Inward Journey-A Story

Kavita had just finished her 12th exams and now she was gearing herself for engineering entrance exams. Her father felt it will be good if she gets domicile certificate, so that in worst case she can get a seat in maharashtra. Though kavita disliked the idea of getting admission because of quota, she wanted to get a seat purely on merit and in no other way...but the thought of going to kohali, a small town where her father grew up appealed to her a lot, and she felt it will be a great family outing if nothing else...she will get to see her father's school etc...

So the bowkar family decided to make a small trip to kohali to get the domicile certificate. It was not a direct journey, they had to go from calcutta to mumbai and then take a train to kohali. They decided to stop at kavita's mausi's place before heading further.
It was monsoon season in mumbai, this year the gods were really pouring cats and dogs.. Kavita's mom's plans of going for shopping had to be shelfed.

The night prior to there journey, Kavita's baba's fell sick, he had high fever, Kavita's mom felt no point going to kohali now, maybe its god's wish. Kavita's father was a practical man and did not believe in destiny crap...he said, we should do what we came for, so the family decided that Kavita and her mom will go while her father stayed back.

Kavita's mausi's gave them address of her friend who was teaching in kohali....most of there relatives were now either in metro's or in US...

The journey from mumbai to kohali was beautiful...lot of farms, with small cute house s in the middle, one could see the kids playing merrily, kavita felt like getting down and running in the farms...alas she could not...she was so tempted to pull the chain...then the thought of a dose from her mom made her get back to the boring real world.

Finally the train reached there destination, they took an auto to reach mausi's friend Sita's place. They asked someone on the road for direction and they said, oh aap ko madam ke ghar jaana hai, hum pahucha dete hai. Kavita was amazed to see how well known sita was in this place.

Finally the reached sita's home. The rang the bell, a girl came to open the house, asked them to sit and said sita didi will come in a second, do they want anything.
the house was well kept with minimal furniture, kavita started imagining how this sita female will look like, she thought must be some 40 plus aunty, who is so conscious of her age that she forces everyone to call aunty and she must be very strict in school thats why everyone knows her. she also felt what kind of person is she, she knew we are coming still she did not bother to keep herself free.

As she was thinking all this, a girl wearing a pink punjabi suit came in and said, maaf keejeyega mein aap ko khud receive nahin kar paayi, subah kuch bachhe padne aate hai...unke exams hai kal se so postpone nahin kar paayi...

Kavita could not believe she is Sita, she looked like 26 yr old. Her mom had told her that sita was around 35. Her pleasing face and geninue warmth cleared all perceptions kavita formed till then...

Sita said, aap log fresh ho jaye, aunty aap aaram keejiye, mein kavita ke saath jaake certificate ka kaam dekh loongi. On there way kavita, told sita about her plans...why she wanted to be an engineer, what all she wants to do etc...kavita could not believe how freely she could talk to sita, and she did not seem that elder.

The certificate thing got done quickly, kavita was amazed to see how much people in govt. office, respected sita. Kavita felt, if she was not there, the staff would have taken there own sweet time. Kavita asked sita on there way back, aap kya padi ho? She felt sita must have done M.Sc. in literature or something, Sita said, she studied biotechnology from B'lore university, and also did M.S. from IISc. Kavita was amazed, Sita could guess the question kavita had in her mind, what are u doing here in small city?

Sita said, she had worked few years in a research laboratory, somehow she could not fit in that environment, wherein there was so much of competitiveness and manipulation and that's when she decided to come home. Her parents were no more now, she loves this place so much that, now she cannot think of leaving this place.

On there way back, they had gol-gappas and kavita was happy her mom was not there with them, else she would have never allowed her to eat road side food.

In the evening, they all went to a temple nearby, kavita liked the ambience of the small city.
Kavita's mom told her to sleep early as they had to catch the early morning train...kavita's was really not in mood to sleep....alas she had to, she said, ma, do u know sita didi has done bio-tech? Kavita's mom said, i know...she was really very bright, its sad that the big city could not do justice to her talent.

Next day, as they were ready to go, Sita handed Kavita a small statue of god ganesha and presented her a book, and blessed her that may all your dreams come true.
Kavita was really touched to receive gifts from sita, who barely knew her. She hugged Sita and said, aap hamare ghar jaroor aana.

As Kavita said farewell to sita and got into the auto, she could not control herself and she started crying, she herself could not understand what is making her cry, why is she feeling so sad....her mother tried to console her on the way, beta kya huva...
she said ma, pata nahin...didi ek din mein hi itni apni ho gayi ki bas aasoo aa gaye.

In the train, she thought about sita...felt sad that her dreams could not come true and she had to compromise her life in some ways...then she thought maybe this was better, having someone like her must have been a blessing for so many kids on kohali.

With these thoughts...she looked it the book given by sita, it was a book written by abdul kalam azad titled 'wings of fire'....on the front cover sita had written a note , follow your heart and do not doubt your dreams, it will take you to your destination.

Kavita said to herself, ha didi mein pakka apna khwab poora karoongi.