“Hey Sumana! Did you submit your docs to the VISA dept?”
“Hmmm … not yet yar! See … what should I write here?”, replied Sumana, trying to pile up her docs at the desk.
“Which one babes?”, asked her colleague Sirisha. Both of them work for one of the top corporate companies and they were asked to apply for VISA, as they need to travel to onsite shortly, on a project.
By the time Sumana is about to hand over the document, her phone started ringing. As she picked it up, her face lit up to see the name on the display. Its Vindhya, her closest friend.
“Hey Vindhya! How r u ? Whats up dear?”, replied Sumana, pointing her fingers to Sirisha to hold on for few mins.
“Uhmmm .. finally its my day Sumana! Am gonna get engaged with Suresh this month.. you pretty well knew Suresh”, said Vindhya excitingly.
“Wooowwww! That’s great! Congrats and my hearty wishes!”.Sumana almost jumped on her seat.
“Thanks dear .. Hey do you have Sanjay’s and Amar’s numbers ..? need to invite them too..” asked Vindhya.
Sumana, Vindhya, Amar and Sanjay were engineering mates and more than that good friends.
“Yup .. will message you after this call ..Ok?”
“Fine .. so what about you Sumana? Any marriage plans?”
“Nothing as such .. got an onsite offer .. might be after that…”
“Wow! Good yar! When are you traveling?”, asked Sumana, noticing Sumana’s disinterest in her voice.
“Hey ..Hey .. Not yet applied to Visa.. will take some time for that”,smiled Sumana.
“So you are quite happy now! Hope your dreams were fulfilled!”
“My dreams!!! what dreams Vindhu?”
“Well, you are always career oriented and you always dreamt of your career isn’t it Sumana?”
Sumana remained silent for few seconds and replied back.
“Vindhu .. you did not understand me properly .. Anyways, what I feel is .. getting married with your loved one is the greatest success in your life and moreover any gal’s dream rather In that way, your dream got fulfilled.”
“Ohh .. that’s true! You still didn’t forget Sanjay?”, asked Vindhya, remembering her college days.
“Its not that way .. any ways leave it and even he wants the same too.”
“uhmmm…”
“Ok got some work Vindhu .. will send you the numbers .. ok bye”
“bye”
Sumana’s memories flew past to her college days.
How she met Sanjay, how he tried to win her friendship, how she developed liking towards him…. How she used to wait for the mornings to come during nights just to meet sanjay, how Sundays used to bore her without him, how she used to search for Sanjay at the library, canteen and his class, just to take a glance of him, how she used to search for Sanjay’s number in the results list, even before her number….
Even Sanjay liked Sumana, but she wasn’t sure if it’s the same as she expected.
One day, suddenly Sanjay called up Sumana, to tell her not to keep an hopes on him, as he don’t have any such feelings towards her.
That made Sumana feel like as if her life stopped at once. Day by day she became so depressed that there wasn’t a single day where she did not have tears in her eyes. Though in the mornings she suppressed her feelings and tears, she burst out in the evenings. She used to rush to her room and lay on the bed crying for hours together.
The situation became much worse, when she came to know that her mother was facing a serious health problem. She somehow made up her mind to take up the responsibilities as a daughter. She knew that her family requires her support both mentally and financially. Slowly she diverted herself to the campus interviews as it was the third year.
Being a talented person, its not that difficult to get thru, but some how Sumana was unable to get into any of the ten or twelve interviews. Her friends and parents used to wonder whats actually going wrong.
Only Sumana got the reason behind it. She pretty well remembered disappointed Sanjay coming out of the interview room, which made Sumana to quit the interviews willingly.
Days passed by and they entered into the final year. The thought they need to depart shortly made Sumana much more depressed. She still couldn’t figure out how she lived rather say existed all those days.. what she ate , how she prepared for the finals ..nothing was in her mind except Sanjay!
The sad day came and finally Sumana and Sanjay bid farewell to their college.
Also Sumana recognized the necessity of the job and within no time she bagged up a job in one of the top corporate companies and Sanjay as well got thru into another company.
Her parents were almost feasting on her success. Sumana with her unique style and smile acted the same too, but none of them knew that she was carrying a broken heart, which was torturing her mentally and physically.
Every one watched her lips smiling, but not her eyes which carried loads of tears… tears which said how much she loved Sanjay…tears which said how much she was agonized … tears that are unnoticed!!
Sumana came back from her world of memories when she heard a pinging sound in the messenger. Its Sanjay!!
Two years passed by and now Sumana and Sanjay are still in contact with each other, carrying the same respect towards each other as they had in the past.
Tears rolled on her cheeks as she saw Sanjay’s name … the same tears which accompanied her in all her sorrows and pain… the tears unnoticed!!
Immediately Sumana started to put her feelings in words and mailed back to Vindhya.
Vindhya was one way shocked to see Sumana’s mail and the other way surprised!
“Whenever I saw her eyes filled with tears, I thought they were because of the heartful laughter we had… but they are due to her heart break!” thought Vindhya painfully.
She did not wait for a moment. She immediately called up Sanjay.
“Hi Sanjay.. How r u ?”
“Hi Vindhya … What a surprise! How r u? me fine!”, replied Sanjay.
“Uhmm .. am gonna get engaged .. so inviting you guys”
“Cool .. so who all are coming.. I knew Sumana would be on the top list”, smiled Sanjay.
“Yes .. Amar, Sumana and you .. that’s it.”
“Oh sure! We will be coming .. what else?”
Vindhya explained what all went between her and Sumana.
