Her Mr. Right

Her Turmoil 🙁

“Thank you, bhaiya”, mumbled Neha as she stepped out of the auto-rickshaw and paid the driver. The old man’s face lit up with a bright smile at her warm gesture as he drove ahead dropping her at the gates of Federal Bank of India.

Clad in a yellow colored, full-sleeved Kalamkari kurti with collared neck and white leggings, she headed towards the premises of her workplace with immense excitement and nervousness.

It was Monday and she was elated after all, she was just a step away from fulfilling one of her dreams. From today, she was supposed to conduct the training session for the new interns who would join as employees of the Federal Bank of India after three months. She was thankful to the new manager for this wonderful opportunity however, her heart was thumping loudly. She was anxious.

“What if I am not able to train them properly?” She thought as the frown on her face reappeared. To combat her anxiety, her brain calmed her down by telling her that, “You have done many things for the first time and you have excelled into those things so don’t worry”.

“I want to stand up to the expectations of Arjun sir after all, he gave me this wonderful opportunity”, she murmured while her brain told her, “Give your best”.

The security guards frisked her and greeted her warmly as she entered inside the premises. As she walked past the huge metal gates, she witnessed an old man talking to a young girl.

The smile on her face faltered when she heard the old man saying, “Preeti, work efficiently and stay confident. I’m proud of you, my daughter. All the best. Call me if you feel uncomfortable. Remember your parents are always there for you.”

“Lucky is she for having such wonderful parents!” Neha thought as her eyes turned glossy. Involuntarily, she remembered something she had forgotten for good and she had tears brimming in her pitch black orbs. Her steps faltered as she walked ahead and her vision blurred. Wiping her treacherous tears with her manicured knuckles, she held the stone bench beside the potted calendulas and sat there closing her eyes.

She remembered the fateful day then she had taken the examination for getting selected into the Federal Bank of India as a probationary officer. She was just twenty-one years old during the final year of her graduation when she had not informed her family about the examination. Frankly, she had not expected to clear the screening test.

Despite she was an intelligent student, she knew getting into the Federal Bank of India was not easy. She had given her best during her preparation along with her college curriculum and luckily, her examination center was located in her hometown.

She had not told her parents when she had seen her roll number among the list of candidates, printed in the newspaper, who had cleared the examination after two months of taking the test. She remembered that she had a forlorn smile on her face. Her twenty-one year old self was proud of herself as she had cleared the test in her very first attempt but she was devastated over the fact that her orthodox family would never allow her to take up the job.

Neha remembered the day that changed her life. It was a Monday morning when she had left her home for the college. For all her batch-mates, it had been a blissful day as it was the last examination of the final year but for Neha, it had been the most dreadful day because her twenty-one year old self knew, it was the last day for her freedom.

As per the norms of her family, she was supposed to get married after completing her graduation. Her elder sister Piya was an year older than her. Piya had been engaged to Amit and her marriage was fixed in the coming month.

When all her batch-mates expressed their joy after coming out of the examination hall in the noon, she had tears in her eyes. She knew she was capable of doing a job but at the same time, she was aware of the fact that her parents would never allow that. She had been wanting to inform her parents about her new government job but she lacked the guts. Her twenty-one year old self was thinking about how to drop the bomb in front of her parents.

Relishing the last day of her freedom, Neha along with her friends had eaten golgappas because she knew, eating out from the next day would be a luxury for her. She had headed back home as fast as she could as she did not want to face the wrath of her mother. Little did she know, a bomb was waiting for her back home.

As soon as she had entered at house, she was greeted by a dangerous slap from her father. The loud thud had echoed in the room as her father’s callous palm had imprinted a dark red mark on her tender cheeks and a crumpled paper was thrown on her face. Her mother had been looking at her with disgust in her eyes while her elder sister had seen her with pride. Her younger brother, Piyush had not been at home. Her father had slapped her for the first time in her life and she was heartbroken as she saw the contents of the paper.

The crumpled paper was nothing but her admission letter from the Indian Institute of Banking. She was supposed to report to the training institute in Mumbai after ten days and her father had been furious instead of feeling proud of his daughter.

“How could you think of going to another city and work?” Her father had shouted over her with utter disappointment in his eyes and her twenty-one year old self was horrified. Her mother had dragged her inside the house and slapped her again and hollered. “Have you lost you mind? How could you think of such a thing? We are worried about your marriage and getting rid of our responsibilities while you want to go out of the city so that you can do all the incorrigible deeds and ruin things.”

The twenty-one year old Neha had been horrified. With tears in her eyes, she had cried and pleaded to her parents. “I just want to be independent, Ma and Papa. I swear I will not do anything that would ruin your reputation. All I need is a chance to prove myself.” Neha had shrieked but her parents had not mellowed out.

Piyush had returned in the evening after his coaching class. Though he was just eighteen years of age, he was sensible boy despite he was pampered a lot by his parents. He supported his sisters and Neha was his ideal because she was really brilliant in her studies. He was elated for his sister who could finally breathe ten days down the line because he felt his sister had caliber to fulfil her dreams.

During the dinner, Piyush had pleaded his parents to let his sister go only to hear, “If she steps out of this house, we would never let her in”. Neha had heard the hateful words of her father while she stood in her room after crying all day. She didn’t want to eat because she wanted her parents to let her build her career but little had her twenty-one year old self known, it didn’t matter to them whether she ate or not.

