Sapno Ka Shaher

Beyond Duties...

Hey Friends, yes I'm finally back with this story. Apologies for keeping you all waiting for so long, but thanks to every one of you for waiting patiently for this one. My gratitude towards you all.

I also want to share something here. Whenever I write something, I don't know if it's my habit or nature, but I want to keep it as realistic as possible, which sometimes involves extensive research too. In this story, as we all know that Naina is preparing for CA, and to show things related to her studies, I made it like she's preparing for CA Foundation (I don't know if you people remember that). But it was my lack of knowledge in this field that made me reach to wrong research. So thanks Arya Superb_Giggles for enlightening me on this topic. So from here onwards, please consider it as 'CA Inter' preparation for Naina as she has already completed her B.Com. I'll be careful from next time onwards regarding this. 

Enjoy the story now.

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The bus was overcrowded, even to the extent of people going standing. The weather today was quite rainy past the sunset and it was clear that it would fall heavily anytime soon. The bus stopped at Andheri stop and Shubham managed to get down somehow. He started walking towards the society but was completely lost. He didn't remember he worked efficiently in the office today, predominantly in the later half. It doesn't happen with him generally, he's quite focused at work when he starts it. But today, his mind was occupied with something else. Not just today, it all started from yesterday.

Yesterday, when he was returning from the office, he saw Rakesh walking to the society from the other end. He caught him soon midway, "Tauji... namastey..."

Rakesh smiled at him, "Arey Shubham... khush raho..."

"Kahin bahar gaye the?" Shubham asked casually, but he didn't find any cotton bag or something in Rakesh's hands.

"Haan bass kaam se gaya tha bahar..."

Shubham frowned for a moment as they kept on walking. "Waise.. Aap aksar kaha bahar jaate hai tauji?"

Rakesh paused for a while. He found Shubham's question to be more than what he asked.

"Matlab?" He asked.

"Aaa... kuchh nahi... chaliye na..." Shubham continued the walk. "Naina aur Sameer kaise hai? Waise Naina se baat hui thi meri 3-4 din pehle..."

"Haan dono achchhe hai... kuchh jyada hi khush hai jabse Naina ki kahani chhapi hai..."

"Naina ki kahani?" Shubham asked frowning again, he stopped as they entered the society gate.

"Haan, Naina ki kahani chhapi hai na Hindi patrika me... ek saptah ho gaya hai..." Rakesh was beaming in happiness.

"Naina ki likhi hui kahani?" Shubham was astonished as Rakesh confirmed it by a nod. "Lekin... mujhe kisine bataya nahi..." He replied dejectedly. He likes to read generally. So if something written by Naina was printed in any magazine, then he would have liked to read it.

"Arey... maine Nirmala behenji ko bataya toh tha... mithai ka dibba bhi diya tha saath me..." Rakesh informed.

Shubham remembered having found a sweets box in their kitchen a few days back, but he didn't recall anyone telling him about it. But then he was reminded of Preeti's call that night with Anand and he could finally connect the dots.

Naina... padhna... sapne...

So they were talking about Naina's story or article that was printed in a magazine.