Storieo

Tag: Childhood

  • A walk through my childhood summer

    The arrival of summer was always a cause for celebration in everybody’s life. It was a time when school was out, and endless possibilities awaited. Every year, before school ends the children would be brimming with excitement, for it meant embarking on grand adventures and creating cherished memories. The bickering would be endless, about catching up with their cousins at grandparents’ house munching on the best savories, the retreat trip to that hill station, the summer camp at the mountains, and much more. And I would sit there calmly very well knowing how I would spend my summer days locked around the four walls of my room with my sister all thanks to my workaholic parents who cared and prioritized their first child – job and job only.

    Well as I came back to my home thinking of how to push away the vacation days what came as solace to me was a bunch of storybooks, sketchbooks, color pens, and craft items.

    This is the journey of my childhood and the summers I passed through some happily, some in boredom, some in pain, and some loving myself.

    The summer sunlight starts hitting deep into my windows, combined with the harsh whistles of the pressure cooker in the kitchen nearby and the routine chaos of the working household was enough alarm for me to wake up from my whimsical dreams.

    The morning moodiness won’t leave me for a while that my family knew very well that nobody dared to make conversation with me for a bit. After the routine activities, I would slowly go to the kitchen to see if my favorite delicacies are made only to see the string hoppers and vegetable curry that I never approved of even now. Devastated thinking my day is done my next aim is only my neighborhood kitchen. For someone being very familiar with the neighbors their home just seemed like walking to another room for me. So as not to waste much time I would run fast to their dining room and stand there smirking at the piping hot string hoppers at their pretty casserole while everyone was devouring them blissfully. Within no time I would rush to the kitchen and get hold of a plate and come and eat the breakfast that I disrespectfully said no to at my very own home. I hope you got a little glimpse of me and my moods.

    Soon after the breakfast session and sending off our parents after me and my sister convinces them the amount of work, we would do by the time they come back we rush to switch on the big TV box and get hold of the remote. Apparently, the kind of stuff 6-year-olds and 11-year-olds wanted to watch never were the same although our fights every day remained pretty much the same.

    After being tired after fighting I’ll move into my zone in my dreamland filled with storybooks, art, and creativity. It was a space with unlimited possibilities and dreams, it often felt unreal, I felt the most calm and happy there.

    And today, as I look back, the architect in me is dearly thankful to her parents who locked her and her summer days because that opened the door of creativity and unlimited adventures.

  • A little brother secret

    A little brother secret

    It was the time of all festivities and everyone was celebrating.. When suddenly my aunt cried loudly. Then the music was lowered and everyone rushed to the poor lady to ask what’s ailing her. She told everyone that her little son aged 2 years was standing right next to her, watching us dance, only a few minutes back but now he was gone.

    Then quickly a search mission was executed. Elders of the house rushed in every direction looking for the boy. Women of the house started searching every possible corner of our home. Aunt was constantly crying and we were try to hold the other kids in place so that noone else goes missing in the heat of the moment. Our family was searching every neighbors house for the kid like a local police, only difference was that a police would not interrogate without a search warrant. Only 15 more minutes passed like this and the whole locality came to know about our younger cousin brother. These are the perks of staying in a joint family and that too in India.

    Uncle called from a nearby bus stand to inform that he isnt even there. And our grandfather was at a mall when he called to tell he is getting announcements done over there.

    Our neighbors too came to console. One of them scared my aunt saying it could be acase of witch craft and another suggested the possibility of child theft. Listening to their horrible speculations we had to escort them home by making highly innovative excuses. Atmosphere of my home was getting so tensed that the news reached even to the most distant relatives living across the borders. It was wierd when even they started consoling over phone.

    Then my another cousin arrived home in his car which he parked at a distance . Watching everyone restless and anxious he walked out and asked the reason. Being informed what has happened,  he made a really grave face and went back to his car. I followed him thinking he would like me to join him in the search. But he was hiding something.