“One sincere question Sanjay .. did you ever like her too?” asked Vindhya.
Sanjay remained silent for few minutes and replied, ”Vindhya I have already explained her about my constraints clearly. Its better if she forgets and start new.”
Fine Sanjay .. but my question is do you like her too…”
“Well .. I don’t want you to tell this to her .. in any case.”
“Yes .. I will not”
Sanjay remained silent again for few minutes and replied “She is just a good friend and I have nothing more than that.”
Vindhya understood that he hesitated to reveal the truth.
“Ok sanjay .. in that case no issues.. fine bye”
“bye”
After that she called up Amar, Sanjay’s close friend.
She explained everything and finally asked Amar, “why Amar.. why is he so stubborn? Why cant he understand that poor gal’s tears.. you know she is crying like a mad..”
“Vindhya do you think that only Sumana is facing the torture?” asked Amar.
“What does that mean?”
“Vindhya, I knew that Sumana was depressed and hurt all these days.. but do you know that Sanjay has the same feelings and even more? See Vindhya .. he has some constraints which he cannot breakup or face them. That is why he suppressed his love to Sumana. He loves Sumana … even more than Sumana does! Only fact is that he doesn’t want to be a problem to his family and even to hers, with this alliance. Did you ever to try see his heart? U know Vindhya .. all his tears were unnoticed!”
Vindhya was taken aback and sat silent, obsessed with the thoughts so much that she didn’t notice her Grandfather entering into her room and sitting beside her.
“What happened Vindhu.. why are you looking dull?” asked her grandfather.
Vindhya was startled by his voice and replied,” Na … na.. nothing”.
“Come on Vindhu, don’t hide”
Vindhya explained everything about Sanjay and Sumana.
Grandfather sighed and nodded his head thoughtfully.
“Grandpa! Am in total confusion.. there’s nothing to be blamed and no one to be blamed. Each one has got their own reasons. Only thing left is to pray to God to do some miracle!”
“Vindhu .. had this been the situation 10 years back, I would have agreed with you.”
“What does that mean Grandpa?”
“Vindhu … Caste .. where did it come from? Who created it? Its we who divided ourselves .. not God. For Him, every one are equal.. all are His children. Even I don’t blame the system too.. had this been in the past.
At that time and according to those living conditions, we divided ourselves into 4 sub systems.. Brahmins, to gain, learn and teach knowledge and also promote spirituality.
Kshatriyas, to protect the country and people. Vaishyas, to promote business and financial conditions of the people.
Sudras, to support the living of all the above class people.
Time passed by and so are the customs… Now a Brahmin is into Army, a Kshatriya into business and a Vaishya into teaching .. likewise everything has changed.
It’s the time where all need to come into a single roof.. then why all these barriers which are not holding any more in our living?”
“Then do you think, Sanjay has to think about this?”
“No Vindhu .. Sanjay’s constraint is not caste .. whats hindering him is his family’s environment. He doesn’t want to hurt or disturb his family for his sake. He is not willing to face the aggression from his family.”
“Now what to do Grandpa?”
“Uhmm .. you youngsters are the ones who need to lay proper foundation for a healthy society. Ofcourse you need to face some troubles and hurdles initially.. no doubt. But remember you are doing for a good purpose. If we fear those minor troubles, we would not have eradicated Sati, child marriages.. isn’t it?
“Uhmmmm”
“Vindhu .. what parents want ultimately is that their children to be happy. So though Sanjay’s parents have trouble in accepting Sumana initially, they get convinced once they find Sanjay being content with Sumana and also if Sumana is successful to meet their expectations as a daughter-in-law. Same context applies to Sumana’s parents too with Sanjay. Its all upto Sumana and Sanjay to make up their life.”
“Great … Well said Grandpa! so what should be done now?”
“Hmmm .. if at all Sanjay and Sumana are still having the same feelings, I would suggest them to take a step further, handle the situation tactfully, rather than compromising with it. After all those kids aren’t doing any thing wrong … U know the Lord itself encouraged to marry the person you love! Did you understand about whom am talking about …?” smiled Grandpa.
“Yes .. Lord SriKrishna… not only love but intercaste too”, winked Vindhya.
“Yes ofcourse”
“Really I pray for such a thing to happen .. you know both are such lovely persons..”
“Don’t worry Vindhu .. every thing will be alright”, smiled Grandpa.
Vindhya did not wait for a moment. She immediately called up Sanjay to convince him with what all her grandfather told her.
Though initially Sanjay bluntly refused saying that he didn’t have any such feelings to Sumana, slowly Vindhya’s words made him think.
One day when he came to know that Sumana is about to leave to England on her project, he rushed to see Sumana at her company.
Sumana wondered why Sanjay is so emotional.
“Why Sanjay? What happened?”
“All these days.. I wanna tell you something which I need to tell you… but I was unable to.. Sumana … I ..I…”
Sumana hold her breath.. her heart is beating thousand times faster.
With tears rolling on his cheeks, Sanjay finally said,” I Love you … I love you Sumana”
Sumana is almost speechless.
Trembling, she replied “How long I have been waiting for these words Sanjay… How long”
Sumana could not hold any more.. she ran and hugged him saying, “I love you so much Sanjay!”
Tears rushed out of their eyes, but this time they are the tears of joy …. Tears of love… and no more tears unnoticed!!
“Tears are the language of love.
If tears come with a reason, that means you have a problem…
If tears come without a reason, that means you are missing someone!“
Bless Sanjay and Sumana to live happily together!!
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