Love And The Legend

By-Harsh Gaur

Love,what is love?

How far can it take u?

Upto what limit can u go for ur love?

Can u change the world?.......

Well,let me tell u a secret…I think english is a very less emotional language and hindi ka apna hi mazaa h,vo kehte h na “banda kitni bhi angrezi kyun na jaanta ho,hindi mein gaali dene ka mazaa hi kuch aur h”.So for convenient reading and writing purposes, I m gonna use HINGLISH.

This story is a mixture of many real life incidents and my wildly fabricated imagination; it consists of characters influenced by a number of real people who inspired me to create this peace of beauty. I would totally like it to be called a Romantic Science fiction.

Based between 2004 and 2058,this is a tale of a personified inspiration ,an icon, a hero or in other words, a Legend and the impact of love on him.

Chapter-1The Son’s Return: part 1

‘What a dark evening, and this pleasant rain is just mesmerizing’, I said.

‘just like the one when u proposed me’, said Sneha and blushed for the memories.

Suddenly,the video phone’s ring broke the silence.

It’s the call we have been expecting for so long.

We turned on the screen ,it was Sudaan,our son.

Sudaan: hi dad,hi ma.

Me: we r fine son,teri call ka wait kar rhe hain ek hafte se,tujhe pataa h na teri ma kitna pareshaan ho jaati h aur fir mera sar khaati h.

Sneha: hawww,maine kab tumhara sar khaya?

Beta kitna dubla ho gaya h tu,ye university wale

Tujhe theek se khaana nhi dete kya?

Sudaan: sorry dad,vo convocation ki prep mein busy tha dad ,ma and dad,I wanted to tell u something

Me: yeah son,go on.

Sudaan: I don’t know how to say it,it’s a li’ll awkward to tell u about it.

Me: son,r u being shy with me?..,

we r like frnds ,tu mujhse har baat share karta h,aaj bhi kar beta.just spit it out.

Sneha: yeah son,what is it? Just say it.

Sudaan: ummm,i…i…I m in love ma.

Me: really?

Sneha: kya?

Sudaan: haan dad,she’s my classmate,pataa ni kaise ho gaya but it feels so good,so right and so true.

Me: we really need to talk young man!

Sneha: haan,we will have to meet soon.

Sudaan: dad,ma, are u mad at me?

Me: arey pagal h kya? ..i am so proud of u son.

I am just speechless and extremely happy,

I really trust ur choice beta,u don’t make rational

decisions.

Sneha: afterall he is my son.

Sudaan: seriously?

Ek minute k liye toh meri hawa hi tight ho gayi thi.

Sneha: bahu se kab milwa rha h?

Me: uske parents se kab baat karni h?

Sudaan: vo convocation wale din aa rahe hain and I

want u to meet them then.

I really love you both,you are the best parents in the world.muaaaahh.

Me: achcha beta,saas-sasur se milne ke liye buttering kar rha h?

Sneha: look at him,he’s blushing like a li’ll girl.

Sudaan: no dad,nothing like that and ma come on..

And guys,convocation is on 24th,exactly 10 days from now,so be there on time please.

Me: okay son,we’ll be there if your mother gets ready before the convocation ceremony.

Sudaan: hahahaah,ok dad.good night and see you soon

Sneha: good night honey,and you…mr. hubby,tumhe toh main batati hu abhi.

And with that,the call was hunged up.

Sneha forced me to go for shopping with her,as she wanted to buy new clothes and accessories for Sudaan.

She spend 2 million digens in shopping and another 3 million in buying watches, goggles and cufflings.

Its been 12 years since we had to send Sudaan away from home,from the luxuries he deserved and from us,inspite of him being our only child,we had to take that decision by putting stones on our heart.

So,Sneha wanted to make it up to him for all of that and I couldn’t agree more.

Our son was coming home atlast and that too with a new family member,even the thought of this gives us a pretty big smile.i haven’t seen Sneha more happier than this.

Now,only two days are left since Sudaan’s convocation but the excitement of meeting him is giving us insomnia.

“Did you ask the pilot to fuel up the red jet?”,asked Sneha like a desperate mother she is.

“haan jaan,ab tum taiyaar hona shuru kar do varna hum vahan 3 din late pohochenge”, I said pulling her leg.

She scoldingly replied “it took only 5hrs and it was our wedding”.

You can never win an argument with a woman and she had a really strong point,so I backed off with a naughty smile on my face.

