Vijay, Rajesh and Priya had, by now, started spending time for studies intensely because there were hardly eight days remaining for the examinations to begin. Through these last eight days doing one last revision was necessary and above all doing it properly was extremely important. Examination started after the eight days passed. Everyday they were supposed to appear for one paper. Now all of them started studying independently at their respective homes since each and every moment was important. Everyday the examination was scheduled at 10 o’clock in the morning and after finishing it at 1 o’clock in the noon, they would return home for lunch and take-up the preparations for the next day’s subject. After each examination, the only brief time they would stay together to enquire, ‘how was the examination for that respective subject?’, and then separate for going home on bicycle together.
Almost all the examinations were through now, as per the schedule of per day one subject, except the last today. The subjects that were significant for shaping their future were already over and today was the last examination of the language paper. It was only a formality remaining to be completed for ending the schedule of examinations. After that paper was over all the students started coming out of the examination hall. Everybody’s face was flooded overwhelmingly with joy at last as though the faces that were appearing grim and tense under the fear of examinations had now suddenly changed into a blossom of joy and happiness. A huge crowd of students gathered outside the examination hall and everybody was craving to talk such that the scene was appearing funny because there was no one to listen except that everybody was talking. All of them started toward their respective homes holding their bicycles in hand and even though it was a time for lunch no one seemed eager for it or even appeared to burning with hunger. After the discussion pertaining to how each of the went through each of the examinations, the focal point of overall discussion now turned to how they were to celebrate the thrill of having finished with the examinations. Not with much debate all the groups of students unanimously passed a resolution that they should go and watch a movie after first having finished with lunch. It was impossible to attend the 3 o’clock cinema show since none of them could sense that it was already 2:30 pm while being thoroughly engrossed with chatting and therefore they decided to gather outside the Sandeep talkies at 6 o’clock in the evening. It was only then all of them paced toward their individual homes.
Right since 5 o’clock the groups of boys and girls of HSC started gathering in the lounge of the cinema theatre. Although there was a lot of time yet for the next show to begin, the queue for the tickets was already increasing because the movie was recently launched. All the groups of students appointed a leader of them and handed over necessary amount of money to him or her asking them to stand in the queue so that the remaining of them would be free to continue chatting.
While the flow of their chat was on, one of the boys, paid a clandestine glance at the group of girls and said, ‘How aged are the girls from our class appearing to be?’.
‘What do you mean by ‘Aged’?’, another of them intentionally rounded him with a cross-question.
‘What I mean by ‘aged’ is that till yesterday all of these girls were appearing to be like children in frocks and blouses and now all of a sudden look how grown-up they are looking!’, the first chap tried to save himself.
‘All of their tiny frocks and blouses are a part of a history long ago!, Where do you keep paying your attention man?’, another chap among them replied.
‘Throughout so many days when did he any time left to look at girls after paying all his attention to the books?’, another boy among them taunted.
‘Is that the reason why now he is looking at them like a hungry dog since he has got ample time?’, the first boy pinched.
‘Hey! You rascal!’, the first felt mischievously angry and all of them laughed.
Rajesh, Vijay and Priya with few other boys were chatting in another corner and yet another group of students started a round of discussion about them there.
‘Why do this girl continuously keeps herself in the company of Vijay instead of mingling with the group of those girls there?’, one of them asked.
‘My dear friend, she has arrived here from Mumbai!’, another replied.
‘So what? If she is from Mumbai!. Are all the girls from Mumbai behave this way?’, the third boy remarked.
‘That Vijay too is a shrewd guy!. Under the pretext of studying he entered her home and now……!’, one more of them contributed.
‘Now what?’, one of them asked.
‘What? You don’t know anything?’, the second boy replied in surprise.
‘No! Not at all!’, again came the same reply.
‘Not just now! I will tell you some other time!’, the second boy calmly said.
On the other hand there was a different discussion going on in the group of Vijay and his friends standing in a corner.
‘The movie appears to be a good one!’, Priya said, looking at the different posters placed in the showcases and hanging on the walls there.
‘Nothing can be told about a film going by what is displayed on posters!’, Vijay replied.
‘The movie has been launched just yesterday otherwise by now we would have easily come to know about how good or bad it is!’, another boy remarked.
‘Our neighbour Ram was telling that it is not so really good but only slightly better than the one on display at the Subhash talkies!’, the second boy contributed.
‘That means we don’t have any other alternative!’, Rajesh said.
‘Why not? We do have another alternative!’, Vijay replied.
‘What is that?’, Priya curiously asked.
‘Wait for the right movie to arrive and watch it only when it is approved by others!’, Vijay remarked.