    When I reached near his blue baleno,  I was taken by surprise when I finally found out that my seemingly lost brother was calmly sleeping at the back seet of his car. We both knew about his whereabouts but if we told others they would have certainly beaten us up for creating all the tension. And none of us wanted to face the sudden rage of the family. So we concocted a plan, that we will make up a story that the child was found playing in a neighborhood playground and we brought him back safely.

    My brother and I informed everyone that our little brother is safe with us and we are bringing him home. After reaching home I went upstairs to put the sleeping child back in to the bed. Everyone was happy and appreciated our apparent successful resque. We even got thousand bucks each as a reward from our aunt.

    To this day I know we are guilty of not telling the truth to the family but we are always glad that the outcome was quite rewarding. We, the partners in crime,  have successfully kept that secret just between two of us and we often laugh about the incident remembering good old childhood days.

  • I GREW UP AND THEY DIED.

    I GREW UP AND THEY DIED.

    and then

    And then I had these dreams of mine.

    I grew up and they died.

    I killed my tomorrow, I now live with sorrow.

  • While returning from school

    While returning from school

    While returning from school the 12 year old ran towards the 9 year old rag picker and gave him all his chocolates. On asking why he said, cause its your day too.

    ~ Prabina Pani

  • The Importance of Hard Work

    The Importance of Hard Work

    Out of the three children that Mr. And Mrs. Patel had, the youngest Vineet had always been their favourite.  Vineet had an older brother and an older sister, Ayush and Riya. They were twins and both of them had started primary school a few months back. Vineet was still in elementary school. He had made lot of friends in school and enjoyed going there and learning new things.

     While Ayush and Riya had to get good grades in order to get gifts from their parents, Vineet didn’t have to do a thing. His parents showered him with gifts without any reason. He was the apple of their eye. Ayush and Riya did feel sad, seeing their parents give special attention to their younger brother, but they never complained about it. They accepted everything as they were presented to them.

    But slowly Vineet started to think that he would get whatever he wanted. Every time he would go up to his mother or father with a request for something, they would fulfil it almost immediately. It seemed as if they were ready to get the world at Vineet’s feet. At Vineet’s growing demands, his parents started to realise their mistake and decided to teach Vineet that gifts only came through hard work.

    So one day while on a trip to the mall, Vineet spotted a stylish remote controlled racing car on the window of a shop. When he asked his father if he could buy it, for the first time his father refused. He explained to Vineet that his brother and sister had aced their exams at school and that is why he had promised them gifts this time. He promised to buy the car next month if Vineet get good grades in school.

    Vineet had never imagined that his father could refuse. So he became angry. He yelled, cried and stomped around and refused to budge from his place.

    His parents had to literally drag him home. He refused to eat dinner or talk to his parents. For the next seven days Vineet was a ball of anger, shouting, crying and yelling at everyone. When things were getting worse, Ayush and Riya decided that they would have to talk to Vineet.

    They quietly crept into their little brother’s room and found him perched on his bed, angrily colouring a photo of a car. They went and sat on the bed. Vineet ignored them. Riya softly called out “Vineet?” At this Vineet looked up at them coldly and was just about to cry out when Ayush started speaking. He explained to Vineet how much their parents loved him. He reminded him how they never said no to his requests. He wanted Vineet to understand that to get something, he needed to earn it. He would have to prove that he was worthy of the car. Vineet listened to them quietly and nodded his head occasionally.

    Slowly he realised that his siblings were right. He also realised that he would have to work hard to earn his reward just like his siblings did.

    On understanding his mistake he hugged his brother and sister and thanked them on making him realise his faults. Then he went downstairs and stood before his parents. He looked at them and said “I am sorry papa. I am sorry Ma. I understand that I have to work hard to get a reward. I understand that gifts don’t come for free.” He wiped his tears and continued, “I will never do this again. I promise to get a good grade in class so that you are happy and then I can earn my new remote controlled car.”

    At this his parents were overjoyed. They realised that their little boy was growing up. They also appreciated the efforts of Ayush and Riya and praised them. After all, there was no other joy than earning gifts through hard work.

