"A (not-so-)short story somewhere on the lines of a typical Bollywood drama!"
Her Story
“Meet our daughter Chhaya!” her parents had just introduced her to Harsh and his parents. Harsh Razdaan was a Doctor and had just completed his post-graduation in Ophthalmology. The moment he’d completed his degree, he had been bombarded with calls for interview from several hospitals in the city. He was a smart kid and quite comfortably secured a reputable and well-paid job in the city’s leading hospital.
Soon after Harsh started practising, his parents had started looking for a suitable girl for him to settle down, which was precisely the reason that had brought them down to the Kapoors’ place. The Kapoors were friends of friends, and a renowned family in the city. Their daughter, Chhaya had completed her engineering a year ago and was now working for an MNC in the city itself. The Razdaans had found out that they were looking for a groom for Chhaya. They approached and talked to them about their son, and the Kapoors were more than happy to invite them to their place, so that the two families, especially, their children, could get to know each other.
The meeting had gone down well. Once the Kapoors had left, Chhaya’s parents came to her to ask her opinion. They had been asked for a quick response as the Kapoors had really liked Chhaya‒“She is very smart, and very homely and respectful”, they had said while leaving.
Chhaya, too, should have liked Harsh. He was intelligent for sure, he was funny and witty too, and was indeed a gentleman. But she was confused. She was confused over a possibility‒Aashay Tripathi, her next door neighbour. Aashay had been alongside her right from childhood. When they were kids, they would play together, do their homework together, but most of that time, they would be found fighting over something or the other. Every time though, they would always manage to make it up in the end!
As they grew up, they stopped playing but still fought over things; in a more sophisticated way though‒chatting. They would talk (fight) over things like a piece of chocolate, or politics, or philosophy, or future, or anything for that matter. They would never agree on any topic but would somehow always settle these arguments, only to start up new ones! They had agreed to always disagree with each other. Even though they spent so much time together, they never were anything more than just friends. There were times when Chhaya wished that their relationship was more than that, but he had never asked her out.
Today again, she faced the same dilemma. She didn’t know if anything existed between them. What she knew was that, if at all anything existed, she could latch on to that tiny little something for the rest of her life. She couldn’t sleep that night. She had a decision to make. If only Aashay too liked her. Things would have been so much easier for her right now. Her family wouldn’t have agreed, but she knew she would have convinced them.
The next morning, she told her parents that she was ready to marry Harsh. Both the families were extremely happy. Chhaya wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do but she couldn’t have stuck onto a possibility. She would have waited for Aashay had he loved her. They being together would have been the best thing that could have happened to her, but sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.
His Story-I
Aashay Tripathi was the only child of his parents. They lived next door to the Kapoors and Aashay would spend more time there than at his own house. Throughout the day, he would keep playing and fighting with Chhaya, the daughter of the Kapoor family. He liked being around her.
As they grew up, he started liking her even more. He would look for reasons to meet her, to talk to her. Whenever they would talk, he knew that everything that she said was what he too believed in, but he’d still argue just so that they would keep on talking. He was so much into her that he even went to the same college as her even though he could as easily have gotten into a better college given his better academic records.
They were never anything more than friends, though. He wanted their relationship to be more than that, but Chhaya considered them just friends, or so he thought. Their relationship was still special, and he couldn’t risk ruining it. He didn’t know if Chhaya thought of him this way, but she had never given any indication. Had she even thought of it, he would have proposed to her that very instant.
He was doing his Masters’ when he heard about Chhaya’s marriage. His heart sank a little, but he was happy for her. He took solace in the fact that at least he did the right thing and didn’t ruin their friendship! They being together would have been the best thing that could have happened to him, but sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.
His Story-II
Mahesh Razdaan was one of the reputed businessmen in the city, who had built his name from scratch. He had two sons‒Rahul and Harsh. The elder son, Rahul, had succeeded him in his business, and was now extending it even outside the city. He wanted his younger son to join his company too, but Harsh never showed any interest in the family business. He wanted to become a Doctor. Mahesh supported him anyway, and he did ultimately become a Doctor.
During his post-graduation, he met Priya. She was a sweet little angel who completely turned his life around. As the time went past, he fell madly in love with her. They had become virtually inseparable with time. They would study together, eat together, and do almost everything together throughout the day. Within a year, he had grown so much fond of her that he could not imagine being with anyone else now.
Soon they completed their studies and started working. He hadn’t known but his mom-dad had started looking for brides for him. When they told him that they were looking at some Chhaya Kapoor for him, he was shocked; but to be fair, he too hadn’t told them about Priya yet. He explained them that he loved Priya and wanted to marry her and not anyone else, but his parents didn’t agree. The situation looked like getting out of control when he finally gave in. They went to see her later and he agreed to marry her. He had different plans in mind though. Priya was waiting for him, after all. He hadn’t disobeyed his parents ever before, but desperate times demanded desperate measures.
"In life we so frequently assume things or take them for granted. We fail to act in order to avoid risks. In order to protect the beauty that we see today, we jeopardize the very existence of the much more magnified form of that beauty that could have evolved from this tomorrow. Both Chhaya and Aashay would have understood this some day. 'If only I had taken that risk', they would regret later. But this does not give us the authority to play with others' life. We cannot commit to one thing just to avoid a confrontation for the other. Harsh, too, would have realized it sooner or later."