‘What rubbish! Will it ever happen that the examination got over today and we should not watch a movie immediately thereafter!’, Rajesh reacted.
‘That is the precise mistake we often do!’, Vijay said.
Right at the same moment the first bell rang.
One more queue was shaped outside the entrance of the cinema hall. All the boys who had stood in the queue to buy tickets came and handed over the tickets to their friends and then they too joined the queue to enter the hall.
Exactly at 9:30 PM the cinema was over and all the boys and girls started coming out of the theatre with their confused faces. Their expressions alone were sufficiently proving that the film was not any good worth watching.
‘The whole of our nice time was utterly wasted!’, Rajesh said irritatingly after coming out of the theatre.
‘How can you say it was wasted!. Even from this bad experience we have learnt a good lesson indeed!’, Vijay replied.
‘Great! Great! You are truly a philosopher!’, Rajesh admitted holding his both palms like a Namaskar in front of Vijay.
‘I remember a joke now, but not now! I will tell you sometime later!’, !’, Rajesh said after glancing at Priya coming from behind both of them.
‘Why not now?’, Vijay asked.
‘You fool! It is not worth telling in the presence of girls!’, Rajesh whispered into Vijay’s ears with appropriate expressions on his face.
Once again while returning from the theatre the students were chatting among themselves overwhelmingly except for the fact that the topic of discussion was revolving not around the examination but about the film they had watched.
‘What a boring film it was!’, one of them said.
‘There was hardly any story for the film!’, another of them said.
‘But the heroine was showed beautifully from all angles!’, another boy mischievously said.
‘It is only because of these rascals the films such as this one that lay all its focus on body exposing even with a bullshit story run well on the theatres!’, another guy remarked sharply.
‘What is bullshit about it? And body-exposure is also an excellent art!’, the same boy argued in self-defense.
‘What nonsense art are you talking about?’, another guy remarked.
‘Of course it is an art!. Reaching an exact balance between an actress’s body fully covered with clothes and the one exposed with all her feminine beauty is not an easy task to achieve. This is so because when a body gets covered more and more the film turns boring and when it is exposed beyond a limit then the film becomes very nauseating. Making a film that does not appear to be boring and yet not even nauseating is indeed one of the definitions of art itself!’.
‘Wow! What an excellent analysis! You deserve to be a great analyst!’, another boy complemented.
‘Yes! Quite right! He is excellent at making an analysis……of bullshit concepts!’, the same critic opened his mouth again.
After cutting some distance from the cinema hall, the big group got split into smaller ones while approaching their homes.
With the passage of time passing swiftly nobody even realized how the examination approached and was even finished. After the examination got over all of them spread from their village to all their relatives to enjoy the holidays. The day of examination being over was a day of full joys and overwhelming happiness because they were feeling to have finally broken their chains and freed themselves to taste the spirit of independence. Now there was no tension and no worries at all. They were now completely free to do anything except studies. Not only had they been freed from the awesome responsibility of studies but anybody who continues to do the studies even after the exam was over should necessarily be deemed as a fool only. But the human nature is also a very weird phenomenon. After finishing the examinations all of these boys and girls tried venturing into all forms of entertainment such as chatting, playing, watching films and simply relaxing or loitering here and there but soon they realized what limitations each of these methods had or perhaps because all their money to be spent for enjoyment too was exhausted by now. Sometimes they were even feeling that the times of studies were at least better because they were not feeling stressed to think of what to do next anytime. The mind that was constantly busy in studies was now feeling absolutely free and therefore sad too. An individual who is constantly overburdened with work if let free absolutely then he does enjoy the freedom but only temporarily because later, especially after the first stroke of joy is over, a mysterious sadness grips his or her mind. That is the precise reason why each of them were quite literally running away from their village to variety of their relatives either under the pretext of holidays or even under the trivial excuses like a wedding etc. Even Priya went to meet her grandfather and Rajesh too went to meet his sister. But Vijay had no such options and there was also a problem of money. Therefore he stopped at his home only and started spending time at the library. During this phase of his life his reading habit flourished and he read biographies of many prominent people. He also read the fiction stories written by prominent freedom fighter Sane, the veteran teacher. And while reading the stories of his mother, tears often came into the eyes of Vijay because he got a glimpse of different side of the life, that narrate the bonds between a mother and her son. Later he also read the humorous literature of renowned leaders like P.K. Atre or distinguished authors like P.L. Deshpande. Slowly, Vijay was enjoying the company of books and above all what was more important that the books were successfully keeping him sufficiently occupied also.
But when the date of the result started approaching near and near, all the students who had gone out started returning back. Now none of them was facing the problem of spending time because now most of their time was being spent in thinking about the probable result. Finally that very day that was to decide their fate dawned soon.
