Saying Bye to 2013

31 December 2013

The last day of the year…

By reading this, I know, many things would come into your minds and they come to my mind too. Whenever I hear the date “31 December”, I remain silent for 2 minutes, thinking what all happened in the previous 365 days, recalling all that I had done, regretting all that I missed…

The year 2013 was not very different for me. It was very normal. However, in all those 365 days, I learnt 365 new things, discovered 365 new facts and learnt 365 different ways to be adjusted to a world that doesn’t like you and a world which you don’t like. Well, there are many things I would like to share… (Even if I know that, you may not be interested). 

1) First thing being the studies…

I say that 10 CLASS WAS ‘A-W-E-S-O-M-E-N-E-S-S’ … I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I had a lovely experience there. J

2) Second comes ‘my new interests and talents discovered’

Here I discovered a total new interest (or talent, I would say) – writing. I made my own blog 3 months ago. I love posting in it. I usually post stories and realistic facts there. Many people like it, and the page views are good. J

3) Third includes the ‘number of new friends I made in 2013’

Well, as some of you know, that is where I lag behind…

I am not a person who is socially very active or extremely good at making new friends. However, the truth is, I want to be the one, who has the biggest friend circle. I love to introduce myself to new people and I love to know them, too. But unfortunately, I am not able to do so. The reason is still undiscovered. But , this year, I made new friends, though less in number, but I made… And I love them. J

4) Fourth is ‘my incredible class 10 E’

Umm… I am going to miss this class like anything. I am, seriously, going to miss each one of them desperately. Everybody was so good there. Understanding, funny, cunning, intelligent, kind, loving etc.. You can find each one of these qualities inside them. This session is going to end very soon and that is what killing me. I thought about organizing for a party or a movie with all my incredible classmates but it is quite difficult to gather all the 44 students at one place in one day. And I am sad about it. I wanted some last spent memories of my class. But… its ok… fine… J

5) Fifth is about ‘my hard times’

Yes, indeed, I have had my hard times this year. Its like… if you want to listen to a real, tragic story, you can anytime contact me. I have a brain filled with all those melodrama and painful stuff. However, this year I learnt how to face those hard times and win over them. I handled them well this year. J

6) Sixth is about all those miscellaneous things, which include parties, scolding from elders, school pranks, mastii, smiles and all the awful quarrels. Describing each one of them in detail would be very time consuming.

So I would like to finish it off, saying good bye to 2013, welcoming 2014 and hoping that 2014 brings new environment, new smiles, new friends, new mastiiiss and no tears into my life…

                                                           Happy New Year, people J

                                                                  Enjoy to the fullest.

The Silence Speaks. THE LAST PART.

That elderly woman took Frankie's hand and dragged him towards the cemetery. She opened the gate and walked in. They both reached a grave.  That woman commanded Frankie. “sit down!”.Frankie sat down. And… then what he saw was totally unimaginable, unexpected…it felt as if a thunderbolt hit him hard.

On the grave, it was written:

“Estella Stratford (1972-1994)”

The pain, which Frankie experienced after seeing that, was unbearable. It was not Estella, who met him. It was her ghost from a different world with a different mood, who made him fall in love with her and vanished. Since a month, he had been dating a ghost!

He was still sitting on the ground reading the text written on the grave. He couldn’t believe it. The whole world appeared very unreal, very selfish to him. He had loved Estella from the bottom of his heart. He was ready to sacrifice everything for her. And now he was realizing that Estella didn’t exist at all. Tears came out of his eyes and then he was not able to control them. Tears became intolerable when he realized that Estella didn’t exist and he was going to miss her like anything. After his mother’s death, Estella was the only person who was able to take Frankie out of his depression. He started screaming. He screamed… shouted… 

cried… and… finally… gave up. He looked down and again read the text. “Estella Stratford. (1972-1994)”.

 Then suddenly, something made him look above.

It was a girl with a pure white dress…

It was Estella… standing a bit far… smiling at him…

The Silence Speaks. PART 6

Tuesday. 31 March 1998. (Night)

It was the most important day for Francis Macini. He was going to propose to his love, his Estella. He took out the ring from his pocket, checked it and kept it back. A warm, gentle air touched him. He opened the gate of the cemetery and went inside. But Estella wasn’t there. He waited there for, at least, one hour but… Estella did not come. He searched her in and around the cemetery. He searched her everywhere. She had promised him to come. Frankie became worried. He lost his patience. Various wild thoughts began hovering around his mind. Mustering all the courage, he, directly, went to Estella’s house.

