THAT'S HOW IT STARTED - Prologue

THAT'S HOW IT STARTED - Prologue

A Tata Sumo vehicle was moving at a fast pace on Hyderabad-Bangalore highway.

Suddenly the passenger door got opened of that moving vehicle and a person whose hands were tied and mouth stuffed with a cloth fell off twirling on the ground injuring himself...

With an effort, he got up and started running to avoid colliding with the fast approaching vehicle. He ran until his legs gave up. At last, he lost his balance and fell on the ground breathing heavily.

The guy from the driver seat came up to him and shoved the gun on his forehead.





TO BE CONTINUED





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Authors note:

So, like it so far!! 
Please do tell me in your reviews. 
And I would like to thank all my readers for taking their time and leaving a comment/reaction. 

I apologize for my grammatical mistakes in advance. 

Thank you for stopping by :)

I hope you all have a good day ahead :)


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Next part:

THAT'S HOW IT STARTED - Part 1

Previous part:

THAT'S HOW IT STARTED 


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Next part:

THAT'S HOW IT STARTED - Part 1

THAT'S HOW IT STARTED

I saw a movie named ALA MODALAINDI [Telugu]. Telugu speaking people might know it but it's for the people who are from another state of India.


This is a crazy love story wherein the hero and heroine are destined to meet in spite of all the hurdles with a comic relief.


Here goes the character sketch

MAAN KHURANA - A news tv5 channel reporter n director

ANVESHA KHURANA RATHOD - Maan's sister

ARJUN RATHOD - Anvesha's husband

SAVITRI KHURANA  -Maan's mother

GEET HANDA  - a bubbly girl who just finished her college

MOHINDER HANDA  - geet's father

RANO HANDA  - geet's mother

PINKY - Maan n geet's common friend

ROMEO - Maan's friend

YASH - Maan's friend

MISHA - Maan's friend

and most importantly a KIDNAPPER





TO BE CONTINUED


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Authors note:

So, like it so far!! 
Please do tell me in your reviews. 
And I would like to thank all my readers for taking their time and leaving a comment/reaction. 

I apologize for my grammatical mistakes in advance. 


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Next part:

THAT'S HOW IT STARTED - Prologue

MY CRY BABY - Part 4

Part four


There she was, completely transformed into the most beautiful bride I have ever seen. With her downcast eyes, shy smile adorning her face, carrying a coconut in her hands, she was making her way to the mandap.


I did not take a proper look at the groom before, but now when she was about to sit in front of him with a big cloth in between them [don’t know why] I felt they were an amazing together.


Observing the body language of the groom’s side and the happiness on their faces, in turn, the bride’s family hospitality and warmth gave some sense of comfort to me, but you really never know.


My sister’s outfit was already changed twice and rituals never seemed to end [South Indian weddings are totally different] but she looked glowing in both the sarees. Finally, after a long time, the wedding progressed to the tying of mangalsutra giving me a feeling of panic and relief at the same time, I really cannot describe that moment. It just left me with tears in my eyes.


We all exited the temple and a small dias was arranged for the photograph time. I was excited to see how she would react as it was our first meeting. I actually waited for the crowd to clear, well, when she saw me, she was shocked at first and covered her open mouth with both hands. Typical reaction of girls, it was fun to watch, she extended her hand indicating to come closer. Don’t know why I was hesitant to touch her. The groom pulled me towards them and she gave me the tightest hug I have ever known, but I couldn’t hug her properly as I had a gift in my hand. When she releases me she had tears in her eyes, cry baby I whispered, to which she hit me and gave a teary smile. She introduced her husband and he too hugged me. I gave the gift to him and immediately she asked, Mera gift kaha hai? I replied, I came for you. She hit me again, she and her hitting would never stop I guess. I looked at her husband rubbing my chest with a smile.


I didn’t expect when I was called for their family photograph including her whole bunch of relatives, as I tried to stand in the corner, aunty pulled me towards her and made me stand beside her. I felt honored.


As the day progressed, her departure was nearer and most of the things were packed and set in the vehicles. She pulled me aside and gave a heavy package, told me to open in the college. I questioned, kya zarurat hai but she dismissed my words.