The ceremony was going to start in the evening and it was merely a six hour flight so we left at 2 am In the night before the ceremony so that we could get some time to freshen up and rest before the function and yeah like every state,we owned a place there too.

After almost 2 hrs of our journey,I received a call from Jessie,my secretary asking me when to put up the meeting with Krater group.before I could reply,Sneha snatched the handset and threw it in the disposal system and I had to spend the next one and a half hour convincing her that I cancelled all the meetings but really forgot about that one,it was a tough task but I finally succeeded.

The Son’s return: Part 2We reached our villa at around 8:20 in the morning,we

couldn’t sleep in our quarter day flight for even once and here also,the excitement was too much to let us rest,every minute of waiting which was passing seemed like a year.

We freshened up and had breakfast,though at the moment,having breakfast seemed more like a formality than a need.

We reached the venue half an hour before the function started to avoid the unwanted attention and any terrorist activity.

(Last time when we were in a public function, it took us four hours just to get out of the premises excluding the time we had to struggle to reach our howar just because of a bomb threat which was rumored to be planted to kill me..…that was 4 years ago. I have become habitual of all this catastrophe after being the centre of attraction for a life time but it’s the others I m worried about).

The stage was setup in the middle of a gigantic circular ground,the seats could fit almost 30000 people in it easily.It had 40 to 50 vip boxes,staircase seats,even refreshment stalls,just like the cricket stadiums used to have in earlier times.

After 10 minutes of our arrival,Sudaan came to greet us. He looked like a young version of me when I graduated for the first time. My li’ll angel was a grown up now.for the first time in 12 years ,we were confronting each other without any cyber medium. he tightly hugged me and his mother,tears came rolling down from the eyes of all three of us,with thousands of questions in his mind and acheerful smile on his face he said “bohot time ho gaya na dad?,taras gaya tha main aap ke seene se lagne ko,ma ki god mein sar rakh kar sone ko”.

I wiped my tears and kissed his forehead and replied “mujhe maaf kar do beta,aur koi raasta nhi tha…par ab intezaar khatam ho gaya mere bachche,kal se hum sab hamesha saath honge”.

Sneha stopped Sudaan from breaking down,wiping his tears and with a glittering smile she said “mujhse bhi lamba ho gaya hai mera beta…ab kabhi khud se dur nhi jaane dungi main tujhe aura b roz tera favorite moong ka halva khilaungi tujhe”.

In a sarcastic tone,I intervened “madam,ab aap ka beta akela nhi rha,isne toh aap ke liye bahu chun li hai aur ab toh iss par wahi hukum chalaayegi,ab toh ye wahi khaayega,piiyega,pehnega jo iski dharma patni kahegi,hahahahaha”. We bursted into laughter,Sudaan was blushing,as would have I in the same situation.

Then we heard an announcement calling for all the graduates to gather in the green room.

After the announcement,Sudaan looked at the watch and said “sorry guys but I gotta go,aap logon ke liye VIP box-17 reserved hai,ceremony ke baad main aap se vahin milunga aur Tanisha aur uske parents ko bhi saath le aaunga,bye and see you guys in a blink”. After that Sudaan left for the green room.

As per his instructions,we headed towards our box,there were two guards on the entrance of the box,they greeted us good morning and opened the door to the box,I confirmed from them that no one except the security services and the director of the university was aware of mine and Sneha’s presence there. After that I tipped them a few hundred digens,I could have emptied all my accounts there because the joy of hugging my son was too much to hold. But Sneha helped me in controlling myself ,that’s what I always love about her,jitna main careless hu,utni hi vo caring aur considerate hai.

we entered the box, it had a couch with silk covering,a few chairs,a food dispatcher of latest model which could provide 20 types of drinks,18 types of continental dishes,35 categories of fruit,16 desserts and 24 famous dishes.a maid was also there to serve us.The box had a full view of the stage.

The prgramme was about to start when we heard a knock on the door,the maid opened the door on my order,my brother-in-law Kabir was on the door.i was totally embarrassed and so was Sneha,I mean hum use kaise bhool gaye jise 12 saal pehle Sudaan ki responsibility di thi humne.

Kabir sensed it and said “kaafi time baad apne bête se mile hai na aap ,I understand Di and Jiju.its totally all right.”

