Young Breeze of love.

The day was reaching its dawn . Workers from decoration agency were packing their arrangements. Chairs were lying scattered in the lawn. Red carpet lying on the floor was looking dull due to dust.  Disposable glasses and plastic bowls were all over the carpet. After a moping day of my engagement, it was all silent now. Fifteen days later, I was going to marry with Aadarsh. He had even convinced my grandpa to organize  the wedding function from his own city, not from our old villa. I was standing on the starting line of a new journey, a new world where I will be owning almost everything which is necessary for living a standard life. But my eyes were towards the blue sky. I was feeling like I had left something very important behind. My grandpa was very much happy with this wedding since it was the first time, I was getting so much respect in our family. My grandpa was blessing me from the core of his heart and showering his love with his delighted kiss on my forehead.All of my relatives were gone. My aunty was leaving tomorrow and I was help her in packing . Her clothes, suitcase and other stuff was scattered over the bed. After a while, she entered the room with a packet in her hand-
“Aaditi , keep it in the suitcase’’ she said while extending the packet towards me.
I did what she said.
She sat on the bed and started taunting me in her traditional style-
“That’s what we call the real fortune. Look at yourself. Your are not even apposite to Aadarsh. You are going to be a daughter-in-law of a royal family. So, don’t forget how much pain I had faced in nourishing you.”
I didn’t smile. I was being habitual of these mental stubs.
She came closer and sat near me -;
“Only 15 days are left for your wedding. So learn all the rules and regulations of the royal family. I don’t want any complaint regarding you.” She said.
I was just listening her. I picked her suit from the bed and moved away.
It was mid night but my eyes were still lost in upcoming pains. It was raining outside and it was all wet inside too  .I was feeling very lonely. Every drop of rain was moving from my ears and reaching till my heart. I was feeling each drop of rain over my soul. I drew bits of my courage and moved towards grandpa’s room. I knocked the door softly. The sound gots suppressed in rain. This time, I knocked a little harder. After a while, grandpa opened the door. He was shocked as my arrival was unexpected for him. I went inside and sat on his bed. He came and sat beside me and took my hand in his hand.
“Dadaji, I am breathing hard’’ I said, and closed my eyes to hold my tears.
He took my head over his shoulder and said-
“If you don’t like Aadarsh just tell me?’’
But I was not having any answer for his question. I just pushed my head a little deeper.
“If you don’t want to marry him just tell me. You don’t need to worry, I will manage everything. Just tell me once.”
“I am feeling very much uneasy. I think I am not ready yet” I said.
“So silly dear. It’s absolutely normal sweetheart. You don’t need to worry so much. It happens to all” he replied.
Dadaji, my grandpa, was trying to make me comfortable but I was still feeling anxious. It was all going to change. I was left with a life of only 15 days.