                                                                                   ***

Francis Macini rang the doorbell of that enormous white bungalow of ‘the Stratford’s’. He waited there. After a while, an elderly man in his sixties (most probably) opened the door. Frankie peeped inside the house. He could smell the same fragrance, which he smelt the day when he met Estella. The bungalow wan not much furnished. Frankie thought of Estella. He was quite sure that she was inside, crying, waiting, or whatever…

That elderly man asked, “Yes my boy. Whom do you want?”

Frankie looked at him nervously. Words didn’t come to his lips. He got baffled. Estella’s father looked very strict. The man again asked, “Whom do you want to meet?”

“Sir…act…actually…I…my name is Francis…Francis Macini. I am a friend of… Estella Strat… Estella Stratford. Therefore, I have come to… to meet her. Can I just…” Frankie’s heart was pounding badly. He could not speak more.

“You… you are Estella’s friend?” an old woman appeared. She was wearing a knee length skirt with a woolen blouse. Frankie wondered if she was Estella’s mother. Frankie’s heart started pounding more furiously. He just got ready to for the embarrassment he was going to face. Then he said, “Yes auntie. I am Estella’s friend and I… I am here to meet her.”

Both the parents looked at each other. They were shocked. Their mouths fell open. Frankie was losing his control. He wanted to meet Estella as soon as possible. He asked, “Auntie, Can I meet her? I mean, only if you allow…”  

Estella’s father whispered, “meet her?” and her mother again asked, “You are Estella’s friend. Right?”

Frankie sighed. “Yes auntie.” He thought of all those expressions he saw on the faces of Estella’s parents. They both looked horrified. Then her father asked, “If you are saying that you are her friend, then you must be knowing about the mishap.”

 “Mishap? What mishap?” Frankie was terribly worried about Estella now.

Tears came out of her mother’s eyes. She sat on the stairs of the entrance gate and said, “It was an accident, 4 years back. And… we lost our everything. I still remember every second of that incident. That big vehicle intentionally hit us and my dear Estella… she was driving the car.”

Frankie felt like collapsing. “What… what do you mean by that?”

Her father looked down and said, “She doesn’t exist anymore. She died in that accident… 4 years ago…”

Frankie fell on the ground. “How the hell is it possible? I, myself, dropped your daughter here, at your place. I remember. She is amazingly beautiful. She has a perfect smile. She… I love her. She can’t be a dead corpse. She was all moving and smiling. She is alive. I know that she is. She has to be alive. You bloody old man! you are hiding her from me. What is wrong with you? Don’t you want your own daughter to be happy? Parents like you should be killed. What a terrible father you are!” he started shouting at them.

His father had an outburst as he listened to all this. After a while, both the parents were crying. Her mother was continuously murmuring something like, “No other parents can love their children as we did Estella.  We gave her everything she needed, she wanted. And this boy… we would have let Estella marry him also, only if she…” and then, there were tears all around.

Francis Macini was sitting there, looking at them, indulging their words…

So who was speaking the truth? Macini or Estella’s parents? Were those elderly people hiding Estella from Frankie or what they were saying, was the truth…

P.S. fingers crossed. Let’s hope for the best.

                                                                                                                                                                                               

The Silence Speaks. PART 5

It was Saturday; exactly a month after Frankie’s meeting with Estella. Since then, they had been meeting almost daily. It was the first time after his mother’s death that he looked amazingly happy. His charm had returned and his family members were pleased to see him singing and smiling once again. They wondered how on the earth, Macini recovered from his loneliness but still they had not been able to discover Frankie’s relationship with Estella…  And Estella… there was something different about her. She at first, used to say something and then… she, herself, contradicted it. She never mentioned about her previous relationships, cousins etc. All she said was, she had a family of three members, mother, father and a daughter named Estella. She didn’t speak much and always refused to meet Frankie during the daytime. And… the most striking feature was… she always appeared behind that hazy, black covering. Frankie wondered if something was wrong with his own eyes or something was wrong with Estella. At times, he doubted if Estella was a normal girl or not but, every time, he used to look into her eyes, all those uncanny thoughts vanished. He became so uncertain that he had started talking to himself. However, on that Saturday, he finally admitted that he was in love with Estella. Now… he was certain. He also believed somewhere, that even Estella liked him. So now only two things were left, 1) Frankie proposing to Estella and 2) his marriage…

He started wondering about various things like, Estella’s reaction as well as her parents’ reaction, whether they’ll him on not. But then, he thought that there was no problem in accepting him. He was good looking, humble, smart and was employed in one of the best companies of the country. He had enough money to make Estella happy. But there were two things troubled him, a) his four- bedroom apartment was going to compete with Estella’s enormous bungalow and b) he had no parents. His mother passed away and father was living in some other country with some other woman. He had no contact with Frankie. But he was still satisfied. They both were in love, could face any challenge and win over it.

