WHY ME?? NAH!! C'MON LIFE, TRY ME!!!

“Hey, come out of your mental trance Khushi” Sukhu said.

“Ahaaan... lost in someone’s deep thoughts babe? ;)” added Noor.

“Huh... I...Um... I am sorry. What were you talking about guys? ”

“We were talking about going to a movie; you’ll come along, right?” Ridhi enquired.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You seem stressed” AB asked seeming worried.

“Umm... Nothing. I am fine. Don’t worry. The movie- yeah sure, I’ll accompany you all. ”

“Are you sure girlo? You don’t seem fine though?” and that’s my Preeto, would never stop emphasizing until she gets everything out of you.

“Yeah! Just don’t worry, am all good, bit tired though. I guess I should go home, rest for some time and then catch you all up at say 4 pm, what say?”

“Yeah I think that’s a good idea. So we all go home, take some rest, get freshen up and meet at four at the Café Coffee Day” Ridhi and Noor accepted.

“We’ve got four hours buddy, wanna have a match?” CB asked getting excited.

“X-Box?? Yep. Sure.” Mrinaal replied with equal zeal.

Well that’s my group, the group of few selected friends I’ve got after the worst phase of my life till now. Friends- those who understand me in every possible way. Who always make me laugh, pamper me, tease me as my siblings from another mothers, makes fun of me in a gathering but with a promise in the heart, to break the other person whosoever try and do the same. I am indeed lucky to have them in my life as the saying goes by “To Feel Happiness, Surround Yourself With Happy People”. They are the best of companions one could ever wish for, Sukhpreet(Sukhu or Preeto as we call her)- she’s a complete darling, always by my side through the ups and the downs, words are not required to convey anything among us, silence and the expressions do their work; then comes The Girl With KILLER EYES, Nainnoor(Noor or Zain Zoor Zaur[z3] as she is called among our group)- well what shall I say about her, she’s my sister from another mother I guess, All that we ever wanna say is always just the same, word-by-word, and we call it as our “mutual feelings”; Ridham(aka Ridhi or Crack)- well she’s the one who is supposed to say all the foolish things(sometimes intelligent ones as well), whose every sentence would begin with ‘kehte hai ki or arre’; Ashish(aka Bhatia or AB but not AB Devilliars :P )- well just like me he’s the innocent one (but little bit and not an extreme case like me though), the one who has suggestions for all the problems, ‘aise nhi toh aise, chal chhod ye sab’ type of a guy; Mrinaal(Miruu)- a total gaming freak, could do anything for playing no matter what the game may be, could discuss on any topic for as long as you say(it’s useless at times :P ); and at last comes Amit(Copy Billa or CB/CBM as we call him)- he is the funniest of all, lively person who has no boundries, lives life as fun- something to enjoy; and here I am Khushi Gupta, the TQ as I am called, sometimes finding myself a misfit in these people who are full of life, but as they say, there got to be some person whom you could make fun of and laugh at it all together including the one whose made fun of, well I would like to believe am the most loved one out of my group for which I’ll always be thankful to them and this is my story...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mom I am home!! I am pretty tired and wanna sleep. Please don’t let anyone in my room and disturb me.”

“What about the lunch honey?”

“We are going for a movie today, at four. I’ll have something there. Please excuse me now mom.”

“Trust, faith and belief,

Stolen by the known thieves,

Broken and shattered I feel,

Bearing the pain that could not be dealt.”

A poem starts echoing in my mind. As I take out a pen and paper to note it down, I catch a glimpse of my diary that I used to write few years back. One glimpse of it and everything that happened so far is again anew in my mind.

Sitting on the bed I take it out. Every page is a new story, a new chapter of life. Life in its full form it had been- fun, joy, friends, trust, support and free laughter. As I flick the pages of the diary, every word below my finger could be felt and I feel myself living that phase of life again. I could see myself enacting everything in front of my eyes, all the characters of the diary are live in front of me.

It went on as....

FEBRUARY 10

“Hey, Hi, could you lend me your chem. notes please? I had missed that lecture”

“Yeah sure. Here they are” he said handing over his notebook to me.

“Thank you...”

“Abhimanyu Singh and you are?”

“Hi, I am, Khushi Gupta, thank you for the notebook.”

