that we could stay at their place.
Yash just got up from his slumber and wasn't able to sleep any more that night.
He waited for dawn and began his walk yet again on that same path.
He came across the crossroad but this time he was sure which road to take.
He paced as fast as he could --- though it was actually a slow one for his age yet there was an urgency for him to know if what he heard from Aarti in his dream was the truth with this Aarti whom he had met the day before.
He reached the cottage and knocked.
The door opened and he found a young man.
Yash: Are you Rajesh?
Rajesh: Yes, and are you the same person who came yesterday to take some rest here?
Yash: Yes, indeed I am the one. Where is the young beauty?
Rajesh: Do you mean Aarti?
Yash: Yes, where is she?
Rashmi walks in and says: She passed away a few years ago but we've heard that she does come here when we are not around. She meets people and offers them shelter as was the wish of her parents who are in this picture.
Yash could not believe it.
Yash: So was she the child of this couple?
Rajesh: No she was taken care of by them and that was the time we too were brought in to this house by them. Unfortunately she died young and we are here taking care of this place given to us by them.
Yash was shaking by now. It was such an overwhelming feeling for him.
He heard exactly what Aarti told him in his dream.
He left the place and started walking back and came to the same cross road but this time he was drawn towards the other path --- he wanted to listen to his instinct one more time and he walked till he met a young girl hopping and skipping in joy. Even before he wanted to imagine that it could be another encounter with the person he loved so much --- he heard a mother call out to her --- Aarti, shall we go home? You've played enough.
Yash tried to catch a glimpse of the girl but she was too swift for his slow and staggered pace.
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This OS just came to my mind and I wrote it as I firmly believe that we may have come across such instances in our lives where connections are built from nowhere and yet give a lot of meaning to our existence.
Thank you for reading...
Fan Fictions