He had spent all his day imagining things and it was night. He decided that he would propose to her the next day. He switched off the lights and went to sleep…

The Silence Speaks. PART 4

Francis Macini turned back… and took a sigh of relief.

“He he he… hey! Why so scared? It’s me. Estella.” She was laughing…

“Est… Estella…” it was totally unexpected for Macini to see Estella once again.

“Yes. You forgot. I live near the big cemetery.” Estella reminded him.

“Ya. I remember.” Frankie stood up and looked at Estella. She was wearing a white skirt with a deep blue shirt. Her hair fell upon her shoulders. She was looking even prettier than before. He was spellbound. “So, is this your time pass? Frightening people like that?” he asked

Her smile faded. “Sorry if you didn’t like it. I was just trying to give you some sympathy. You were crying…”

Frankie suddenly regretted what he said a second before. To hide his mistake and to make himself look humble in front of her, he spoke, “you don’t need to be sorry.” His voice was soft. “I just asked… just like that. Moreover, thanks for coming here and sympathizing me. I, seriously, had an outburst.” Frankie was looking at the ground.

“Yes I saw that.” Estella said

For the next hour, Frankie and Estella kept talking. They talked about various things like jobs, churches, relations, deaths. They both seemed completely lost. They were not realizing that it was night and they both were inside the cemetery. Anything could have happened. However, it was just both of them… lost… and feelings moving around like a support. Frankie was slightly attracted towards Estella. Even Estella seemed to be interested in all that was happening. Her pink cheeks were a proof! So they were moving and talking. Then suddenly... Estella had to leave. “I have got to go; otherwise, my parents won’t let me enter the house. I promised them for 30 minutes but now it is an hour. So, bye. Good night”

“Listen. May I ask for your… your phone number?”Frankie asked.

“I am afraid. My parents don’t like all this. I would have given it to you but… you know… so I am sorry.” Estella replied.

“No problem.” Frankie started walking towards his car.

“Frankie?” Estella called him. He looked back… “If you don’t mind, then we can meet here in this graveyard. Daily.  Only if you don’t mind…” Estella said.

Frankie grinned like an idiot. He said, “Yes. That would be wonderful. Sure. What time?”

“This time” Estella answered.

“Bye” Frankie said and started walking towards his car. Then something made him look back. As he did so, he noticed that Estella was smiling at him. He smiled back…

The Silence Speaks. PART 3

28 February 1998

It was a kind of routine for Francis Macini to visit his mother at the big cemetery, every, last day of the month. It was the last day of February. So, Frankie had to go to the graveyard. Since five years or so, he had been going to visit his mother’s grave during the daytime. However, that day, he had plans to visit his aunt who was admitted in the city hospital. He recalled all the moments spent with his aunt after his mother’s death. She was the one who had treated him his extreme care and sympathy, who had loved him more than his own son. Frankie loved his aunt and she was in the hospital. Therefore, it was very important for him to go to the hospital and see her. He planned the cemetery during the nighttime.

At night…

 The screech of wheel was heard. Francis Macini parked his car outside the graveyard. He took out the bunch of flowers from his car, sighed, and moved on. A sudden, cold wind touched his face. There was something different in the winds that day, the atmosphere…

He walked up to his mother’s grave. The carved words were like “Mary Howlitt (1945-1978)”. He kept the bunch of flowers on the grave and sat near it. Two small drops of tears came out of his eyes. “You don’t know how much I love you, mother. People changed; time changed but my love for you has never changed. It is still there. Still longing for your arms to hug, for your lap to sit, for the sweet Christmas pie, you used to make. You left me when I was eight. Didn’t you ever think of the consequences? Dad married another woman and got lost… aunt Christina was the only one who, actually, cared for me. But… she can’t take your place. Right? I do not know why and how all this happened. But I miss you so much. I love you, mother. I love you.” And soon his small tears changed into an outburst. He kept on crying for the next fifteen minutes. After a while, as he rose, he heard a voice behind him.

“People come. People go. But a man should never lose hopes.”

Frankie fell on the ground as he heard this. When he entered the cemetery, he was all alone. Then who’s was the voice behind him? He got very scared. A faint image of a ghost was made up in his mind. He thought of all the horror fictions he had read. He turned completely white. He obviously, never believed them but that time it was night and he was inside the cemetery. So all this was very natural. He turned back…

The Silence Speaks. PART 2

Flawlessly they moved on.