The ceremony started off and the four huge holographic screens being projected from the centre stage showed few nice dance,drama and singing performances and was ready to declare the victory of prestigious prodigies .After a few minutes ,the moment we have been waiting for arrived and the honorable principle of Aryabhatta International University announced, “And now,I am delighted to call on the stage the student of the year,the gold medalist of the MBA course of the batch 2058,please welcome on stage and give him a big round of applause as I call upon the stage,Mr. Sudaan Singh Attri.”

Sudaan came on stage with a glitter of pride in his eyes.He had prepared a short speech and carried on with it

“Gud evening everyone,I am here to present a token of thanks to all the people who resided their faith in me.This medal I am holding in my hand is a symbol of well wishes,prayers,motivation and support provided by my loved ones.The time I spend in this university taught me the strength of team work and determination.We all lived like a big family,me and friends here behaved like naughty kids and the teachers played the role of responsible and frank parents. We fought, quarreled, loved and cherished each other all the time but now the time to say goodbye has arrived,lets promise to keep in touch as long as possible because I really don’t wanna lose anyone of you.I wish all of you a long,healthy and prosperous life ahead,with these two lines,I end my speech

Zindagi chaahe laakh toofano se takraaye,

Yaari apni tab bhi aisi ho jiski kasmein duniya khaaye.

Thank you for bearing me for such a long time.”

As Sudaan finished,the venue roared with claps and Sudaan headed towards our box,as he entered the room,I

asked ,“barkhurdaar,hamari hone wali bahu aur samdhi kahan hain”.

He checked the time and replied ,“they will be here any minute now Pa”.

And in the next moment, the guard opened the door and a sweet girl in a sari came in and tried to touch my feet and I backed off, sensing bewilderment by her face,I explained ,“jeeti raho beta,par hamare yahan bachchiyan pair nhi choothi”. After this,Sneha hugged her and said, “Welcome to the family ,beta” and kissed her forehead.

Sudaan introduced us to her and said ,“ Mom,dad,this is Tanisha,aapki hone wali bahu and Tanisha ,these are my parents, Mr. Chetan Singh Attri and Mrs. Sneha Chetan Singh Attri”.

She entered the room alone,I couldn’t see her parents anywhere to which I asked “Beta tumhare parents kahan hain?”

“Dad had to take an urgent call and maa bhi unke saath hi hai”,she said.

And while we were talking,there was a knock on the door and I gave permission to the guards to open the gate. A middle aged couple entered the room,the man had a strangely familiar face, a man in his mid fifties with dull

black hair and a scar on the extreme right side of the forehead, he had a good physique for a man of his age. he was consistently staring at me, so was i .On the other hand ,the woman felt totally unknown.

Tanisha then introduced us to her parents, “uncle ji and aunty ji,this is my father Mr. Pranil Mehta and my mother Mrs. Sumita Mehta”.

Chapter 2 :The Wedding :Part 1

The women in the room started talking and went to one corner of the room and I reached out for Tanisha’s father’s hand to greet him and out of curiosity asked “ nice to meet you Mehta saab,the owner of world’s leading diamond corporation…..ummm,this may sound a little weird but kya hum pehle kahin mile hain?”.

He had all the answers I was looking for and he answered “Same here Mr Attri ,but aapke saamne toh main dhool ke barabar bhi nhi,you were the first president of the unified world and you are the richest person in the world,also the greatest living genius and yeah,we have met before,dekhte hain aapko yaad aata hai ya nhi aur tab tak main biskut khaa ra,chintu.”

And something just snapped with that it all came back to me,it couldn’t be anyone else,it had to be him, I knew that there was something familiar about him from the moment I saw him.i rushed towards him and hugged him tigthtly and broke into tears. Everyone was surprised due to the sudden change of scenario and it was totally natural,they had no idea what happened so it said it “saare biskut akele na khaaiyo be punnu (tears rolled down my

cheeks).I missed you so much Punnu,…do you remember him ,Sneha?. Ye Punnu hai,apna punnu ”.

Sneha remembered him too,how could she not remember him,afterall all three of us used to be friends and played together whole day from our very beginning.

Sneha said as glow of happiness showed up on her face “how are you Punnu?. Its really is family reunion ,huh ?”

And then Pranil said “I missed you too mere yaar ,dekh le aa gaya na tere paas fir se,haan lagta toh aisa hi hai kit.. umm bha.. sam… uhhhh what should I call you now yaar Sneha?”.