It was getting emotional as time passed and she literally cried buckets, especially when she clung to her father. He somehow managed to sooth her and made her walk towards the car. She turned, giving a glance to all the people who stayed waving goodbyes at her. She acknowledged them with a teary smile and saw me standing at a corner. 


She came to me and wiped my tears. I didn’t know I had tears in my eyes till she wiped them. She apologized for not bidding a proper goodbye. I nodded a no, I didn’t know what my facial expression was, she just caressed my cheek and went away saying,

I will be fine bro, take care of yourself.


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Translations: 

Mandap: a temporary platform set up for weddings and religious ceremonies.

Mangalsutra: In Hindu weddings, the mangalsutra is a 'sacred thread' that is worn by a married woman to mark her marriage.

Mera gift kaha hai: where is my gift?

Kya zarurat hai: What's the need?

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Authors note:

So, like it so far!! please do tell me in your reviews. And I would like to thank all my readers for taking their time and leaving a comment/reaction. I apologize for my grammatical mistakes in advance. 


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Next part:

Part five

MY CRY BABY - Part 3

Part three

It was around my final year I guess, her marriage was fixed. And it was a huge shock to me.

She didn’t talk to me for two whole months for not attending to her engagement.

How could I?

How could I explain to her that she would miss her freedom?

How could I explain to her that she would miss the joy and hardship of job hunting?

How could I explain to her that she would miss the satisfaction of taking her first salary?

How could I explain to her that she would miss the professional success that could follow?

How could I explain her about the dowry they were giving to the groom’s family wasn’t correct? (Thank God her parents belong to upper middle class)

How could I explain her about the consequences that could follow if something went wrong with her marriage if she isn’t financially independent?

How could I explain her if her husband or in laws were not protective of her? (Even now I cannot think of domestic violence and all)

How could I explain to her?

I really don’t know.

The day of her marriage came. It was easy for me to attend her marriage as I stayed in hostel (I had to attend her marriage otherwise I wouldn’t have been alive to tell our story.. lol). I made up something at my home and reluctantly went to attend her marriage.

The marriage venue was a temple, strangely. It was a South Indian wedding which was foreign to me. After walking through the entrance, there was a big temple on one side and a big hall where the seating arrangement for the guests was done, on the other. I could see all ages of unknown faces and tried staying at a corner. I caught a few giggling kids and asked them about her. They told that the marriage has just begun and bride was performing gauri puja. I was relieved that I wasn’t late and thanked them. I took a seat and started observing the surroundings. The temple atmosphere and the music was soothing.

Her father spotted me long after, as he came to greet a few guests outside the venue. I can’t describe the warmth with which her father received me. Holding my hand, scolding me for not coming to the engagement along with greeting a few guests, he took me a very happy bride’s mother. No introductions were needed of course, but he said, dekh toh! tera beta aaya hai. Those moments were one of the best moments of my life.

She made me sit comfortably on the steps of the temple, wiped the sweat from my forehead with her saree’s pallu and said something in her mother tongue which I didn’t understand. She hit her forehead lightly and told her to stay there, I immediately asked her if I could help her with something. She smiled, kissed my forehead and went away. Gazing here and thought when will I be able to see my sister. Seconds later, aunty brought two young lads and instructed them to be with me [I guess]. They started showing me random people and how they were related to my sister. I was having a great time with the young generation when one of them pointed at the entrance of the temple.

 Authors note:

So, like it so far!! please do tell me in your reviews. And I would like to thank all my readers for taking their time and leaving a comment/reaction. I apologize for my grammatical mistakes in advance. 




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Next part:

Part four

MY CRY BABY - Part 2

Part two

Thanks to my engineering college that I had the best years of my life. Starting a new life in college can seem a bit strange at first due to the new found freedom especially to the hostellers. Managing money, getting along with strangers and what not. As that was the first time we shared space with non-family members, it was kind of hellish. Sometimes study time was compromised but we all used to have a gala time.

