Sapno Ka Shaher

Sinking Hopes

Naina dashed into her bedroom and stood in front of the wall-fixed mirror. Her eyes brightened with happiness and her smile widened seeing her reflection. She was heaving... not because she had run, but because for the first time, she was looking at herself as her mother's daughter. As Rama Agarwal's daughter. As a kid, she had often heard her elders speak about how the children of the family have taken characters of their parents, or whenever they would go to functions and meet their extended family, she would often hear Taiji or Bela Chachi commenting 'bilkul apni Maa par gayi hai' when they would bless her cousins. She even knew how much Swati resembled her mother in appearance. But for her, she never heard such comments. In her childhood, she would ask Bela Chachi whom she resembled with and how her mother was. Sometimes Bela would answer her innocent questions but one day, when Bela had seen her crying silently in her room after listening to a small anecdote of her mother and she then fell sick, Bela had stopped sharing about her mother thinking this would only affect Naina's health.

Naina once had got to see the only few photos of her mother, when she was in the fifth grade, but that was the only memory of her mother she could remember. Because little Naina never had that courage to ask for the access to Taiji's Almirah, where the photo albums would be kept. And as she grew, the pictures in her mind faded gradually. But now, she could actually visualize it again. The blurred image of her mother from her memory had become crystal clear. Today, she learnt new things about her mother, that too from her father, who would hardly talk about his wife in front of Naina. She got to know how she was dear to her mother, how her mother was excited to have a daughter and had dreams for her. She got to know how her mother wanted to treat her like a princess and bless her with so much love.

Yes! There was someone who truly wanted her.... Before Sameer came into her life...

She rejoiced at the thought itself. Her eyes pooled with tears but her smile didn't dwindle. Those were the tears of happiness. A short giggle escaped her mouth amidst the tears, realizing why she was missing her mother so much yesterday... Or why she just wanted to use a larger Bindi today than usual... or why Papa felt like sharing some memories of her mother... Probably destiny had just planned it somehow. To bring her closer to her mother... to fill the void of the memories of her mother, she hardly had... The tight knots of her childhood were unraveling slowly. The taunts of 'bin-Maa ki bachchi' and 'paida hote hi Maa ko kha gayi', were receding now. She knew she wasn't an unloved kid anymore, her mother loved her then and her father loves her now. Well, he had always loved her as a child but these days he was showing it often. And that was indeed magical.

For her, having received parental love from Chachaji-Chachiji was always a blessing in itself, but there was always that corner of her heart that would make her question herself why she wasn't loved by her own father. But not anymore!! She had gotten everything now. She has Papa, whom she knew would pamper her like she always wanted to be and she has Sameer who loves her beyond everything and is her life.

Sameer... when would he come back... she was waiting desperately for him... to give him the tightest hug and tell him what she experienced today...

Come soon, Sameer...!!!

"C'mon Sameer, let's talk about the film..." Aryan turned his chair towards Sameer and crossed his one leg on the other knee. Sameer sat attentively and listened as Aryan continued, "Yaar, mai poori script toh discuss nahi kar sakta tumhare sath, lekin jab maine tumhara audition dekha, toh I felt a kind of innocence in you. And just like I mentioned that the character is a flirt, toh mujhe uss nazar se tumhe dekhna hai... so that I can be sure of you."