The Special Meeting

Shravan was waiting for Nikita on the seashore. Its been 20 mins since their meeting time. Nikita was late. That was very unusual. She was never late. she was the one always on time. He never had to wait for her. Hmmm...Shravan wondered. Maybe tables are turning.Shravan was whistling ...he walked around playing in the sand with his legs. He was super excited ...he could not wait to share this news with Nikita.

Sitting on the seashore ..looking at the calm sea Shravan waited patiently. While waiting his thoughts drifted to the last few months. What a tumultuous month it has been. Past 6 months had been impregnated with constant arguments and fights at home. Shravan's parents had created a big fuss about Nikita's caste and background. Shravan was tired of making sense to his parents. He could not believe that his parents were upset because Nikita belonged to a different caste and spoke a different language. How does it matter ….He loves her ..That's all that should matter to his family. Unfortunately, her caste and community took precedence over his immortal love.

Shravan could not believe that his life was turning into one of the numerous Hindi movie stories he had seen over his teen years. At that time the revolt by the heroes looked very chivalrous and inspiring but now that he was in the same situation it did not appeal to him at all.

Nikita was like a sunshine on a gloomy day. He met her when he was at the lowest point of his life. He was jobless and was in a situation where his earning would be the only source of income for his family ...his dad had already retired and he did not have a job … Shravan was getting more rejection letters than interview calls. He met Nikita one fine day in the lobby of a company where he had an interview that day. She was there to attend an interview but for a different position.

While waiting to be summoned they started chatting. Talking to her calmed his nerves. He felt at home talking to her. It was a good 20 mins wait. In this short time they talked as if there was no tomorrow. They attended their respective interviews and went home. That was it. Shravan cursed himself for not asking for her number. He kept on thinking about her ..she was not the most beautiful girl he had seen ..she was not picture perfect but something about her was very very attractive.

After a week he got a call that he was selected for the job. The salary was unbelievably high. He could not believe that his life has changed overnight...it looked like the cloud over his life had passed away ...it was all sunny now.

Shravan joined the new job with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. After a week of joining, one fine morning he boarded the elevator to go to his floor. The elevator stopped on the 2nd floor. The doors opened ...there stood Nikita busy texting on her phone. As soon as she entered the elevator she looked up and her face shined with a sparkle ... she looked so happy seeing him. Thus began the beautiful journey of friendship between Shravan and Nikita. They became the best of friends. Nikita's happy nature and attractive personality impressed Shravan in leaps and bounds. Over a period of time, they realized that they cannot be without each other ... this marked the commencement of the beautiful journey of love.

Shravan and Nikita wanted to be together forever. They decided to let their respective families know about their feelings for each other. They knew that it will not be a smooth sailing towards marriage but both were geared to face all the possible hindrances. They were very clear about the fact that they will not marry until there is complete acceptance from both sides of the family.

Nikita's parents were very happy with the alliance. They simply loved Shravan and were convinced that he will complement Nikita in all ways. However, things did not go well with Shravan's family as expected. His parents and grandparents were not happy about the fact that Nikita belonged to a different community and caste and did not know the language spoken by Sharavan's family. They were head bent against the alliance and did not want to discuss about it.

Months passed in trying to convince Sharavan's family. In the meantime Nikita tried to learn Shravan's language and vice versa. She tried her level best to establish a bond with his family but to no avail. 9 months went by in constant bickerings and arguments. Shravan was getting tired of the tension-packed environment in his house stirred by his love story.

After 2 years of trying and rejections, Shravan's family accepted Nikita as their daughter in law. They wanted to talk about the wedding with her family. Shravan went crazy with happiness ..he was jubilant beyond words. He did not want to share the news with Nikita over the phone so he messaged her to meet him at the seashore (their regular meeting spot ) in half an hour. Nikita said she will be there. She could sense the excitement in Shravan's voice but could not guess what had caused this excitement in him.

Shravan switched back his thoughts to the present. Here he was waiting for his lady love to divulge the most awaited news of the decade. He felt her presence all of a sudden. He was so immersed in his thoughts that he did not realize Nikita's presence behind him. He looks around and there she stood looking as pretty as always. There was a strange aura about her today ..in the midst of her beauty he could see a subtle sadness but peace on her face. He took her in his arms immediately ...he whispered to her "I have a very happy news to share ...guess what my family agreed to our wedding. They want to meet your family and discuss about the marriage preparations".

Nikita's eyes glowed with happiness but he could still see a pinch of sadness on her otherwise smiling face. He could not decipher the reason. Nikita just stared at him for a second and said in a hoarse voice …"What a lovely news but its too late ."....Shravan was baffled ..he exclaimed "Too late"!!!???..Nikita spurted out "I meant too late for office. I need to rush back. I have a meeting in a few minutes " she started heading back. Shravan said "That's fine. Call me after the meeting." Saying so he turned to wear his shoes back so that he can walk with her to the car. But by the time he was done tying his shoelace and turned back ...she was gone ..not to be seen. Shravan thought, wow she must have been in a real hurry. It seemed weird but he was too excited to read into this.

He started walking back to his car ...Nikita was not around but he could still feel her presence ….He didn't know why.

As he approached his car he saw a big crowd making a fuss over a car in the middle of the road...looked like there has been an accident... He was curious to know what was going on and wanted to help out if needed. He went closer to the crowd...people were screaming and trying to take someone out of the window of the crashed car. The car was a mess. There was blood everywhere around the car. Someone was saying how brutally a truck ran over the car. Looks like the incident happened some 15 minutes back. The ambulance was on its way.

Shravan went ahead to help the people who were trying to pull the person out of the car window. It was such a messy scene. They had managed to pull the person out and someone declared it was a girl and she was dead. As he went closer Shravan's heart skipped a beat ...He screamed his heart out. It was Nikita!!!

He could not believe his eyes. Nikita's entire body was badly smashed up but her face was untouched. How can life be so cruel ?? She was gone forever ... he was with her only 5 minutes back. Wait ... this accident happened 15 mins back. He felt a cold shiver pass through his spine.

She left the world but could not leave Shravan without hearing the good news from him. She did not want to make him wait for her. She loved him so much ... her love for him was eternal and so was she !!!

The Special Meeting happened a bit too late!