The Summer Of Life

The sun blazed throughout the sky. The temperature had risen drastically over the last month. Sweat trickled down Sana's forehead. Everyone around her seemed in a kind of hurry. They all wanted to get back home.


But not her. She loved every bit of it. The sweat, the yearning for water, the pretty clothes, the shining sun, the blistering heat, the way the sun reflected upon the lake. Summer was indeed her favourite time.
And the best thing she liked about summer - the holidays.


While most individuals of her age pestered and complained about having nothing to do to their parents, she loved them. Sana was what people called an introvert. She didn't particularly like hanging out with people. So, the holidays were a perfect time for her, to be with herself, and be away from, well, people and explore herself.


Every summer, she got into various activities, and mostly, excelled in them. When she was 5, she took up Art. She created things that people 10 times her age couldn't even dream of making. At 7, she took up Basketball. Not only was she tall, she had excellent athletic skills. When Sana turned 10, she started singing, and turned out to be amazing in that too! Apart from all this, she read a zillion books, and had already written many short stories.


Sana was also very pretty. There wasn't a thing she wanted to change about her self...except her fear from people. She'd rather eat sand than meet new people, she often told her mom.


She experienced absolute numbness when a person greeted her. She would be unable to speak. It was like a huge lump had been created in her throat. She became nervous. She started sweating...there had been times when she had passed out!


This year, she had joined dramatics. She didn't really want to go.
"Ma, if I could act, wouldn't I atleast try to ACT normal around people?" she kept telling her mom.
But she knew that once her mom told her something, she'd have to do it.


As she had suspected, her first day pretty much sucked.
They asked her just her name. She couldn't even tell them that.


Sana's teacher was an extremely sweet lady. And she was pretty young too! Tiara hadn't seemed of more than 25 to Sana. Seeing Sana's reaction when she had asked her name, she knew something was wrong. And she knew what, because for her, watching Sana, was like looking into a mirror.


"Sana!!!!!!! Someone has come to meet you!!!! Where are you? Come, quickly!!"
Sana heard her mom shout.
'What? MEET ME? Ther-there..mu-st...ha-ve...b..been..mis-mistaken...'


She shuddered at the very thought of meeting someone. But went to the door anyway.


"Hi Sana! Umm...You mind if I enter?" Shit. It was her teacher. Why was she here?


She simply nodded. She was to numb to say anything else.


"Whh-a-a-t..ar..are....you....d-d-doing...he-here..?" She somehow managed to ask.
"Well I noticed you were kind of shy infront of everyone. I just thought maybe we could spend some time together and get to know each other."
'Get to know each other?' Was she outta her freaking mind? Sana wanted to scream.
"Su-sure.." She said instead.


From then on, they spent a great deal of time together. At first, Sana was uncomfortable. VERY uncomfortable. But slowly, that fear faded...and she ended up talking to Tiara without any hesitation. She told Tiara about everything. Every single detail. Every single thing she felt. Everything she wrote. Every thing she did, Tiara knew.


The summer had changed her completely. She still didn't like talking to people that much, but it wasn't her phobia anymore. It was just a choice between her likes and dislikes.


When the school opened, she was a different person to everyone. Soon, all her talents came into the limelight. She was in the basketball team, in the school choir and went for almost every competition in art. She was soon very popular among her group of friends (yes, she eventually had one) too!


She hasn't seen Tiara since a long time.
She doesn't where she is, or how she is.
But she knows, that she owes everything to her.

So God did exist, afterall

She had been going through a tough time.
She got divorced 2 months back.
Her daughter had been failing miserably at school.
She was short of money,
And to top it all of, she just got fired from her job.



Zia had always been a cheerful girl.
At school, she was popular and loved by everyone around her.
She went for many competitions, and was one of the bright students of her class.

In college, she was a star. She had brought many laurels to Hansraj College. In Dramatics, Poetry, Dance, Singing and Sports. She was one of the most talented students the college had.


Her friends loved her;  and teacher always thought “Yeh hamara aur hamare college ka naam zaroor roshan karegi. Bade hokar zaroor kuch kar dikhayegi.”

Zia herself never thought that SHE, out of all the people, would be stuck in the the situation that she was in today.

It was 7.30 p.m. She had just been scolded, and eventually fired by her boss.

She had always been one of those who lived for the moment, but right now, it seemed like everything was coming back to her. All the stress, all the problems that she had been dealing with since the last 6 months.

She walked on, not realizing where she was going. She was in her own world, and that world was anything but happy. The traffic was too much. Walking on the roads without looking on both the sides and not being attentive was dangerous.

And she did realize that, only that it was a bit too late.

She did not know where she was. She shouted helplessly.  All she could think of was the pain that hit every inch of her body.

And then suddenly it all stopped.

She could not remember how she had reached there, but thought that this must be it, and that she was in paradise.

Never had she seen a place more beautiful, more peaceful, and more serene. Birds were chirping. She could hear the sound of waves hitting the shore. There was no one else in sight.

And then out of nowhere, a figure appeared. He was tall and very handsome.

“Who are you? Is this paradise? Am I dead?” she asked.
“Do you believe in God?” he asked her instead.
“I did. But not anymore. Had God existed, would I be facing these problems?” she asked.

He was expressionless. She didn’t know if he had even heard her.

“Well, what problems?” he asked.

She told him. Told him how she and her husband had got married right after college, had a beautiful life, until 3 months ago, when she found out he was cheating on her .
How her daughter , the person she loved most in this world, hated her, simply because she didn’t want her to ‘interfere in her life’ when she tried talking to her about her poor performance at school.
How she had worked so hard for her company since the last 15 years, and they fired her just when she needed to be financialy stable most in her life.

“Hmm…So this is why you think god doesn’t exist?” he asked.
“God? Huh!” she spat.
“Then how would you explain being dead, talking to me, and then going back to your life?” He asked.
“Wha-aa-aat?”

Before she could understand or react, the pain was back.
And then, it all went black.

Zia woke up several hours later with a note beside her.
"You have been blessed. Don’t worry, it will be okay.”

And she knew, that afterall, God did exist.




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P.S. A HUGE thanks to Joyee (http://joyee-bhattacharya.blogspot.com/) and Diwita di
(http://diwita.blogspot.com/) for the Blog Award!! :*