The first taste of egg and meat (I was a strict vegetarian), cigarette and booze went uneventfully as she turned grumpy and didn’t talk to me for I don’t know how many days. Come on, this is very common in guys hostel.

The best part of college life happened on weekends and we never used to miss them. College life can be sometimes so exciting that mostly I forgot to sleep well and to take care of
myself. And here comes my cry baby with all the lecture about being healthy and safe.

Even though we were in different states, we were in constant touch with each other. All thanks to the web world. The best part was when she used to encourage me to think out of the box, from a completely different perspective. Due to the difference of opinions we used to fight a lot, literally. But in the end, everything was sorted and as good as new.

One day all of a sudden she asked me to be her brother (Oh before your thoughts wander let me tell you that I am younger to her by 4years), it strangely felt good to be considered as a part of her family. We were devoid of sibling love and she was all I could wish for. That thought never crossed my mind till she asked, I considered her my best friend forever. She is the person whom I can look up to whenever something bothered me. Even though she didn’t solve my problems, she used to listen to me without being judgemental and cleverly, she would divert the topic and talk about all random stuff, lifting up my mood.

Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, she'll still be there. It's reverse in my case though.But I know I can always count on her no matter what. I couldn't guess when I became immensely protective of her. I really hope to have a very long lasting relationship with her.

Thanks to the messaging applications and web world that we texted each other till early in the morning.

Thanks to her parents for allowing her to do so (sadly, she was a day scholar student and her mother knew about her only son, me :p)

Thanks to the crisis of her family (I know I shouldn’t say it as a good thing) which led to more ease of communication between us on sensitive issues. Having said that, it made her gloomy for a long period of time. She used to wake up at early mornings due to nightmares.

Time flew by and gradually the divulgence reduced. For me, it was my studies, performance and thinking about post graduation/placements. Her medical postings went quite stressful with all the patients and their related work, but eventually it finished relieved her immensely. Her convocation was a huge affair. Life then, took a huge turn.

Authors note:

So, liking it so far, please do tell me in your reviews. And I would like to thank all my readers for taking their time and leaving a comment/reaction. I apologize for my grammatical mistakes in advance. As you can tell, this story would be from a guy's pov, if I mess it up do forgive me.



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Next part:

Part three

MY CRY BABY

The characters in this story are inspired by some people I met in this journey called “Life” but the story is completely fictional. 

Hope you enjoy as much as I did, writing it.

Part one

It was raining heavily and sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight, all I could remember was her. My Cry Baby. Things are going completely wrong now and she was the only one I have always hung on ever since I can remember. I really hope she would forgive me soon and fix me up.

I can undoubtedly say that she was the best thing happened to me. I just completed my +2 and was in a state where I thought I knew everything. My group of friends introduced me to the world of internet, which was really a big thing then. It was completely new experience and literally had answers to every single thing. When I was in late teens, of all the people I acquainted online, she literally was my best friend forever.

We started texting each other when my holidays had just begun and her final exams were few weeks away. Being in different states and in different fields, it was bound to happen.

At first, our conversation was, hi! hello, and how the day went. I still wonder how the bond between us grew so thick. As both of my parents were working and me being a single child, there wasn’t much to do at home after my skill development classes and I looked forward to our texting almost each and every day.

As her exams approached, we exchanged our mobile numbers for her convenience. Her exams went up to a month and it was kind of boring to me and I missed her terribly. Texting her became a habit. Even through her minimal replies, we knew what happened in other’s life.

The completion of her college exams and my joining in a reputed engineering college was indeed blissful for me. Those days when I could let go of myself and just enjoy, life was indeed simpler and more beautiful then.

It was also at that point in time when I truly came to know about her nature, her behaviour, and everything. She taught me the first lesson about the complexity of girls. I could hardly understand her, she was emotional one second and apathetic the other, childish but mature and hated being criticized but analyses things when her mood is better. Typical Cancerian. Her silence when she is inside her shell upset, is quite famous I guess, because to convince her was literally a mission impossible.

Even with all the complexity, I could never let her go. It was always hell when she was in her famous silent mode. When I look back at all those years, I still feel she is a mystery to me.

