Sunday, April 22, 2012

Ek choti si love story

A long long time ago there was a young boy about to step into manhood. One day he was taking a stroll outside his village full of youthful hope and a dance in his step. As he walked on he came across a well. He wanted a drink and peered over the rim of the well. It was a dark, musky and smelly well. The water was pale brown and covered in algae. It had a sinister menacing atmosphere about it. However, all our boy saw, and to his greatest surprise, was the most beautiful maiden he had ever seen sitting right at the bottom of the well. Her face shone with the radiance of a full moon on a clear night and her hair like a waving wheat field during a breezy sunset. He asked of her how a maiden like her happened to be in a well that gloomy. At first she would say nothing but when the time came for our boy to head back on the road, she finally spoke. She told him how she had been fooled and trapped in that well. How for years she was made to believe that it was her destiny. And she told our boy that she had forgotten who she was and what the world was like. I want to get out of this and see the world again ,she said. I love you.

The boy had been not been just smitten, but in awe of the maiden since he had saw her the first time. He had never experienced love before. He had only heard stories of maidens in distress and the hero who saved her and won her love. He had never known what to do with his life before. Like most boys, for him the world was full of opportunity and wonder. But at that moment it was clear to him, he knew what he must do. How can I bring you out, he asked the maiden. I am too weak. If you can down here and take me with you. Without a second thought he jumped into the well.And immediately his whole life changed.

The well you see was enchanted. It was the Well of The Devil. Anyone who was in that well lost all their happiness. Yet the two young hearts were bonded and in that hell they knew that soon they would get out and the world lay waiting for them. So the boy immediately set to work. He pushed and he shoved with all his strength but the maiden was too weak. He understood this was going to be much tougher than he could have imagined. Anyone who fell in that Well could only get out with their own strength. And the longer one stayed in the Well the weaker they became, further reducing the chances of ever getting out. The boy knew he needed to be patient. He knew he needed to be strong.

Days turned to weeks and weeks to months. The boy and the maiden were madly in love with each other. However, the time spent in the well had been taking its toll on the boy. The maiden was recovering slowly. Sometimes the boy would ask her to push harder. He wanted her to share his urgency and his spirit. To the maiden however, that was scorn. The boy would sometimes go out of the well for fresh air to rejuvenate himself so that he could go back in stronger. The maiden thought those few moments were a symbol of doubt in our boys mind. The Well knew its tricks.

As time progressed the Well got stronger. The boy would sometimes become impatient, at times shout at the maiden. The maiden would shout back at times, and at times become cold and destructive. Yet the boy believed the love they both felt would keep them alive.As more time went by the boy started breaking. He had responsibilities back in his village. He was a man now and shouldered responsibilities. Sometimes he had to leave the well to fulfill them. And sometimes on his way back he would stop by and share a laugh with his friends. However, he spent most of the time day and night in the Well so that the maiden knew he was there, and this changed him more.

The maiden saw the boy change. She saw the smile disappear and a haggard countenance. She saw her own self slowly being reflected in the boy. She saw him doing the same things as her when she had started living in the Well. And she hated what she saw. She pushed the boy away from her slowly. The boy felt scared and he felt weaker. during their time in the Well, the maiden had also been his strength. The darkness of the Well was also taking its toll much heavier now. The boy started going crazy. He even imagined another man and became jealous of nothing when he knew the maiden loved only him. His mother fell sick and they ran low on money for treatment. The boy did what he could and still he would save a little to buy the maiden something. Meanwhile, the maiden started thinking she was not his priority. This hurt the boy more. However in moments of clarity he begged the maiden to fight with him, not against him. In her moments of clarity she would tell him not to worry, that she would not leave him and would fight alongside him. But mostly she saw only the bad and this hatred gave her new strength. She stood up one day, told him never to talk of love again, stabbed the boy through the heart with a knife, put her legs upon his shoulder and climbed out. The boy suddenly saw with clarity what trick the well had played.

He prayed to the maiden to understand. He was extremely angry and hurt that the maiden did this to him. Yet he asked her for help. He was the one very weak now. The maiden scorned him and said, you reaped what you sowed and turned away. Just as she turned she saw another man riding by. She decided to start her new life and she rode off with the man.


Epilogue:
The maiden never understood what she had done and how the boy was dying. The boy would keep crying from the Well for months. Sometimes the maiden would stop by the Well, and ask the boy to remember the first day and how he had changed. He tried to tell her what was the truth about him, ask her why he was treated such; but the maiden was blind in her anger. The man whom she had found by the well turned out to be a decent man and he loved the maiden well and started nursing her back to full health. Him too she promised that if he saved her she would love him. Being out of the well the maiden recovered fast. And she lived happily ever after, her anger never allowing her to see the guilt or even feel the pain, for what happened to the boy. To her she had done the rightful. The last she saw him she, she looked down at him in the well and said, I just want to have some fun, I have been in that well long enough, I hope you find the peace you are looking for, and walked.


You may ask now, what of the boy? However the well has its secrets. Only those who get out can have their story told. So if ever you hear a story about the boy again you would know how he got out too. If you don't you already must know what that means.

3 comments:

yash said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
yash said...

very well written/put my friend. Like the ending specially..

shalini said...

i know where this is coming from.! excellent story though!