Thikaana

Chapter One

Life truly is strange. One moment you feel this is it, it will be this way forever and the other moment? You realize how truly uncertain & fleeting it is. It may change in a blink and you can't really grasp it. This is how Sana felt too. For her too, it was finally changing and for the first time, it seemed like, for the better.
Sana Singh Balveer, sat on her bed and looked at the chaos her room had become as she was in the process of packing her stuff. She let out a huge sigh and lied down for a bit. The packing had really tired her out. She couldn't believe it. She was finally getting to live her dream, even if it was going to be short lived. Sana, in the 25 years of her life, had never really done anything for herself. She had just known a life were she had to just follow through whatever was sent her way, except for these last two years. Sana was the first born of her parents and was followed by a younger brother, Shehbaz who she absolutely loved with everything in her. She loved her parents too, and they? They too loved her, yes they did. However, it was probably not how she had wanted it. She knew they loved her but she did not feel it in her soul the way she wanted it to. She felt that the love could have been more than what it was. She had been used to of living away from them, she was sent to live with her Mama mami when she was a young girl in order to send her to a better school. When she returned from there, she went off to a hostel in Dalhousie for the rest of her schooling. Sana had learnt to live a quiet and timid life. She never really expressed her discomfort in any decision of her parents, she had learnt to absorb whatever they brought her way, knowing that it would be for the best. She never really demanded anything from her parents but deep down she lacked something. She felt that her soul longed for a home that she could truly call hers. Her brother loved her dearly but now that he too was away in Canada for his studies and job, she felt really alone. The last two years came her way like a literal blessing. Probably the only time in these 25 years, where she asked and begged for something for herself. Her parents were very clear that right after she's done with her graduation, she will be married off but Sana? She was ambitious. She wanted to make something out of her life. She wanted to reach somewhere. All her life she had bowed down to every decision that came from her family, but there was something she wanted to do for herself. She wanted to do her MBA, make something out of her life, work at a renowned firm and reach somewhere. These were of course far-fetched ideas but she went after them anyways. Thankfully, after a lot of promises and commitments and begging her father did let her pursue an MBA but he had made it clear that it would be it. A job after that was out of question, they wanted her to focus on settling down as that's what a girl's true calling in life is, they thought. She had to beg her father to let her pursue her dream job after an MBA even if it is for a limited time, she just couldn't settle without that. It was what her dream had been since all these years. For her a degree without an experience, a stepping in the actual professional practical world meant nothing. She had to do this for herself, before she yet again just accepts the fate her family has decided for her.
"Sana Puttar? Kithay hai tu? Sari tyaari ho gayi?" her mother shouted coming in to the room. Sana sighed and opened her eyes. It wasn't like she was going away for the first time in her life.
"Nahi Mumma, thori bohat hogayi hai, baqi bhi ho jayegi. Abhi bhi 4 din hain Janay mai". Her mother looked up at her while folding her clothes and putting them in her suitcase. She sighed. She really did love her daughter a lot, but she just couldn't express it the way she should have.
"Sana, meri bachi apna khayal rakhna wahan par. Theek hai? Theek se khati rehna, aur bas yaad rakhna jo waada tu apne papa se kar k jaa rahi hai. Bohat waddi zimidaari le kar jaa rahi hai tu apne naal. Tujhe yaad hai na k tujhe w.." "Mumma please" Sana interrupted her, rolling her eyes and getting off the bed. She too sat down, and started putting the clothes in the suitcase. "Yaad hai aur pata hai mujhe, baar baar kehne se koi zada asar nahi ho jayega. Aap mat karo meri fikar aur na hi meri zimidaari ki. Pata hai mujhe" she blurted, tired. She really was.

****
It was 6 am and the blaring sound of the alarm literally deafened him. He opened his eyes, and shut the alarm. He stretched his well-toned body and sat up grumpily. Mornings were just not his thing. He decided to freshen up and go for his morning run. He checked his phone to see his schedule and sighed. He had a long day ahead. After coming back from his run, he turned his coffee machine on & went for a quick shower. There were days where he really felt the emptiness of it all. A life so successful, where he had it all, but only on the face of it. Did he really have it all? He often thought on these lines, often let the hollowness eat him up but would then shove the thought away. Over the years he had learnt to live with it, he had come to terms with this life. He knew it is what it is. He sighed and quickly gulped down the black coffee & headed out. Today was a long day, he couldn't let all this get to him today.

****
Four days later, Sana stood at the airport, smiling and nervous. She had finally landed here. Finally in Mumbai. The city that was going to give wings to her dreams just like it had to millions. She had a million emotions going on inside her. She was scared, nervous, excited as hell and just feeling it all. Being away from her family was not something new to her, no. It was being here in Mumbai, a world in itself, all alone and a life to build in a limited time. She had absolutely no clue about the city or anything in it. She was still however ecstatic. She decided to take it one step at a time. She was now booking for a cab to take her to the apartment. Her father had bought her an apartment, a small one though with one bedroom so that she doesn't have to share it with strangers. She was grateful for that. "Chal Sana, let's do this baby." She whispered to herself, as she stepped into the cab & into her new life.