And we started laughing.but our kids couldn’t digest it and Sudaan asked me “Pa,whats going on? .And how do you know Tanisha’s dad? And how does mom know him too but I didn’t,before today?”.

I firmly put my hand on his head, smiled and simply put “we have a lot of catching up to do son,don’t worry,I’ll tell you everything about it soon (and turning towards Pranil) lets go to our villa , its getting very late now, punnu aakhir kab tak is dabbe mein baithe rahenge . Chal ke fresh vresh hote hain fir bohot saari baatein bhi karni hain yaara”.

Pranil replied in a tone of agreement “haan chintu chalte hain,bachcho ki shaadi ke bare mein bhi baat karni hai tujhse,kisne socha tha jo kabhi bachpan mein saath khela karte the vo apne grandkids ko saath khelte dekhenge ,hehehe”.

I could have had a heart attack after absorbing so much happiness in myself but I managed to breathe somehow and all of us left for the state villa and at around 9 pm,we were there. We rested for the night and decided to meet up for the breakfast.

I woke up at 7 in the morning, it was a bright and beautiful new dawn with a bit cloudy sky and sun shinning through them and a cold breeze flowing in the vicinity and then I heard the voice of the person whom I love the most in the entire creation through the intercom,she said “wake up honey and come down stairs,breakfast is ready”. everyone was already waiting for me at the dinning table so I freshened up and went to the dinning room to join them.

The ladies were preparing the table for breakfast,Sudaan was out in the lawn doing exercises and Pranil was hunting news from NEWScreen.

As I entered,Sneha and i wished each other good morning with a kiss like always but now there was a difference in the scenario before me,for the first time in over a

decade,there were more than two people eating together.it was totally a delight for my heart,It was finally home.i felt like the luckiest man in the whole world.

As Pranil saw me coming,he started “sab tera hi hai bhai”

“kya keh rha hai yaar?”,I asked Pranil.

“aur nhi toh kya, tere hi baare mein news hai har jagah jaise ye padh,Mr. Chetan ne iss company ko takeover kiya aur ye padh Mr. Chetan ne ye company banaai,fir ek baar Mr. Attri bane duniya ke sabse ameer insaan. Naaz hai bhai mujhe tujhpe,king ban gaya hai tu duniya ka king!!”,he exclaimed.

“aaha,bole ja yaar,apni tareef sunke badaa achcha lag rha hai heheheh”, I taunted him.

“chal be,isse jyada ni hogi apne se, vaise tere kiye huay kaamo mein se sabko free wifi dena mera favorite hai”,he stated.

I replied to him with a smile “Bas kar pagle rulaayega kya,by the way thank you.”

As we were talking , Sudaan joined us. Table was set for the feast and everyone took a seat to eat.

“wow ladies, itna lazeez khaana dekh kar hi bhookh mit gayi meri toh”,I said.

On this,Sneha pulled my leg “haan toh theek hai aap mat khaaiye kuch bhi,ye sab Punnu bhai aur Sudaan kha lenge”,and everybody giggled.

After finishing breakfast,we all went to the living room and I commanded everyone’s attention to clear up a few things , “Tanisha beta aur Sudaan,Pranil ,me and Sneha are childhood friends but under some unfortunate circumstances we lost touch with each other for 43 years and as you know ,we found each other last night by the effect of the destiny of you two.there are no words that can express my gratitude towards you,so thank you very much iss budhdhe ki shakal dobara dikhaane ke liye….”, I said .

Pranil interrupted me and pushed his words “abey budhdha aur main,koi dekh ke keh hi nhi sakta,abhi bhi 25 ka lagta hu main”.

To which I replied “abey budhdha toh tu bachpan se hi hai par ab ye sab chodd aur main baat par aa, aur ye bataa apni bahu ko le jaane kab aau main ?.”

as I finished my question, a glimpse of sadness showed up on Pranil’s face and he said “Iss shaadi mein ek adchan hai Chintu, Tanisha mangalik hai,agar tu ab ye shaadi nhi hone dena chahta toh mujhe bura nhi lagega.”, he said.

I started laughing hardly and Pranil got confused. Sneha understood what this meant ,she gave me a mesmerizing smile (‘Oh boy! iss smile ke liye main puri duniya sakta hu’, I thought) and stood up , “main sabka muh mithai le kar aati hu”,she said in a happy voice. We have crossed the silver jubilee of our marriage but main aaj bhi saara kaam chodd kar uski awaaz mein kho sakta hu but I thought if I didn’t complete this talk with Pranil then I could have a big scolding from her in my plate,so I continued with Pranil.