Priya, Vijay and Rajesh were sitting on the steps of the college looking at their mark-sheet.
‘Now I don’t see much of a problem for both of us to secure an admission in a single medical college!’, Priya said enthusiastically looking at her result sheet.
‘You both can dream of going for the medical but what the hell is my future?’, Rajesh angrily got up and reacted sharply.
‘Why do you bother so much? Even you will get an admission at some good college!’, Vijay tried to pacify him.
‘Finally the same fate I have!’, Rajesh annoyingly said, ‘to become a teacher!’ and he started going away from there.
‘Listen! Wait for a moment!’, Priya got up and tried going behind him.
But Vijay signaled her indicating that let Rajesh go from there alone. Priya stopped but after returning back to Vijay she curiously asked him, ‘Vijay! He is our friend!. He needs our company utmost today at such a grim moment of his life and you are stopping me from consoling him?’.
‘No! At this point of time, he does not need us but he needs to be alone with himself in seclusion! And certain problems or calamities in life can be solved, not by using any other medicine but only after allowing the wounds to heal naturally after a passage of time and that is what Rajesh needs most at this point of time in his life!’, Vijay calmly replied.
Novel Illusion (Complete) - Based on a true story
Re: Novel Illusion (Complete) - Based on a true story
After Rajesh went away from there, Vijay and Priya continued sitting there on the steps of the college staircase for a long time completely engrossed in their thoughts.
‘But how did he so pitiably low marks?’, Priya broke the silence and asked.
Vijay did not utter a word.
‘We both secured so nice marks and that poor fellow who studied equally with both of us got so low a score!. How can that happen?’, Priya exclaimed sadly.
Even then Vijay continued to maintain the silence.
‘I think there is some mistake in the checking of his answer sheets. His marks must have been allotted to somebody else by mistake and somebody else’s marks must have been recorded against his name. it happens like this sometimes, my father was telling me once!’, Priya was not willing to accept.
Vijay was maintaining the silence completely.
‘I think he should apply for revaluation of his answer sheets. It may bring about some difference!’, Priya suggested.
‘Listen to me Priya! How many marks do you score does not just depend on how much study have you done!’, Vijay remarked.
‘Then what else does matter?’, asked Priya surprisingly.
‘Your ability and intellectual merit also plays a lot of role. Why do you ignore the fact that all throughout he was getting similar range of marks even during the practice mock examinations too. Then why should he expect some miracle to take place even in this real examination?’, Vijay concluded.
‘But all the while he was claiming that he had not faced any problem throughout all the papers of the whole examination. That is what he was always claiming!’, Priya surprisingly asked.
‘Even during the mock examinations he was talking the same. What this only means that compared to his ability and merit he was giving good performance!’, Vijay explained.
‘You are quite right Vijay! But it is really saddening to discover that the one who studied so hard equally well with us ended up obtaining such a poor result and that is bound to make us feel sad slightly!’, Priya agreed.
‘Yes! Feeling sad is quite justified and even he deserves to feel it that way but I am sure he will recover soon and that is why there is no reason for us to feel worried or anxious about him!’, Vijay explained again.
At least now Priya felt fine because she would feel convinced only after Vijay would explain her properly and Vijay too would explain every such thing in a proper analytical manner suitable for her to understand. Furthermore time passed in complete silence.
‘Oh! Yah!’, Priya murmured as though she was coming out of deep thoughts.
Vijay looked at her with a questioning face.
‘Our topic of discussion that we were talking about is not yet completed!’, Priya exclaimed.
‘What about?’, Vijay asked.
‘About our admissions to a common medical college!’, Priya answered.
‘There is ample time for that!’, Vijay replied in order to avoid that issue.
‘What ample time? We have hardly eight days in hand to decide where we need to secure our next admission!’, Priya explained.
Vijay again sought to remain silent over this.
‘Yes! Now tell me please which medical college should we seek our admissions into?’, Priya again raised the same topic.
Vijay only glanced at her and again got engrossed in his deep thoughts while watching the Asoka trees and their waving branches in front of him with the flowing wind as though he was unwilling to discuss this topic.
‘Indeed! By staying constantly together with both of you a nice group of we trio was formed and now I cannot even imagine of leading a life in the absence of both of you!’, Priya whispered.
‘But it appears that Rajesh won’t ever be able to stay with us together!’, Vijay expressed himself sadly.
‘But at least he can secure an admission in the same village where we may take our admissions!’, Priya sought to find an answer.
‘Who knows? Not everything happens by our desires and priorities!’, Vijay said.