It was a hot sunny day of June. I was sitting on a bench at station and wiping my sweat repeatedly. Dadaji was walking around at the station and looking impatiently towards the direction of the train. I tried to make him relax-
“Don’t worry dadaji, everything will be fine”
 He was upset that I have to travel alone, since he had just recovered from his tumour operation. He was on rest for some more days.
“They always remember you when they are in need. Today, when you are in need, no one is there to help you. At least they had sent somebody to pick you.” Dadaji was murmuring and I was smiling.
“It’s not the first time dadaji" I said.
Finally the train arrived and dadaji dropped me till my seat. Its hault was of 1 minute only.
"Don’t worry dear; I would be reaching there before your marriage"
I saw dadaji’s helpless eyes. They were little wet. And the train moved with the final departure horn.
"Take care Aaditi,” And his voice got vanished in the noise.
This was not the first time that I was travelling alone. I was habitual of travelling to relatives whenever they needed me. Nobody had ever missed me on a celebration, but during hard times, they had always looking for this orphan little girl.
But this time, it was not their need. This time it was a favor, a debt, which was being imposed on me without knowing my will. Aadarsh belongs to a class which was higher than mine. We were not having any match. But I was cornered.
I was trying to make myself comfortable on seat. The train was in its speed. My heartbeats rhymed with the trains. I took my bag on my lap. I felt like if I should jump from the train and just run to dadaji and hug him tightly. But I was helpless. During engagement function, my aunt had allowed me to stay with dadaji only for a week. After the death of my mom-dad, I was living like a prisoner in aunty’s house. For her, this marriage was just a way to shift her burden. I was forced to drop my college, my friends, my aim, everything was gone. I was looking her face in Aadarsh's face.  For me, it was a shift in a new jail. The words, Aadarsh said, were striking like a hammer in my ears-
 “I had warned mom that I want a simple wife. It’s good that your college was discontinued. Education makes girls more egoistic. They start flying”
 I wanted to tell him that i wanna fly too. But I couldn't.
The train was in hurry, leaving the city behind. The memories of Aadarsh were diluted. Slowly I had started enjoying this journey. I was watching outside the window. There was a new world. A world full of colors, a world without boundaries, fully loaded with freedom. Suddenly the clouds started raining heavily. I took my hand out of the window and started collecting the water droplets in my hand, as if they were roasting only for me.  Some boys were playing football outside. This amazing view made me happy.
I was enjoying all these view with my eyes. I was trying to push the rain water outside windows. I was unaware that a pair of eyes was chasing me.
“I think you love the rains.” This strange voice shocked me.
I was unaware that the boy sitting next to me was observing me from a long time. He was passing a light smile. This  made me uncomfortable. I adjusted my scarf and shifted closer to the window. Clouds were still raining but I was not able to return back to that outside world. Specially,after knowing that someone is watching me. I felt little shuttered. I tried to take a look into the compartment. A woman, with a baby in her lap, was sitting at the corner.
“Have you ever heard the voice of rain?” He asked me again.
I looked at him very rudely.
“Have you...? He said and closed his eyes.
“Just close your eyes and feel every droplet falling on your soul. This will wave your fear.” At the next moment he was lost in the rain.

