Happiness- the nine letter word.

Tonight as I am writing this, I am letting the words flow through my fingers on my office PC. There is one of my colleagues, Mayank sitting next to my cubicle looking at the screen of his PC with earphones plugged in connected to his cell phone. I could listen to the beats of the music. We both just came from a thirty minutes tea break and I couldn’t stop myself writing what we talked about. Since there is very less work in office today, I got some spare time to write.

“Hey Aurick, do you want to go for a tea break?” Mayank asked.

“Give me a minute. I will just finish this”, I said pointing towards the screen.

“Okay, just let me know.”

We walked outside the office near to the tea stall where all the smokers were filling up their lungs with the tar. I wondered if I am the only one who remember the *Itna taar aapko bimaar…bohat bimaar krane ke liye kaafi hai*

advertisement that comes before every Bollywood movie in the cinemas.

We ordered a cup of tea for both and started talking. One thing that I had respected him for was that he never said anything negative about anyone around ever.

“Mayank sir, do you like working in night shifts?” I tried to break the ice of silence.

“Definitely!  I feel so independent in night shifts and I should tell you that I am married”

We both laughed out loudly.

“On a serious note Aurick, I will tell you my story”, he said taking the tea cup from the tea stall vendor.

“I would love to listen it”, I responded with an excitement. Oh yes, I have never told anyone around the office that I am story writer.

“When I passed out from my college, I was placed in a call center, where I used to work more than what I was paid. In the early stage of your career, you do not know who will use you at any point for his/her own favor and give you nothing in return. I was a victim of the same. But during that time, I was happy because of her.”

“Tell me she is your wife now?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Hahaha. Let me just complete. So, I was telling you about her. I had a long seven years relationship with her. When it came to marriage thing, we knew that our parents won’t agree and with our understanding we both ended up with a happy note. My wife knows about her and this is the reason I am still happy. I got an offer from a much esteemed organization soon and I switched. I learnt things in my life every day. The only thing I regret in my life was sleeping with a girl on whom I spent one fourth of my first salary after celebrating the party of my hars earned first money. That was the only time when I was drunk that too with the company of few friends. Now, after 8 years of experience, after having two daughters in my life, I am still happy. My wife knows every single truth of my Life. I do not have any loan on me. I own a car and a large enough flat to live”, he said as I paid for the tea and we started walking back to the office

“You know Aurick, There is no happiness in earning money until and unless you are not happy. Happiness comes from one’s own home. If you stay happy in your home, you will have a good mood to work in the office as well. Of course there were so many compromises that I did in my life, but it never affected my happiness. Somehow, God showed me the right path to move ahead in life. I today earn good enough that I

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The Hope.

One day while I was writing my story on one of the dark night of the winters, there was a sudden knock at my door. My parents had fell asleep. I walked down to the door in a fear. I wondered if there was a ghost that knocked on the door. I opened the door with a shiver. There was a lady that walked downstairs with a glass bowl in her hand. I couldn't see her face. I ran behind her.

She was running much faster than I was. I wondered if she was thief. She started collecting small shining stones from the roads and from the leaves of the plans inside the flowerpot. There was no street light. I kept following her till she turned herself towards me. She looked in the bowl with the shining stones inside it.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Can you see me?” I asked surprisingly.

“Of course. Who are you? What are doing here at the late night?”

“I am collecting there”, she said raising the bowl in her hand. Her face glittered with the shine of the stones as the bowl reached near her face.

“What are these?”

“They are wishes and imaginations that people throw away every day. See these orange ones...These are wishes and see these blue ones…these are imaginations.”

“Where did you come from?”

“God has sent me”, she spoke with a smile.

I walked towards her. I rubbed my eyes to confirm if it was happening in real.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I am His messenger. One of your wishes will come true tonight. Tonight, what you wished and imagined, one of them will come true. Do you remember once you wished for your family and imagine living in a luxurious home? Do you remember once you wished for someone to be in your life? Do you remember once you wished for your successful life? Tomorrow morning, when you will wake up, you will get one of them. Everything you wished and everything you desired and everything you imagined is inside this bowl. You will get what is perfect for you for tonight and others won’t be fulfilled. You want to see how it’s done?”

“Of course.”

“Here, pick yours. When you touch your stones, they will shine more”, she said offering me the glass bowl.

I collected the stone that gave more light when I touched them. This was breath-taking moment for me. I passed them to her.

She kept them in her hands and covered them. She rubbed them together in within a few second. One of them turned green and others to red.

“Why are they in two different colours?”

“Green is the wished you have been granted and red are what you wished but it’s not a good time for them. You will get them as well some other day when you will deserve them”

“Oh. So this is how everybody’s wish is granted?”

“Yes. When people deserve

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The Beginning

One weekend, she called me early on a Saturday. I was still asleep as I had slept at 2 in the morning after watching the latest release in my laptop.

“Can we meet today at Starbucks?” she said.

I looked the wall clock. It was 10:30 am.

Seeing the fog outside in the chilly morning, I said, “Isn't it too far? Let’s meet somewhere nearby if you say?”

“I don’t know. I want you to wake up and get ready. I will see you at 2 pm at Starbucks, else you are dead”, she disconnected the call.

Kritika & I have been more than just friends, but less than lovers from over two weeks. I was wondering that I was going too fast like I went last time in Apoorva’s case.

I woke up and didn’t bath. It was too much low temperature to bath.

I decided to tell her about Apoorva that day and so I picked up printed copy of my book and took the metro to the Rajiv Chowk for Starbucks.

I couldn't find her anywhere inside the coffee shop. I dialed her number.

“Where are you?” I said in a soft voice so that foreigners could enjoy their own coffee in our country.

“Look at the gate, I am just entering”, she entered with like 12 odd carry bags with different brand labels printed over them with her phone between her ear and shoulder.

I walked towards the door and helped her to carry her bags. She had already booked a table for two.

She sat and took out her rubber band from her pony and tied it again. She looked hottest among all the foreigners sitting around.

“What will you have?” I asked.

“Ahhh…just one Caffe Latte. I just wanted a cosy place to sit and drink the coffee with you.”

“Okay, I will order the same then.”

While our coffees took a little time to brew, I myself touched the topic of Apoorva. A cunning smile appeared on her lustrous pink lips. She asked me start from the start. I took out the copy of the printed book from my bag and passed it to her.

“I want you to read it yourself”, I said while she read the title of the book.

“Sweetly Broken- Every Time I see you? Ummm…Not bad…Looks like lots of hard work had been put it.”

I smiled and she read the first chapter without uttering a single word. I kept checking out pretty faces of the

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Talking to the moon !

I write because it takes me away, away to a place where anything is possible.

Writing makes me feel beyond what I can feel in my heart, imagine beyond what I see in my eyes, love beyond I experienced and write beyond I never thought.

Oh dear moon, please move slowly in the dark skies, the dreams will be shattered. I want to recite all my writing to you!

The coffee that I share all alone, under your dim lights, is getting stronger every night so that I can tell you my stories. Let me remember love is happiness, and nothing else brings joy. And so I choose to entertain no substitutes for love. Let me remember my love, who gave me the greatest feeling in the world to be around her who wants to hold me, wants to kiss my forehead, wants to call me at night, and wants to see me smile. But now,

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