Voice of the inner beauty

True face of an ugly world

"hello, you gotta pen?" a soft voice took my attention from the boring lecture of chemistry class. Before I could turn back, a chalk hit my face. 

"stop looking here and there and just concentrate" the teacher screamed on me. 

I apologized and felt fully disgusted in front of the whole class but still the hypnotizing voice of that girl was echoing in my head but had no strength to turn back and see her... Today was my first day of my new school in class 11, it was a new environment for me as my last school was boys school and thus I never had any female friend. 

I was Desperately waiting for the remaining 10 minutes to pass. Sitting on the first bench, I had to act very hard so that it could seem to the teacher that only I was understanding his lecture that too with full dedication. 

Finally the bell rang and class ended. With a lot of curiosity I quickly turned around. But since it was the last class, so everyone was in hustle and bustle to go home. I couldn't see any girl there. My eyes searched the whole class and finally I found two girls in nearby benches. But how to know, whose voice it was. 

 So i stood up and went up to their place but i had no idea what and how to say . . . . I opened my ears as much as i could and tried to hear their conversation from a distance . . I applied all my concepts of physics to match both the frequencies . . . But nothing was working out . . . So with full confidence i went up to them, collected all my words and before i could say something , . A voice followed me from the back 

"sorry to disturb you in the class" I quickly turned around to finally see my imagined beautiful face. But the reality slapped my imagination when i saw her. . . A half burnt face with stitch marks on her chin made her look more ugly . . . . I was taken aback. . . . My mouth was open but i couldnt utter a single word . . . . I almost ran from that place without even replying to her . . . . whole night i was just thinking about that incident . . . . . Next day i was back at school . . . But my mind was still stuck and was not ready to accept the fact that she was not beautiful like other girls , her burnt face kept haunting my imagination . . . Everytime i saw her, i ignored her and tried not to make eye contact . . . . Because deep inside i knew i felt guilty for my reactions but these feelings were buried deep inside . . . . after few months, our school organized an annual function day in which a science exhibition was also being conducted . . . And to my surprise , my group partner was the same girl . . . . 

As i had good bonding with my mentor, so i requested him to change my group . . . . he asked me for the reason and i said that i am more comfortable with my friends . . He looked at me for a while and asked ,

" do u know how it happened to her??"

 I was not expecting this from him . . . Fully startled by his reply ,i stammered

 " No . . ssssSir . . . Who . . . Sir . . . ?? " 

He took a deep breath and started ,"  Riya is an acid attack victim. Two years back, one of her neighbour regularly stalked and passed comments on her and when she tried to raise her voice . . . She was attacked brutally by him, throwing acid on her face . . . .somehow god gave her life to live but took away her soul . . . . But her braveness couldnt stop her and she filed a case against him and continued her studies after one year of full medical treatment"

 I was in deep shock . . . I was sweating . . . I could feel my every heart beat . . . . What on earth did it happen . . . How can i be so mean . . . I was hating myself for my rude behaviour. 

He continued," look dear, i am not forcing you to sympathise with her or anything . . . .i just wanna say that if god has given him second chance than why cant we atleast cooperaTe with her . . . " i apologized to him for being so inhumane  and unkind to her . . . And promised to give her the happiness which she deserved atleast as a classmate . . . i asked him why didnt he reveal it before . . . And how did he come to know of all this . . This time Sahil sir's voice became weak

 ," she is the most beautiful girl i have ever met . She is my only daughter, my everything" i folded my hands and with wet eyes almost begged to forgive me . . . He hugged me and we departed. Next day my eyes were desperately searching for the same voice which i have ran away from . . . . . After few minutes she entered the class and i stood up to approach her but couldnt have that strength . . . What will i say . . . How will she react . . . Lost in these thoughts i heard the final bell . . . I rushed to her. . . . She was walking towards the school bus . . . 

" excuse me , is this your pen?? . . . I found it on your bench" i asked from back. 

 " its not mine . . . . Sorry" her voice mesmerized me for one time  more. .

 " i am sorry . . . Hii i am ashutosh, you can call me ashu " i forwarded my hand for handshake . . She felt a bit awkard but after few seconds, i saw a trembling hand moving forward to meet another . . . . . 

For me it was a new friendship . . . 

For her it was new life.  

Author's Note

Ignore grammar plzz...

Reviews

[Closet]

Great Storytelling.. Kudos to you !!!

[Vivian Fisk]

How well you expressed all these difficult experiences and feelings that we usually run away from, and even hide from ourselves. This is a very brave story, a VERY brave story. I feel fortunate to have read it.

[Zoya]

Your stories always have a lesson to teach...wonderful lessons on life. This was no exception. Inner beauty is all that matters...though many choose to overlook it and focus on one's physical features. Beautiful story.

[pragya gaur]

A really good story Pravir ji... M also trying to write a story since long but couldn't... In the middle it brought a few years in my eye but at last it brought a huge smile....

[Coyote Poetry]

A very nice and hopeful ending. I liked the set-up of the story. I liked how you described her. Some woman can steal your thoughts away. Thank you for sharing the outstanding story. I enjoyed this one.
Coyote

[Norman 223]

This moving story provides a lesson for all of us that we should never use exterior appearances as a judgement of a person. Even age can cause beauty to diminish,but if the personality is beautiful, what else really matters.
A well written story as it paints a realistic picture of the situation from the viewpoint of the writer, as well as the reader.

[Pravir]

Thanks sir, for stopping by and reading this . . And yes you said it very rightly . . . The prime motive of this story was to connect the reader to such a situation and highlighting a small glimpse of every human behaviour . . . . Thanks . . I am glad you liked it

[Priyanshi]

Wow..it's really a heart touching story...i always find your stories really more than good....Keep on writing....keep on going.
After a long time, you wrote a story.

[Pravir]

Yep.... As I am not a full time writer, so rarely get time for this.... It's very hard to balance my career and passion.... Just finding a way out... And in this journey thanks Priyanshi for motivating me by your precious reviews... Keep visiting...

[Priyanshi]

My pleasure....I can understand, it becomes difficult to balance , but your work is always brilliant.

[barleygirl]

This is brilliant! I love it! It's so true-to-life, honest, gut-level about the way we can be automatically biased against the things that don't conform to the beauty we are expecting. This is so full of lessons & yet it's not one bit preachy. This is perfectly stated to get your point across & also the vivid feelings of how it would be for each person in your story. Great job! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Pravir]

Tanks for always motivating and inspiring me to write more and more ... I am glad that you liked it... And I love to write on real life situations which u can see through my previous writes... According to me, a good writer must leave an impact on his readers, and always convey something meaningful...
It's always been my prime motive.
Sometimes I succeed and many a times fail.
But then people like you boosts positive vibes so that I can again start with full energy.
Thanks again

[barleygirl]

Real-life stories = my favorite kind of writing, too! *smile*

[Najam Us Saher]

Great. You have improved a lot. I liked this story, it ia a new turn for a change. Very well done, keep up the good work.

[Pravir]

Thank Najam, and the credit for this small improvement goes to you people.... By patiently reading my erroneous writes and giving me time to withstand firmly among the crowd .
Bhut bhut Shukriya, yunhi manobal barhate rahiye

[Najam Us Saher]

Zarur.
You are most welcome :)

[Fanicia E.]

I really enjoyed reading this story, and loved the hopeful note it ends on.

[Pravir]

Thanks a lot ... M glad you liked it. Keep visting

[Fanicia E.]

Will do 😊