A Dream …..A Girl…

By -D SASIDHAR

This was the day I have been waiting for so long. I might be 21 years old, but I would say I never really ‘lived’ before this day. But everything will be different starting today; each minute of each day will be an adventure. After all, I have spent many months of the last couple of years planning this exact day, this precise journey. To think that only success awaits me would only be wishful thinking. I know the journey would be tough but I think I am finally ready. With these thoughts ramming my head, I woke up one last time in the little house of my little village, which I am not sure when I will return to again.

I went into the backyard for a bit of fresh air. Dad didn’t seem to be home, he generally stays home on the day I leave for college. I wondered why he wasn’t around today. “Get ready fast Veer, breakfast will be ready in 5 minutes” shouted my sister, Neha, from the kitchen. Neha is my cute little sister, studying her +1 in the nearby college. There are many reasons why I liked my sister the most. The best thing about her is, she never contradicted my ideas. She was right, I had to get ready, pack up and everything, after all this is a big day in my life and a start to my adventure. “Let the game begin” I thought. I made a mental note to start writing diary starting today, so that I could keep track of all my adventures. I got ready quickly and dived into my room, and it was a total mess. I started packing everything I could as I was unsure of my return.

I just packed 2 suitcases when I was called for breakfast. I quickly went to the dining table and discovered my father and Prasad uncle already there. Ours is an upper middle class family and my father is the only earning member in the family. When I was a kid, we had only a half acre land but now we own quite a few priceless lands and many other properties according to the villagers. Yeah, according to the villagers. Though a university deemed me fit to be a graduate in Mechanical Engineering, my father had never let me into the money matters and he always gave me much more than what I could possibly ask.

And then there was this Prasad uncle. He can be called as my Brahma. The creator Brahma is a lot better; he wrote on my forehead only once and left me to live my life. But this idiot Prasad keeps on writing and rewriting my fate. If I had the power to kill a person without being imprisoned, I would have seriously considered Prasad uncle. Hear me out and I bet that you too will think the same. Both my parents and majority of the local people are illiterates, which meant all the decisions regarding my education and career went straight into the hands of Mr.Prasad RMP. This git Prasad had no idea what proper education is. And he ruined my entire life. It was “he” who decided I should go to the “near by (20km)” town for my high school. It was “he” who decided I should go to Hyderabad for my tenth.  It was “he” who decided I should take the ridiculous “MBiPC (Maths Biology Physics and Chemistry not to mention every subject except Biology had some stupid formulae)” in the +1 and +2 and it was “he” who decided I should do “Mechanical Engineering” that too all the way in “Delhi [“what’s better than the countries capital” he said to my father]”. And it was “he” who ruined my life. My father always wanted to give me the best alternative that’s there, if he didn’t know what’s the best, he would either choose the most expensive option available (according to him the more expensive the better) or he would refer to Mr. Prasad ‘s opinion.

The sight of Prasad uncle always made me angry. But today the story was different, I felt like, I am finally winning over him. Today I would go against his decisions and that too without his knowledge. My future from here was uncertain but it surely would be exciting and challenging. All along the breakfast Neha was throwing meaning full looks at me and I observed that her eyes were a bit wet. I smiled reassuringly at her, for she alone is aware of my little adventure trip I am starting today. She didn’t complain much about it though. She simply asked “Are you sure about this Veer? I am scared” she said. But I had a firm resolve. My train was at 1’O clock in the afternoon. I didn’t have much time; it’s no time to have second thoughts now. So I started packing up all my things. I was working tirelessly to stuff in everything that belonged to me. Meanwhile I heard Prasad uncle saying “he will return in only one and a half month, why can’t he leave out some stuff so that he can take them later” and then I heard my father saying proudly, “that’s my son Prasad, he works so hard that he just doesn’t want to leave out even a single book you see!” That was my dad. He would even believe that all my luggage only contained books and that I am managing with this single pair I am wearing. A few minutes later Mr. Prasad walked into my room with rather suspicious looks

“Hi, Veer” he said looking at me cautiously.

