Living the Dreams

It was neither her strict parents, nor an annoying alarm clock, nor the pressure of studies that woke her up. It was her stomach creeping inside out of hunger, it was starvation that arose her. The empty tattered rag was waiting in an unattended corner, to get repleted with so called useful things. She wasn't tensed at all about what to wear for a new beginning, a new day. Her semblance stayed similar every single day. Her life was hectic but also futile.

Life in a dilapidated house is painful, but life under a bridge is humiliating. Divini had no other way but to get nurtured there only. She, a teen of fourteen, was bound to stab her dreams because of limited resources of her family. She never complained to her mother about her life after the day she got acquainted with the fact that she cannot afford her education. She wept, she howled in alone, she had no one to help her get rid of the underprivileged life. But, God saw her suffering.

"Divini, go and get something to eat," her mother asked.

"How? By begging?" Divini replied with a prominent irritated face.

"Or else? Go. Don't waste time."

Not a single word she uttered though a heap of words of frustration were ready to slip out of her lips. She stepped out under the scorching sun, silently and lost in some thing of her very own. 

Something glinted in front and she rushed to get it in her fist. On opening her palm, there she saw and touched the costliest thing of her life, a sparkling gold ring topped with a ruby. She looked up and saw her surrounding and a girl attired in a beautiful red dress, caught her attention.

"Sister.... Sister....wait....wait," Divini yelled. The girl stared back at her and she saw a teen decked up in a torn shawl, running towards her in haste. 

"You lost your ring?" Divini asked the tall woman who was busy talking to someone on phone, but staring at Divini. Quickly, the girl looked at her hand and a frowning face gazed at the dirty-sweet face of Divini. 

"You have my ring?" She held Divini's arms with curiosity.

The tired and tender hand of Divini loosened and there the ring dazzled amid her fingers. Hastily, the tall woman took up the ring and claimed it as her own after a look at the ring for a couple of seconds.

"Thank you. I mean, thanks a lot. You know the cost of it?" She said.

Divini nodded with her head hung down. 

"Ok. I can fulfill any of your wish. What you want me to do?" 

A big silence amidst the pandemonium surrounded the two ladies. Then she spoke, in the lowest tone of hers," Can you get me a job? I want a life. I can't beg anymore." Tears rolled down Divini's cheeks. She received back a kind chuckle. 

"Well. You have anyone in your family?" the tall woman asked.

"Yes. My mother."

"I want to talk to her."

"She will not let me get a job."

"No. She is your mother, not enemy. Don't worry. I'll talk to her. You are on the brink of becoming a different personality."

"Ok."

Both of them turned towards the bridge and after a walk of a minute, they reached their destination.

"Where do you live?" She asked Divini.

"Here."

"Where?"

Divini's index finger pointed towards the bridge and a pair of rich eyes got repleted with tears that trickled down her cheeks after a couple of seconds. 

"Ma? Ma?" Divini shouted. She looked towards the woman who was busy getting enthralled by the beauty of nature. "She isn't here. Will you please wait? By the way, what's your name?" Divini said.

"Ok. No worries. I am Sohali. But, we can leave a letter for her," Sohali replied.

"She can't read, neither can I."

"I'm ... I'm sorry. I didn't know that..."

"Divini... Divini... Where are you my girl? See what I got. A very very big ten rupees note. We can have kachori," Divini's mother came by the bridge but the presence of Sohali made her frown.

"Don't worry. I'm here to give you financially stability. Your princess helped me find my ring of fifty lakhs,"Sohali said in haste. The sentence was followed by a couple of shocked faces. 

"Begging will not help you. I'm a manager of a handcrafts company. I train also. I'll give you two free trainings and then obviously a job. You'll have a life," Sohali uttered.

Silence was again wrapping up the place when Divini's mom asked, "Can we trust you?"

"Definitely. You shouldn't stay under confusion even for a moment. Trust me, I am here to help," Sohali looked at them with utmost gratitude. She continued," Come with me. We have a different house for our workers. You'll stay there, rent free. We'll train you. Learn the things as fast as possible."

The mother-daughter duo followed the gorgeous girl and after some arrangements for a day or two, they started their new life, the life where dreams got a meaning. Divini was happy, but Sohali was the happiest one as she found a way to bag permanent happiness.