Between The Pages

Epilogue

Tanmay smiled at the small gathering before taking his seat in front of them. His new book was already placed on the table. A white cloth covered the front of it. Organiser didn't quite understand why the veil was needed.

"Audience know the title anyway," they had argued.

But Tanmay demanded it and they had to comply. It was the first time he was giving a speech on his book launch. For the previous five books, the publisher handled it all. This was the first time he was at the helm of it. He wanted to make it special.

He had arrived at the Crossword store way before the scheduled time. He took in the surrounding and blended himself in its ambience. Slowly and steadily the audience streamed in. The crowd wasn't large but he was happy with what he had. As they all settled in their seats, he began his first ever speech.

"Why can't I write? That's the question I kept asking myself day and night. Every morning I woke up with a hope that I'll write today and every night I slept with a dream that I'll write tomorrow. Dream and hope, suddenly, those felt like the only two words left in my life. Writing was long forgotten."

The mood built up nicely when a couple of girls shuffled their way in to disrupt it. Latecomers. He hated them right to the core. To everyone's agony, they came all the way around to seat in the front row. Guilt was evident in their postures. One of them even apologised to Tanmay for breaking his rhythm. As they finally settled in, he took a deep breath and continued.

"Someone once told me that when you are really into something, there's always a chance that you can get lost in it. That's exactly what happened. I got lost in those two words, hope and dream."

"You see, getting lost is easy. Everyone can do that. But staying lost, now that's difficult. Ways sprout on every turn and you have to put in all your efforts not to get discovered again. Believe me friends, sometimes, you have to lose yourselves in order to find something."

He could sense that excitement building word by word. He had the audience fixed. It was the perfect time to strike a change.

"Though, I don't think I actually got lost this time. I was on the verge, yes, but I didn't. Yet, I found something in those wordless times. I found my ability to reason.

"People always have a hope of something or the other. They always dream to achieve something in life. I knew that. And so, I wondered if both these feelings ever merged into each other. Do people have hopes of having a dream? Or maybe some yearn to have dreams of a hope? Anything can happen, right?"

The little gathering nodded at the last sentence. Unfortunately, Tanmay's eyes lingered a bit long on those two girls. There was a look of confusion on their face. They weren't quite sure why he was suddenly talking of dreams and hope. But then, they had missed the little build up to the scenario. Their looks were justified. So, he went on to clear their doubts.

"The reason I'm blabbering is because those two questions gave me the idea for this new book.

"A hope to dream...," Tanmay said tugging at the cloth covering the book.

"A story of a boy devoid of those dreams like us. Neither big, nor small, nothing. He watches the people chasing their dreams, he hears them recite those mighty dreams. But all those talks don't make him sad at all. Because he has a hope. A hope that even he would have a dream some day. A hope to dream."

"So, are you ready to meet little Tanmay?"

A round of applause filled the room as he finally unveiled the book. A short while later, organisers announced the discounted rates at which the book would be available at their stores. Soon, the readers started to filter out to take a look at the book.

Tanmay was busy talking with a bunch of readers when those two latecomers approached him. It felt nice to see them already carrying his book.

"Can we have your autograph on them?" One of them asked with a smile.

The tinge of sweetness in the voice did sound familiar, but he wasn't able to pinpoint. It appeared to Tanmay that the girl was purposefully trying to speak in a hoarse voice. Reasons still unclear, he returned the smile.

"Who shall I address it to?" he asked, the tip of his pen kissing the page.

Both the girls shared another glance.

"Address it to Miss Magician," the girl beamed. "And this one to Riya," the other girl chipped in.

"Nat? Riya?"

The look on Tanmay's face was worth a million surprises. After knowing them both for over six years, he was finally meeting his best online friends. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. He just held the book and pen while staring at them.

"Don't look so shocked Mr Writer," Riya giggled at their bewildered writer, "I'm sure we aren't some ghosts."

"And yet you've haunted my dreams in the past," Tanmay hit back having suddenly found his voice.

"But we also gave you a hope," Natasha elegantly connected dreams with a hope.

He stared alternatively at the two girls before all three of them shared a laugh like some long lost friends.

"Do you really think you'd launch your book a couple of towns away from us and we won't come to attend it?" Riya asked taking her signed copy back.

Tanmay just shrugged the comment away. Couple of weeks back, he had asked them to attend this event. They had denied it straightaway. And yet, here they were giving him a surprise.

People might think their relationship must have changed over the years. Everything changes. But in their case, nothing had changed. There was still the same playful chemistry between the three. Natasha still talked in puzzles and Tanmay scratched his head out to decipher them. Those little fights between him and Riya were the same too.

And so was the tradition of disappearing without a notice. Even Tanmay was guilty of it over the years.

The only thing that changed was their friendship. It became stronger with every passing second.

As the book launch wrapped up, the room once again filled with a round of applause. This time, Natasha and Riya clapped the loudest. After a dinner to celebrate his success, the trio went their separate ways. Rarely to meet again.

In the story of Tanmay's success, Natasha and Riya remained the characters that were lost between its pages.

Never to be revealed to anyone else.

***

11th September 2017