“Hi yourself!”

After 5 minutes...

“Please don’t mind me asking but what is this? I can’t read it.”

“Oops! Sorry. Give it to me...It is written that....” and they continued talking and doing their work. Asking what he had written and at times even he himself finding it difficult to read what he had written.

Slowly and steadily the days passed and the friendship blossomed. Khushi became Sweet Khushi and Abhimanyu became Abhi. We started looking forward to spend time with each other, every minute, every second, in the classes. For me, Abhi was just a good friend who talks good, makes me go nuts laughing and by challenging me in the studies to take the best results out of me.

---------------

As I flip the pages of my personal diary, another page catches my attention and I can’t resist myself reading it.

MARCH 27

[The poetic me is taking over me. Every line buzzing in my mind is incorporated into a new poem. Poetry is taking over the best of me. So, as the poetry is in the air, I wrote one for my new friend hoping he would like it. Dedicating poems onto my friend was my way of showing them gratitude and faith. So I decided I would show him the poem.]

“Hey Abhi, I wrote a poem for you”

“WOW! You know poetry Khushi? Come, show it to me, I would love to read it.”

“You are the sunshine,

Welcomed into my life,

Bright and clear,

You are always there,

Here’s a thank you,

Oh my dear new friend,

I’ll always trust you,

But its only upto you,

I hope you won’t make me regret,

And our friendship would never end...”

“I just loved it Khushi, thank you so much for this. And I assure you, I would never ever break your trust.”

“Well I would really hope that you won’t.”

---------------

Reading this much, now I realize how stupid I was, to trust that guy, the guy who used to send text messages asking how are you, what are you doing, the guy who used to call anytime and would never keep the phone down, would never hang up the call.

---------------

Life always does not move as and how you want it to. Whatever we desire or wish to happen, always does not happen. It could not always be as you want it to be.

“Chahne se har khawahish puri nahi hoti,

Zindagi ki har ichha, har manokamna puri nahi hoti,

Saathi bohot milte hain is safar-e-zindagi mei,

Par har sathi sacha ho, ye aasha kabhi puri nahi hoti…”

There were always few people whom I had trusted but it had always been blind trust. All the moments from the past, flashbacked right in front of my eyes. The time we had spent together, now seems a big mistake to me. Every moment is being regretted.

---------------

MAY 11

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you… Happy birthday Abhiii…”

“Thank you so much Khushi! You are indeed the first one who wished me.”

“See I told you! I always fulfill my promises.”

“Hmm so you did.”

“Yo! So where’s my party?”

“Whenever you want it, Khush.”

“Umm… well lets forget the party… I want chocolates and that too silk.”

“Aye aye Captain.”

“Now I am feeling asleep, I shall catch you tomorrow birthday boy. Get ready to spend some pennies.”

“I am always ready sleepy head. Go to sleep now. Good night.”

Birthdays had always been the best days for me, no matter who’s, I always tried to make the day special for them. The small-small efforts that I put in to bring light and smile on anyone’s face had always worked. But the desire of having a true friendship had always been my weak point.

Since the day Abhi became my friend, I’d always been there for him, regardless of what the time of day or night it might be. I had always believed, “You abuse me, that’s fine… but you say anything to my friend and you have had it”. The difficult task of being the biggest support system anybody could ever wish for, always seemed pretty easy to me. All you need to do is double their happiness and half the sorrows.

---------------

Things can turn around anywhere, anytime in this world. Life being a roller coaster ride, can take any turn, anytime, anywhere. The friendship that once meant everything, now meant nothing to me. Even the mention of Abhi’s name, was now a sprinkle of salt on the wounds he gave to me. The next few pages of diary were the worst phase of life people could ever live.

SEPTEMBER 2

“Why did you do this to me Abhi? I trusted you , I had never expected this from you!”

“What did I do? You believe others and not me? Trust me Khushi I have not done this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am positive.”

(A few minutes ago...)

“Hey pretty! I heard you and Abhii are together?”

“Together? As in?”

“Together as in... You know.”

“What rubbish? Who said all this to you?”

“Well everyone is saying this. Even, his friends.”

“There is nothing like this between us! We are just friends, good friends.”

“Okay. Chill Lady Bheem. I just told you what I heard. You can go talk to him and ask yourself.”