  • Lying is a Sin

    Lying is a Sin

    It was a pleasant evening when Prakriti went shopping with her mother.  Her birthday was almost here and she was excited about the new dress she would be getting from her mother. Today was Friday and the coming Wednesday was her birthday. Her mother had brought her along to buy things for the party. She had invited all her friends from elementary school, after all she was about to turn five! She would be a grown up.

    Prakriti had been yearning for a new pink dress, which she had seen at a big store the month before. She was sure that she would look like a princess when she wore it. She wanted her mother to buy her that dress so that she could wear it during her birthday party and show it to all her friends. So after having finished shopping for the party, she dragged her mother towards the store with the purpose of buying that pink princess dress. Oh how excited she was!

    She almost skipped into the store with her mother behind her and went straight for the pink dress. She pointed towards it and said “I want this dress, Ma” Her mother smiled. She went forward and took the dress off the rack and turned to look at its price tag.  Instantly, her mother’s smile dropped and she looked sad. She turned back to her daughter and said that she didn’t have enough money to get the dress Prakriti wanted.

    With so much money already being spent on the party, it would be impossible for them to afford this expensive dress.

    Prakriti was devastated. She didn’t know what to do. Now what would she tell her friends? She had already told them that this was the dress she would buy for her birthday and her friends had seemed so excited! Even though her mother bought her a dress, it was nowhere near as beautiful as the princess dress. Dejected she returned home quietly and didn’t say a word to her parents. Both her mother and father were heartbroken that they couldn’t make Prakriti’s wish come true, but couldn’t do anything to fix it.

    Next morning Prakriti left for school. The entire way she thought of various things she could tell her friends, about why she couldn’t buy the dress, but she came up with nothing. That is the reason why, when her friends asked her about the dress she lied to them. She said that she would be buying it today and that she would most definitely wear it on her birthday. Her friends seemed to be satisfied with that information but Prakriti felt uneasy. She had lied for the first time in her life and she hated the feeling.  She decided that she would have to convince her parents to get that dress for her somehow. She just had two days.

    For the next two days, Prakriti tried various ways to convince her parents to get her that dress, but they simply couldn’t. They didn’t have the extra money to. Finally Prakriti’s birthday arrived and she had no other choice than to wear the other dress during her birthday party.  When her friends arrived with gifts Prakriti was momentarily distracted from her sadness. But suddenly her best friend Ayesha said “Prakriti, where is your princess dress? You promised to wear it. Why aren’t you? “

    At this Prakriti’s mother gave her a questioning look. Prakriti hung her head and replied “I don’t have it.” Her friends immediately started shooting more questions about the dress. It was then that her mother realized that Prakriti had lied to her friends. She gave her daughter a disapproving glare and left the room. Prakriti immediately excused herself and ran after her mother. She couldn’t bear to see her mother so disappointed.

    She tugged on her mother’s arm. “I am Sorry Ma. I shouldn’t have lied to my friends. I should have told them the truth. I understand now. I do love this dress too!” she said pointing at the dress she was wearing.

    Her mother dropped to her needs and hugged her daughter. She wiped Prakriti’s tears and said “I promise to get you that dress next month. But don’t ever lie again? Understood? You end up hurting yourself in the end.” Prakriti nodded her head vigorously and gave her mother a kiss on the check. She went back to her friends and told them the truth. Her friends didn’t seem very angry though. They hugged her and asked her to forget about the princess dress. They complimented her on the dress she was wearing and Prakriti glowed with happiness.

    On her fifth birthday, Prakriti learnt two important things about life. The first thing was that gifts when given from the heart meant more than anything else in the world. The money didn’t matter. The other thing that she learnt was that lying was a sin. It would never give her happiness. So she vowed to be on the side of truth for the rest of her life.

     

  • A Helping Hand

    A Helping Hand

    The Story of Kirti and Neha. 

     

    Kirti always came first in class.  She was the star student from the first day she joined this primary school. She usually kept to herself. The other students in her class didn’t exactly like her because she was better in studies. They talked to her rudely and ignored her when she tried to make new friends.

    Kirti felt sad. She didn’t care who was better.

