Reunion

Star gazing was a temptation. It was, perchance, the only thing she loved doing, and the only hobby she got hooked to early in life. When the evening descended, and the night sky befell, sitting outside on the veranda seemed to be the only priority at that moment. Long hours of looking up at those billions of twinkling diamonds that were studded all over against a dark background gave her a thrill unlike anything she had ever known. But, who would have known that this temptation was soon going to fade away in the dark, and into an empty nothingness.

Growing up and being surrounded by the everyday rigmarole, and a life that taught her to focus on the social and political dynamics of the world, she had soon forgotten about the various constellations and the unending universe. The only universe that had come to her as an obligation to embrace was gravid with gluttony and power. The only picture painted before her was all gloom and doom. The galaxies and constellations soon became a distant beam of light; a beam leading towards a vast darkness where she was not invited to. She watched it leave. She watched it leave with a thunderous bolt of pain she had felt within her. She felt a part of her vanish into the thin air. And, like all kids, she cursed the adult life she was progressing in to.

“Stop wasting your time staring at nothing, and go to your study table”, she was told once by her mother when she had fallen into the temptation of the twinkling night sky. Of course, her mother was not entirely amiss, but was she really wasting her time? She pondered over it for some time while walking back to her study table without formulating any concrete answer that could satisfy her curious mind. Soon, and way too soon, studies kept her busy all throughout her academic life, making her engrossed in trying to build a career for herself. There were numerous occasions when she got distracted and started conjuring up a utopian world�"a world devoid of all agony; a world where there lived pretty fairies and she, and a shimmering lake where stars came down to bathe in, shining away to glory only for her eyes. But, in retrospect, she feels she was that traveller whose single-mindedness to reach her destination kept her at bay from enjoying the picturesque view that passed by her while she was on train, depriving her of all the glory that she could have revelled in. She excelled in all that she did, all that was expected of her, but somewhere down the line, she missed out on something.

She is standing right now at the peak of her career, with all the luxuries that an ordinary person would have never had expected. She is blessed with a good job, a beautiful house and of course, money galore. But, the tale of woe remains. She has missed, in the process, the bus of jollity and fun. There is apparently nothing that she can claim to have enjoyed so far in life. She missed looking at the starry night sky. She missed the divinity of the moon. The only time her head looked up was when she had to marvel at the tall office building that towered over her. She saw stars sneaking a quick look at her from behind the building, winking at her, trying to tease her, and tantalizing her to look at their marvellous creation for once, asking her to miss them like they missed her. She said to them “I have no time, little stars. I have to head home, and work on my official papers”. The stars looked disappointed and told her, “Treat your eyes after your work, like you did when you were little.” She told them that she had to get up early in the morning for work. The stars replied with a heavy heart, “When you were little, you had to get up early then. And you have to get up early now. I was never a distraction to you then. What changed now?” It was then that she felt tiny little droplets flowing down her cheeks. She said nothing, and bowed her head before the stars could plead anymore and left with a poor self-consolation, “It’s just a waste of time.”

A few weeks ago, she and a very good colleague of her were talking about time and relativity over lunch. They looked at the whole concept through a different lens. Something had struck her, then. It was a moment, after many moments of materialistic pleasure and social agony, which touched a deep chord within her. After more than a decade, that moment got her travelling all over the outer space and universe. She closed her eyes for brief seconds, and envisioned the little stars scattered all across an empty space, like pearls of joy with each twinkling at her in sheer excitement, inviting her all over again to see them, for once. She transcended many a Universe and many a galaxy, fathoming.

“Where are you lost at?” asked Diana, her colleague, waking her up from the deep trance she had got herself into. She shook her head, and smiled sheepishly.

The same day, she headed home a little early, and waited for the evening to descend. She sat on the veranda and looked up at the sky. The little stars welcomed her, twinkling, and with them, her eyes twinkled. For the first time in a long time, she had fallen into the deepest temptation of the night sky. The little kid and her friends were reunited.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

The best thing about your storytelling is the way your word-crafting is very lyrical & poetic. The next best thing is the way you seem to be telling parallel stories . . . mainly the one about how life has a way of distracting us from our childhood wonders . . . and then a deeper meaning about how the stars symbolize freedom of thought & intention, which gets lost in the hustle-bustle of getting ahead in life. I've often wanted to tell young people to not forget to take many moments to really savor every moment of life, as now in my old age, I see how quickly it all goes by. Your story tells my warning in a more graceful way than I ever could. This is so well crafted to convey both a lesson and a feeling (((HUGS))) Fondly Margie

[ayesha cullen]

I am glad you read into the story and grasped its real essence. Thank you for the feedback. appreciate it, Margie :)