A ray of hope appeared on his face, “iska matlab tujhe iss baat se koi problem nhi hai?”,he asked.

“kaisi paglon wali baat kar rha hai yaar, 21st century aadhe se jyada guzar gayi aur tu ab bhi in sab andhvishwas mein bharosa rakhta hai, ab chup chap baith ke mithai kha aur engagement aur shaadi ki date fix kar mere saath , mere bête ke sasure (in some parts of northern india , ‘sasure’ is also used as a provocative verb)”,I scolded him. As I turned around,everyone was laughing and giggling on Pranil’s helplessness before me and suddenly Pranil grabbed me from behind and said “ab mujhe poora vishwas ho gaya ki meri ek lauti beti khush rahegi tum logon ke saath, ab jald se jald Tanisha aur Sudaan ki shaadi karwa kar hamari responsibility poori ho jaayegi fir main aur

sumita ‘Chaar dhaam’ ki yatra par nikal jaayenge”, Pranil said.

“Saale biskut chor,bada aaya shaadi karwa kar yatra par jaane wala, fir se mile huay 2 din bhi nhi beete aur sab chodd ke jaane ke bare mein bak rha hai tu aur kisne kaha teri responsibility bas itni hi hai, apne bachchon ke bachchon ko ice cream khilaane tera baap le jaayega kya?”, I continued.

Sudaan joined our conversation, he said “dad is right uncle, aap itni jaldi humse picha nhi chhuda sakte.”

And Sneha returned from the kitchen with a bowl of rasgullas , put it on the table and said to Pranil’s wife “exactly Bhabhi ji aap log kahin nhi jaa rhe, we will live like a big happy family”.

“Sneha ji jaisa aap log kahein hame manzoor hai, hum bohot lucky hain jo hamari beti ki shaadi aapke bête se hone jaa rhi hai”,Sumita bhabhi said.

“Now coming back to the point, I hate to say it guys but we’ll have to leave for home at noon as I postponed all of my business meetings for only two days but if I had known that I would find my oldest friend of all time here, toh main at least ek saal ki

chutti lekar aata yaar but what to do ,we gotta leave tonight .”, I said to Pranil with a swollen face.

“but no problemo because I will send my favorite jet on the next weekend to pick you up and take you to our home, we’ll take the decisions regarding the wedding there”. I cheered up a bit.

“we can fly there in our own plane ,uncle. Just tell us the address and we’ll be there on time”, Tanisha suggested.

“well first of all, you’ll call me Dad from here on and secondly my dear daughter-in-law, for security reasons, no aircraft other than our own is allowed to enter the premises of our home and no one can change the protocol, not even me. Sorry about that beta”,I told her.

“vaise its good to hear your voice once a day beta, bohot kam baatein karti ho tum, hum dono ki achchi jamegi bachche, tum bolti hi nhi aur main chup hi nhi hota”, I added,and everyone cracked up.

And the talks went on for a few hours, then we all started getting ready for our departure. I am very bad at saying good byes so I am gonna skip that part.

The Wedding :Part 2

Our jet landed at 3 pm, Sudaan was entering the estate for the first time, it was a big moment for him as well as for Sneha and me. He must have had a lot of confusions which might have emerged due to the contradictions between the images of the house in which he spend his childhood and the one in front of him. I read his exclamated face and I said to him “Surprised,son?. Don’t bother your mind. lets go inside and we’ll talk it out”.

“ok dad, lets go”, Sudaan said.

When we entered the main house, Sudaan sighed and said “it’s the same old in here dad, how so ?”.

“ I really wanna brag about it son, so just sit back and lets have something to drink and eat before I start”,i said.

“Right decision, my hubby dubby. Lets order milkshakes and some sandwiches ,while you two will talk , I’ll watch my son eat”, Sneha firmly said. Then she called out for Arthur,one of our butlers and ordered chocolate milkshakes with extra whipped cream and two scoops of vanilla ice cream for me and strawberry milkshake for Sudaan and herself and some sandwiches,

its pretty impressive how Sneha remembers my likings in intrigue details when there are thousands of them, things like this, make it possible for me to love her even more.

