The Real Joy of Life!!

The summer vacations were on and my wife Anjali along with my sweet daughter Anushi had gone to my in-laws. I had no one at home therefore after the job, I was spending much of my time in “weCARE” an Orphanage that is run by a few members (including me) of the society.

It was Monday. I had come back home at 10:30 pm from weCARE. I was feeling too tired hence I took no time to sleep.

“Good Morning”
“Good Morning” the alarm tone of my mobile was ringing. I stopped the alarm. It seemed it rang too early. I saw the time – 1:00 AM.

I tried hard to remember as to when I set the alarm for the time. I didn’t set it. Then I thought that it might have been done mistakenly. I went back to my bed to sleep. Time passed by but I wasn’t able to sleep again. I cursed the alarm tone that disturbed me. I saw the time again – 2:24 am.

I thought of an alternative way – logging in my Facebook and killing some time by the time I felt sleeping.

I opened Facebook and put my credentials – sha***a.shast***8@gmail.com and givinghappiness (password)

In few seconds I saw my home page loading. I started scrolling down to see news feed on my wall. I felt something different on my wall. There were people, who had posted on my wall, I never knew. Then I saw something I was totally shocked at – I saw my user name as Payal . I pinched myself to know if I wasn’t dreaming. I clicked on Payal, the hyperlink redirected me to the profile page of Payal Dutta. I couldn’t understand what the heck it was. I just logged out from the account and logged in again with my credentials. I made sure if I was putting correct credentials.

Now again, Payal Dutta’s account was accessed. I wanted to fall asleep thus I opened Facebook but now this wrong account thing left no scope for me to sleep. While I was going to log out again, somebody (named Anurag) sent Payal a message through the Chat box. I don’t know but it stopped me to log myself out of the account. I felt like avoiding reading it but the message was in front of my eyes.

“Payal, I know you hate me,” This was the message sent by Anurag.

I didn’t want to read his message because technically I was not Payal.

“Just telling you that tomorrow I will be committing suicide.” Anurag sent another message. I couldn’t ignore him as he was saying something so unusual.

“Are you mad?” I had to make a reply on behalf of Payal.

“This is your first reply after two months. Yes, I am mad. I don’t want to be sympathized but I want another thing from you.” Anurag replied.

“Another thing? What?” I typed.

“Before I die, I want to hold you in my arms for the last time.” His answer appeared.

His last sentence had my heart skipped a few beats. I felt sad for him.This boy was deeply in love. I wanted to sympathize him but then this was not enough here. I wanted to do something that would prevent him to die. I noticed that we all three belonged to the same place; Khashipur in Uttarakhand.

“I want to meet you. Come to Meeraj’s Café tomorrow at 9:00 am.” I sent him the message.

“You know na when I see you, I curse my destiny that couldn’t include you. It’s very hard for me to face you but then I am happy in meeting the one I love before I die.”

It was very hard for me to do conversation with him but I could feel for him and saving him was my top priority. Then I thought how I would meet him? I didn’t know him, Payal did.

“Don’t want to listen all this. I have missed your mobile no. just give me yours.” I wanted to get the mobile no. so that I could contact him.

“9856547858….. Now you don’t need to save this no. we don’t save the no. we call once only.” Anurag replied.

“Now you sleep, see you tomorrow.” I typed hoping he might feel relaxed

“You sleep. Goodnight.”

I logged out from Facebook and went back to the bed in order to have some sleep before I met Anurag in the morning.

At 6:00 am, I woke up. It was very hard for me to believe if I talked someone using somebody else’s Facebook. I felt sad for Anurag. Why people go mad in love? I had thought how I would try to make him believe that deciding to end his life was a wrong decision.

At 7 O’clock, I dialed Anurag’s no.“Hello”

“Hello,” He picked the phone.

“You’re in Kashipur, right?” I asked.

“Who is this?”

“I am Shaurya, Payal’s friend” I said.

“Payal’s friend?”

“Yes. She wants to meet you therefore I was asking if you were in Kashipur,” I said.

“I am in Kashipur,” He replied.

“Okay. So you come at ‘Mont Bolt Play School’ as soon as possible. We meet you there,” I instructed.

“Hmm. I come.”

In a few minutes, I was going to meet him. I had a responsibility to convince him to continue living.I reached at ‘Raju Tea Corner’ near Mont Bolt Play School and waited for Anurag. After a while, I saw a man slowing his bike near the school. I assumed him to be Anurag.

