Nature's Comeback

55- Perfectly Imperfect

Kriti's parents were shocked to see Ravi's changed behaviour. The man who never came out of his room, suddenly was out there every morning and would rarely go inside. His whole demeanor had changed. Despite the wrong start, Ravi had found a great friend in Sameera. She was a refreshing change in his life.

Their friendship started blooming when Ravi gathered his courage and apologized to her for his insensitive behaviour. Kriti hadn't told him the entire story, but he knew that Sameera was trying hard to adjust in this new world. And he took it upon himself to teach her everything he knew.

Learning from Ravi was far more comfortable for Sameera. She was grateful for the others who tried to help her, but nothing could compare with the experience she had with Ravi. Unlike the fast and impatient youngsters, Ravi taught her at a slow pace. He knew that learning something at an older age required more time and effort.

Neer and Gyaan tried their best to teach Sameera at her pace, but they could only do so much. Their slowest speed was also fast for Sameera. Hence, finding a friend and teacher in Ravi brought her a new sense of direction.

The things Kriti hadn't told him saying it was Sameera's story, was told to him after five days by Sameera herself. For her, it wasn't really a secret, just a past she hated. If possible, she would tell her story to each and every person, especially the orphans, so that they couldn't fall into such traps.

Ravi was shaken after hearing what happened to her. He wanted to console her but she didn't need consoling, what Sameera wanted was patience as she learned and unlearned everything.

Kriti had started teasing her uncle, seeing the obvious crush he had on Sameera, but he always denied saying it was just friendship. Kriti didn't believe him one bit. While Kriti was excited for this blooming love, her parents had the exact opposite reaction.

And that reaction brought the whole family into Ravi's room.

"Ravi, I hope you are telling the truth. But if it is something more than friendship, then I think you should stop right here," Dilip warned, scared  for his brother.

Dilip had seen his brother go into depression after the accident. Along with the working of his legs, he also lost each and every person close to his life. It had been years since Ravi had started smiling and mingling again, and Dilip didn't want his brother to get down on that road ever again. Dilip knew that Sameera's rejection would crumble Ravi's self esteem into so many pieces that it would be impossible to glue them back ever again.

"Ravi, answer me. You are telling the truth, right? There's nothing between you and Sameera, right?" Dilip questioned again with urgency.

"Don't worry, I am not a fool to not know that Sameera deserves much better than a handicapped man."

"What? No uncle, please don't speak like this. You are a worthy man. Any woman would be lucky to have you in their life. How can you even link your physical disability with what she deserves? That's just not fair." Kriti threw her arms up in frustration, before muttering in a foul mood, "Love, compassion, loyalty, who cares for all that. We only see if a person is able or disabled."

Ravi chuckled seeing his niece pout in anger, before pulling her into an one-sided hug.

"You are only saying this because of your love for me. Real world doesn't work like that. And please don't deny it. Having sympathy for people like us is easy but staying your whole life with us, not everyone is up for it."

Ravi wasn't criticizing anyone. Every person looked for a perfect life partner for them. Of course, no one was perfect, but they still tried and then worked on the minor imperfections that came into their lives afterwards. But what to do about the people, whose imperfections were on show for everybody to see.

Finding out faults in your partner after the initial stages of knowing them, was different. By then, you were already so involved that many such things didn't even matter. But that couldn't be said for the handicapped people. A person had to move past that imperfection, before even thinking about getting involved.

Even if their disability didn't stop them, didn't make them feel incomplete, the outer world always saw them as imperfect. Sad, but a reality.

"Ravi, your brother didn't mean that. He is scared that you will get hurt," Kriti's mother told her brother-in-law, knowing how twisted this conversation could get.

"I know," Ravi smiled, taking hold of Dilip's hand and squeezing it in reassurance.

"Don't worry about me. I will prepare my heart for rejection, before even preparing my lines to confess," Ravi chuckled.

"That means, you do love her," Kriti squealed with happiness.

"Lower your voice. I don't want her to know right now," Ravi scolded his niece who was behaving like a child.

"But whyyy?"

"Who will say that you are an adult?" Ravi grumbled but had to give a proper answer when he saw her pouting cutely.

"Along with my crush, she is also my student. If my proposal falls flat, then it will become awkward for Sameera to learn anything from me," Ravi explained.

"So pessimistic," Kriti remarked with a shake of her head.

"Okay, even if we think on a positive note," Ravi stressed on the word 'positive', while looking pointedly at his niece, "If she is also in love with me and we get into a relationship, Sameera would get fully dependent on me. I don't want her to ever be in a place where she can't leave me just because she doesn't have any choice.

"I want Sameera to prosper, see the whole world, explore, become independent and then choose me to be her partner. I want her to walk beside me and not behind me, well figuratively as I cannot actually walk." Ravi ended his thoughtful speech with a chuckle as he spoke about walking.

Dilip pushed his brother's shoulder at his joke, before pulling him into a hug. "You are perfect the way you are," he said gently, before cracking up, "Although you can lose your crankiness a bit."

"Hahahaha, so true. I can totally imagine Sameera banging the door while leaving after getting frustrated by him picking on every minor mistake she makes," Kriti's mother added.

"Go on, go on, write our entire story for us. Who knows, it might be more interesting than our real life." Ravi rolled his eyes, before throwing all of them out of his room.