Love Short Story – LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND
Photo credit: hotblack from morguefile.com
We all have been hearing this quote since ages now. But what exactly is Love? For a mother, love is about caring for her children and giving them the best in the world. For a workaholic, it is about giving their best and achieving almost impossible looking goals. For a couple in love, it’s all about being with each other, and making every moment of their life special and just for each other
But for Parth and Myra, loving each other was just like living their lives. They were childhood friends and before they could know & understand the worldly definitions of love, dating and courtship, they knew they were made for each other. It was a relation where they didn’t even propose each other because both of them couldn’t think of anyone else. Myra knew that Parth was the one for her when Parth beat up a boy almost double his age in class 2nd because he was teasing Myra. As a punishment, Parth was asked to stand out of class for full week and Myra made sure every day that she was also given punishment and made to stand outside class with Parth.
Both of their families were friends as well and knew about their friendship. As they grew up, the bond became stronger and firm. When they finished their schooling, they wanted to get married but both their families convinced them to make a career first. Myra joined a Fashion Technology course while Parth got into engineering. Although they were in the same city, their colleges were on 2 different ends of the city. They made sure that they meet each other on weekends and make for the whole week.
Those 4 years also passed and now they were settled in life. They wanted to get married now and the families, always in the know how, happily agreed.
It was the winter of 2007. As per the custom in both of families, they were not supposed to meet each other a day before wedding but after speaking to their cousins and much of request, both of them left with their cousins at night once everyone slept. They were not able to meet each other since past 7 days and it was killing both of them. This was probably the longest time, they didn’t see each other. They went with their cousins to Barista and the moment they looked at each other, they stood still. They were so happy that were unable to react. Tears started coming off Myra’s eyes and her cousin told Parth
‘Take her for a drive, but be back in half an hour’.
This was the best gift Myra’s cousin could have given to them on wedding. They hugged each other and ran outside
‘Hey Chottu, I can’t live without you’ said Parth to Myra.
Myra replied ‘Why will you have to live without me , I’ll be there for you always, and by the way, why are you calling me Chottu? I am a grown up girl getting married tomorrow’
‘Just because till now I am the youngest in family and now you will be, so you are the new chottu’
‘I love you , Parth and I want to be with you for all seven births’ said Myra to Parth playing with his hair
‘Yes baby, and I will find you in every birth and will love you no matter wherever you are’
While saying this, Parth had no idea of the storm that was coming his way
It was the winter of 2003. There was a grand celebration going on in Parth’s house. The Sharmas’ were very happy about their elder son Jaywant coming back from London after completing his MBA. The Sharmas’ owed the biggest frozen foods business in Ghaziabad, ICE FROZEN. They were one of the biggest supplier of Frozen food to a lot of countries and wanted Jaywant to join the business and expand it after his MBA.
23rd December 2007:
Parth and Myra got married. It was one of the fanciest weddings in the town and all the big people attended it. Parth and Myra were the happiest couple in this world and had planned honeymoon to Switzerland. They were supposed to go after 10 days on 3rd January. Parth was checking Myra’s mailbox and suddenly a mail popped up. It was from the Toronto Fashion Week organisers with read:
Dear Myra Sharma,
Your costumes have been selected for International Fashion week in Toronto which starts from 2nd January. You are requested to immediately call us back so that necessary arrangements can be made. We have been trying to contact you since last week but to no avail
Thanks,
Organizers
Toronto Fashion Week
Parth yelled with joy and gave the news to Myra but Myra wasn’t happy. She knew it was a big opportunity but it was the same time they planned their honeymoon. It took some time for Parth to convince Myra but eventually it worked out. They decided to go to Toronto for honeymoon and once Myra was done with her work, they can spend time with each other.
It was 31st of December and they were supposed to leave by a late night flight. They were busy packing when Parth suddenly had a back ache. He applied some Volini on it and continued packing but suddenly the pain was unbearable. They had a to call the doctor who advised complete bed rest for Parth for at least 10 days. Myra was very worried and disappointed. Worried about Parth and a little disappointed about not making it for the Fashion week. Parth told Myra to go for the Fashion week alone
‘Hey Myra, Please go, else I will feel guilty all my life. I have Mom and Dad to take care of me here. Please my baby’
‘No, how can I go during such a situation? I can’t’
After much of discussion, Myra reluctantly agreed.
