Mayapuri - The City of Dreams...

Chapter 1

Many of you might have visited Mumbai. If not, then I think that you should visit that place. There are so many things to see, so many songs to hear and so many new things to learn.

A man was sitting in an auto rickshaw. He was travelling through the busy streets of Mumbai. He asked the driver to stop the auto rickshaw near a chawl. The man paid the driver and went inside. He knocked on a familiar door. A familiar lady opened it.

The name of the man was Ganpat. The woman was his wife. Her name was Latika. Years ago, they used to live happily in their village. Then, they came to the city in search of some city gold. Did they get anything? This is a question they often asked themselves.

They had three daughters. Their names were Renuka, Naina and Priya.

Renuka was the eldest daughter. She worked as a clerk in a private bank. Her parents had fixed her marriage with a young man named Ajay, who worked in a company.

Renuka had a simple lifestyle. She earned ₹20,000 per month. She was not a pampered child of her parents. She did not believe in adventures. She was very practical. She hated fairy tales which compelled people to dream.

On the other hand, Ajay liked to dream big. He did not want to sleep in a small room and eat from a steel plate. He wanted the best because he believed that he was the best.

When Ajay saw Renuka for the first time, he was enchanted by her heavenly beauty. He said to himself,"Isn't it strange? Indeed it is. How can there be a ruby in the house of a pauper?" He liked the way she talked. The maiden with fair skin and hazel eyes had tied his heart with her black hair. How could he escape?

Renuka was sitting on her bed and counting some pieces of paper. In the papers it was written,

"I promise to pay the bearer the sum of five hundred rupees."

People call such pieces of paper, 'money'.

Renuka's mother came with a bowl of kheer in her hand and stood near her. She kept the bowl on the table and said,"Did you arrange the money?" Renuka finished counting the money. She wrote the sum on a piece of blank paper and said,"Yes, I took a loan from our office. I borrowed a little more from some of my friends. Everything is fine now. We have enough money to organise the wedding. Tell your husband not to spend money on wine. Here, take this. Keep the money carefully."

Latika took the plastic bag and kept it in her almirah. Her husband was sitting on a chair. He was talking to the priest on the mobile phone. He disconnected the call and sighed. He saw his wife standing beside him. His wife looked angry. She said to him,"I saw the thing that you have hidden in that corner of the almirah." Ganpat was tensed. It was true that he loved his wife. But, he was afraid of her anger. He smiled nervously and said,"Latika, actually.......I did not hide this today. I bought that 3 months ago and......" Latika did not let him complete the sentence and said,"Do you think that I am stupid? It has been 28 years since our marriage. Do you think that I don't know you? What shall I do with you? Don't you know how much you earn? We have to organise our daughter's wedding. She has taken a loan for that. We also need to pay the rent. Even after knowing all these, how can you spend money on wine?"

Ganpat wanted to say something but Latika left the room without listening to him. Ganpat sighed. He looked outside and saw 3 young boys playing on the street. He remembered his days as a child. He used to run in the green fields, drink water from the lake and race with the calves in the evening. The very next moment, he turned towards the only almirah in his room. He opened it and took out the bottle of wine that he had kept in a corner. He took a sip and kept it back.