‘Ada’ was at the terrace of her home and she suddenly saw a star falling, she ran to see how a star look like, she found ‘Om’ written on the star. She respected all religions but still finding Om written on star was odd for her. After all, dreams are manifestation of our innermost thoughts and as far as she could remember, she had never thought about the Hindu religious symbol Om before. She was very happy to see the star because she has always been fascinated by them. Talking with stars was her favorite pastime. Suddenly noises started coming from the playground near her house. There were many stars fallen from the sky and children were singing and playing with them. Everyone seemed so happy.
At that precise moment, alarm bell rang, it was showing 7.30 am. She said to herself, “There is no time to think about the dream now”. She needs to hurry up, get ready for college, otherwise she will miss university-special today and Reena will again be angry with her.
Ada rarely had a dreamless night. But unlike many of us who forget dreams as soon as we get up, she used to analyze her dreams in her spare time which she had in abundance. She strongly believed that dreams are the revelations of our true feelings, our true desires and dreams can help us to choose our path. She was never too great in studies. She just wants to be a Graduate and that was enough for her to get a suitable match in her community. Her family was respected among Ashraf Muslim communities who are believed to be descendants of true Muslims of Arab, Iran, Afghan, Central Asia rather than the people who converted to Islam in India.
1 month later…
Like all mornings, she hurried to get ready and almost ran from her house to bus stop. The breakfast was still in the hands of Ammi jaan when she ran to catch University-special. Reena was already at bus stop. Reena was looking different today. She was wearing a new dress and had a new hair cut in which she was looking really smart.
Ada said ‘Hi’ to her and asked ‘what’s so special today’.
Reena replied mockingly albeit fake anger, ‘Its my birthday today and you again forgot’. Reena was accustomed till now of Ada forgetting her b’day. Ada could never remember anyone’s birthday and these days, when everyone can remember virtually everyone’s b’day by putting a reminder in their mobiles and emails. It was just unthinkable for Reena that why Ada can’t do this. Ada never used reminders. She wanted to remember all by herself and she was pretty bad in that.
“Errrrrrr..I was in damn hurry since morning, so it slipped from my mind”, Ada replied. Although they both knew what was the truth.
Reena invited her for the party. Reena invited very few people unlike Ada who tends to invite everyone she knows. There was Ada, Neha(another close friend of Reena), Sameer(Reena’s brother) and Om(Reena’s cousin brother). Ada knew everyone, except Om. He had come to do some training for his job and was staying at Reena’s place for some time, but this is the first time Ada was meeting him.
.
It was like an instant connection between the two of them. Everybody could see that, except Ada. They talked as if they knew each other for ages and Reena could feel that Ada has forgotten that it’s her b’day party and not Ada’s first date with her brother.
Om was very sober and mature person. The day, he met Ada, he knew he has found his soulmate and he also knew that Ada was not ready for this. She was a child at heart and she would not understand what he really felt for her. As if it had to happen, they became best friends. It became Ada’s regular routine to talk to him over phone or in person. She never realized that she is falling in love with Om.
One day, she was telling him about her fascination for stars, she told him about the dream in which she had found Om written on star. Om’s training was almost complete and he was leaving the town in few days. He didn’t want to leave without telling her the way he felt for her. At first, Ada could not believe it. She just said that she really thought that they were only friends. Om went back.
But soon Ada realized that she was incomplete without Om.
She was in the spacecraft and she could see moon from there. She went in there and saw the moon. It was beautiful. She suddenly wanted to be with Om. She wanted to have this beautiful experience with Om, but he was not with her. When she was coming down from the stairs, she met Om. She was so happy and excited to see the moon and Om both. She hugged him, kissed him and took him up to see the moon.
Obviously, it was a dream, a beautiful dream but when she woke up, she felt very bad because she was trying very hard to forget him. She knew, no matter what her heart says about Om, if she goes ahead with her feelings, she is bound to face opposition from her khandaan. She was not ready for this.
She was in a beautiful house in a hill station. It was a huge bungalow, surrounded with hills from all sides. She woke up early and was mesmerized with the breathtaking beauty all around. She wanted to call Om and tell him about the place, but she could not call him because her mom had woken up in dream and was waking her up in reality too.
She was in a jungle resort. She went in for a night safari. There was a big lake in that forest. Safari was taking people for boating in that lake. When she saw the sky, she was captivated by the beautiful sky, there were so many stars twinkling, sky seemed to be fully adorned with jewels called stars. She saw galaxy also, and it looked like that stars were spinning out from that galaxy. She was so, so happy and giggling like a child. Then, suddenly Om came there on her boat and he asked her to jump, they both jumped and found themselves close to moon.
Constant dreams about Om were making her crazy. She accepted in her heart that Om is the reason for her existence, but she was not yet ready to share this with anyone, not even Om. She loved her family too much and she knew that they will never ever agree to get her married to a Hindu boy.
It was Om’s birthday. For the first time in her life, she remembered someone’s b’day, but she could not muster enough courage to call him, though she was dying to wish him and hear his voice. When she was coming back from college, Reena also reminded her that its Om bhaiya’s b’day today as if she could forgot Om or the time spent with Om or Om’s birthday. But she didn’t say anything. She was feeling very heavy. After coming back to home. She retired to her room without having lunch. She didn’t realize when she dozed off...
She was going on with Om on his bike and they were wandering in the lanes around her house. She was terrified that someone could see them.Om gets irritated over this (which was so unlikely of Om) and says that ‘why are you still confused?’
She got up as if the dream was real and Om had really come here to ask her, “why is she still confused?” For sometime, she just sat, thinking nothing for a while and then as if in trance, she found herself calling madly for Om.
She overcame all her fears and felt free of the clutches of religion and society. It does not matter to her what her family, relatives or biradari will say. She was certain of one thing and that was her existence with Om.
She picked up her mobile and called Om.