‘Bye baby…Take care of yourself’
‘Yes Chottu… and this is a big opportunity for you and I will see you on TV. Love you’
Myra left for Toronto. It was 2am, Parth tried to sleep but was feeling very uneasy. He was very worried about Myra and felt as if something wrong is going to happen. He switched on the TV and there was Breaking News running. Air India flight from Delhi to Toronto has crashed and all the passengers are dead. The channel was running a scroll of people identified. The first name on the list was:
MYRA SHARMA
January 2012:
The Sharma residence finally had a reason to be happy. Their son Parth was coming back after 2 years after being treated for Depression and suicidal tendencies. Parth always considered himself the reason for Myra’s death since she never wanted to go to Toronto. He underwent depression and tried committing suicide twice. But finally he coped up and was now as mentally stable as anyone else. The first thing his parents wanted was a company for him by getting him married.
They spoke to him about getting married and he agreed. His parents wanted him settled again and he wanted to see his parents happy. He knew he might find a companion but not love. His love was always for Myra. Sharmas’ were looking for a suitable bride and finally, they liked a girl, Shweta and showed the picture to Parth. He agreed since his parents looked very happy. Shweta was a banker and her husband passed away 2 years back. She had a sweet looking daughter who was 5 years old called Mannika.
22nd Feb 2012:
It was an important day in Parth’s life. He was getting married to Shweta but this date was more important for him for another reason. On 22nd Feb, Parth and Myra told their families formally about the relationship
23rd Feb 2012:
Parth got up as usual but was surprised to see that Myra’s picture was not on his side table. Instead, it was in Mannika’s hands and the grip was so tight that he wasn’t able to take it out of a 5 year old. It looked strange to him but he ignored.
Parth has carefully treasured Myra’s memories. All her things, her clothes, make up, accessories were removed from Parth’s room before his marriage to Shweta and was kept in a separate room. Whenever Parth used to miss Myra, he used to lock himself in the room and spent some time with her memories.
That day Shweta was working till late in office. Parth decided to spend some time with Mannika who was busy watching her favorite cartoon show. He sung a lullaby for her and she immediately went to sleep. When he was leaving from the room, he realized Mannika was saying something in her sleep.
Parth… Save me… My plane is crashing… I love you Parth…… Help me… Please
He ran from the room.
He asked Shweta about it later and she told Mannika has been getting such nightmares from her childhood days. He wanted his mind to believe what his heart was saying but decided otherwise.
Next day, Mannika came upto him and asked if she can see Myra auntie’s room. Had it been anyone else, even Shweta, Parth would not have allowed the person into his own space but for some reason he was not able to say no to Mannika. He saw an unusual happiness on Mannika’s face when she saw Myra’s things. He wanted to get furious at her for using Myra’s favorite perfume but something stopped her. He was just dumbstruck and did not know what to do.
This time his heart took over his mind and he said
‘Myra, are you back?’
‘Yes, Chottu’ replied Mannika
It was the same name by which Myra used to call him
He rushed to asked Shweta to ask about Mannika’s date of birth and he was completely shocked by the reply he got
She was born on 31st December, 2007
This was the same date when Myra’s plane crashed
For dinner, Parth’s mother made Mannika’s favorite food and this was exactly what Myra used to love. Whenever Parth and Mannika used to play, Mannika used to play with his hair exactly the same way Myra used to. Parth was surprised with Mannika’s sense of making sketches of fashionable clothes. There were times when Mannika used to get nightmares of a plane crashing and her dying on her way to somewhere.
Parth knew Myra is back. Their love has brought her back to him. Myra had kept all the promises of being with him in all their births.
He is still trying to get at peace with himself. He considers himself lucky that he is getting to live his love again. First as a husband and then as a father.
How many people in this world get their love back. He knows he is the blessed one. He is sure Mannika will slowly forget these nightmares and these strange memories and will become a normal child.
LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND
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