‘But now I do not think that even that is possible anymore!’, Vijay finally gave the right reply he was avoiding to talk about and even now he avoided looking straight into Priya’s eyes.
‘Why do you say that? In fact, is it not that you alone always insist for positive thinking?’, Priya annoyingly asked.
‘That is because I am going to seek an admission not in medical stream but in the engineering!’, Vijay replied with a resolved tone.
A deep sense of melancholy spread over Priya’s face instantly to hear that.
‘What? You never spoke this so far!’, Priya exclaimed as though she was bitterly shocked.
Vijay was maintaining his calm after being deeply engrossed in his thoughts.
‘But why? You can easily get an admission in medical? And besides that only a fool can think of going for engineering when he can easily get an admission to the medical stream?’, Priya spoke angrily.
‘You call it irrationality or foolishness or anything else you may like but I am going to seek an admission into engineering only!’, Vijay declared his resolve.
‘But why? Will you please at least tell me that?’, Priya argued.
‘There is a reason for that!’, Vijay replied.
‘What is that?’, Priya reiterated herself.
‘I wonder whether you will fell convinced by it or…..!’, Vijay doubted.
‘Will you please disclose that as early as possible now?’, Priya was about to explode by this never-ending sequel of fruitless questions and answers.
‘It is high time for me to secure a job as early as possible. It is my topmost priority to restore the pride of my home and if I am to secure a job as early as possible then I do not see any other alternative than engineering!’, Vijay briefly replied his problem.
Priya was now appearing to be sufficiently calm and quiet. She was not uttering a word now because probably she was convinced by the reasoning given by Vijay but the shadow of grief was glaringly visible on her face even now.
While thinking about this subsequently she again angrily said to Vijay, ‘And you are telling me this now. If you were to have told me this earlier would not I have taken the Mathematics in my HSC course?. I definitely think that you had long ago decided to distance yourself from me!’.
‘Priya you are really crazy!. What one should do for something always carries its own limitations. I knew this very well right since early days and that is why I did not tell you because it could not have ever been acceptable to me that you should destroy your own life like a fool for my sake!’, Vijay calmly replied.
Vijay said this and all of Priya’s emotions started flooding through her eyes overwhelmingly, ‘Is this what you recognize my worth for?’, Priya started attempting to restrain her sorrow and tears.
‘Are you crazy?’, Vijay got up and went near her to console her, ‘Wherever we may go our friendship will remain the same!’.
‘Listen to me Vijay! Till the time you came in my life there was no direction to my life! There was no meaning to my life and I was only living the life just because I was supposed to live it!. You came in my life as a true guide and altered the entire course of my life!. Only because of you I could secure so many marks!. If you were not to be there in my life I wonder whether I would have been able to even pass in this examination!. You gave a purpose for my life and taught me to live and now if you are to leave me alone how am I to survive in this journey of life?’, Priya argued and started crying vociferously.
Vijay could only pull her near him and kept patting on her back. He was aware that howsoever effort he was to take to convince her it would not yield any result so he only continued patting on her back calmly.
‘But how did he so pitiably low marks?’, Priya broke the silence and asked.
Vijay did not utter a word.
‘We both secured so nice marks and that poor fellow who studied equally with both of us got so low a score!. How can that happen?’, Priya exclaimed sadly.
Even then Vijay continued to maintain the silence.
‘I think there is some mistake in the checking of his answer sheets. His marks must have been allotted to somebody else by mistake and somebody else’s marks must have been recorded against his name. it happens like this sometimes, my father was telling me once!’, Priya was not willing to accept.
Vijay was maintaining the silence completely.
‘I think he should apply for revaluation of his answer sheets. It may bring about some difference!’, Priya suggested.
‘Listen to me Priya! How many marks do you score does not just depend on how much study have you done!’, Vijay remarked.
‘Then what else does matter?’, asked Priya surprisingly.
‘Your ability and intellectual merit also plays a lot of role. Why do you ignore the fact that all throughout he was getting similar range of marks even during the practice mock examinations too. Then why should he expect some miracle to take place even in this real examination?’, Vijay concluded.
‘But all the while he was claiming that he had not faced any problem throughout all the papers of the whole examination. That is what he was always claiming!’, Priya surprisingly asked.
‘Even during the mock examinations he was talking the same. What this only means that compared to his ability and merit he was giving good performance!’, Vijay explained.
‘You are quite right Vijay! But it is really saddening to discover that the one who studied so hard equally well with us ended up obtaining such a poor result and that is bound to make us feel sad slightly!’, Priya agreed.
‘Yes! Feeling sad is quite justified and even he deserves to feel it that way but I am sure he will recover soon and that is why there is no reason for us to feel worried or anxious about him!’, Vijay explained again.