“Anurag?” I called his name.

“Shaurya?” he said getting off his bike and moving towards me. “Where is Payal?”

We shook hands. He looked for Payal.

“Actually she is coming from Delhi. Yesterday, after she’d talked to you, she told me to be with you by the time she reaches here,” I said offering him to sit on a chair that Raju had arranged near his shop.

“So did Payal tell you anything else too? Like why were we meeting?” He asked as we sat.

“No. She just told me to be with you.”

“That’s fine then,” He said as I offered him to have a tea.

“Thanks. I don’t drink tea,” he said.

“I have one for me then.”

“Sure.”

I was feeling too sad for him. I met him for the first time yet it took no time for me to realize how much pain he had in his eyes.

“You know Shaurya, I studied in this school,” Anurag said indicating at Mont Bolt.

“That’s great! It reminded your childhood days. Didn’t it?” I said as I finished my tea.

“Hmm. Then I used to play in the life and now life plays with me. Anyways it feels good to have my childhood memories back,” he said.

I nodded.

We kept sitting for a while. I thought if I should talk to him about Payal but then I avoided the topic as it could have hurt him more.

“If you have no problem, can we both spend our time at some other place by the time Payal comes here?” I asked. I wanted to take him to weCARE.

“Of course,” he said standing up.

We started our respective bikes and in a few minutes, we reached weCARE. While we were entering weCARE, I told Anurag what it was all about. It was also the Foundation day of weCARE. We celebrate this day as a common Birthday for all the children living in weCARE. The children feel very happy this day and therefore this is an important day for us.

“Shaurya Bhaiya,” A cute little girl Sneha, as we entered weCARE, came out running. “Bhaiya, where is my gift?”
I lifted her in my arms giving her a kiss on her forehead. “That I will give you in the evening.”

“Okay,” she said looking to Anurag, “Bhaiya, would you gift me too?”

“Yes. I will gift you. Tell me what you want?” Anurag took her in his arms. “I want a doll,” she demanded innocently.

“Sure, I will gift you a doll like you,” Anurag said as Sneha got off to play.

We moved further, a few children were busy decorating the party hall while a few were busy in playing indoor games.

“Shaurya, I can see music instruments kept on the stage. Do these children play them?” Anurag asked.

“Harsh and Neha, they both play the Musical Drums and Keyboard well and other children love music. We’ve called ‘Rock Safari’ a famous musical band of Dehradun to perform today for these children. You won’t believe these children are very crazy for music,” I replied.

“Wow! It’s good to see you guys doing so much for these children,” Anurag said.

“We aren’t doing it for the children, we do it for us. Seeing them happy makes us happier,” I said as he nodded.

“Well, when is Payal supposed to come here? Any Idea?” Anurag inquired after a while.

“Umm…I called her. She’d left Dehradun Airport so she must be coming in three hours,” I said as Shantanu, a 10 year boy, came to us and held Anurag’s hand.

“Uncle, will you play carrom with me,” Shantanu requested Anurag to play with him while still holding his hand.

“I will play only if you do something,” Anurag said. I thought what he wanted from him.

“What?” Shantanu said perplexed.

“If you call me Bhaiya instead of Uncle,” Anurag said as it brought smile to everyone’s face.

He went to accompany Shantanu. While he was playing carrom, I was thinking if I was able to make him forget what he wanted through the fake story of Payal coming here or would he still stick to what he had planned.As we kept spending time in weCARE, I realized that children were becoming more comfortable with Anurag (vice versa, too)

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Later, at 4 pm, Someone informed me that ‘Rock Safari’ had cancelled its show here. I talked with Band over the phone and they said they had to go for another show. I was very worried for the children, especially for Harsh and Neha. They had been practicing for two weeks. Now in this short period, another band couldn’t be arranged either. The children would feel very bad; I didn’t know what to do.

“Bhaiya, our band is not coming?” Harsh came out running. .

“I don’t know why they cancelled the program at the last moment,” I said.

He became very upset. He wanted to perform for his fellow friends.

“Don’t be upset Harsh,” all I could say.

“Hmm,” he said leaving the place.

I thought of an alternate way to soothe them; I went out of weCARE and found an ice-cream rickshaw. I asked him to come in and sell the ice-cream to children without asking for money from them. I would pay him instead..

I called the children, “Sneha, Gaurav, Chintu, Harsh, Bittu…everyone come here.”

