A Writer’s Dream

A story about a girl who dreams of becoming a writer one day.

“Ananya, where are you?”, Ananya heard her mother calling her at the top of her voice. She realized just then that she was hanging out with her best friend, Sudha for more than an hour. She had to prepare for her exams and she was sure that her mother will not be happy knowing she was spending time with her friend instead. She rushed upstairs to her apartment, but stopped midway when she saw her father parking his light green Bajaj Chetak scooter near the Neem tree in the front yard of their apartment building, where he regularly parked. She waited for her father to park and helped him carry his bags upstairs to their apartment.

It was Ananya’s birthday that day and she could not wait to find out the gift her father bought for her. She overheard her father whispering to her mother that morning about his plan to buy something for her. She wasn’t expecting anything expensive, but the thought that she might get a gift, however simple it was, excited her.

Growing up, she had always loved reading. During the weekends, when everyone watched movies on the television, Ananya and her friend Sudha would head upstairs and read books instead. Occasionally, she would take a notebook to write either poems or short stories depending on the mood she was in at that time. She would write a poem, if she was getting over a teenage crush. The only other person who got to read her poems was her best friend Sudha. Sudha was her worst critic who always encouraged her to do better. That night when Ananya got the journal, she could not wait to show it to Sudha and start writing, but her mother reminded her of the exams the next day and she had to set aside her journal with a heavy heart.

With her exams finally behind her, the first thing Ananya did was to grab her bright and shiny journal and run to her friend Sudha’s apartment. She rang the bell and Sudha opened  the door beaming. “I have a gift for your birthday”, Sudha said and she handed her gift to Ananya. It was long, thin and rolled in brown paper. Two gifts in a row. How lucky can I be?, Ananya wondered. She opened the brown paper and noticed that it was a black fountain pen. Only my best friend could think of a pen as a gift knowing that I was a budding writer, thought Ananya.

“Thank you so much, Sudha for a nice and thoughtful gift”, an elated Ananya  said and hugged Sudha. She finally had a journal and a pen to go with it. She could now write to her heart’s content and was one step ahead of her dream to become a writer.

She continued to write a number of short stories and poems in that journal using that pen from then on.  However, soon afterwards, she had to stop writing as her focus shifted to everything else in life, starting from her board exams in school to final exams in college followed by her work, marriage and kids which consumed every waking minute. She stopped following her dream just like that. In the process, she also lost touch with her best friend as Sudha had married young and moved away.

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She had searched for her a few times on social media with no success. One day, out of the blue, she saw a message from an unknown number with a message, “Are you still writing poems, Ananya?”?

She knew right away that it was her best friend Sudha. No one other than Sudha could possibly remember or know that Ananya used to write anything, leave alone write poems. She was overjoyed and responded that she did not get a chance as it has been a long time since she had a teenage crush and adding to that, she did not have her best friend and her worst critic by her side. Ananya and Sudha giggled like young girls and started chatting. Ananya told her that she still continues to read, but lost the habit of writing and Sudha reminded Ananya of her dream to become a writer and encouraged her to continue writing.

Since that day, Ananya has kept in touch with her childhood friend and she has also started writing.  She has shared many stories with Sudha since then and Sudha is still her worst critic. Thanks to her friend, Sudha, she is now writing for a well known magazine. She knows that she has a long way to go to become an author and publish her very own book, but she is absolutely thrilled that she is living her dream and she is enthusiastic to see where her dreams will take her.

Paulo Coelho once said, ‘ It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting’. Ananya absolutely believed that and she has never been this energized or enthusiastic before. She can’t wait to share her writings with her friend, Sudha and she can’t wait for her dream to publish a book come true.

Image Source: Pexels

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