Valentine’s celebration in its true sense – a story of dreams, love and companionship

Sometimes, letting them be with their loved one’s memories, giving them time to adjust to the circumstances and then showering them with encouraging words to help them recall about their forgotten dreams is what needed to make their days full of joy.

 

This story is about Prajakta who lives with her son Nikhil. Prajakta’s husband Aniket passed away 5 years ago due to sudden heart failure. Nikhil has recently joined an MNC at a decent position. 6 months before Aniket left them, Prajakta and he made many plans of how they want to spend post-retirement life. Aniket expressed his desire to visit many places from their bucket list, spending time with each other and most importantly, he wanted Prajakta to start her catering business which she always wanted to but never did because of family responsibilities.

It was Feb 14^thwhen Prajakta and Aniket went for dinner. It was their wedding anniversary too. Since he was now at a position where he could take some time out for his wife, so, now, he wanted to give all of his time to his beloved wife. Prajakta was looking fresh and pretty as her name which was the name of a flower. He instantly said, “tu Prajakta chya phula sarkheech god disat ashes” (you are looking as pretty as the flower of Prajakta). She blushed. She still had that charming smile that made Aniket fall in love with her the first time they met. Even though they got married on Valentine’s Day but those weren’t the days when people would go out to celebrate Valentine’s Day like we do today. So, they could hardly go out to celebrate it due to Aniket’s demanding role and other family responsibilities. It used to be just a special menu at home. This was the first time they had come out to celebrate Valentine’s Day and their anniversary.

Aniket asked Prajakta’s thoughts about the catering business idea and he was happy to see that she was equally excited about it. They were having a wonderful time unknown about the fact that this was going to be their last anniversary celebration together. Exactly six months after this, Prajakta & Aniket were going to check out the new place for their new business. But Aniket didn’t get up at the regular time. It was sudden, it was unexpected.

This incident made Nikhil matured way before his age. He understood his responsibilities and took charge of the family and his mom. He took a few days off from work but now he had to resume his duties. Prajakta wasn’t talking much. She gave Nikhil permission to go but he knew it’s not going to be easy for her to stay alone at the house. Somehow, he managed to step out but the entire day he kept thinking about his mom. A couple of months passed by just like that. Nikhil was trying his best in spending as much time as he could after work with Prajakta. But what was making him concerned was the daytime when she used to be all alone. Most of the time, when he would come back from work, either he would find her going through their old pictures or writing something in her diary. She was never shattered. In fact, she handled all this very strongly. But she didn’t say much after Aniket left them. Nikhil wanted to know what was going on in her thoughts. Nikhil knew she needed something to keep her mind occupied. But he decided to give her the time she needed.

Today, when he came back from work, he overheard Prajakta talking to her close friend about Aniket’s dream or should I say last wish about her catering business. For the first time, he saw a soft smile on Prajakta’s face. “Just a thought about Baba and talking about his dreams made Aai happy at least for a while.” Nikhil got the answer. He knew what to do.  At the dinner table, he brought out the topic. “Aai, you cook so well. Why don’t you start something? Remember, Baba used to love your Puran Poli . In fact, I remember he mentioned once to me that he wanted you to start your own catering business.” Nikhil made this whole thing sounded pretty light for Prajakta.

Hearing those words, Prajakta started to talk. “Really, he mentioned that to you too? Actually, Nikhil, we had a long chat about this and we were going to check out a place. But now, it doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t feel that enthusiasm. Karavasa nahi vaatat”(I don’t feel like doing)

“Why not? You can still do it. Mi aahe na. (I am here). You don’t know how much my friends love your cooked food. I don’t want to pressurize you but if you will do it, Dad would be very happy. Don’t you think?” Nikhil encouraged her the same way Aniket used to do. He got his convincing skills from his Dad.

Few weeks passed by. There was no conversation about Catering business at their house. Nikhil thought Prajatka has changed her mind and this idea will not give her the happiness, but it might become a reason to miss his Dad even more. So, he also didn’t bring it up. But to his surprise, today when Nikhil came back from work, Prajakta wasn’t sitting with the book but she was sitting in Aniket’s study and was working on his laptop. Yes, his Dad’s laptop. She had the album in her lap and was typing something. When Nikhil went in, after what he saw, his happiness had no boundaries. He couldn’t have been more proud of his Mom.  At that moment, he was looking at not just his mom but a Mommypreneur and owner of Prajakta & Co. She was designing a brochure for her new business. And the date she picked for the inauguration was none other than Valentine’s Day , February 14^th. It was the first step towards fulfilling her and Aniket’s dreams. Once she was done designing the brochure, she kept her hand on the album and said, “Aniket Wish me luck.” Tears rolled down Nikhil’s cheeks seeing his mom. Those were the tears of pride.

On the decided day, they inaugurated their business. It was a memorable day for Prajakta. As she was sitting in her new office, she opened the album and turned to the last photo which they took on their last dinner date. There she wrote “Happy Valentine’s Day Aniket. We did it.” It was Valentine’s celebration in its true sense. 🙂

Who says Valentine’s day is all about cards, roses, candlelight dinner? It is also about re-living your loved one’s dreams and not just living them but also making it happen.

 

“This post is a part of the Valentine’s Day blog train hosted by www.prernawahi.com & www.vartikasdiary.com, sponsored by ShilpSa, Kalpavriksha farms & Neha from @bloggingmadeeasier ”.

Prompt: picture prompt