The Unfulfilled Dream

'Ding' rang the school bell and she realized, it was already noon. The road outside her house was busy. The continuous honking, the chatter of the vendors, folks going to work, everything seemed normal. Like every day, she sat in her barely lit room, introspecting life.

Life, it had always been unfair to her. Be it the nursery admission, where she had to repeat the year, for being a month younger than the proposed cutoff, or the daily dose of arguments with her sister, she was always the sufferer.

But today, she sat near the window sobbing, trying hard to focus on her work, but couldn't, then, she heard someone enter her room.

Grabbing the selves of her black large sized t-shirt, she wiped the stream of tears flowing down her face.

"May I come to Rids?" the voice came from outside.

She was amazed to hear someone entering her room, after so long time.

She never shared a good equation with her family except for her father. But these days, she barely spoke with him.

Dad, how come he is here? she thought.

"Come Paa." She said.

He looked pale and weak. Riddhima thought, he had aged faster than she liked. It saddened her.

"You want something Paa?" She asked.

"No Rids just wanted to spend some time with you."

After an hour-long silence, juggling with the idea to start a conversation, he decided to take an initiative.

"Rids, are you fine? You can share anything bothering you."

"No Paa, I am fine." She quipped while mentally wrestling with the idea of briefing him about all the failed relationships, unaccomplished projects and broken promises.

"Princess, you know right, that you can share everything with me. If not as a father, I will definitely try and understand you as a friend." He said.

In a matter of seconds, her eyes were welled up. hugging Mr. Sinha, she sobbed like a baby.

"Paa, Raghav ended our year-long relationship. He says I am worthless. My NGO project failed and I broke the promise given to you. Raghav is right, I ain't of any worth."

Mr. Sinha had not expected this confession from his daughter. Although the idea of a secret relationship infuriated him, he also knew, all Riddhima needed right now, was a friend to support her.

He wallowed his anger, wiped her tears and hugged her back.

"Rids, I have never raised you to be a weakling. You are strong and you will fight this phase too. Now understand this, love is the beautiful feeling ever but, you have to make your share of mistakes, to learn your lessons.

Mistakes, they teach you, your worth. A failed relationship might hurt, but it teaches you to be strong and what matters is realizing the mistakes, so that they don't escalate.

So be strong and allow your emotions to wash away. Don't hold on to a relationship, get over him and only remember the beautiful time you had with him.

Life is always, what you make it.

And, I know that running an NGO is your dream. But princess, falling doesn't mean that we failed to get a step closer to success, it simply means we took the longer route. No one achieves success at once, but that does not mean that we stop dreaming and stop trying. When we hammer a stone, it breaks on the last hammer, but that does not mean, we the first few hits were a waste. Learn from your mistakes and give your best every time. You will achieve your goal, I know that you will never break the promise you have made.

Rids now stop crying, my shirt has moistened and then your mom would yell at me and that's the last thing I want for today."

She rolled her eyes and smiled briefly. She hugged him tight and cried for another few minutes until she felt the burden off her chest.

"Paa, thank you for being there, for understanding me and rekindling the lost desire in me. I promise I will make you proud one day. Now go, I have to start working." She said, wiping her tears.

"Ah! Am I that motivational?" He smiled and left the room.

The next moment, she took a bath, changed into some decent clothes and let some light enter her room.

She opened her laptop and started making the presentation of the NGO, taking an appointment at different companies, creating a website and planning a good name of the NGO.

After a week's struggle of continuous 10-hour typing, not sleeping more than 2 hours every day, she was finally ready with her presentation, website and the NGO's name "Prerna Foundation" it read.

Now, she had 2-3 appointments per day scheduled for the next 4 days.

She was nervous as well as excited. Before leaving for the presentations at the multinational companies, she decided to talk to her father.

"Paa, I am nervous. Will I be successful?" She said.

"Rids, always remember what I had said the following week. You will be successful. If not now, tomorrow you will. All the best princess."

"Thanks, paa, I needed the motivation." She said and hugged him.

She gave presentations at many places. A few were rejected and the companies which supported the initiative wanted to change the basic idea.

"Sir, my NGO is all about women who want to be independent, who need to start their life afresh, who are harassed by their families and who need guidance. I am sorry but I cannot work on your conditions." She had confidently said in one of the presentations.

Lots of dejection came her way as time passed by. She faced several rejections from the companies besides having trouble registering her NGO with the government. And oh, the society always has to bitch. How can it stand an independent woman striving hard to achieve her dream? But no stone that came her way could deter her from her path. She had finally achieved her dream. " Prerna Foundation" was finally made.

But how did she do it? Did she never feel hopeless when she heard the ladies say how characterless she was as she chose not to get married? Did she never feel broken when she heard her own cousins mock at her for failing so many times? Did she not feel lost when she saw her friends achieve high in life while she was still trying and trying? She did. She had felt insanely lost at times. But there was someone by her side. Her father was. And also Nikhil was. He was an MBA working in an MNC where Riddhima had made a presentation. The company found her project worthless but Nikhil didn't. The project brought them close. Hand in hand they supported each other and finally laughed as they signed the papers of their NGO. THEIR NGO!

As Riddhima grew old she had a lot to reminisce. She had finally

achieved her goals and fulfilled her Paa's dreams.