“So where were we?...oh yeah! you see son, this is Ambar palace,the flying mansion and our sweet sweet home. it took 2 years to complete this marvel but I finally succeeded before our 25th anniversary and I gave it as a present to your mother. Now let me tell you the specifications , Its shape is that of a conical frustum , its smaller base, on which the buildings stand is 1.5km in radius and the larger base is 2km in radius , the vertical distance between the bases is 1km and it comprises of 10 levels,100m each.the lowest level contains the largest propeller in the world which is responsible for the flying purpose of the mansion, the level above that is the nuclear power station which is covered by a 250cm thick lead coating in case the radiation control system fails, the station also generates the power need required to run the propeller and provides the electricity throughout the mansion ,this completes the functioning part. The 8th level is the storage unit, it carries the water,food and other necessary supplies . the 7th,the 6th and the 5th levels are survivor cells, they are designed to survive and counter any danger the 7th level is to make sure that the mansion lands safely on the ground even

if the main nuclear station shuts down somehow ,so it is the backup power unit ., they are well fitted with food, oxygen and water supplies for approximately 200 people , emergency transportation crafts for the same and world class weaponry and ammunition, it also have a independent communication centre, a medical care centre and independent takeoff and landing mechanism, so that even in the worst case scenario if the 1st ,2nd ,3rd ,4th and 8th ,9th ,10th levels are destroyed ,every one survives and can fight back if needed.” I paused for a moment as Sudaan opened his mouth to say something.

“ but what if one of these three levels gets destroyed, dad”, he asked.

“its good to see that you are paying attention son, afterall its your home too, so answer to your question is these three levels are significantly denser in construction than the other levels, they are made up of 1m extra thick layer of the titanium-iron-carbon alloy , so it is practically impossible to harm them at any extent.” I replied.

“wow dad, itna sab aapne sirf family safety ke liye kiya , great. Ab baaki ke levels ke bare mein bataaiye.” Sudaan insisted.

“Alright then, lets continue. Son, the 4th level is the defense unit , it is to take care of the unidentified aircrafts. We have a whole load of artillery and anti aircraft missiles to protect ourselves.

There are staff quarters on the 3rd level with a health clinic, a restaurant and a staff mess.

And the first level holds all of our planes, cars and bikes. Whenever we need a transportation, a hatch opens up on the launch pad and the vehicle is ready to go. That’s it.” I took a breather as I said it.

“you missed the 2nd level dad, what is it about ? come on tell me, suspense mat banaao”, Sudaan insisted.

“okay okay, batata hu yaar , I was just testing your common sense ,beta. The 2nd level is the best part , it’s the entertainment zone, the multiplex, the karaoke chamber, the stadium and the gaming centre are all on the 2nd level and besides this ,the fire fighters’ office is also there.

And finally the , the 0th level or you can say ,the top of the estate, where the head buildings reside , the mansion in which we are sitting right now has the exact same interiors as our old home like you remember so that you and I don’t feel home sick , the building on the right of our home is the security office and the building on the left is my lab .The tower

straight ahead is the watch tower, it keeps guard on everything happening on the top level like an eagle”, I said with a proud smile.

“so you are saying that this is basically a small city hovering at more than 5000m above sea level?”, he asked surprisingly.

“yeah, something like that hehehhe. Dur se dekh kar guess karna thoda difficult hai ki ye jagah itni badi hai”, I said.

“bas ab, bohot baatein ho gayi, time dekho dono 6 baj gaye hain, suno ji, ab mere bête ko aaraam karne do and let him see the things I bought for him in his wardrobe”, Sneha said turning toward me.

“your mom is right son, go get some rest and we’ll meet up for the dinner”, I said to Sudaan.

Few days passed, I introduced Sudaan to most of our employees, our head of security, Parth Naresh, nuclear station supervisor Niketan Sharma, head of fire dept. Sushil kumar and our 22 house servants.

The weekend came and as planned I sent my favorite jet to pick up the Mehtas. As the plane was approaching the runway , I received a call from Parth

Parth: Son Goku is here, I repeat Son Goku is here.

Me: alright, permission to land granted.

We received them with a bouquet and guided them to the house. As we sat down, Pranil asked “So this is Ambar Palace?, I thought it was just a myth and it didn’t exist and how come no one ever found it?”.

“well, as you can see it totally exists ,my friend aur rahi dhundne ki baat, its always covered in an artificial fog and consistently drifts with a speed of merely 3km/hour and those who nearly succeeded in finding it were shot down in mid air by our security, that’s why I sent my plane to get you here”, I replied to him.

