Salim and Kayal #Watty's 2016 # YourStoryIndia #ProjectWomanUp

My very sweet knight in shining armour

Salim's POV

After seeing that Kayal had entered the hostel safely, I returned to my room thinking about the conversation I had with her Amma. I told her Amma about my Amma's condition that Kayal has to revert to Islam. Somehow, I managed to convince Aunty that I will try to make my Amma accept Kayal within few months. Alhamdulillah, Aunty believed in me.

When I reached my room, John was having his dinner. He had kept some dinner for me as well. It seems Harneet's Father had come to Delhi. So Harneet has gone to meet his Father. When we finished dinner, I told John everything about my trip. He said, "Ali, you missed a nice opportunity to propose marriage to her."

I said, "If my marriage is my sole decision, I would have proposed to her long back. She has to be the daughter in law of our family. Just some more time, I am sure, Amma will agree."

After Isha I went to sleep thinking about Kayal. I always used to day dream about a time when I can sleep listening to Kayal's sweet banter. Alhamdulillah, it happened today in the flight. Kayal is a person who can be comfortable speaking to a pilot as well as a cab driver. A complete opposite to me. I am a certified introvert. I don't feel comfortable to speak with strangers. With woman I don't speak at all. She was talking with a co passenger about some art movements. Even though she was speaking very softly, thinking I must be sleeping, I listened to her. I don't know when sleep engulfed me and why I blushed in my dreams. But I feel a little shy to know that I blushed in my dreams, that too when she was sitting next to me. It was a little embarrassing when she teased me about it. I went to sleep asking Allah(SWT) to bless me soon, when I can actually sleep with her in my arms.

Next morning we were discussing about political parties role in helping people affected by floods. The ruling party in Tamil Nadu did a lot of work for the sake of its publicity. Many Government officials spent sleepless nights to help people. But the banner, poster, sticker of our Chief Minister on all the relief materials was an eye sore. Just then I got a WhatsApp message from my friend in Tamil Nadu about Nallakannu Aiya (Aiya is a respectable way of calling an elderly person). I said, "Nallakannu Aiya refused to be evacuated from his area unless everybody in his area was evacuated. Aiya is a Communist. In Tamil Nadu Communists have never been a ruling party. Sometimes they are just part of the coalition. I remember few years back on his eightieth birthday, his party gave him One crore Rupees as a gift collected from its party members. But Aiya donated the amount to the party and from the next day, he started working for his party again. Communism will never die till we have such people."

John said, "Have you heard about the Chief Minister of Tripura? Manik Sarkar Ji (Ji is respectable way of calling a person in Hindi) is a selfless man. He neither has a house nor a car in his name. As a matter of fact, he donates his salary to his party and in turn gets a monthly allowance of Rs5000. His wife still travels like common people."

Harneet joined in, "I really wish, Communism doesn't die with past generation. We need somebody who can care for people, raise their voice against establishment in the future years as well."

John said, "Communism is not about great leaders. It tries to make each and every people great. Sara recently told me about the Munnar agitation by women plantation workers for fair wages. Those women brought Chief Minister to the field. The women who led the movement were simple women who were unknown to society before that. They carried on with their protests even after receiving death threats."

Harneet said, "You are right. All of us can be communists if we can care for our neighbor and fight for our rights. Now let's start for our classes."