Chapter 2 - The Decision

Archana turned towards the direction, where Veni was pointing. Sethu was walking towards them. After seeing him, Veni was leaving away from that place.

“Hey Veni, Where are you going?”, Archana shouted

“Please leave me. I want to go home.”, Veni replied back and left the place.

Archana stood there. She was feeling little nervous. Sethu directly came to her front and looked into her eyes.

“Excuse me.....”, Archana was about to move from that place. Sethu stopped her again.

“Archana, please.... listen. Just 5 minutes.”

She stopped, but couldn’t face him. He continued again,

“It's been nearly one year I have been following you and proposed you several times. But I am getting no response all the times. Atleast talk to me. What is your problem? Why can’t you understand my feeling!”

“Please leave me. I want to go home. If someone notices us, then that would cause a big issue.”, Again Archana attempted to leave the place, but the words of Sethu made her to stop.

“Archana, Why???? Why are you playing with my life. Atleast tell me Yes or No. I want to hear the answer now. I cannot wait hereafter. Please tell me your decision now.”, Sethu’s voice and words were harsh, but not his heart.

“Is that what you wanted. Then fine. I will tell my decision now. Please listen carefully. My answer is NO. I hate you. I don’t want to live with you. My heart does not think about you even once in a day. I don’t want to see you again. I want only one thing from you.”

There was some silence and she continued again,

“Please don’t disturb me.”

Archana’s words came like a bullet from a gun. Sethu was speechless. Archana started walking, but this time he couldn’t stop her. He could only saw her walking towards her home.

Archana entered into the house and threw the bag on the sofa. Her mother was getting ready to visit the nearby temple. She saw her coming in.

“Archana, I am going to temple now and will be back in one hour. Snacks are kept in the dining table, milk is at the refrigerator. Prepare some coffee and have with snacks.”

Archana did not answer anything. She went into her room and closed the door. I would say she banged the door instead of closing. She sat on her bed and looking at herself in the dressing table mirror. 'Some emotions cannot be controlled. It slowly fills your heart in high pressure and keeps on increasing the pressure steadily and blast heavily when it gets a chance. Most of the times, the chance is clearly visible when we are alone. All kinds of emotions will come out in the same format'.  THE LOUD CRY. Archana just looked at the mirror for less than one minute. She couldn’t control her tears. She started crying loud. She tried to control her and stop crying. But she couldn’t. Tears were running down the cheeks and drenched her favourite salwar. She wiped her tears with the handkerchief. But it kept on flowing. She almost cried for 20 minutes and finally controlled herself. She prepared coffee and had it with the snacks kept in the dining table. Her eyes were red and swollen. If anyone look at her eyes, then definitely they will feel heavy and shed at least one drop of tear.

After her dinner she watched TV along with her father for some time. She was sitting beside her father, holding his hands and he patted on her head. Her mom noticed her eyes and asked,

“Hey Archana, What happened to your eyes. Its all red??”

“Nothing ma. I am feeling drowsy.”

Archana slowly stood up and walked towards her room. Her father noticed her walking into her room. She lied on her bed and struggled to sleep for some time. Her tears spread over the pillow before she started to sleep.

Archana’s father entered into her room and looked at her. She was sleeping like a small child. He slowly and gently touched her forehead and left the room.

It was 5 o clock in the early morning. It was still dark. Moon and stars were enjoying in the absence of Sun. Even a melody will be considered as noise in extreme silence. A beautiful song came out from Archana’s mobile phone during that time. I would say its a beautiful noise. Her phone was ringing, but she did not wake up. It sang for the complete cycle until the recorded voice popped out to the receiver’s end. This particular time, I think I should share some science and psychology.

'Whenever you are in deep sleep, your body will be considered as semi-paralyzed. That means your conscious mind will not work. Only your sub-conscious mind will be active. The conscious mind controls all the major sensitivities like hearing, touching, smelling, seeing etc. So when you are in deep sleep, these basic feeling will be communicated only through sub-conscious mind using the code of dreams. So whenever you hear a big noise in your deep sleep, your semi-paralyzed body will not be able to hear the noise. But your ear drum vibrates accordingly. This will reach your sub-conscious mind and it encode this in the form of dream and make you awake'.

When Archana’s phone rang for the second time, her ear drum vibrated, reached her sub-conscious mind and encoded it in the form of dream. Her mother came into her room with a tower of vessels in her hand. Suddenly she dropped all the vessels and created a huge noise which made her awake from sleep. Now she could hear her mobile ringing clearly. She attended the call with half eyes opened.

“Hello.....”

“Am I speaking to Archana?”, a lady voice in US accent. Archana got up from her bed.

“Yes. I am Archana speaking.”

“I guess, its early morning there and I apologize to disturb you at this time.”

