Middleman

A long time ago when there were no means of modern communication two girls met in the long-lost town of Kazale. By accident of course. Because if they knew that they were destined to meet, both of them would have fiddled with destiny and made preposterous efforts to not see each other. I was watching the two of them from afar. Who am I? Conscience.

Cindy was a fair, tall girl with long black hair. She had a posture and gait that personified ‘standing tall’ for any girl of her age. Her beauty was in her being herself. No matter how the world or the people or the circumstances changed around her, she would never give in to the drama. She met Fiona, a beautiful, blonde girl with honey brown eyes on her way back home one day. Fiona was new to Kazale and was looking out for a certain address when she bumped into Cindy who helped her instantaneously. As Cindy spoke to her, Fiona couldn’t stop observing the confidence in her stature, her voice and most importantly she loved her straightforwardness. After their conversation, she headed towards the direction given by Cindy and eventually reached where she had to.

Cindy had come down to Kazale for her education and was staying there with her parents, Fiona, on the other hand, was working and lived alone in a rented apartment. There was something about the two of them which was awkward and which both had realized after the first meet. When Fiona was not able to openly compliment Cindy about all the good things that she had felt about her, Cindy had sensed a negative vibe from her and preferred to stay away ever since. Fiona, on the other hand, felt Cindy was too proud because of her overall way of being although she was actually attracted to her confidence. She didn’t like proud people and so she too stayed away from Cindy. Despite being in the same town and encountering each other often, none of them ventured to speak to one another. After five years of being in Kazale, Cindy left the town and went abroad for her higher education while Fiona got a transfer to another office in the same town and they both started their lives away from each other.

Ten years later, Fiona found a photograph of Cindy in a newspaper. She had become a very successful person and Fiona had transitioned from her old way of being to her newly discovered happier self. She felt happy for Cindy and decided to write to her. Fortunately, her correspondence was given in the footer of the newspaper, now that she had become a public figure. With great courage Fiona wrote a letter to her but she knew how difficult it was for her to do that. She had to literally swallow all the unsaid bitterness that existed between them and make a genuine effort because all these years she had believed there was some bond between them. So, Fiona took the first step. Very briefly she congratulated Cindy for her achievements and waited for her reply. Cindy never replied back and Fiona felt heart broken.

Fiona felt: "Not everyone is evolving at the same pace as she was and at times, to expect a change in someone is to fool yourself to a mirage. We all live in this paradigm of separation where the mind, body and soul are considered to be different. But Fiona had evolved to understand that it is not true. Cindy probably hadn’t. So, she didn’t acknowledge that Fiona was genuinely letting her hand of friendship towards her. Probably Cindy was still holding on to the differences as she felt that Fiona was not mature enough when they had first met for which Fiona decided to be humble and had taken the first step. Fiona contemplated that most part of our lives we keep chasing bigger achievements only to satisfy our egoistic self. Not that it is wrong. But what is more important is to serve your soul while doing so. Bigger achievements and fat paychecks need not always make you happy. But it does not mean you stop dreaming and chasing your dreams because only fulfilling your soul is not going to serve you either, now that you are born as a human in this materialistic world and accept to be one!"

Cindy, on the other hand, had long forgotten Fiona. She never even received the letter that Fiona had sent.

As I (Conscience) witnessed Cindy and Fiona move through different situations, I made it a point to become a part of their lives and help them understand that by all means do achieve all that you want, but do it with your heart and you will sail through…

I was with Fiona when she started writing the letter and hurried her way to the post office to get it delivered to Cindy. But then I fell asleep. Had been working overtime in Fiona’s psyche and needed some rest. Just then Fiona felt that after all these years Cindy will never get back to me. Why should I write my name on the letter? I would rather send her an anonymous letter. And so she wrote the letter and asked her friend Sandy to deliver it to Cindy. Even after doing what she needed to and could do, Fiona’s mind was not at peace. So, it woke me up. I asked her if she had sent the letter and she replied with a yes. I was at peace after that. Later that week I reminded Fiona again about the letter by enquiring if she had received any reply from Cindy. She denied and then gave me all the explanation that you just read (in bold). I heard her out and felt really sorry for her. I was happy she had tried!

Then I spoke with Cindy and after hearing what she said (that she had not received any letter), I realized that I was on a vacation having fun on the day when Sandy had to deliver the letter. That Cindy did not receive Fiona's letter as Sandy had not delivered it. I realized that Sandy never wanted Fiona and Cindy to bond again and so she acted nasty. Because of her Fiona was under the impression that Cindy was not replying when in fact she had not even received the letter. Poor her!

Since that day, I try my best to always stay awake in people's minds no matter how tired I am. Also, I particularly refrain from leaving Sandy, Fiona, and Cindy alone when I am on a vacation. And most importantly, I have told Fiona to own up her conversations and to learn to have one-to-one conversations rather than routing them through Sandy or anyone else, because, you never know what is conveyed to and fro between people when there is a middleman involved!