    She just wanted a friend. But because all of the other kids treated her badly, she refused to help them when the teacher would ask her to do so.

    Miss. Lata had tried to explain to her numerous times that just because some of them were rude to her, didn’t mean that everyone disliked her. But she just refused to listen. She was bitter due to their behaviour.

    One day, Miss Lata called Kirti to her desk. She called another girl named Neha as well. She knew Neha. She was a bubbly girl who had lots of friends. She had a brother named Aryan who was a year elder to them. She had never talked to Neha before, but Neha had always smiled at her when their eyes would meet occasionally. But she never returned the gesture.

    Miss. Lata proceeded to tell her that Neha was facing some difficulty with her math lessons and that it would be wonderful if Kirti could help her. When Miss. Lata asked her at the end “Will you do it Kirti?” Kirti wanted to scream out a no. But because Neha looked at her with a genuine expectant smile she replied with a feeble “yes.” Miss. Lata was ecstatic and Neha looked at her thankfully, but Kirti decided in her mind, that she would not help Neha properly.

    They had a test the coming week and she had just one week to help Neha. The first few days, Kirti taught her incorrect sums. She hated how Neha had so many friends without even trying and she had none. She wanted Neha to suffer like she did. But three days before the test, Kirti’s guilty conscience struck her. It was wrong of her to hurt someone like that.

    Neha had trusted Kirti fully and wanted to get better at math. She had never treated Kirti badly and had always talked to her nicely and listened to all Kirti’s instructions carefully. She decided that enough was enough. She couldn’t break her trust. So for the last three days, Kirti taught Neha everything she knew and made sure she was prepared for the upcoming test.

    The test was an easy one and Kirti was satisfied with her work.

    When the next day rolled in and it was time for the results, Neha was at the edge of her seat with worry. Seeing her in such a position Kirti went over and sat beside her.

    She comforted Neha by holding her hand while Miss. Lata distributed the tests.

    While Kirti stood first as usual, everyone was surprised to find that Neha had come second. Neha almost fell off her chair in shock while Miss. Lata clapped loudly. Kirti was proud that she had helped her friend so much. Neha having recovered from the shock got up and went to the front of the class.  She smiled looking at Kirti and said to everyone “Thank you Kirti for helping me so much. You are my best friend in the whole wide world. I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for lending me a helping hand.”

    Everyone looked at Kirti with admiration while she looked at Neha with happiness etched across her face. That day, not only did Kirti make her first friend, but also learnt the importance of a helping hand.

     

  • A Friend

    A Friend

    Your first friend is always special. 

     

    “Bye Aryan! Bye Neha! Have a Nice day at School!” said their mother waving enthusiastically from her car. While Neha smiled and waved back, Aryan just turned around and marched into the school building.

    Aryan started primary school a year back. He was now a proud six year old who could brag about how much he was learning at school. He loved it when his mother would ask him to help his younger sister Neha with her homework, who had just started elementary school two months back. She was a year younger to him. The feeling of being treated as a grown up was something Aryan loved. It made him feel responsible and he realised it was his duty to look after his sister. He loved going to school.

    But there was just one little problem. Aryan hadn’t been able to make any friends yet He was the shy quiet one in class, who would sit in a corner and study attentively. But his shy nature forbade him to try and talk to other people. The only other person in school he talked to was his teacher. Neha on the other hand had made many new friends just within the first few months of school. Sometimes, he wished he could be like his bubbly sister. He wished he could go and talk to people. He wished he could make a friend.

    It was just another normal day at school as Aryan sat writing number names on his worksheet. Suddenly the door of the class room opened and in walked a girl who wore a pink dress and carried a bag that had too many butterflies drawn on it. She had a smile on her face as she walked confidently towards the teacher. She handed Ms. Anita a small slip of paper. Ms. Anita smiled at her and after reading the paper, turned towards the class.