  This was the first time I had noticed him. He had a small scar above his left eye and a mole on his lip exactly the same place where I had. I gently touched my mole.
"Ticket..." Suddenly the voice of Ticket checker shivered me. I took out the ticket from my bag.
"Sir, ticket....”
 T.C was now moving the shoulders of that stranger. Suddenly he returned from his dreamy world. He started searching his ticket in his bag. But he couldn’t. The next moment he turned his bag upside down on his seat. Tiny fish shells, little puppets made of sticks and many other tiny creative things made of glass and wooden sticks, all of his mysterious stuff got scattered on his seat. Finally he got his piece of paper.
“Mr. Shikhar shrivastav.... ”
T.C moved on after returning his ticket back. Now Shikhar got busy in collecting his stuff. His toys and other stuff were scattered around.
“will you pass that bangle please...?” he asked me while pointing towards the bangle which came rolling to me.
I picked the bangle. It was made of hard wax. It was a Colorful, glittering hand made bangle. I was astonished because I had never seen such a beautiful bangle ever.
“If you want to take it, you can. Never miss those things which you like.”He said.
"But you should never take someone’s stuff too”it was the first time when I spoke till now.
“Oh wow...you can speak English and understand too. I thought....”he turned back before he completed his sentence.
 Baby of that woman, sitting beside Shikhar, had started pulling his bag. He might have seen something of his interest in that bag. Shikhar took out a small colorful puppet from his bag and handed it in his little hands. Lovingly Shikhar pulled his chicks. The baby had started pulling the puppet with his teeth.
Shikhar  was now busy in playing with that cutie pie .I was really confounded because he  was the  same boy who was feeling  rain drops over his soul, a minute before. I was staring at him quietly. And I was feeling shy for my action. And this time his eyes caught mine, red handed. I moved my eyes instantly. He smiled and I found myself trapped in it.
It was night and the journey was long. Before closing my eyes, I took out my personal diary from my bag. Its newspaper binding was a half decade old. Many times I had thought of changing it, but I never did. Just by changing the binding I can’t change my life. I felt the same, but still I opened it and inked one more dream in it. This diary was my second companion who understands my feels. The first one was me. I had listed a number of adventures which I had dreamed of.
I wanted to travel around the world.
I wanted to walk on sea shore in full moon nights.
I wanted to climb the snowy mountains.
I wanted to enjoy camp fire in safari.
I wanted to meet the fishes deep into the sea.
I wanted to touch the moon, chat with stars.
I wanted to....
But there was no one to listen my dreams except this diary.
I had shared my dreams with my dadaji. He had just smiled over my silly talks but he didn’t do anything.
I was a burden for my aunty. Nothing more than that. And she had found the way to get rid from this burden.
 I found my eyes going wet. I was unable to write anymore with my shivering hand .There was hardly any page till now without the embedded marks of my tears. So I decided to left this page dry.
That stranger, Shikhar, was sitting on his berth. He was putting some marks on his map. He was calculating something and then again marking on the map. I watched him for a little while and after that I got lost in my sleep.
It was morning. Train was at Baroda station. I steered down from my berth and went to the bathroom. After getting fresh I returned back. Instead of going on my upper berth, I sat on the lower one. That was a very nice morning on Baroda station. The chilling morning breeze, entering from the window, was really refreshing. Blowing winds were teasing my hairs.
“Good morning…!!!
Tea?”
Shikhar extended a cup of tea towards me. I was really in a need of tea, but I was feeling hesitant.
“Don’t worry, I am not giving you my tea. I am having mine.”
He took a sip with a smile.
So I took the cup from his hand. Now he was not that much strange to me. Now I was not anymore afraid of him. I thought I had been barking up the wrong tree.
“So you are going to Surat ...?” he asked after taking a sip of tea.
His words shuttered me. Some drop of tea felt on my dress from my cup.
He passed a copy, with a fresh newspaper binding, to me. “Take good care of your dreams and keep them safe. Miss silent... I mean Miss Aaditi “ said as if we were familiar.
I started searching my bag for the diary. It was not there.
I just snatched my diary from his hand. His act stubbed me.
“Last night it felt on my seat from your bag. Since the cover was teared so I changed it.”  He said in a low voice.
I took the diary and kept it in my bag. It was all silence in the coach. The noise of train was mourning. Finally Shikhar broke the silence.
“If you don’t mind, I wanna tell you one thing” he continued.
“We all have only one life. Nothing will change just by writing our dreams in the diary. You are just wasting your tears and time” Shikhar’s words made me astonished. He was drilling his views directly in my heart without caring about my will.
During these 13 hours, I had understood that Shikhar is not a silent person. But he was silent from a long time. He had read my personal diary without caring about me. I had never shared it with anyone till today, not even from my grandpa. But I was not so angry on him. He has already hacked my whole thoughts.  My heart was willing to get disclosed before this stranger. I was having many untouched thoughts, jailed inside, since my childhood. They were trying to come out at once. I had never found such a daring person who had entered in my life within a night, without a single knock. I was waiting for someone with whom I can share my dreams. And today I thought he was before me.
“So you too are going to surat” This was the first time when I had asked something from my side.
It was really a weird reply which he had never expected from my side.
“Who knows? Actually you are right. I was going to Surat but now I am thinking that I must see the famous waterfall in Indore. I had heard a lot about it. Then I will go for tracking and then I will return back. And after that I will resume my journey again.” He replied in his normal style.
“What will you do if tomorrow you don’t get train?”  I asked him like I was resisting him from the deadly tracking plan.
“So what? I will get the day after tomorrow. If we know all about our future, don’t you think our life will be like a video game?”he said.
I was just dissolving in his words. His words were really hypnotizing.
What an amazing life he is having. He is doing everything he wants. He was the owner of a life which I had dreamed about...
“Are you always like that? Don’t your family members ever get worried about you? ”I asked.
“Do you think your family is happy with you, as you are obeying their commands? Keeping Me happy is my prior responsibility that is only my point of view” he said.
 
