Abeni Oberoi is an independent, mature woman. She has her own small business that she built from scratch. Despite her wealthy background, she believes in making on her own. She takes what fate gives her. Compromising and adjusting is her second natu...
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Six months later
Aur kaun ho tum? Ek shayari? Ya fir shayar ki dil ki arzoo ho tum? Chand ho tum, suraj ho tum, Koi pyaara sa khwaab ho tum, Sach mein lajawaab ho tum. (And who are you? Are you a poetry? Or are you the desire of the poet? You are the moon, you are the sun, You are a sweet dream Truly you are marvelous, incomparable.)
She smiled tearfully at the memories as she swung her legs outside the window, climbed the ledge and reached the roof, all in one motion. She moved to her favorite spot on the roof and laid down, watching the stars in the sky. She usually did this on summer nights. She had done this countless of times before. It was her little peace, where she unwinded after a long day.
And today had been a long day...
Today had been... emotionally draining. She hadn't cried as much in the recent years as much as she had cried today. One of her best friend's brother had died today. It was cancer. He had been so full of life despite his condition. And even when he was slipping away, he had remained positive. But then he had lost the battle. Her best friend was destroyed. She was shattered. And it was such a shock despite knowing that he had cancer, that she mused that humans are never really ready to let go. Neither the ones who are alive nor the ones who die. All of us like to cling on to life as much as we can. Her best friend Shikha had been her brother's best friend. She had shared everything with him. And now a pillar of her life had crumbled. Needless to say Shikha was out of her mind. She had been stuck to Shikha like glue, the whole day. Even when they took Amit away, she had remained with Shikha in her room.
Shikha had refused to cry, just watching everything emptily. Twice, she had muttered stuff that didn't even make much sense, worrying them all. But not a tear had escaped her eyes. They had all tried to make her cry, but she had remained stoic till she had begun to cry for her best friend, pleading with her and then Shikha had herself burst into tears, talking non stop about Amit and his antics. She had then began to recount memories after memories and she had stayed to listen.
She left only after Shikha took some bites of food and slept in her mother's lap. Their family deserved to mourn in peace as a family. So she had left. Her father had gently pulled her away, understanding that Shikha's family needed to let go off Amit on their own, without any outsiders. And then he had sat her down with him and spoken to her gently when they reached home. He had talked about life and death. He had made sure that she was alright. And then after making sure she had food, he had patted her head and slipped away. She had come here afterwards. She knew Amit and could even call him a friend. She herself had many memories of him and now she was visiting each memory, grieving in her own way. Words did not suffice to emote the emptiness she felt.
How do humans forget death so easily despite it being our biggest reality? She mused. Life was so attractive that death was usually forgotten. She sighed and watched the stars. Very rarely she had done this with Shikha too. Laid with her on the roof and watched the stars. The first time she had taught Shikha how to climb out here, Shikha had shrieked in fear. She chuckled at that memory. But then she had learned. Shikha will have to learn how to live without Amit too, she thought somberly.
