Eternal Love

“And the prestigious award for literature goes to Mr Krrish….”rest of the sentence was immersed in the thundering applause at Royal Hall. Krrish was climbing the stairs of the podium, his heart was racing. After receiving the ‘Golden Lady’ overwhelmed with emotions, he tried to speak but could not utter a single word, he pointed the trophy towards the lady sitting in the audience, clapping continuously and smiling wide, she acknowledged the gesture with poise. Krrish cleared the throat and finally began to speak “This moment is unbelievable in my life, I never thought that I would get the ‘golden lady’ that too in the first attempt, it was not imaginable at all. All credit for this achievement goes to one and only friend, philosopher Ms Reidha…..”again the remaining words were lost in deafening noise of applause.

Krrish could feel the deafening sound of the plane taking off the Nagpur international airport. His direct flight to Bangalore was cancelled and he had to replan his journey via Mumbai. This journey would take almost 8-10 hrs, as connecting flight was available only after 5hrs. He was working on a paper to present at an international conference. He wanted to concentrate on his papers but the sweet voice coming from the adjacent sofa kept disturbing him, where he found a lady talking with a person. She was elegant, wearing an executive suit , holding a brown business bag and there was something very special about her which Krrish could not understand. An announcement was made about Mumbai flight, Krrish picked his brown bag and left the waiting area to board the flight.

“Hello ma'am! Shall I sit here” “Sure” she said, “thanks” and he buried himself in the chair and covered with an international journal. The lady opened her bag and a bunch of paper slipped on her lap, some sketches and some flowing matter filled the papers. She could not stop herself and started reading those. She read first, second and kept on reading.

“Excuse me ma'am” a voice broke her link, “Yes please” it was Krrish’s voice, he was speaking to the lady “If you don’t mind, may I have my bag” and he gave her another bag, the same brown bag,

“Thank you ma'am..”

“I am Reidha” she announced,

“Oh yes ! I am Krrish, glad to meet you.”

“Do you write I mean are you a professional writer?

“Me?” exclaimed Krrish, “I am a doctor, I write a few words just for fun, this is the way I relax and destress myself.”

“Humm that’s why his stories revolved around patients, doctors, hospitals whether it is a humor or tragedy, even a romantic story evolving between a patient and the doctor” Reidha was thinking ,

she asked “Have you ever published your work?”

“See ma'am..”

“Reidha”she interrupted.

“Oh! Yes,Reeeiddha,correct? I know that nobody is going to publish my rubbish”

“Its not rubbish Krrish, its very fresh and interesting, please don’t underestimate yourself, you are the new face of modern storytelling”

“How are you so sure Reidha about my work?”

“Because I used to write a bit and now I am working with a publishing company, I am supposed to select fresh, saleable idea among many proposals for publication and then take the decision about it. I have gone through n number of manuscripts but yours is very different and definitely worth publishing.” Krrish was looking at her; he could guess she was not joking. Her wheatish complexion, dark hair with a silver lining hanging on her forehead was making her more believable.

Krrish and Reidha were talking throughout the journey, they spent 5hrs on Mumbai airport, had food together. Krrish was courteous as ever, taking care of every little need of Reidha.

“ Where is your family” asked Krrish.

“Here in front of me, you and the whole universe” she answered

“I mean your husband, children”

“I didn’t marry” “why” Krrish couldn’t believe.

“Koi mila nahin, and you?”

“Wellll! I am not settled yet, aur shaadi kar leta toh kahani likhataa nahin kahaani ban jaataa” They started laughing. “Krrish, I want a favour from you” “Anything” he said.

“I want you to send me all your stories, poems & sketches”

“Why” “ I just want to keep in touch with you”

“OK” Krrish affirmed. They were on Bangalore airport, they gave each other their cell nos. and email ids. Krrish sent all his work to Reidha, she did proof reading, arranged it properly, gave him important inputs regarding language. After a couple of month, she called him “ Krrish I am sending you an agreement letter, please sign it and send it immediately.”

It was a smash hit, sold out within a few days. Newspapers rated “Leela-The Miracle of Ingenuity” the bestseller. Krrish was nominated for the literature award. The question asked by a journalist brought him back in the present, Reidha was left behind in crowd. He was news of the week. “ Sir! Are you going to marry Ms Reidha?”

“We are friends” Krrish said, his eyes were looking for Reidha.

Krrish was driving home, as he reached the home, was surprised to find Balli an old friend of school days sitting with mamma.

“So you are FRIENDS”

“Come on Balli, you too?”

“Why not? Everybody says you two are made for each other, Radhe-Krishna of today.”

“ Do you know Balli? Radha Krishna ki preyasi nahin thi, Krishna toh 7-8 saal ki umra men hi Kans ko maarne ke liye Mathura chale gaye the, Radha was more mature than Him,isiliye Krishna ne nandgaon ke logon ko samjhaane ke liye Radha ko vahin chhod diya.Radha, Krishna ki mami thi aur umra men bhi badi thi. Chalo maan le Krishna to Bhagwaan the aur kuchh bhi kar sakte the, but He didn’t marry Radha because she was his strength, guide, spiritual guru who guided him throughout life, even when she was not with him.

Reidha’s position in my life is very high, she believed me, encouraged me, did what no other person can do, she is the goddess, how can I think of marrying her. Our relation can not be defined in terms of materialistic world, Its eternal. If she becomes Rukmini or satyabhama then I won't be able to visualize her as my inspiration, and you know its always remembered as RadhaKrishna, neither RukminiKrishna nor SatyabhamaKrishna.