    “Children, this is Ananya Singh. She is new to this school. I hope you will make her comfortable in class” she finished with a smile. Then she turned to Ananya and asked her, “Where would like to sit Ananya?” Ananya looked around the room. There were many empty seats. Some of the kids in the room were pointing eagerly at the empty chairs beside them, but she ignored them all. She spotted this shy looking boy sitting at the far corner of the room. He was the only one not looking at her.

    He looked lonely. So she made up her mind and turned back to Miss Anita. “I want to sit beside him, Ma’am” she said pointing at Aryan. Aryan looked up to see all their gazes directed at him. His eyes widened when he realised what was happening and quickly looked back down towards his worksheet. She wanted to sit beside him? But why? He didn’t ask her to. He became worried. She would soon find out how shy he was and would give up on him and make other friends as everyone else had. 

    Meanwhile Ananya marched towards Aryan determinedly and plopped on the seat next to him loudly. When Aryan said nothing she tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Hi! I am Ananya. What’s your name?” she asked him with and expectant smile. He kept quiet. But after a long pause he answered “A-Aryan” and that was it. She grew a bit disappointed at his odd behaviour but didn’t lose hope. The day proceeded normally and then came lunch. Ananya had tried all day to make Aryan talk, but he had answered her question with monosyllables and never looked her in the eye. But she was determined to make him her friend.

    As the week passed Ananya became more and more persistent and Aryan slowly started to relax around her. He would now sometimes give her small smiles and his answers had also increased from one to three or four words. But he was still guarded. But that did nothing for Ananya. She continued her efforts tirelessly. Two weeks had passed since Ananya’s arrival to this school and today was Friendship’s day. People had to talk about their best friends in class.

    To Aryan’s surprise and Miss. Anita’s amusement, Ananya chose to talk about Aryan. His eyes grew as wide as saucers when she said that he was helpful and nice and was a great friend. He felt guilty when he realised that she was lying. He had never treated her nicely. All he had done was rudely avoid her whenever he could. When Miss. Anita asked him to talk about his best friend, he disappointed Ananya by saying he didn’t have any friend. The hurt expression on her face increased his guilt even more.

    Lunch rolled in and Aryan found himself a seat at the corner of the garden. He thought about Ananya and felt sad that he had hurt her. Suddenly he heard a commotion a little away from him and got up to investigate. To his astonishment, he found Ananya and another girl standing in the middle of the circle of other kids and it looked as if Ananya was crying at something the other girl said. He ran forward to know why she was crying. He heard the girl say, “You cannot sit in my seat. This is my favourite place to sit in the garden! New girls are not allowed.” He felt extremely sad to see his only friend being bullied by someone else. He suddenly realised that he had admitted to himself that he did consider her as his friend. Having come to this conclusion, he marched straight to the girl and stood between her and Ananya. He put a hand on Ananya’s shoulder and turned to the girl angrily, “She can sit wherever she wants. You cannot stop her. Now stop bullying my friend and go do something else” All the kids stared at him with surprise and admiration while Ananya’s jaw dropped open. He took her by the hand and dragged her away from the mean girl.

    He turned to her and wiped her tears. “You can sit with me if you want” he said to her softly. Ananya immediately stopped crying. She asked him with a hopeful expression “So you want to be my friend then?” Aryan smiled at her properly for the first time and said “But we are already friends, aren’t we?” She beamed at his statement and linked her hand with his. Together they went to where Aryan’s belongings lay, and chattered all throughout lunch.

    That was the day Aryan made his first best friend for life.                 

     

     

     

  • Pick-me-too

    Pick-me-too

    2 booths, 2 stuffed animals; rabbits, fall in love. 

     

    Once there were two pick-up-game’s booth stalls in a carnival. One coin, one chance was the deal. One booth had blue colored stuffed rabbits and the other had pink rabbits. Among the blue rabbits there was one who was really sweet and sensitive. He would always sit up looking at the pink booth where there was a beautiful rabbit.

    Although she mainly kept to herself only but sometimes when she would spot the blue rabbit staring at her from across the booth, she would blush and shy away.