“Oh, hi uncle, how’s life going uncle?” I asked. I had to handle him carefully here,

“Veer! You know, I no like to beat around the bush you know. I am like that” he started in English (if you can actually call that English). Prasad uncle often talked in English whenever he wanted to make sure of secrecy.  But he was miserable in English, an obvious fact he doesn’t know.

“So..” I said.

“What’s your opinion on love Veer” he came to the point directly. I was dumbstruck. I froze where I was. Of all the things I didn’t expect this question from him. But I recovered quickly from the shock.

“Well” I said turning to face Mr. Prasad RMP.

“Well Uncle, I don’t have a lover and I assure you that I am not running away with one.” I said in a calm and composed voice. He stared at me with a blank expression on his face.

“I swear uncle” I said looking straight into his eyes. He slowly got up looking at all the luggage I have packed and putting his hands in his pockets and said

“It’s the trend these days, that’s worrying me Veer…..”

I cut him in the mid sentence and repeated again “I swear uncle”.

He smiled at me “Alright Veer, get ready fast and be a good boy”. And with that he left the room.

This was the trick with Prasad uncle. Tell him any idiotic stuff and just add the nice words “I swear” and he will believe whatever rubbish you tell him.

By 10’O clock I completed all my packing. My father came to my room a little while later. He sat on my bed and enquired if I had everything I needed, and he told me 10th time that day, “you could have taken a DD for your college fees son, it’s not really safe to carry that much amount” he said. “No dad, last year the college management didn’t accept the DD form the bank over here, I had to plead the office people to pay my fee, and now it’s completely new college and new people; I don’t want to take any risk, don’t worry it’s ok” I reassured him. Of all the things my father hated, he hated it most when I pleaded someone. He often used to say that he spent half his life pleading different people and he didn’t want me to plead anyone. So my father kept quiet and gave me the 20 lakhs. My fee alone was 15lakhs. A management quota seat in Delhi costed high. I didn’t want the amount to be taken as a DD this time. For, I had no intention to return to the college. So I stuffed up all the money carefully and  double checked everything and then went into the living room. Step1; acquiring the money I needed, was accomplished successfully.

My father and Prasad uncle were having a little chat. As I entered the living room, my father called me. I went and sat beside him. Prasad uncle gave me a general lecture on being a good boy and after about five minutes he concluded “… this year you will have companies offering you interns and scholarships, don’t be hasty and select some useless one, contact me before you take your decision Veer” he said. This is ridiculous; I think he liked his post of being my Brahma very much. Then my father gave me a box, and said “It’s for you Veer, use it well” he said with a satisfied grin on his face. I opened the box to reveal a brand new Nokia n series phone and by just looking at it, I could say it would cost more than 25,000 bucks. I smiled radiantly and thanked my father. Now I understood where they went in the morning. And probably the vendor in the nearby town couldn’t show a piece of a higher price than this. A much needed gift I thought. This is a better piece than the one my roommate had, I seriously wanted to go my hostel again so that I could show off. But I couldn’t do that, at least I would have a nice time pass by exploring the features of my phone during my journey I thought.

I spent the remaining time with my sister, discussing my plans. At 12 in the noon I was finally ready to leave. Whenever I left to Delhi, the scene in at my house depicted of a traditional scene similar to the one when a bride leaves her house after her marriage. My mom was on the verge of tears as always. I had to execute the second step of my plan. So I said to my mother, “mom I want you to come to the station with me mom”. My mother stared at me for a while and said “Sure honey, sure” and she hugged me, I hugged her back and meanwhile gave my sister a look. She caught my eye and acted at once, “I too want to come along dad” she said. Then she turned around to Prasad uncle and said “Uncle, all of us want to go to the station, can you stay back, the farmers will be here in half an hour”. She said acting convincingly innocent. “Of course Neha, of course, happy journey Veer” he said and went in. That’s it, the second step of the plan, prevent Prasad uncle from coming to the station, accomplished.