At least now Priya felt fine because she would feel convinced only after Vijay would explain her properly and Vijay too would explain every such thing in a proper analytical manner suitable for her to understand. Furthermore time passed in complete silence.
‘Oh! Yah!’, Priya murmured as though she was coming out of deep thoughts.
Vijay looked at her with a questioning face.
‘Our topic of discussion that we were talking about is not yet completed!’, Priya exclaimed.
‘What about?’, Vijay asked.
‘About our admissions to a common medical college!’, Priya answered.
‘There is ample time for that!’, Vijay replied in order to avoid that issue.
‘What ample time? We have hardly eight days in hand to decide where we need to secure our next admission!’, Priya explained.
Vijay again sought to remain silent over this.
‘Yes! Now tell me please which medical college should we seek our admissions into?’, Priya again raised the same topic.
Vijay only glanced at her and again got engrossed in his deep thoughts while watching the Asoka trees and their waving branches in front of him with the flowing wind as though he was unwilling to discuss this topic.
‘Indeed! By staying constantly together with both of you a nice group of we trio was formed and now I cannot even imagine of leading a life in the absence of both of you!’, Priya whispered.
‘But it appears that Rajesh won’t ever be able to stay with us together!’, Vijay expressed himself sadly.
‘But at least he can secure an admission in the same village where we may take our admissions!’, Priya sought to find an answer.
‘Who knows? Not everything happens by our desires and priorities!’, Vijay said.
‘But now I do not think that even that is possible anymore!’, Vijay finally gave the right reply he was avoiding to talk about and even now he avoided looking straight into Priya’s eyes.
‘Why do you say that? In fact, is it not that you alone always insist for positive thinking?’, Priya annoyingly asked.
‘That is because I am going to seek an admission not in medical stream but in the engineering!’, Vijay replied with a resolved tone.
A deep sense of melancholy spread over Priya’s face instantly to hear that.
‘What? You never spoke this so far!’, Priya exclaimed as though she was bitterly shocked.
Vijay was maintaining his calm after being deeply engrossed in his thoughts.
‘But why? You can easily get an admission in medical? And besides that only a fool can think of going for engineering when he can easily get an admission to the medical stream?’, Priya spoke angrily.
‘You call it irrationality or foolishness or anything else you may like but I am going to seek an admission into engineering only!’, Vijay declared his resolve.
‘But why? Will you please at least tell me that?’, Priya argued.
‘There is a reason for that!’, Vijay replied.
‘What is that?’, Priya reiterated herself.
‘I wonder whether you will fell convinced by it or…..!’, Vijay doubted.
‘Will you please disclose that as early as possible now?’, Priya was about to explode by this never-ending sequel of fruitless questions and answers.
‘It is high time for me to secure a job as early as possible. It is my topmost priority to restore the pride of my home and if I am to secure a job as early as possible then I do not see any other alternative than engineering!’, Vijay briefly replied his problem.
Priya was now appearing to be sufficiently calm and quiet. She was not uttering a word now because probably she was convinced by the reasoning given by Vijay but the shadow of grief was glaringly visible on her face even now.
While thinking about this subsequently she again angrily said to Vijay, ‘And you are telling me this now. If you were to have told me this earlier would not I have taken the Mathematics in my HSC course?. I definitely think that you had long ago decided to distance yourself from me!’.
‘Priya you are really crazy!. What one should do for something always carries its own limitations. I knew this very well right since early days and that is why I did not tell you because it could not have ever been acceptable to me that you should destroy your own life like a fool for my sake!’, Vijay calmly replied.
Vijay said this and all of Priya’s emotions started flooding through her eyes overwhelmingly, ‘Is this what you recognize my worth for?’, Priya started attempting to restrain her sorrow and tears.
‘Are you crazy?’, Vijay got up and went near her to console her, ‘Wherever we may go our friendship will remain the same!’.
‘Listen to me Vijay! Till the time you came in my life there was no direction to my life! There was no meaning to my life and I was only living the life just because I was supposed to live it!. You came in my life as a true guide and altered the entire course of my life!. Only because of you I could secure so many marks!. If you were not to be there in my life I wonder whether I would have been able to even pass in this examination!. You gave a purpose for my life and taught me to live and now if you are to leave me alone how am I to survive in this journey of life?’, Priya argued and started crying vociferously.
Vijay could only pull her near him and kept patting on her back. He was aware that howsoever effort he was to take to convince her it would not yield any result so he only continued patting on her back calmly.
Re: Novel Illusion (Complete) - Based on a true story
For a very long time both, Vijay and Priya, continued sitting there on the steps of the college staircase. Priya had not spoken a single word about the decision Vijay had taken. But even then she did not appear to have been convinced about it.
