Beautiful Soul

Episode 1

With her unkempt hair, large specs, and oversized salwar kameez, she looked anything but beautiful. Her lovely sisters mocked her regularly. The little confidence she had was destroyed by her classmates who too reminded her of her unusual ugly self. Her low grades added fuel to fire. During her growing years, she would often hear her parents discuss who would marry her. She silently cried at night to vent out the hard days that she lived through. Something inside her kept her going.. Something called ‘hope’…that there would be happiness coming soon…Let's sail through the journey of Somya’s life…. A journey is full of hope, betrayal, success, failure…

Somya was arranging her cupboard when she heard her two sisters discuss excitedly on the latest crush of her elder sister Kanika, ”oh! He is so handsome and rich, Alisha, I’m planning to accept his proposal’ she heard, Kanika, say to Alisha, her younger sister whom she doted on..’ i will introduce him to Somya. But not you.. What if he falls for you’, she added, ‘Hahaha ‘ Alisha laughed blushingly. Somya always wished to be a part of such conversations but her low self confidence had made her an introvert, though by heart Somya was full of life and dreams.

She intentionally took longer to arrange her cupboard to hear more, ‘Kanika, hope you are serious about this guy?,’ Alisha concernedly asked, ‘yes , dear this guy seems to be different,’ Kanika replied with a twinkle in her eyes, turning to Somya, she added, ‘Somya please dust the drawing-room and arrange the sofa covers well, Raj would be here tomorrow morning’, Somya nodded her head with a slight smile, she too was excited. Kanika would entrust most of the household chores to Somya.

Somya woke up to a lot of hustle-bustle that morning. Kanika had invited Raj home. Mom and Dad had readily agreed to meet Kanika‘s prospective groom. She was well over marriageable age and had refused tons of marriage proposals, they hoped Raj to be the lucky one. Mom was happy that finally their highly pampered daughter had shortlisted Raj. Somya could not take her eyes off Kanika that morning, she looked like an angel dressed in a blue sari. Her slender figure, flawless skin, curly hair complemented the sari so well, she stared as Kanika carefully painted her long nails. Alisha looked lovely in an orange suit, she hardly needed any accessories and makeup to look beautiful, she was gifted. It was hard to compare the two. Somya picked up a pastel suit for the event, she pinned her dupatta using large safety pins. ‘For god’s sake. Brush your hair neatly’, Somya heard her mom tell her angrily. She brushed her hair and fixed two large hair clips, each supporting handful of hair on either side of the hair parting . She stared at Kanika`s collection of nail polish lying at the edge of the dressing table, she hesitantly picked up a red coloured one and started applying, ‘my god, its so tough’, she thought to herself as she tried hard to manage the brush, ‘stupid girl why did you touch my nail polish, and you have no sense, on a pastel coloured suit you are applying a red coloured nail polish!’ Kanika screamed and snatched the bottle from her hand, ‘I’m sorry, I was just…..’, Somya silently said, ‘just shut up’, Kanika interrupted and left the room in a rage. Somya stared at her nails, only 4 of her fingers were polished, the nail polish had almost reached beyond the edges of the nails, she quickly wiped off the polish using the edge of her dupatta and joined her sisters to greet Raj.

Raj was tall, handsome and rich as Kanika often certified. He had finished his MBA and was to appear for GRE entrance tests. Kanika was looking forward to settle with him in the states. He arrived with his parents wearing a black shirt with denims.

He looked through Somya and exclaimed staring at Alisha… ‘wow!.. Your sisters are Lovely’ .’ Thanks ‘, Kanika smiled and helped him take a seat. Mom gestured Somya to serve tea to the guests. Within minutes she appeared with the tea cups and served them. Somya stared at Raj through the corner of her eyes and thought, ‘Wow, he is so good looking, just like a Prince’. She observed him keenly talking to Alisha and Kanika, as though she never existed, she was used to this kind of treatment . The engagement date was finalized. Everyone was thrilled.

After the guests left, Kanika and Alisha started their discussions again, Kanika dreamily said, ‘Wow, he is so classy, you saw his shirt, his watch, his shoes..’, Alisha interrupted her, ‘he seems to be a nice guy, and he does love you’, Alisha thoughtfully said. Somya was quietly listening to their conversation, she was happy for Kanika.

That night, suddenly Somya saw shadows behind her bedroom curtains, she peeped in and saw Raj and Kanika passionately kissing. Raj’s hands were exploring every curve of Kanika’s slender figure. Somya froze as she watched without blinking. She had seen only in movies, she felt a strange emptiness in her stomach. She could hear her heart beat fast under her fast paced breath, her face filled with sweat.

Once Raj left, Somya quickly raced towards her bed. That night she did not sleep, the scenes kept on rewinding in her mind. She longed for that touch. With the hope, that someday she would experience the same she finally slept like a baby.

She would soon experience it.