They started coming but a few of them became happy seeing the ice-cream rickshaw. How can they be so involved with music? I wondered. In a while, Anurag too came out of the room. He noticed the children were not enjoying.

“What happened to them?” He asked me.

“I told you na, these children are too crazy for music. The show has cancelled because of which they are upset.”

“Cancel? Is the band not coming or what?” He asked.

“Yes, the band has canceled at the last moment.” I said as he moved towards Harsh and Neha who were sitting under a tree.
In a while, I saw Anurag boost the kids. He was really making them happy. I wished if someone had made him happy too the way he did.

“Sharya Bhaiya,” The reception boy came, “Somebody wants to talk to you over phone.”

I went in to receive the call. The call was from the caterers who had to arrange buffet tonight.When I came out, I saw more children were enjoying ice-cream now. I looked for Anurag but he wasn’t seen. I dialed his number but the call wasn’t picked. I asked from children if they saw him go somewhere. Then someone told me that he was seen going out of the orphanage. I rushed to the Watchman and asked him if he saw someone go now. He said that he had seen him go by his bike. I was feeling afraid. What if he commits suicide? As I took my mobile out of my pocket to dial his number again, it started ringing. The call was from Anurag.

“Hey, I am coming in five minutes. Ask the children to be ready to rock,” He said as I picked the call.

“What? I don’t get it,” I said.

“You will,” He hung up the call.

I was relaxed now. He has planned something for children, I thought. After a few minutes, what I saw was just amazing – I saw Anurag coming with two more persons who resembled musicians. One person was holding the Guitar while the other had some instrument packed in his bag.

“They are my friend, Vickey and Rohan.” Anurag introduced his friend.

“That’s great,” I said shaking hands with them.

“We used to have our own band and now we perform individually,” Vickey said.

“Anurag, you play something too?” I asked.

“Anurag is our vocalist.” Rohan said patting Anurag’s back.

“Wow! You are a singer, Anurag,” I said.

“Coincidentally yes. Now let’s just get the stage ready for the performance,” Anurag said as we moved towards the stage.

Anurag had already told his plan to Harsh and Neha and therefore they had already set their instruments on the stage. After a few minutes, when all instruments were set, the electrician came and checked if everything was okay. All the children along with the staff had taken their respective positions. They were too happy that finally the musical event was going to take place.Harsh was on Musical drums and Neha was on Keyboard. Anurag’s friends Vickey was on lead guitar while Rohan on Sampling pad. And of course, the biggest surprise of the day – Anurag was the singer.

“Meri Laundry Ka Ek Bill, Ek Aadhi Padhi Novel,” The song started. Team Anurag seemed very professional. Harsh and Neha were matching well too.

The children in the audience felt happy as the song performed. They kept performing rocking songs and with each song, the children were getting more energetic. After some rocking numbers, finally the show came to an end. Some children from the audience went to the stage and hugged Anurag and his friends. Harsh and Neha too hugged Anurag. They even tried to lift him up together. I could see tears rolling down Anurag’s eyes. I requested children to enjoy the buffet in the dining area. When children had gone, I hugged Anurag and his friends too.

“You really made of us happy today Anurag. Thanks a lot,” I said. My eyes had turned moist too.

“Today I knew the meaning of life,” he said. “You know what, I was going to commit suicide today.”
His friends Vickey and Rohan got surprised.

“I know,” I said.

“Payal told you?” Anurag asked.

“I tell you,” I said. I told him all what had happened from my logging Facebook account to this Payal Dutta’s account accessing to everything I planned to save him.

“So was I talking to you?” He asked with How-Silly-I-Was expression.

“I know I should not have responded but stopping you from suicide was needed the most,” I said.

“That’s okay. But I don’t understand how you got logged in to Payal’s account?” His friend Rohan asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe God hacked Payal’s credentials and used the same replacing mine,” I replied.

“But why God chose you only,” Anurag asked.

“That’s because four years ago, I had the same condition like yours. If I had committed suicide, I would not have been able to make these children happy. My little daughter Anushi embraces me in her arms and says ‘you’re the best father ever. I love you papa’, all this would not have been possible if I had died four years ago. So that’s the reason why God chose me to help you.” I finished.

“I suppose you will never think of committing suicide, right?” Rohan asked Anurag.

“Never. I too realized it that it’s not important if you’re happy. What’s important is if you’re a reason behind others’ happiness.” Anurag said.

“Come on bhaiya. Have dinner with us,” A few children held our hands in order to drag us to the dining hall.

__END__