‘Priya’, Vijay called her, finding that she is so completely engrossed in her thoughts.
‘What?’, she responded even after being engulfed in the thoughts.
‘Today I am going to tell you something that I have avoided telling you so far and you too have avoided asking me those questions!’, Vijay said to Priya.
‘What are those things you intend to disclose?’, Priya said.
‘Almost four years must have passed for that misfortune to have taken place in my family. I was probably studying in the SSC that time. Our family of four was leading a very happy life then. My father loved my sister, Shalini, a lot even though he never disclosed it apparently. Of course, he loves her even today also. In those days, he would drink liquor very rarely, perhaps only when he would be too happy or sometimes casually while being with friends!’, Vijay took a long breath and started telling further.
‘My sister’s formal education was over and she aspired to appear for the MPSC examination. She had successfully passed through the MPSC examination right in her first attempt itself and now she was headed for her interview. She had made very strong preparation for the interview but after reaching the location of that crucial interview she realized that she had lost all her original documents necessary to prove her identity. In the absence of proper documents, the authorities refused to conduct her interview. This mishap left such a strong negative impact on her mind that by the time she came back home she was no more the same woman. In spite of we, the family members, attempting to convince her several times that she can still aspire to face the interview by obtaining the duplicate copies of the papers or she can even reappear for the MPSC examination again next year or she can even look for other opportunities life could offer her but she was not responding to any of our suggestions and advices. On the contrary, this psychological ailment she was suffering from continued to deteriorate further after each passing day. In the absence of good doctors in this small town and also account of lack of sufficient financial backing, my father too was helpless to arrange for a proper medical treatment of my sister. This affected my father’s self-confidence to such an extent that he increasingly took it to consuming more and more liquor because he was never able to withstand my sister’s state of health after returning home. He then started staying more and more away from home and became an alcoholic. In the due course of time he also wasting money in gambling so much so that, forget about the medical treatment of my sister, we even started suffering from scarcity of food and diet on account of least monetary contribution from my father.
Vijay took a brief pause and started describing his troubles further, ‘At one point of time in my life, the situation at home had worsened to such a pathetic extent, that I was even feeling tempted to give up my education and contribute at home by working as a daily wages labor but soon ignored that thought because earnings made through that kind of a source would not have filled the requirement. Finally, it was my mother who showed the courage to work at home to produce and sell household kitchen-made products like pickles etc and I also contributed whatever little I could by distributing newspapers every morning etc along with managing my education. But that too was proving highly insufficient and that is why I had made up my mind that I will strive to complete my education and choose one such stream of education, after completing HSC, that will give me a job and a fixed monthly income as soon as possible and help restore the financial health of my family’.
After Vijay’s monologue was over, Priya said, ‘I can very well understand and appreciate what troubles you must have suffered from in your life. I think, in the present circumstances, your decision to choose engineering as an option of a career instead of medical is perfectly correct and fully justifiable’.
Vijay looked at Priya with complete satisfaction over this unexpected reply because so far he had thought of her as a childish girl but unexpectedly she had expressed a completely matured reaction over Vijay’s explanation.
Vijay secured an admission for engineering and Priya, having left with no choice with certain element of reluctance, opted for medical as the career since she was undeserving to seek an admission for engineering having avoided taking Mathematics as one of the subjects for HSC. Moreover, she did not even make any further efforts to persuade Vijay because she was aware how firm he was about any decision he usually takes. Besides all this, the reasoning provided by Vijay was perfectly apt and Priya would never want to create a trouble between him and his family through her presence. So, eventually, the triumphant gallop of both of them began in the respective domains of career they had chosen.
With the passage of time flowing rapidly, communication between both of them continued through letters and they would occasionally meet also whenever they would return to their native town during vacations.
Passing days got converted into passing months and both of them did not even realize how quickly the duration of four years went by. Hardly a few days were remaining now for Vijay to secure engineering degree and although Priya had spent four years in acquiring medical education, yet there was one more year of internship remaining, to secure her medical degree.
Today was the happiest day of Vijay’s life because he has succeeded in securing most cherished degree in engineering and a boon to that joy was that Priya was to come to meet him the same day. He was waiting for her on the railway station and a train came and stopped on the station.
‘This is the same train using which Priya was to come and meet me’, Vijay thought, ‘Yes, this is the train she was to travel into!’. His excitement reached to its peak. His eyes started searching for in the huge crowd of people alighting from the train and nowhere she could be seen because a massive flood of passengers was moving toward the exit door of the station and he felt as if it was really difficult to search for a single individual amid this big a throng of the people. ‘I have indeed come to receive her here on the station but the possibility of being able to locate her is indeed very little!’, Vijay thought.