So far this seemed easy. At our station, we had two trains at almost the same time. One went to Delhi and the other to Jaipur. If everything was normal, I had to take the one that goes to Delhi. But I had other plans. I am leaving to Jaipur, and not to Delhi. Obviously my dad and mom had no knowledge in the matter. So it wouldn’t be a problem to board the Jaipur train instead of the Delhi one. But if Mr.Brahma was with us, he could have easily identified it. So we had to put him out of this scene.

As we reached the station, I had only at about 5 minutes of waiting and then the trains arrived. The one to Delhi was on the 2nd platform and the Jaipur one was on the 1st. I wanted this last journey from home to be a special one. So I booked an AC second class ticket. I quickly stuffed in my entire luggage with the help of my sister and went to my seat to double check everything. Then I came out for some last talk with my family. My sister came up to me and said “letters addressed to Priya’s house will find me alone” in English so that I alone could understand it. I smiled at her, maybe I wanted such a communication channel, so that I can be well informed about the activity at home. Meanwhile I observed that my compartment was quite empty, I was nervous now. I stayed strong till now. But the prospect of finding one’s own life in an unknown land really freaks anyone out. I suddenly wished I had more time to spend with my family, but it was too late. I just looked around to relax myself a bit. I took all precautions necessary; I made sure that the name in the reservation list is a fake one. I made sure that no one educated is around me. And I had the money that I would need.

Then someone on the platform attracted my attention. A cute little girl, may be of 8 years old, is crying. It seems like she doesn’t like the dress she is wearing. Another girl in her early 20’s may be, in red salware kameez was convincing her how good she looked. I was struck by the way she exaggerated the simple dress the girl was wearing. She looked so charming, I just couldn’t help staring at her, my sister gave me a nudge in the stomach to bring me back to my senses. “Who is she?” I asked. “How am I supposed to know?” my sister said with a smirk on her face. “And for heaven’s sake stop staring, mom may see you” she said. I was too busy admiring her to bother about my mom. To my dismay, she started approaching me (to me it was something like the slow motion shown in the movies) and the angel said to me “Excuse me”. I was too transfixed to react. My sister pulled me out of the way “She said excuse me, not I Love You, you idiot stop doing that” she said “Doing what?” I said. “Stop looking like you are going to eat her” she said with a grin. This was fabulous; I had an entire compartment empty except for my angel and me. The male hormones in me started rushing out fast. “Ok dad, the train may move at any time, I would better go in” I said and dived into the compartment. My sister caught my hand and said in a concerned voice “Take care, Veer” she said. I patted her shoulder and said “Don’t worry, everything will be alright. Remember Neha, always do what your heart says” I said though I myself was not sure if everything will be alright, but I had more pressing matter at hand.

I went into the compartment. And my angel was sitting right opposite to my seat. She was smiling at something. I went in and said “Hi” and extended my hand. She had a warm smile as she shook my hand (oh god! her hand was so soft!) and said “Hi Veeramohan Vesange right?” she said “Engineering huh?” she said and then sported a look at all my luggage. I was dumbstruck. My body felt numb. How in the hell did she know me? Does she know where I am from? Where I had to go and everything? Is my adventure going to end even before starting? Sweat was forming on my forehead. She looked at me quizzically, and that expression later turned into a half smile and then she looked meaningfully at my parents and then at the Delhi train beside and then me. Bloody hell, she knew everything, I am doomed, What am I supposed to do? What will happen to me now? The male hormones that over flooded me minutes ago were nowhere to be found. I sincerely prayed that the train would start moving. But life always gets worse from bad and worst form worse. And I am no exception to that. I didn’t know what to do. I had no idea what to do and who this girl really was. I looked at my family outside and then noticed something. Someone was coming straight into the station just now, he looked familiar. I observed closely, its none other than “Mr.Prasad Uncle”……. Why is he coming now? I am doomed, the moment he sees me he will identify everything… I am doomed…… What will happen to me now??

To be continued in the next edition……

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