“that means if I tried to surprise you someday by showing up here without informing first, your security will attack my plane”, Pranil said while raising his eyebrows.

“Actually more precisely, you’ll go boom, hahahahha.

Ab chod ye sab aur kaam ki baat karte hain, maine bachchon ki shaadi ke liye date aur venue chun liye hai , tujhe bas mujhe mehmaano ki list deni hai aur taiyaar rehna hai kanyadaan ke liye .” I said to Pranil.

“theek hai yaar, mujhe manzoor hai. Vaise date aur venue kya choose kiye hain tune?”, Pranil asked me.

“A company of mine just completed the construction of a hotel on top of a man-made island, 800m away from the Juhu beach in Mumbai, so before its grand opening next month, we’ll have it all for ourselves and the date I have decided is 21st of this month, aaj 6 tareekh hai, toh lagbhag 15 din hain hamare paas preparation ke liye”, I explained to everybody.

“time thoda kam hai par hum adjust kar lenge, hai na Tanisha aur Sneha bhabhi?”, said Sumita bhabhi.

“its decided then, bhabhi ji, Tanisha , kal se shopping shuru karte hain, aur inn budhdhon jeb dheeli karte hain”, Sneha said sarcastically and laughter spread in the room.

As discussed, next 10 days were spend in shopping and inviting the guests. We didn’t wanted to miss a single thing so we cross checked everything over hundreds times. As the wedding date drew nearer, we went to stay in the hotel, 2 days before the marriage and monitored everything from floral lightings to food items to avoid any error in preparations and the hotel became more and more crowded every hour with guests coming in from around the globe that included Sudaan’s and Tanisha’s college friends, my relatives whom I didn’t even knew ever existed, Pranil’s business associates, our family friends and many more.

Finally the wedding day came, the wedding hall glimmered with eye soothing floral decorations, personally taken cared by Sneha, Sneha wore a silver saaree ,well complimented by the white gold ornaments she put up. A silver bindi sparkled on her forehead. The bun hairstyle, my favorite thing that she does with her hair aur uske chehre par baar baar girti vo latt aaj bhi dil ki dhadkan badha deti hai. I seriously didn’t care what the rest of the people wore at that time.

The wedding rituals proceeded smoothly and were done with. Most of the guests returned home, only a few of Sudaan’s friends and our family members including Pranil’s remained. We sat around the newlywed couple and were watching the holy fire cool down. Then Pranil remembered something and asked “ yaar ek baat bataa, Sneha jaisiladki tujh jaise bandar se shaadi ke liye kaise maan gayi aur tu toh bachpan mein hi sheher chodd kar chala gaya tha , to iss se dobara kaise mila?”

Sudaan and others also insisted to know that. So I had no choice but to narrate the whole thing, then I started “guys, what I am about to tell you has the answers that most of you have about my life. I’ll start from the very beginning because its important that you know everything.

I was born on 22nd May, 2004,. I lived with my parents and grandma in Chandni Chowk ,delhi. I had an ability since birth, an eidetic memory, commonly known as photographic memory which means once I have seen anything, I never forget it. Both of my parents were teachers by profession, when they found out about this ,they started home schooling for me to enhance my potential. I had only two friends ,Punnu and Kittu. Kittu was the daughter of our family friend, Karim uncle. The three of us used to play all day long , till dawn to dusk. Nothing could separate us, or so we thought. And then in 2015,On 15th july, I accompanied my grandma to the market to fetch some grocery when suddenly I heard someone saying that ‘our muslim president was assassinated by an Hindu group, on the account of communal politics and was blamed to be partial towards people of his religion’ . Within a few minutes , a nationwide riot broke out . Me and grandma rushed toward home but before we could reach home , we saw a huge crowd holding shining swords in their hands in front of us. Fear flew in my veins as the crowd marched towards us, grandma stood in front of me, seeking every option of survival and begged them to leave us unharmed but it proved futile , I saw her head falling down her torso with my own eyes, terror jammed my limbs and I couldn’t took even a step away from the devil faces

coming to kill me. And in the next moment , I felt a warm sensation on my chest, blood was spilling out of it as a man from the crowd pierced his sword through my chest.

Chapter 3 :

The Second LifeThe last thing I remember before losing my consciousness was watching my father dashing up to me, the men with swords had left and then I blacked out.