The size of the crowd getting off from the train had reduced by now and hardly one or two passengers were seeming to be hiring a coolie to move their heavy luggage when he saw Priya coming toward him and he exclaimed, ‘Yes! That is none other than Priya!’. His depressed face suddenly glowed up with ample joy and he started hastily moving toward her.
Within moments even Priya saw him and reacted in the same fashion, all her tiredness vanished and her face, exhausted so far suddenly beamed with joy. Now even she started moving toward him hastily but was unable to do that because of her luggage. But within moments Vijay reached up to her and they both hugged each other out of excitement.
Vijay and Priya were sitting in a café for a cup of coffee and their talk started.
‘Indeed, after such a long spell have we come here in this café?’, Priya said.
‘You are saying this as if we were coming regularly here to drink coffee!’, Vijay replied.
‘Not too frequently but quite regularly we would come here!’, Priya said.
‘And whenever we came, it was you alone who always paid the bill!’, Vijay replied.
‘When is Rajesh coming?’, Priya glanced at the door and asked.
‘He will come only if he is aware of your arrival and even if he was to be aware of your arrival, the possibility of he coming to meet you is very less’, Vijay replied.
‘Did you not inform him about my arrival?’, Priya asked.
‘No!’, Vijay replied.
‘Why is that so?’, Priya asked.
‘How shall I tell you that now? In fact, it is a big story!’, Vijay replied.
‘What? Have you had a quarrel with him?’, Priya curiously asked.
‘Are we any kids to quarrel between us?’, Vijay said, ‘to be really frank with you our ways parted with the HSC result itself!’.
‘The how do we tend to meet when even our ways are different?’, Priya asked.
‘We meet because we have a strong desire to meet each other!’, Vijay replied.
‘Does it mean he does not have a desire to meet either you or me?’, Priya asked.
‘You can say that!’, Vijay said, ‘with the results being declared, he went out of the college and started slowly distancing himself from us. I tried to reduce that gap between us and even gave a sympathetic thought to his state of mind but it was of hardly any use!. He had no desire left to come closer again!’.
‘Does it mean he never meets you now?’, Priya asked.
‘He does meet me sometimes but very rarely and he is never intense during such encounters. He behaves like a complete stranger!’, Vijay replied.
‘Priya’, Vijay called her, finding that she is so completely engrossed in her thoughts.
‘What?’, she responded even after being engulfed in the thoughts.
‘Today I am going to tell you something that I have avoided telling you so far and you too have avoided asking me those questions!’, Vijay said to Priya.
‘What are those things you intend to disclose?’, Priya said.
‘Almost four years must have passed for that misfortune to have taken place in my family. I was probably studying in the SSC that time. Our family of four was leading a very happy life then. My father loved my sister, Shalini, a lot even though he never disclosed it apparently. Of course, he loves her even today also. In those days, he would drink liquor very rarely, perhaps only when he would be too happy or sometimes casually while being with friends!’, Vijay took a long breath and started telling further.
‘My sister’s formal education was over and she aspired to appear for the MPSC examination. She had successfully passed through the MPSC examination right in her first attempt itself and now she was headed for her interview. She had made very strong preparation for the interview but after reaching the location of that crucial interview she realized that she had lost all her original documents necessary to prove her identity. In the absence of proper documents, the authorities refused to conduct her interview. This mishap left such a strong negative impact on her mind that by the time she came back home she was no more the same woman. In spite of we, the family members, attempting to convince her several times that she can still aspire to face the interview by obtaining the duplicate copies of the papers or she can even reappear for the MPSC examination again next year or she can even look for other opportunities life could offer her but she was not responding to any of our suggestions and advices. On the contrary, this psychological ailment she was suffering from continued to deteriorate further after each passing day. In the absence of good doctors in this small town and also account of lack of sufficient financial backing, my father too was helpless to arrange for a proper medical treatment of my sister. This affected my father’s self-confidence to such an extent that he increasingly took it to consuming more and more liquor because he was never able to withstand my sister’s state of health after returning home. He then started staying more and more away from home and became an alcoholic. In the due course of time he also wasting money in gambling so much so that, forget about the medical treatment of my sister, we even started suffering from scarcity of food and diet on account of least monetary contribution from my father.
