The best test of life is when the status of the most dearest relationship hangs on the outcome of the most dreadful task of your life. . .
"Hello Railway enquiry? Could you please tell me at what time Rajdhani Express to Mumbai departs and from which platform?". Aaditya always fretted about today. He still wasn’t sure if he had made the right decision.
Aditi walked right into the room "Aadu.. where are you? Are you done? We need to leave at the earliest. I don’t want to rush to the station. Traffic is just too bad to predict.”
" Oh Diti, cant you be patient? Well, where is mom? Listen, mom wanted to tell me something. Might be she is not that happy that I will be away from them. Might be she is not that happy with my job. There is something bothering her and dad. Where is she?" Aaditya was actually pleading to his younger sister. Being the middle one of the triplets was a challenge in itself. He was sometimes glad that he atleast was different from Adwith and Aditi as he was the fraternal amongst the 3. People many a times never believed that they were triplets. Many a times he himself didn’t believe it too.
“ Mom?? Why would mom not be happy for you? Aadu, you took a wrong decision in not joining us for ur master’s. Now you getting back to being hysterical about this. I guess you really need just sit back and think what you want out of life. It is high time you realised what you want in life. Do you have any clue as to where it is leading to? Stop worrying about mom and dad or even adwith and me. Trust me just go live your life. Get a Life before Life gets you Aadu.."
“ Oh no!!! Diti…. Don’t start off again. Please. Mom wanted to speak to me before I left. Stop treating me like a kid. I am actually elder to you by a full minute and a half. So by all means even I know what all this is all about. It is just that there are some things you can never understand.” Aaditya retorted. He hated it whenever Aditi ended up acting more mature than him.
“ Diti… you will have to go alone to the station. Cant afford to leave dad alone. Take care Aaditya and call me once you reach there. I will mail you somethings I want you to be carefull about. ” Prachi hugged her son and handed over a cup of yoghurt to him. Aditi was giggling and enjoying every bit of Aaditya’s disappointment. She knew that he was hoping that mom would ask him to rethink about his decision to work away from home.
After taking blessings of mom and dad, Aaditya left home with a heavy heart. This was one moment which he always dreaded. A fear which made him decline many offers abroad. He scrapped his plans regarding his masters. He wasn’t as strong as his siblings. He just couldn’t bear being away from his family for long .He knew it was his weakness. He knew it was his strength too. After a lot of persuasion, he finally agreed to take up a job in Mumbai. This ended his two and half year unemployment stint.
Couple of hours later.
Just as Aaditya was getting down after securing his baggage below the seat, Adwith was calling him.“Hey bro! All the best. So at last how do you feel about this. Excited I guess..”
“ Hi Adwits, I am leaving at last. Just got into the train. Diti left after dropping me outside the station. She was afraid where I would change my mind and decide to return home.It feels weird leaving home for such a long time. How is your project work going on? Hold on I am just checking the passenger chart out.”said Aaditya as he was trying to balance his cellhpone and ticket. “ Hey kiddo! Chill. I understand how it feels. But this is reality and this had to happen someday. We need to move on. So who is the lucky person who is going to be your traveling companion. Check out if it is a beautiful girl.. It will be an perfect start to your venture..” chided Adwith. “Hey dude, hold on. I am not interested. Sorry. I just checked the charts out of curiosity. Anyways my co-passenger is some Dr.Das. He sounds boring and the most surprising thing is that he is not as old as his name sounds. He is just 3 years elder to us.” retorted Aaditya .“Enjoy. I got to be getting back to my lab. All the best and enjoy your stay at Mumbai. Hope this Dr.Das would entertain you.” Adwith just didnt know what else to say....
Just as Aaditya was settling down, he felt a wave of thoughts trouble him. This was his first stint out of home. He wished he could do things as easily as Aditi or Adwith. He wished he had the guts to take decisions for his own life. He wished he had someone around to whom he could talk for a while. He kind of started to remember a lot of things… some made him sm
ile and a few wet his eyes. Just as he was trying to recompose himself, a cool dude wearing torn jeans and a tight T-shirt. His earphones were dangling from the round neck collar of his T-shirt and his face was simply expressionless. He sat down opposite to Aaditya who was still kind of lost in thought. What Aaditya didn’t know was that this young person across was just about to change his life forever. The journey was yet to begin......End of Part I
