Preview "BEYOND THE BLOCKED DOORS"

Beyond The Blocked Doors

An Inspiring tale of friendship, fate, forgiveness & love 

#Prologue

Our life is the best gift from God, and also there is nothing more complicated than life. We never know what is written in our destiny and for what purpose we are born. I wonder if it’s just us designing our destiny.

Can a newborn select its parents? As a child, can we decide where and how our early education should be? Can we guarantee that no one would ever leave us? Can anyone assure us that we would never meet with an accident? For many such happenings, we can't choose them for ourselves. Either God or our parents decide many of them. 

Half of the journey of our life is designed by God or our parents, and the rest is created by us. We have no control over what God has given us. But, after that, we have opportunities to write our destiny. We are always free to change our current circumstances with our decisions at times. Our choices determine if we are born to live either the same, better or worse life. Those decisions are highly responsible for which kind of life we deserve. 

There is a small town, Unnao, a little far from Kanpur. I had spent a few years of my childhood in there when my father's posting was there; it was about twenty years ago. Last year, I visited the town once again to meet my maternal uncle. My uncle and aunt were well aware of my passion for writing and my recently released debut novel, "You Can’t Draw My Destiny". While talking over the evening tea, they both were trying to persuade me to meet a girl who lived in their neighbourhood. They wanted me to listen to her story. 

‘I don’t know her, and I am not sure why anyone would open up her entire life in front of a stranger.’

‘Maybe, she will; she has read your book, I gave to her, and she liked it a lot. You should at least try to reach out her. Her life has been too dissimilar from anyone’s life. If you don’t listen to her, you might miss a remarkable story. She lived here in her grandparent’s house.’ 

‘Oh… Okay… She stays with them?’

‘No, she lives here all alone.’ I became silent for a while as I didn’t see any positive vibe when I heard that. Who on earth lives all alone in such a big bungalow? 

‘Sorry Mami, I don't want to listen to the story of someone who stays all alone; far away from her friends and her family. It's unbelievable that she has locked herself in a big bungalow.’ As soon as I said it, Mami patted me on my shoulder. 

‘Did I say that she locked herself there, or she didn’t meet anyone? Stop imaging everything, miss storyteller.’ We both laughed. She continued after that. 

‘It's her destiny, which brings her here; or in a better way, I should say, she has written her destiny on her own.’ I started listening to my aunt. ‘I bet you would have never met such a jubilant and affirmative person in your entire life. Her life is an inspiration for many others. Don’t make your opinion without meeting her at least once.’ After listening to her, it seemed a bit interesting. She was right; I should not judge her without talking to her. I just smiled at her.

My aunt asked me to come outside; I followed her. She pointed a bungalow at opposite the road. The outer walls were painted yellow and white; while the doors were painted blue. Outside the bungalow, there was a garden with lots of colourful flowers, including my favourite-the Sunflower. I could see a hanging chair on the balcony of the first floor. A smile had already aroused on my face.

‘Wow! It’s beautiful and well maintained.’ I wondered. It was the most dazzling place among all visible residences there. In the evening, the sunrays were peeping from the corner of her house. ‘How old she is?’ I asked inquisitively.

‘She is just 25 or maybe 26. Her name is Trisha. She had spent her entire childhood here, and then she went to Delhi. Two years ago, she permanently shifted back here.’ 

‘I feel that I should meet her. Let’s go to her.’

We entered her bungalow and rang the bell. It was her first sight; she had fair smooth skin with grey eyes. Her shoulder-length black-brown hair had wavy curls. Her smile was too natural and impressive. She was about three inches taller than me; wearing pink trouser with an off-shoulder cream colour top. 

‘Hello, aunty! Seeing you after a long time. Please come in.’ She looked at me. I smiled. 

‘Hi… I am Ma...’  

‘Are you Manya?' Before I could complete, she exclaimed. 'What a pleasant surprise! I have read your book; auntie had given that to me. It’s awesome. Let me know when you will write your next one. I would love to read.’ 

'Sure.' I smiled.

‘Let me just plug my laptop in for charging. Please excuse me for a minute and please feel at home.

‘She is full of energy. I like her.’ I told my aunt when she left. We sat on the couch. The interior of the house was splendid. All walls were painted cleverly with small texture, and decorated well. 

‘What did I tell you?’ My aunt raised her eyebrows.

Trisha's expressions were of a surprise when I told her that I was interested in listening to her story. 

‘Are you serious? Like… really? You want to know my life-story.’ She was happy. 

‘I am curious about why you stay here all alone, and as my aunt says, you have written your destiny on your own. You have surely heard that Indian proverb that “The thirsty man goes to the well; the well doesn't go to the thirsty man.” In this case, it’s my need to explore a great story.’

‘My pleasure. But…’ She paused.

‘If you are not comfortable, it’s absolutely fine.’ 