“Its okay. No Problem.”, Archana was very keen, kept the mobile very close to her ears.

“We are very glad to inform you that you have been shortlisted as one of the 50 researchers for Mars Mission. Further details will be emailed to you shortly.”

Archana was shocked. She couldn’t believe what she heard was true.

“I am sorry.......”

There was a sweet laugh from the other end.

“Archana has been selected for Mars Mission.”

Archana got stunned for few seconds. Before getting back to normal, the voice continued again,

“All details will be sent to your email id shortly. You have to acknowledge, I mean you have to accept it before this Friday. For any clarifications you can reach us at any time.”

The call was mutually disconnected after few clarifications. Archana went into her biggest confusion of life.

The next day, full media surrounded her house. She was the only Indian to be participated in this Mission. So the entire country wanted to know her decision. Two more days are only left to acknowledge. All magazines, TV channels were covering her story in different angles in order to increase their trp rating. She clearly told everyone that she will announce her decision on Friday.

She couldn’t sleep that night. She was thinking until the Sun rises in the east. At a certain point, her eyes became heavy and slowly fell into sleep. Once she woke up, there was extreme silence in her house. She heard some newspaper moving sound from hall and some vessels sound from the kitchen. She thought, her father might be reading the newspaper and mom might be cooking in the kitchen. She slowly walked into the kitchen. Her mother was cleaning the utensils.

“Mom......”, Archana called.

No response from her mother’s side.

“Mom... Breakfast?”, Archana asked again.

Her mother just turned back and looked at the dining table where she kept the breakfast. She didn’t speak anything.

“Mom?? Don’t you speak with me???”

There were no responses from her still. Archana left that place with disappointment. She did not notice her mother’s eyes had swollen with tears. As usual she packed the breakfast in her Tiffin Box and started from home to bus stop.

Veni congratulated her. The entire college was congratulating her. She had become a star on that day. But she was in a confusion state whether to accept it or not.

On her way back to her home, Sethu stopped her. He looked very serious. Archana was avoiding his eyes.

“Archana... Enough!!”

She did not understand anything. She looked at him with puzzled eyes. He continued again.

“Enough of my waiting. My wait has come to an end now. Your ASRC decision will tell me the result of my one year wait.”

She was just listening to him. He continued,

“That day, you told that you hate me. I am sure those words came only from your mouth, not from your heart. Your tone was soft and low when you said you hate me. Your eyes hesitated to meet mine. You are killing yourself. Life is very short. Live it as your wish. Sacrificing life is not the best thing to live a life. You don’t need to say anything. Your eyes speak a lot. Your answer to ASRC is the answer to my love. If you deny the offer tomorrow, I will consider this as your acceptance to my love. If not, you will become the last girl, whom I have a place in my heart. I know you love me. Awaiting for your date tomorrow.”

Sethu left that place without expecting anything from her.  She was speechless.

That night, Archana was checking her emails in the laptop. She heard someone knocked at the door and she turned back. Her father was waiting near the entrance.

“Dad..... Come in. Why are you standing there??”, she closed the laptop and smiled at her father. He came and sat beside her. He removed his spectacles and started to speak.

“My sweet girl, I know you are in confusion. But it is very simple. Listen to your heart and implement it using your brain. Even if you accept this offer, I will feel very proud and would say to this world that you are my daughter. If you don’t, I will feel more happier that I am going to live the rest of my life by seeing my daughter’s face. But this decision should come from your heart. It should not be a half-minded decision. Hope you will take a good decision tomorrow. Take care my child. Good night dear.”

He patted on her shoulder and left the room half-minded. He expected her to speak something with him. But she didn’t. Archana noticed that her dad forgot his spectacles in her room. She took it and walked towards his room. When she reached the entrance of this room, she noticed that her dad was crying and wiping his tears with a handkerchief. That was the first time she saw her dad crying. It looked like a deeply buried emotion coming out of his control. She did not want her dad to see her watching him cried. She slowly left that place and came to her room. She thought tomorrow is the very important day in her life.

The next day, the entire country was awaiting her decision. All media assembled in front of her house. They had arranged live telecast of her interview. The entire population of the country sat in front of TV expecting her decision including Sethu. A single decision was going to change the fate of this country.

A long bench with some 20 to 25 mics were arranged  in front of her house. The place was fully surrounded by cameras and crowd was also eagerly watching. Satellite antennas were set tuned to telecast the live relay. All reporters were ready with their notebooks. She slowly walked to that place along with her father. She sat in the middle and her father sat beside. She leaned forward towards the mic and adjusted her throat. The noise spread over the speakers, wherein the operator adjusted the noise level to bring it back normal. Again she leaned forward in front of the mics and told,

“I accept and I am ready to travel.”

The entire nation was very happy except her mother and Sethu.

Author's Note

The important decision of her life