Tu Jo Hai Toh Main Hoon- PART 2!!! (Short Story)

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       I joined my company from next week and started performing like I never did. I was given a project and I worked upon it till almost every person in the office left. The office had no more than 9 employees but I had nothing to do with it. I was delighted to have a company for my internship and that's all I wanted. That evening, I was not the only one who got selected as an Intern but even that girl who took away my heart in the first look itself. Lately, she joined the same project as mine and we started working for hours together and one day, I told her about my love for her. She readily agreed and we often kissed and pressed each other once everyone left office in the evening. She lived just 100 meters from office hence staying up till late hours was never an issue. I was happy that the company not only gave me a confidence that I can take a job on my skills and talent but also gave me a lovely girl with whom I felt I had world with me. 

             One day, Deepika and I went to Pizza Hut. Yes, her name was Deepika. She proposed me marriage while we waited for our pizzas to arrive. I was surprised and shocked. I regained my conscious and readily agreed to the offer. I asked my mother if she would like to meet her. She agreed. Both of them met each other and got so well mixed up that it didn't seem as if they met for the first time. Later on, I dropped her home. As I started coming even after my father came at home, I never got chance to talk to him. I wanted to show him that I worked more than him and with better dedication. My mother told me that my father was proud of me but still I didn't restrict my unwanted ego to come in between and patch up with my father and lead a complete family life thereafter. My mother asked me to tell about Deepika to my father as he should know about a big decision that I had taken. I finally told him one Sunday when both of us were at home. Happily, he gifted me two rings in the evening. He asked me to wear one while give another one to Deepika from my father's side. This incident did something to me and I decided that the day I would get my Final Experience Letter from the office after completing the project, I shall give it in my father's hand first and bridge all the distances with him.

            The project was almost done and I started preparing for the documentation. Unexpectedly, the date for the Final Presentation came and it was just after 7 days. I showed my whole project to the guide and he was very happy to see the kind of work I had done in just 4 months which other students couldn't do even in time frame of 6 months. I went back to my office with happy mind and asked if I could get an Experience Letter. They told me that I shall be getting it only on the day of my Final Presentation. I was shocked. But luckily, my batch had its presentation in 2nd half of the day. On the final day, I went to the company and took my Experience Letter. I was the proudest man at that moment. I wanted to show it to my father and tell him that I was no less than him and still a better person than him. But the Presentation was to be given before massaging my ego and making it more stronger.

             At the Presentation, 2 externals, 8 teaching staffs and 80 classmates were sitting in front of me. I started presenting my website to them. Not even one question was countered back instead I was given a round of applause when I clicked on the last slide which said THANK YOU. I became very emotional and thanked my guide in the end. The external announced in front of everyone that I am going to be the first student in University to score 100% in Final Project as they didn't think that I deserved anything less than perfection. They even took the back-up of my project to show it to the Chancellor of University. While I was unplugging my laptop from projector after all the wonderful comments that I received, I got a call. My father had met with a car accident and was admitted in ICU. I was shocked and broken. I packed my bag and ran towards Fortis.

              I saw my mother and Deepika sitting together and consoling each other. I saw my father from a glass window. He was breathing with support of nebulizer. The man whose personality impressed youngsters of India who wanted to become like him was lying down in such a helpless position. I hugged my mother and cried for half an hour. After I regained myself, I saw Mr. Mehra standing near us. I was shocked. He was the Director of our firm from where I did my Internship. I asked him what was he doing here. He looked towards my mother and after my mother's affirmative nod told me that he isn't founder or director of any firm but a casual employee at my father's organization. And he began telling me a truth that made me realize how small and selfish I am.

             When my father saw that I was almost in depression because of not finding any placement for internship, he thought of doing something for me. He knew that I won't take his help so he planned otherwise. He rented an office at Colaba, far away from our place so that I never doubt. He renovated the whole place within 10 days. Then, he asked Mr. Mehra to act as a Director and Founder of the firm whereas asked him to take few people from my father's firm to act as employees. Mr. Mehra choose 9 guys from IT department and asked them to continue their work from this new office and instructed them to never reveal their company's name in front of me. My father also asked Mr. Mehra to assign me the best project that the company has. And I was given a website to create for a Construction company. That was none other than my father's company only but the name was never disclosed to me. Having a little knowledge about my father's company, it became easier for me to build that project using my brains.  Mr. Mehra also told me that my father was paying Rs. 2 lakh per month as rent for that office. 

             I was sitting down on a bench in shock after listening to all of this. Then Deepika started speaking. She told me that as I know how my father had planned every thing since my birth itself, he had also fixed with his friend of Finance company where he worked before opening his own organization that he will marry me with his daughter. And therefore, Deepika was purposefully plotted at the new office as the only intern with me and given the same project to work upon. I fell for her and when I proposed her, my mother came to know even before me. And therefore, my parents didn't show the kind of astonishment I was expecting. They asked Deepika  to propose me for marriage as soon as possible before my mind changes for her. She did the same to which I readily agreed. And with her parents' permission, my father gave me the two rings which was a way of telling me that I'm engaged with her and I do not need to search for any other girl. 

               I was moved. All these weeks, I was thinking that I am about to challenge my father and tell him how big I have become and how soon am I going to overtake him in life whereas I was working in a company formed by him to employ me. I was loving a girl selected by him for me. I was working on a project that was to be implemented for his company. I was no one but a man who was nothing without my father. I started connecting the dots and the new-found respect for my father developed instantly. I wanted to hug him immediately. I saw doctor coming towards us and asked any one of us to meet him. My father was out of danger. I was taken inside. Both of us saw each other. The helplessness and pain in his eyes made me die at the moment. I was seeing my father in such condition but couldn't do anything except looking at him. I bent down, wiped his tears and hugged him. Both of us cried like never before. I felt his right hand on my head and I cried more and more and more. I whispered in his ears,"Papa, I can never become like you. You are my idol and will always remain to be". And then we cried more. From corner of my right eye, I saw my mother weeping more than us and Deepika holding her shoulders trying to console her. 

             That was the day when I not only got my father back but a new family where Deepika was a sweet addition to it. My father was advised for an year bed rest while I took his place in his firm and guess what the latest headline in the newspapers after 2 years said,"The turnover of RAJPUT BUILDERS have increased by 200% since the son have stepped into father's shoes".

                       !!!THE END!!!!

           

P.S.: I was searching for my Internship when I faced some impossible challenges and almost lost my confidence and belief. This story stuck me then. I was thinking what if something could have happened of this sort with me. But it took me time to finally write this story and share it with my readers. Hope you liked my attempt at fiction after almost 2 years. :-) 

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!