‘No. I would love to tell you my story, and it is an honour for me. But, my story cannot be completed until you listen to Tejas. Without him, my story would always be incomplete.’

‘Who is he?’

‘He is the most important person in my life.' She paused, and I smiled. 'You will get to know how. He is coming tomorrow on vacations.’

‘Okaaayyy, that's great. If it is so, I will talk to both of you.’

‘Tomorrow is Sunday. So, let's start it in the morning; I am already excited to tell you about myself. Later, I will also call Tejas here.'

‘That’s perfect. See you at 10:00 a.m.’ I thumbed up.

I have never written a story with two points of view, and for this story, I was soon about to realize that without Tejas, I could not complete it.

Next day, I met Tejas at Trisha's house. He was about 5’10” tall, wheatish in complexion; his deep black eyes with thick eyelashes and eyebrows had a lot to say, and his smile was calm, composed and matured. They both were friendly and optimistic about life. I spoke to them separately. 

#1

Trisha

7^th September 2016, Delhi

I closed my eyes and relaxed my head against the stem of the tree. Tears had already dried up and didn’t come out; even when my heart cried out loudly, and I wanted to scream. 

‘Hey, Trisha! What are you doing here?’ 

I suddenly woke up from my thoughts when Kunal came and sat next to me. I adjusted myself shifting a bit from him.

‘Nothing. I don’t want to go back to my room.’

‘What is about having a coffee?’

‘No, Kunal. I don’t want to…..’

‘… I am not listening to you.’ He held my hand and pulled me. I put my diary inside my bag and got up. 

We were at the same café we had visited numerous times. Kunal ordered two coffees. 

‘Kunal, you don’t need to do this.’ I was surprised by how I didn’t find a single sentence to talk to him. 

‘I need to do so. You come out of your room after a long time. You never know which opportunity is waiting for you to come out.’

‘What? What do you mean? Which opportunity?’ I was inquisitive.

‘Why don’t you busy yourself, Trisha? Instead of tiring your brain for the entire day and night, why don’t you let it think sensibly?’

I understood only a bit of his saying because my mind was out of order to think sensibly. It stopped working in any direction. Whenever I tried to think about my future, my thoughts ended up at the same point, making a complete circle.

‘Take your time and think about what I said.’ 

I didn’t want to go back home. After meeting Kunal, I sat in a park near home and stayed there until it’s dark. I didn’t have a choice to stay there for the entire night. So, I went back home. The door was already open. I didn’t ring the bell and entered home. Raine and Kunal’s mother was sitting on the couch. Their back was towards me. 

‘I told you that that girl was ominous for your happy family, but you didn’t listen to me. Now, see, what happened; she screwed up the poison in your happy life as well.’ Kunal’s mother said and sipped wine from a glass.

Raine seemed depressed and hopeless. They didn't notice me, standing at the door.

‘I wish I would have listened to you. I didn’t want her to stay here anymore, but then I thought that she was Keshav’s daughter. Keshav was too attached to her. His soul might not be in rest if I ask Trisha to leave; and where would that poor girl go?’ 

‘You are still thinking about Keshav. Wake up, dear. At least now, you should think about your son, Reyan….’

It was unbearable what I just heard. I held my tears and breaths for a while. I did not think about Reyan even once. I slowly went back to the outside and busted out with tears. After five minutes, I controlled myself and pressed the doorbell. The door was still open.

They both looked at me when I entered. I put my eyes down, as I didn’t have guts to look into Raine’s inquisitive eyes. I directly walked to my room and locked it. I threw my bag and myself on the bed. I screamed and wept from the depth of my heart. I clenched my fist, crumpled the bedsheet and hit my fist continuously on the bed; I was never that helpless. I sobbed for about an hour and stayed on my bed. After that, I pulled my bag and fished out my diary once again. 

I opened a page and started writing freely without thinking twice:

I don’t know why God always tests my patience. I never did wrong with anyone, but He has been still punishing me since childhood. I don’t even know what my mistake is. I know that He won't kill me because He wants me to suffer for my entire life. He left me all alone in this cruel world. Sometimes, I doubt if He even exists; I really don’t think so. There is no God.

After that, I cried a lot for a few minutes, and then I restarted writing.

All right, enough is enough. It’s enough crying and enough expecting anything from virtually present God. He wants me to suffer. Okay, now I am ready; I am willing to play this game. I would love to accept all of the challenges. Now, bring as much as problems, You could bring into my life. Now, let’s see who win. It is just between You and me. From today onwards, I will neither blame You for anything nor expect anything from You. I am ready now. Let’s start it. Now I will make my way on my own. I know that You don’t kill me because I am unhesitant to die; You want me to suffer. I will love to play your game because now, I have nothing to lose. I will restart my life, where I left to live on my own. I will re-write my destiny. I will find my way beyond million of blocked doors. Things are changed; people have changed and my circumstances too, but I will restart my journey from where I was four years ago.

Four Years Ago

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Beyond The Blocked Doors