Manav

Chapter 3 - Will he go?

'Are you going to go?' – Rishi asked.

'Are you coming?' – Dev asked.

'She'll be there'

'Who?'

'Priyanka,

Priyanka,

Priyanka'

I had closed my eyes. And all that stuff about the party, Priyanka, my past, everything, all at once just bombarded in my head making the sound 'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!' And I only had to make one simple decision, about 'should I go to the party or no?'

Our past, always will try to hit us hard again and again like sea waves at seashore. Let it even be our most precious and happy moments, even they would hinder our present thoughts. But it will always be upon us, whether to live in that past or move forward in our present. I decided to move forward in my present, so I decided that,

"Yes, I'll go to the party." I said.

Rishi got interrupted while he was drinking water.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I said that I'll go to the party."

"Probably you are not able to listen what you are saying. Do one thing, write it for me." He said.

I looked hard at him. He understood that I was being serious. But then I didn't understand why did he behave like this? I mean, there are quite less moments like this when where he'll act like this. All of a sudden he'll behave like he knows nothing about philosophy and everything. Because, let me tell you, he was way too philosophical. But the only reason I never told him to stop being like the way he was, was that his thoughts were practical, and obviously, they helped me in my life. And due to this fact, I don't ever feel the need to know about his life, his past, and his matters. Because we genuinely knew each other well.  

"Why are you going?" he asked.

"I'm going because..."

"No! I mean, seriously tell me, what did you think about?"

"Yeah, so I thought about this and..."

"Have you forgotten that there is a human being out there who would also be at the party and with whom your relations as of now are not that great?"

"Yes, I know. I absolutely know it and I understand the fact, but..."

"Wait, wait, wait...What are you going to do there? And what about you're 'no social media, no friends, no parties, and no hangouts life'? What about that?"

"Yes, I did consider that. But well, will you let me speak?" I yelled, and he kept quiet and he sat on a chair which was in front of me. And he had a pen and a piece of paper, I don't know why. 

"I thought about this. I thought about that incident with Piyu, well, Priyanka. And that same day, after that fight, I met you. You have really helped me a lot in life. I quit social media and everything just because I didn't want any relations with other people, because no one knows how the other person is. When you meet the person face to face, that's the time when one can connect. So there are going to be people at the party, people are going to ask me about Piyu, well, Priyanka, but that's okay. People will always try to take digs at you. Ironically, many of them don't even know themselves perfectly and so they would not even realize what are they doing. So why should I damn worry about anything? And if you see, whatever happened between me and Piyu, I mean, Priyanka, I'm ready to forget everything about it, because that's not the end of the world. In my life, this is a very small thing, there are more big problems I have to face in life, and I should prepare myself for them. That's all! So I think, me going to that party would make Shlok happy, make Dev happy and make some other friends happy."

"And what about you and Priyanka?"

"About me? Well, I'll feel okay, maybe I'll feel good. And about her, I just don't know."

"But then, doesn't this seem like you going to your past again?"

"No"

"Well, I'm asking you because, even if it's a small thing, it will somehow, at an extent, decide who you'll be after few days, depending on what happens there."

"Hey, why do you always want to complicate things? I mean, I have decided that I want to go to the party, then why are you trying to force me not to go?"

"What can I say? First of all calm down. I'm denying your decision only because few months ago you had decided something. You had decided to quit everything and only focus on what you love. But after a month back then, you were crying loud just because you wanted Priyanka back in your life and I had assured you that she won't come back then, but someday she would. And then I helped you get out of everything, I helped you in controlling your thoughts. I gave you exposure and now, you are going back in that atmosphere of 'Yay! I'm going to be with my friends tonight'? Why?"

"Why are you thinking this way? I'm fed up! Why don't you just go? Actually, its my mistake that I trusted you! Please leave, before I get angrier!"

"I can't go, because I told you long back that my time of departure will be your time of arrival of maturity, wisdom, and gentleness. When these abstractions come to you and when you'll be in a position to understand these well and inculcate these abstractions in yourself that will be the time when I'll go, maybe forever."

Yes, well, yes we had this long conversation only on a simple topic about whether I should go to the party or no? And after listening to what he said, I got emotional and apologized.

"I'm really sorry."

"That's okay."

"You really think I shouldn't go?"

"Manav!!! Manav!!!" my mom was calling me out. She was in the bedroom and me and Rishi in the living room.

"Damn! Go go go, if mom sees you it would be a problem." so I took him to the main door and he left, I shut the door.

"Manav?" mom was still yelling.

"Yes Ma?"

"Who went out of the house now?" she said, as she heard the door being closed.

"No one! The door was open, so I closed it."

"Oh okay." She said.

"What happened, you called?" I asked.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you that I'm going for a bath."

"Oh alright. Go have a bath."

She went to have a bath in the nice hot water whereas I was in my living room and the piece of paper upon which Rishi was writing something caught my eye. When I read it, it contained the following,

'Honestly, I wanted you to go to the party. Because I know you've grown. Whatever happened between you and Priyanka is all in the past and that was only a small misunderstanding. I know you well. You are way too emotional, so you got angry when you got to know she hid the fact that she was dating. But let me tell you that's okay.

I want you to go to the party and be the real you even if people are not ready to accept you. Because, my friend, this is life. Stuff is bound to happen. So we should only be strong. And moreover, the reason why I was denying your decision to go is simple. I wanted you to believe in your thought and not get influenced by my decision. Its time you lead your way now. Good luck.'

After reading that, I folded that paper and kept it in my wallet. All I had that time was a smile on my face which I saw in my phone's screen while I was texting Dev that I was going to come to the party. I felt good. I felt blessed to have a friend like Rishi. My pal – Rishi.