It had been a week and Neha just had three days. Her sister, Piya had stolen her admission letter from her mother’s cupboard before Anju could throw it away. Her father had not spoken to her and she had not eaten anything except three apples since last week. Those apples were also stuffed into her mouth by Piya and Piyush to make sure she would atleast be alive.

That night, Piyush had come to her room and said, “Di, I don’t want to regret that I didn’t try my best.”
Even before Neha could have told him that he had done his best in trying to convince their parents, Piyush had said, “Don’t worry, di, I and Piya di might say something really harsh about you today but trust us, we want you to go and fulfill your dreams”.

That night over the dinner, Piyush had said, “Papa, Neha di had not been eating since a week. What if she dies?”
Neha had been standing near the door curiously to see what her siblings were up to and her heart had teared up listening to her father saying, “Let her die”.

“Papa,  what if she tries to kill herself? She is already living like a corpse.” Piyush had retorted.

“So you mean, she would try to ruin our reputation and want to take revenge by attempting an suicide”, her father had taunted, breaking her heart once again.

“Why does she need to leave this house and work when we are capable to provide her with everything?”. Her mother questioned her decision of acquiring financial independence.

“We will get her married within next three months”, her father had threatened and her twenty-one year old self was indeed, horrified.

“Ma, let her go. Don’t jeopardize my happiness because of her.” Her elder sister Piya had said. She would have been feeling terrible in case Piyush hadn’t informed her before hand.

“What if she dies and Piya di's marriage is postponed?” Piyush had cleverly posed an important question and her father had said, “I think we should let her go and I am sure she will be back home crying after feeling lost in the city”.

The Guptas were eager to get Piya married and they didn’t want to bring disgrace to their clan by jeopardizing the marriage of their eldest daughter. Piyush and Piya had been finally successful in manipulating their parents to let Neha go.

It was the moment her twenty-one year old self had promised herself, “I will face anything and everything but I will never return back before proving my capabilities”.

“We can get her married upon her return”, Anju had said agreeing to her husband and twenty-one year old Neha couldn’t help but hate her mother for not standing up for her daughters.

After the dreadful drama, the three kids had been finally able to persuade their parents to let Neha go and this was how her twenty-one year old self had left for her training in Mumbai with tears in her eyes cherishing the unfettered love of her siblings for her. She was forever grateful to Piyush and Piya but she longed for her parents' love each day.

Arjun, on the other hand, had drove inside the premises of the Federal Bank of India and he was shocked to see a pale figure sitting on the lonely bench all alone. For the first time, he was annoyed to see her smiling goofily with tears in her eyes. He knew it was none other than Neha. Rolling down the windows, he saw keenly only to see her glossy eyes.

For once he was fed up. “Why does she have to act like a cry baby all the times?”, he mumbled to himself and decided to intervene.

The cascade of her bittersweet symphonies were broken when she heard a familiar voice, “What happened?” It was none other than Arjun who had called out. He was still inside his car and due to the distance, he was talking to her at high pitch.
Neha was shocked and embarrassed. “Nothing, sir”, she stammered as she stood up.

“Meet me in the office within five minutes”, ordered Arjun and drove towards the parking lot. He had controlled his urge to hug her and ask what was bothering her but he knew it was not his place to do. As a colleague, he tried his best to keep away her gloomy eyes but he knew his constraints after all, he just had a professional relationship with her.

Neha scrunched her nose and regretted for zoning out at her workplace. She glanced at her watch only to realize that there were still five minutes to ten. She hurriedly rushed to cabin after wiping her tears as she kept her thoughts aside. Taking up the orders, she rushed to the cabin of the manager and envied his dazzling smile while she was disheartened.

“Good morning, Ms. Neha. It is the first day of the training sessions. Stay confident and make sure your smile reach to your eyes. All the best and don’t hesitate to inform me in case of any issue.” Arjun murmured in one single breath as his hands were lazily resting in his pant pockets.

Neha returned a smile as she remembered the old man talking with his daughter, Preeti. She always craved for her parents’ hopeful words . Today she had surely found the warmth in the words uttered by Arjun. Only she knew how much she wished her father to be like Arjun.

“Thank you so much, sir”. These words escaped from her mouth in a quavering voice as she profusely thanked him while she decided to never let him down.

“Is everything okay?” Arjun asked again as his heart ached listening to her heavy voice to which Neha had just nodded in affirmation as she feared to break down in front of him upon speaking anything. Somewhere she felt motivated when Arjun advised, “Quit bothering about your troubles and concentrate over today’s event”.

With a newly found motivation, she headed towards the conference hall where new interns were assembled.
As Arjun noticed her charismatic personality reeking of tremendous confidence and unwavering strength, he was delighted to see her smiling beautifully for the whole day as she organized the orientation programme for the interns. Arjun surely had his ways to cheer up Neha.

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Hi everyone

I had tears in my eyes when I finished writing this on the previous night. ☹

My heart pains for the people who don't let their kids follow their dreams but the best part is, things are gradually changing however, we still have a long way to go.

We shall know more about Bruno in the coming chapter 😉

P.S I have decided to finish this book before starting anything else as of now because August shall be a busy month for me and I might not be able to update regularly at that time 😐

With immense love, I sign off only to be back soon 💜