(Picture: Not mine)There was a boy, about 24 years old, only child. He went to a city along with his mother for a day to interview for a job. He was seeing a girl for a couple of years now. Initially they had to bear with the society frowning at them for being in love, later when they persuaded their parents that what they really wanted was to marry after a couple of years with everyone's consent, the hearts softened. It was agreed that the girl and the boy can get married once they complete their studies and find some decent jobs and will not meet each other until then.
The boy hoped that he would clear the interview, and then approach the parents and fix the date for the wedding. The girl prayed hard from the moment the boy took the train to the city two days ago.
After the interview, the boy headed to his hotel room, spoke to his mother about how well it went, took a tablet for the fever he developed since the afternoon, and went to sleep...never to wake up again.
....We woke up in the morning with the mother letting us know about the terrible incident, and I had the horrible job of breaking the news to the girl, while Ranjit had to head to the boy's house to break the news to his father. The mother was more concerned about how the girl would take this news than anything else. She repeatedly asked to ensure that someone takes care of her and she should head to the boy's house so she can mourn the death of her would-have-been husband. I was moved with this as, usually the girl is considered a source of embarrassment since the whole issue of love has been hushed up, and was kept a secret. But the feeling lasted exactly half-an-hour as I was asked to break another news to her. The relatives and well wishers discussed this and decided that the girl cannot come to the boy's house and cannot attend the funeral. I refused to do it. Someone else did, and the girl refused to listen.
She is now at the boy's place, waiting for the body to arrive...all her dreams shattered and the stares that scream "you are not wanted here" giving her company.
Life is so unfair at times.