Vijay took a brief pause and started describing his troubles further, ‘At one point of time in my life, the situation at home had worsened to such a pathetic extent, that I was even feeling tempted to give up my education and contribute at home by working as a daily wages labor but soon ignored that thought because earnings made through that kind of a source would not have filled the requirement. Finally, it was my mother who showed the courage to work at home to produce and sell household kitchen-made products like pickles etc and I also contributed whatever little I could by distributing newspapers every morning etc along with managing my education. But that too was proving highly insufficient and that is why I had made up my mind that I will strive to complete my education and choose one such stream of education, after completing HSC, that will give me a job and a fixed monthly income as soon as possible and help restore the financial health of my family’.
After Vijay’s monologue was over, Priya said, ‘I can very well understand and appreciate what troubles you must have suffered from in your life. I think, in the present circumstances, your decision to choose engineering as an option of a career instead of medical is perfectly correct and fully justifiable’.
Vijay looked at Priya with complete satisfaction over this unexpected reply because so far he had thought of her as a childish girl but unexpectedly she had expressed a completely matured reaction over Vijay’s explanation.
Vijay secured an admission for engineering and Priya, having left with no choice with certain element of reluctance, opted for medical as the career since she was undeserving to seek an admission for engineering having avoided taking Mathematics as one of the subjects for HSC. Moreover, she did not even make any further efforts to persuade Vijay because she was aware how firm he was about any decision he usually takes. Besides all this, the reasoning provided by Vijay was perfectly apt and Priya would never want to create a trouble between him and his family through her presence. So, eventually, the triumphant gallop of both of them began in the respective domains of career they had chosen.
With the passage of time flowing rapidly, communication between both of them continued through letters and they would occasionally meet also whenever they would return to their native town during vacations.
Passing days got converted into passing months and both of them did not even realize how quickly the duration of four years went by. Hardly a few days were remaining now for Vijay to secure engineering degree and although Priya had spent four years in acquiring medical education, yet there was one more year of internship remaining, to secure her medical degree.
Today was the happiest day of Vijay’s life because he has succeeded in securing most cherished degree in engineering and a boon to that joy was that Priya was to come to meet him the same day. He was waiting for her on the railway station and a train came and stopped on the station.
‘This is the same train using which Priya was to come and meet me’, Vijay thought, ‘Yes, this is the train she was to travel into!’. His excitement reached to its peak. His eyes started searching for in the huge crowd of people alighting from the train and nowhere she could be seen because a massive flood of passengers was moving toward the exit door of the station and he felt as if it was really difficult to search for a single individual amid this big a throng of the people. ‘I have indeed come to receive her here on the station but the possibility of being able to locate her is indeed very little!’, Vijay thought.
The size of the crowd getting off from the train had reduced by now and hardly one or two passengers were seeming to be hiring a coolie to move their heavy luggage when he saw Priya coming toward him and he exclaimed, ‘Yes! That is none other than Priya!’. His depressed face suddenly glowed up with ample joy and he started hastily moving toward her.
Within moments even Priya saw him and reacted in the same fashion, all her tiredness vanished and her face, exhausted so far suddenly beamed with joy. Now even she started moving toward him hastily but was unable to do that because of her luggage. But within moments Vijay reached up to her and they both hugged each other out of excitement.
Vijay and Priya were sitting in a café for a cup of coffee and their talk started.
‘Indeed, after such a long spell have we come here in this café?’, Priya said.
‘You are saying this as if we were coming regularly here to drink coffee!’, Vijay replied.
‘Not too frequently but quite regularly we would come here!’, Priya said.
‘And whenever we came, it was you alone who always paid the bill!’, Vijay replied.
‘When is Rajesh coming?’, Priya glanced at the door and asked.
‘He will come only if he is aware of your arrival and even if he was to be aware of your arrival, the possibility of he coming to meet you is very less’, Vijay replied.
‘Did you not inform him about my arrival?’, Priya asked.
‘No!’, Vijay replied.
‘Why is that so?’, Priya asked.
‘How shall I tell you that now? In fact, it is a big story!’, Vijay replied.
‘What? Have you had a quarrel with him?’, Priya curiously asked.
‘Are we any kids to quarrel between us?’, Vijay said, ‘to be really frank with you our ways parted with the HSC result itself!’.
‘The how do we tend to meet when even our ways are different?’, Priya asked.
‘We meet because we have a strong desire to meet each other!’, Vijay replied.
‘Does it mean he does not have a desire to meet either you or me?’, Priya asked.
‘You can say that!’, Vijay said, ‘with the results being declared, he went out of the college and started slowly distancing himself from us. I tried to reduce that gap between us and even gave a sympathetic thought to his state of mind but it was of hardly any use!. He had no desire left to come closer again!’.
‘Does it mean he never meets you now?’, Priya asked.
‘He does meet me sometimes but very rarely and he is never intense during such encounters. He behaves like a complete stranger!’, Vijay replied.