Some People Feel the Rain, Others Just Get Wet.

Shalini was sitting on the window seat with her diary. Diary that was her secret keeper, diary that was her friend, diary that taught her to pen down her thoughts when her writing skills weren’t that great. She smiled to herself and looked outside the window. The plane was preparing for the take-off. She saw a girl just like her, but she was a little young than her – maybe just a fresh college pass out. She looked somewhat puzzled, a little unsure, and more than that broken. It was raining heavily, but she wasn’t moving an inch. “Why is she looking at me and smiling?” Shalini thought to herself. “Do I know her?”She closed her eyes for a while and then opened them again. That girl wasn’t there. “Where did she go? Was it real, or was I daydreaming?”

Shalini was going on her first assignment as a journalist to cover a big event. The flight attendant made a final announcement for the take-off. In a few minutes, Shalini was at the top of the clouds. She closed her eyes. Every time she sat on the plane, it reminded her of the first air travel. Her eyes were still closed.

“Just thought of sitting in the plane used to make her nervous. Shailesh used to calm her down, saying that she would not fly alone. Other passengers will accompany her. For this, Shalini’s answer used to be “but you will not be there.” Shalini was going for her advanced studies in Journalism. Shaliesh was never into writing, but he always encouraged Shalini to live her dreams. Shailesh was working in an MNC. Shalini had feelings for Shailesh, but she never expressed it to anyone since she didn’t know if her feelings were mutual. But on her departure day, Shailesh came and proposed to her. It was raining as if rain clouds were showering their love on both of them. So they decided to tell their feelings to their family and get married once Shalini finished her course. With this promise and having big dreams in her eyes, Shalini took her first flight. “It wasn’t that bad..ha” Shalini smiled to herself. “Shailesh was right. Silly me” She was murmuring to herself.

Her college life was moving pretty fast. She used to call Shailesh almost every day, but the weekend was the only time she could talk at leisure with increased coursework. She would get excited to hear Shailesh’s voice every time on the phone, and her desire to finish the course quickly would get even stronger. Shalini was a good student. She wasn’t very brilliant,but she was hardworking, and she knew what she wanted in her career. With her dedication, she was doing pretty well in her class. She has been selected among the 10 students who will shadow their instructor for the next 6 months. Shalini was excited and sad at the same time. Excited that it was an opportunity of her lifetime. During the six months of training, she met world-class journalists and media people. But for that, she had to stay 6 months longer or maybe up to a year after her course. With tears in her eyes, she called her parents and told them. They heard her and told her to stay there and come after the training. She called Shailesh after that. He sounded a little different to her that day. She could feel it. She asked if everything was alright. Shaliesh said, “yes, just that Dad is not well. We all are worried about him. You concentrate on your studies. We will talk when you have time. I need to tell you something” He didn’t say much. Shalini kept the phone, but Shailesh’s last line left her restlessness. What does he want to talk to me about? Why didn’t say anything on the phone? Is everything okay? Should I go and visit them?” Shalini couldn’t control her thoughts. Finally, she decided to talk to her professor and ask for 2 weeks leave. Their semester break was also going to start. She asked for a leave, and luckily the Professor agreed to that. She called her parents and told them she was coming for a short visit and asked them not to tell Shailesh. She wanted to give him a surprise. Her parents wanted to tell her something but she said she is in a hurry and disconnected.

She boarded the flight with mixed feelings. Throughout the journey, she was thinking about Shaliesh. She went straight to Shailesh’s house from the airport to surprise him, unknowing of the surprise waiting for her. She heard something from outside. It sounded like some Pooja chanting. She thought they had kept some Pooja for Shailesh’s Dad recovery. But it wasn’t for his Dad. It was Shailesh’s wedding mantras that Shalini heard from outside. Shalini didn’t know what to say. She had tons of questions in her mind. She didn’t know if Shaliesh will answer them. She didn’t know if she would be able to talk to Shailesh again. She didn’t know who the bride was. She was confused, she was puzzled, and she was broken. Shailesh caught her sight while taking the vows. He could see the questions in Shalini’s eyes. He knew he was answerable to them. And somewhere, he was ready for that. “Who is she? Do I know her? How long would Shailesh have known her? Why he didn’t talk to me about it? Was his love for me fake so far? Were all those words promises fake? Would he have talked about me to her?” Shalini was speechless but was overloaded with thoughts. After the ceremony, Shalini gathered all her courage to wish the newly-wed couple as a courtesy. She wanted to meet the girl that made Shailesh change his mind and take this big decision without feeling the need to talk to her at least once. She took her first step. Shalini could feel her heartbeats were getting faster as she walked on the wedding iel where she and Shailesh were supposed to walk together.