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Next part:

Part two

A JOURNEY WORTH TAKING

It all started with my friend’s wedding. Initially, even though we have promised to attend the marriage quite earlier, we tend to exactly at the lunch or dinner time due to varied reasons, laziness being top of my list. But we agree with friends, who are adamant about getting in what they want and we end up doing what they want. Without any other go, I had to pack my bags for a week.





It was 3:30 am when I reached. Being the opposite of “an early riser”, I had almost nil experience of what that time, that too in a village, had to offer. As usual, a car was waiting to pick me up and to my amazement, the driver said it would take a full three hours to reach my destination, my friend’s place. And then my journey began.




I usually take the window seat and keep it open in case I feel sick. As the journey started, a cool early morning breeze blew over my face welcoming me to a new place. I had to close my eyes when the driver drove at a full speed. The breeze felt so pure that you couldn’t help but smile. What mattered then was to live in that moment and enjoy it well, for it may cease to exist. I didn’t know when was the last time I let myself go, after many moments of thinking, my inner self-answered, never.





I don’t recall how much time passed. Just being there was a total bliss. I was just happy to continue with my journey and hoped that it would never end. The chill breeze somewhere held so much warmth that I wanted to adhere to it. Never let go. To tell the time to freeze.




Much later I heard the lightening and that prompted me to open my eyes. Sun was coming up and I could see the vast surroundings. We were traveling through quite a narrow road which was surprisingly good and covered on either side by Banana tree samplings. In no time the car was stopped due to blockage from a tree.




The driver suggested that it would be better to take an alternate mud route. I didn’t argue as he was the person from that place and he would know what was best to do at that juncture.




That other route was a real “muddy” one and suddenly I was all over the place in the back seat of the car. The icing on the cake happened to be the lightening turning to rain. Thank God, it was just a drizzle. Though there’s always a period of fear in me between the smelling breeze and the time when the rain comes cracking down turning into a disaster, I had to let that fear go. I didn’t want to get stuck in an anonymous place. Pretty soon my mind was diverted to the driver’s words. I came to know that, that was the first rain of the year at that place.




You will always push away the thought of going on a bumpy ride when you are close to nature. And for me, it was nature at its best.





With more and more daylight covering the damp soil, the leaves were being washed away of all the dirt they had given them the most spectacular look. That’s when the driver requested to close the window to my utmost disappointment.





The only view I could get of the outside world was from the front windshield. As the humidity inside the car grew, the driver spotted a dancing peacock. Instinctively I opened the window and with the backdrop of bark and greenery, I saw a flock of them. Now I know why the rain dance of peacock has been the subject of many poems and art work. You really have to see this marvel of nature, by yourself. I was amazed to see it when I was a kid but to see it in the wild doing its dance was something else entirely. I could never take my eyes off it. The elaborate kind of dance, the fanning out of its tail and preening its feathers is a beyond beautiful site, felt like watching it for a long time. Soon I could see few rabbits, a group of deer and the scene turned way beyond my imagination, it was that soothing and healing. This is that miracle of mother nature where all the accomplishments of mankind are minute in front of it.





I couldn’t part my gaze on it but the journey must go on to reach my destination. This journey was not “the journey” kind but it felt like a journey within my own self. It starts with the process of letting ourselves go and let mother nature take over. That’s where a simple ride becomes the journey of discovery. A discovery that if a journey through nature can have a better understanding of one's own self then, even if we start out on the dark side, you could always have time to turn it around.




I am grateful for all the blessings that I have, for the journey I was on, which I would relish forever.

  













We’re put here on earth to learn our own lessons. No one can tell you what your lessons are; it is part of your personal journey to discover them. On these journeys we may be given a lot, or just a little bit, of the things we must grapple with, but never more than we can handle.
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross







Our task must to be free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.
-Albert Einstein







Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.
-Authur Ashe







To laugh often and much,
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
And to endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better
Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson



















P.S. 
This is dedicated to my friend who recently got married and made me travel to a village. Congratulations on her new beginning. Wishing you a wonderful beginning and love to last a lifetime. 
May God bless you with all the happiness and prosperity.