    The rabbits used to play all day long in their booths till someone came to pick them up. The pink rabbit had many friends and played a lot to and the blue rabbit was content on just watching her until the last day of the carnival arrived. Finally the blue rabbit gathered up all his courage and decided to confess his feelings to her.

    The blue rabbit waved both his hands and ears to get the attention of the pink rabbit and when she noticed, they quickly moved to the end of the booth. But no matter how hard the blue rabbit tried, his voice could not reach the pink rabbit through the glass walls. They kept trying till they suddenly noticed the pick-up hook hovering over the pink rabbit.

    The blue rabbit watched helplessly as the hook took her and a little girl outside the booth jumped with joy and started hugging the pink rabbit. The blue rabbit’s ears hung low as started giving up hope, he had lost her and now she was gone forever. The worst part; he didn’t get to say what he wanted to say.

    “Mommy I want a blue one too!” the little girl outside was shrieking with joy.

    “Ok” her mother replied and gave her a coin, “Just one more”

    “Ok!”

    Seeing this as a chance, the blue rabbit wasted no time and stationed himself at the best possible position and waited to get picked-up. As expected the hook came for him and he caught on effortlessly.

    The pink rabbit outside closed her eyes and prayed that his efforts be fruitful. Just when hope started growing back, the hook shook and he slipped out from between it.

    “Mommy mommy once more!” the little girl started pleading her mother but her mother’s decision was firm. Maybe this was the end of the line thought the blue rabbit and crawled in a corner as he watched the pink rabbit in the little girl’s hand.

    The other blue rabbits who had been seeing and observing everything for a long time now fel bad for the two and came with a plan. One of them knocked on the glass to attract the kid’s attention while the others started lining up. One on top of the other, soon they formed a staircase of rabbits which the little girl and the other rabbits watched with awe.

    The last rabbit in the staircase caught on to the opening from where the toys are taken out and all the rabbits looked over to our little blue rabbit, who couldn’t believe his eyes,  and signaled him to climb over and run out. Even if his eyes were made up of just buttons, he couldn’t stop a tear from appearing at the edge. But he wasted no more time and quickly climbed up and jumped.

    The little girl who had been watching everything picked him up and stared at him for a while and then hugged him as tight as she could. It seemed like she a two new friends.

    As the turned around and starting walking away with her mother, the two rabbits looked over from her shoulders and thanked the other rabbits who were bidding them a happy farewell.

    “So what I wanted to say back there-“ The blue rabbit started but got interrupted.

    “Was probably what I wanted to say too” the pink rabbit ended.

    Both the rabbits smiled and lived happily ever after.

  • DHRUV-TARA : Story of Siblings

    DHRUV-TARA : Story of Siblings

    Dhruv-Tara is not the story of the star we know. Its about the shine of this star that reflects in the relation of the brother and sister in this story. We always wish to have a brother/sister whom we can rely on and who fulfills our wishes without telling. this is a story of a similar girl whose brother is always there for. 

     

                                    “Tara! Tara! Where are you dear?” asked the young boy coming in through the doorway.

    He was Dhruv, a 19 year old boy, the elder brother of Tara. “Tara, look I have brought you the shoes you wished to wear on your birthday. Come, put them on and show how they look on you?” Tara came running to see what her brother had brought for her. But when she saw the shoes the smile on her face just vanished away. She angrily told him “What is this bhaiya? I wanted the pink shoes and look you bought me the white ones. You always do this.” And she started crying. Dhruv tried to console her and said, “But Tara this shoes would go with your school uniform too. And look how beautiful and stylish they are.” But Tara was not going to listen any of his explanation. She wanted to have the pink shoes that her friend Priya had.

                                    Dhruv was studying in an engineering college and had to work along with his studies to be able to give her sister all the comfort she ever wanted. On the other hand Tara was 9-year old cute little girl, who was very stubborn and always wanted something more than her brother could afford. But still Dhruv tried to give all the happiness to his sister. He did not take account of his needs so that he can provide her sister with all the luxuries and lavishness she ever thought of. He never wanted her to think that the death of their mom and dad had affected their life. He never let her miss her mother and father.