“Hello, Shalini. How are you? When did you come?” Shailesh asked with hesitation.

“Today only. I came here straight from the airport. You gave me a big surprise. By the way, Congratulations!!” Shalini tried to act normal.

“Yes Shalini, things happened so quickly that I didn’t get time to have a chat with you. I wanted to talk to you but…”Shailesh felt very guilty.

While they were having this conversation, Meenal, Shailesh’s wife, greeted Shalini.

“Hello, you must be Shalini. Right? Shailesh talks a lot about you. Shalini, we three know the reality so let’s not try to act fake. I know you must be having lots of questions, and I would leave you two to catch up.” Shalini was surprised to see Meenal’s maturity.

“Shalini, before you ask me anything, let me explain you. Meenal is Daddy’s best friend’s daughter. She lost her mother when she was young. And before her dad passed away, he made a promise from Daddy that he would take care of her. But, Daddy’s health started to deteriorate suddenly, and what would happen to Meenal was his biggest concern. So, he asked me if I could marry her and keep his promise.” Shailesh was going on without any pause.

“But Shailesh, why didn’t you say anything on the phone?” Shalini was still puzzled.

“Shalini, I was also trying to digest this news. Everything happened so quickly that I couldn’t process it. And before I could gather the courage and tell you this news Daddy was counting his last breaths. I know it’s hard to believe but trust me it wasn’t very easy for me. I have told Meenal about us as I didn’t want to start a new life with a lie.”

Shalini was listening to Shailesh without saying a single word. She didn’t know what to say. She knew Shailesh wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t ready to accept it. She needed lots and lots of time to think about what she wanted to do next. She left from there without saying anything. She wanted to cry out loud, but she couldn’t. She could feel something was stuck in her throat. She sat on an outside bench spellbound. Suddenly clouds gathered together as if they were trying to convey their feelings to her. As if they were telling her, we know, cry out loud. It’s okay. Shalini needed that God’s signal. She cried like a child. She cried as if a hurricane of emotions wanted an outlet.

Somehow she managed to reach home. She had made up her mind about her plans. She decided to go back, finish her training and start working. She decided to take some time before she got ready to let someone enter in her love life. Her parents supported her decision. She preponed her return tickets. Her semester results were waiting for her. She had topped in her whole class. Her training started as planned. She was keeping herself busy and not letting any negative thoughts affect her. She completed her internship and got placed in a nice, reputed magazine soon. In this duration, she never called Shailesh. Now there was no reason to call him. Slowly, her life was getting back on track.”

 

Shalini didn’t realize that she was almost reaching her destination. She opened her eyes to the announcement by the pilot. She felt as if she woke up from a long nap. She saw outside the window. It was bright outside. She felt as if the rain had cleared everything. She could remember the lines that she recently read somewhere –“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colors to my sunset sky.”She knew it was silly to think of the girl, but still, she felt like looking outside the window as the plane landed and came to a complete stop. There was no girl there. “Silly me.” She had realized that the girl was no one but Shalini herself. But now that Shalini knows what she is doing and where she wants to go. Even if it rained a lot, this time, she could feel the clarity in her thought as if she could feel the rain and not just getting wet.

 

This blog is a part of a #BirthdayBlogTrain hosted by Gunjan Upadhyay http://tuggunmommy.com/ and Neha Sharma http://growingwithnemit.com. I would like to thank Deevya from http://www.beautyblogstudio.com  for introducing me to this blog train and would further like to introduce Ankita from www.lifestyleproblog.me to share her take on the prompts.