    It was almost 2-3 hours of continue chatting with Shikhar. In this duration he made me to live his, life. I saw the world with his sight.
 Feeling the clouds in Nainitaal, living with rural peoples in countryside, waves touching to the feet on seashore of Kerala, roaming with shepherds in jungles....
Oh... I was feeling alive. I was reconciling his words with my dreams.
I was lost in my childhood memories. During childhood I was very fond of living freely, doing things which I enjoyed. When I was in class 9th class, we were having a school trip to Karnataka. But if I would have asked for trip fees, mom had never given me that. So I excused for fees of parlor classes. I had left for the trip, leaving a confession letter behind. It was quiet obvious that I got good punishment for my act. But the memories of that trip were still more valuable than that.
 “You made me so tired dear. I had not slept a single minute the last night because of your diary and now you are not allowing me relax. I am chatting with you since 4 hours.”  Shikhar said with a silly smile.
 He slept covering his face with the blanket. The next moment he said-
“Miss Aaditi, please wake me up on my station”and he slept again.
His destination was four hours away from now. This fact depressed me. That was really surprising for me. I was really enjoying his company. My ears were addicted of his voice. My heart was willing that the train might never reach the destination...
But finally the train reached the destination. Now Shikhar has to leave.
May this train never stop here......May he never go....May..... But the slow moving train finally relaxed. I saw him with wet eyes. He was sleeping like a sweet innocent baby, keeping his bag under his head like a pillow. I touched his hairs lovingly. It was really hard for me to disturb that innocent boy. But I have to do that. I slowly moved his shoulder. He got up with a jerk and started wearing his shoes. It was a 15 minute stop here. Shikhar picked his luggage but he didn’t left. He got seated.
“Aaditi.... here is my destination. I really don’t want to leave.”He said while sprinkling his full fledged smile.
My heart was trying to say-
“So don’t go Na Shikhar, stay with me” But my tongue didn’t helped my heart for that.
So many emotions? That too for a stranger? My mind was warning me that it’s all complete nonsense. After a week, I am having my marriage.
I smiled with a dull face.
“Their is no gain of friendship with strange people” I said.
“Friendship is not for gaining Aaditi. If it is, then it is not a friendship too. No doubt, we will be never meeting again .But  just think if, by luck we met someday, how exciting it would be. And Unfortunately if we didn’t, we can at least smile by missing each other"
This time his innocent words made me smile. Yesterday, when I took this train I had completely lost all my hopes, all  my dreams. But now I was something else. I was reloaded  with joy and excitement. This journey had changed me completely. I had decided that I will not marry with the high class Aadarsh, I had decided that I will be the sole owner of my life, I had decided that I will take my own decisions and never rely on anyone. I had decided that I will live the only life of mine with my rules. I had decided that I will never cry on the spilled milk.

I was unable to gather a word of thanks for the person who gave me that courage for taking all these decisions. Shikhar picked his luggage and he moved on.
Suddenly he stopped and hold my hand. I was stubbed with that. I was looking at his glittering eyes  with hopes. He pushed that artistic bangle in my hand.
 Train gave the final horn for departure. Shikhar got down from the train without turning back.
 My eyes were still stickled on him watching him going away from me. I was hoping to see his face a last time. I was completely obsessed for this sweet stranger.
And the train moved on, but he never turned back. And finally that stranger got vanished in the crowed….

Two drops of tears rolled over my chicks. My eyes were still searching his red shirt in the crowed. But he was gone.
I saw the bangle he had pushed in my ankle, as his memory. I touched  it with my lips.
It was just a meeting of 13-14 hours. That sweet stranger was gone forever, after changing my mind completely. He was gone without promising me to meet someday. He was gone…
 Last words of Shikhar were striking in my ears. So I wrote those words in my diary with his name-
“May be, we will never be meeting again. Just think if, by luck we met someday, how exciting it would be. Unfortunately if we didn’t, at least we can smile by thinking of each other.”
-Sweet stranger

That was it.
I closed my diary after writing that. But suddenly my eyes got stucked on some lines written with red in strange hand writing-


Aaditi…. This journey is ending here. But I feel that its a beginning of our journey ....
15 November, I will be starting my hiking on Mount Everest….
I will be waiting for your company........
 Love you
Shikhar...
So, that was the story.