After a while, the man broke the silence. “After we get out of this road, tell me the exact location of your place. Ok?”

“Ok” said the girl.

Her beauty pleased him. He had never seen a girl like her before. This girl outshone even those girls whom this man used to consider as ‘prettiest of the pretty’. She had something different. That man could not resist asking her name and finally he asked, “Umm… so… so what’s your name?”

She looked at him. “Estella… Estella Stratford”. Lovely name she had.

“Beautiful name, miss. I am… I am Francis Macini. People call me Frankie.” He said.

“Oh” she replied. Her reply seemed very straight, straight… as if she was not interested. Obviously. Why would a girl be interested in a stranger? Just because he was dropping her home?  No.

“So, you don’t speak much. Right, Estella?” Frankie asked.

She did not answer.

“Estella?” he again asked.

“Yes”. She was looking outside.

Frankie felt a little embarrassed. He was the only one who was speaking. Estella didn’t even give a damn!  It’s ok if she was beautiful but ‘continuous conversation’ did not make much sense. Therefore, Frankie remained quiet of the next 30 minutes.

“Do you know where the cemetery is?” this time Estella spoke. Frankie tried to control his emotions. Now, he was not the only one who spoke.

He questioned back, “err… the big one or the small…”

“The big cemetery” she answered.

“Yes. I know about it. They buried my mother there.  Why?  What happened?” Frankie said.

“I live near the big cemetery. So you’ll have to drop me there.” Estella’s face was still expressionless.

“You live near the cemetery?” Frankie asked her.

“Do I become a ghost if I live there?  Don’t go on my dress”. Estella was, now, smiling at him.

Frankie became quiet.

15 minutes later… near the cemetery...

“Where now?” asked Frankie.

I don’t remember which turn. It is just a white bungalow. Wherever you see it just…”

“Ok… ok…fine. I’ll search it up”. Frankie then, somehow found the white bungalow. He was amazed. It was magnificent with “Stratford’s” written outside. So, Estella was rich. She lived in a bungalow while Frankie’s was a four-bedroom apartment with people filled up to the hall. As he was lost in his fantasies of owning a big house like Estella’s, she spoke, “Here I have to go. Thank you so much for dropping me home. I’ll always remember you. Bye.” Then Estella started walking towards her house.

 Frankie was still there… imagining things. Then suddenly his eyes fell on Estella, who turned back and smiled.

He smiled back. 

The Silence Speaks. PART 1

26 February 1998

Light was seen after a long time in that empty road. Sound was heard. It was… of a car. The road was very deserted. Only thing that broke into the darkness was the light of the car.

There was a man inside the car. Deep black eyes, fair skin and an amazing physique he had. He looked as if he was in his late twenties. That man was wearing a black coat. It seemed as if he returned from a party. He was lost in his memories. He kept driving… driving… driving…

Suddenly, he saw something. A shadow… which appeared very dull. As he moved closer… he could see a female body. He kept moving… and there was a time when he saw her fully.

As beautiful stars glitter at night, the same way her body glittered. Her face was as beautiful as a rose. All other beauties of the world seemed to fade in front of her. She had big blue eyes, full lips, a slender body and long, wavy, perfect black hair. The dress that she was wearing made her look even more beautiful. She had a fair skin but there was something more… it seemed as if a shadow was covering her. It looked as if she was standing behind a black, hazy matter. She looked very nervous… trembling with fear…

The man stopped his car. He was thunderstruck by her beauty. He wondered if something was wrong with her. He looked at her sympathetically and asked, “ma’am, I don’t mean to intrude into your personal matter but can I ask what are you doing in this deserted road?”  

She looked at him and there was a sort of sudden attraction experienced by that guy. Their eyes met and parted. They both were slightly blushing and her voice cracked a bit as she spoke up, “actually I am new to this place. I was returning home but forgot the way and entered this road and the taxi driver refused to take me ahead and left me here. I feel so scared. Not even a single vehicle is ready to drop me. If anything happens to me…”

“No, ma’am. Nothing will happen to you. Umm… if you don’t mind, I’ll drop you home.” The man said.

She smiled. Her eyes were continuously trying to convey something. The air that surrounded her had a different fragrance. She created a varied atmosphere around her. That man was lost in her smile. She was so pretty. She said, “Thank you so much. You are much like a savior.”

“Oh no, no!  That’s nothing. Come let’s go.”