                                    After some days she went to Dhruv and said, “Bhaiya, I want a new dress on my birthday.

    All my friends have got a new frock on their birthdays. I also want one.” Her brother thought for a while, sighed and said sadly, “Tara I’m sorry but nowadays we are running out of money. You know we have to pay the rent of this house in the first week of the month. And I have also not yet received my salary. So this time I’ll not be able to present you a new dress on your birthday. I am really sorry for that dear. Hope you’ll understand.” But Tara was not going to understand. She thought that her brother didn’t want to give her anything on her birthday. So she ran to her room and started weeping. But Dhruv had no way to calm her down and make her know that how he was trying to make her birthday special but failed every time he tried to do something good for her.

                                    This went for a few years. Dhruv had now completed her graduation. He had got a  better job. Tara was now in college. She was studying fashion designing, which had been her dream since she was in school. After many efforts Dhruv had done her admission in the best fashion designing college of the city.

    Now they were getting better standards of living. After completion of the first year of Tara’s graduation she wanted a laptop so that she can complete her projects and assignments.

    She told Dhruv that she wanted the latest model of laptop. Dhruv promised her that he would try to buy a laptop as soon as possible. Next week when Dhruv got his salary the first thing he did was to order the latest laptop model for her beloved Tara. He was just returning home after going to the shop.

                                    But something had to happen before he could tell her sister that she was getting her wish fulfilled. As Dhruv was crossing the road a car came in full speed and BOOM!!! CRASH. It went in front of Dhruv and hit him. He laid there unconscious, his body dripped in blood. Tara was on her way to home when she got a phone call from her brother’s mobile. But it was not the voice of Dhruv. A man had seen the accident and went to help Dhruv. He had got his phone and called Tara’s number. He told her that the owner of this phone had met with an accident. He has already informed the ambulance. And that she should reach the city hospital right away. The phone call was a shock for her. She was thoughtless for a while. But soon was driving her Activa at full speed to reach the hospital as soon as she can.

                                    By the time she reached the hospital, Dhruv was shifted in the emergency ward and the doctors had started the treatment. She thanked the person who called her and brought her brother to the hospital. The receptionist had told her to pay the fees. She didn’t know how she was going to pay the fees for her brother’s treatment as she had no money at that time. Then she remembered that her brother had saved some money for emergency situations. She quickly went home, opened the almirah and took out the money she needed. She rushed to the hospital and paid the fees at the reception. She got the news there that Dhruv was conscious and that she can meet him then. She went in the room and was happy to see Dhruv. She sat beside him. He told her that he was going to give her a surprise.

    He said,

    “Tara, you told me that you needed a laptop to complete your assignments. I had gone today to order a new laptop for you. I hope at least this time I would be able to make you happy.”

    On this Tara started crying. She sobbingly said, “Bhaiya, I was wrong. Every time you did something good for me I always used to find some fault in it. I never tried to understand the efforts you made for me to be happy. Today for a moment when I thought I was going to lose you. I realized that all these years what I was wanting was just you. I never wanted anything else but you. Please promise me, you will never leave me alone.” And she started crying. Dhruv tried to soothe her and said, “Tara, stop crying. I promise we’ll always be together. Soon I’ll be perfectly fine and again will start with my work to give my sister the lavish…….”

                                    Tara, interfering her brother in between, said “No bhaiya. You have already done too much for this demanding sister of yours. Now it’s my turn to give you all the things that you wanted to have but were not able to get because of my demands.  I’ll now give you all the things that you ever wished of.”

                                    After a week’s rest, Dhruv was discharged from the hospital. He went home and was surprised to see his home well decorated for his welcome. He was amazed to see that Tara had brought him his most favourite wrist watch. She hugged him and told him that she had got a part time job and that now he didn’t need to worry about the need of money for the household things. Now his sister has grown enough to take care of her brother and her house as well.

                                    After that everything became easygoing. Dhruv started with his job once again. Tara was doing well in her studies and her performance in her job was also excellent. They had owned a little house. And as all the stories have, this one also had a HAPPY ENDING!!