On asking his friends about all the rumors they are spreading and by pushing to spill the beans, I came to know that Abhi was the one, who was selling this thing.

{Khushi is not only a girl who loves to help people , solve their every problem, make them giggle but also a sensitive girl, for whom her self-respect matters the most. Every little hard word of others would directly hit her heart and pinch her soul, leaving its mark forever.}

---------------

SEPTEMBER 6

“Hey Khushi, what’s wrong? Why are you avoiding me?”

“Do I need to tell you Abhi? After all you did?”

“‘After all I did’? What did I do?”

“Oh don’t you do this ‘What did I do’ with me?”

“But I really didn’t do anything.”

“Oh yeah! You didn’t? Well let me show you then!”

[ “Hey, Abhi this side. How was that? Oh yeah, the girl surely deserved this. She was the reason for my breakup with Simran. She started doubting me that me and Khushi have something else than friendship. I tried explaining everything to Simran but she would just not listen and all this is just because of Khushi. These girls just need money. Spend some pennies on them and they are all caring. Girls like Khushi would talk to any guy! Who knows... Well she had had it this time. I did everything and she still thinks I didn’t. She believes me. Such a fool she is.”]

“You are exposed man!! I trusted you from the bottom of my heart and helped you. Always!! I considered you as my best friend. I shared all my secrets with you and you tried to public them. I helped you in each and everything; and after all of that, I get this??”

“Uh… I didn’t say any of these.. This is… This is not me Khushi…”

“Oh just cut the crap dude!! I never treated you anything more than that of a friend. But I guess, dirty mind like that of yours could never get it. A thin line of difference between friendly care and loving care does not exist for perverts like you!! Just get lost!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I shut the diary close, the streams of tears are already flowing from my eyes. My eyes are all red and puffy from the cries and then I realize the time being 3pm, and the realization that I had been crying from past three hours leaves me absurd. A sudden knock at my door makes me hurry. Hiding my diary and after washing my face, I find my dear Preeto on the door.

‘Hey, hey , what happened to you?? You had been crying? Since when??”

“I… I… umm... God Preeto…” and I break down crying.

“Hey it’s okay. Everything is fine. Don’t worry dear. Ssshhh… Hush now … Stop crying . Come, lets wash your face”

“I trusted him you know!! And... and... he...”

“Hush… It’s okay baby. Come.”

“Baby, bad experiences in life also teach us lessons. Life is all about learning, my love. All that happened was past. You are way ahead from that time now.”

“If bad experiences torture you, then you should never forget the good times you had in your life. The time you spent in the company of good people. Always remember ‘Be happy for no reason, like a child. If you are happy for a reason, you're in trouble, because that reason can be taken away from you’. Remember the laughs you had, let your mind be a canvas and on that canvas, paint all the beauties of life, scenic, spiritual or bonding. Have you ever thought about the underprivileged, how happy they are with all they got, satisfied and occupied? They are the real life inspirations dear. They never run away from the hard times life puts in their way, rather they face it boldly and bravely, and surely they are the ones who wins.”

“Do you remember the time we spent together, shopping, trying on new clothes and clicking selfies, the movie parties we had, the table tennis game you won and lost, the poetries you wrote for us which are our bestest gifts ever, the fun we all have in the college, the trolls of you and of all of us? So you see, you too have a right to stay happy and enjoy your life. All you need to remember is ‘The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm’. ”

“Oh darling, you are the best. You know what, when and how to say to calm me down.”

“Yup. See how lucky you are to have me.”

“Indeed!! By the way, what are you doing here? Weren’t we supposed to meet at four? CCD?”

“Yeah, we were. But you were not answering my calls and earlier you were worried. So it made me restless and I wanted to see you badly. So I came here and found you like that….”

“Oh yeah! Weak moments of life, you know!”

“Come, let’s get ready, you lazy girl.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life is what you make it. If you look at the happier side, you will always be happy, but that gets monotonous, right? The spice of life seems missing. Sorrow and happiness are like two sides of a coin, existence without either of them is not possible. For sorrows, it’s not what the problem is, but rather how you deal with it and solve it. They are a part and parcel of your life. All you need, are, few people who make the sorrows seem half and double the happiness.

THE END