It took Arjun less than five minutes to reach his home. As the car halted in front of the house, he got off and turned around to see his father sitting in a chair in the lawn, reading a newspaper.
"Hey dad," he called out to his father, walking across the lawn towards him.
His father looked up at him with a grunt, put the newspaper away and said grimly, "Good morning."
"Oh, come on dad!" Arjun pulled his father up from his chair, gave him a one-arm hug and said grinning, "Can you not be so angry with me?"
"Why shouldn't I be?" his father asked, sitting down in his chair, trying to stop his smile.
"Because I am going to take up the expansion of our business here," he replied coolly.
His father was surprised beyond himself. "How come you have so suddenly decided on this? You have been maintaining your stance that you have no interest in "my" business," he asked.
"Never mind that. Hear me out first. I want to take up the product development and plant management here, run both the teams according to my methods of work, find out what I really am and run everything with my own ideas. You take care of all the remaining lines of business except this one. After one year, see for yourself. Or rather, let me decide. If I feel that I am doing good and if you feel like that too, then I will take over your place and head the whole group of companies and businesses."
"How on earth did you decide to do this? Just last night you shouted your head off over the phone saying you needed time to think," his father asked, running out of words.
"That's not the point. Are you okay with my plan?" Arjun asked expectantly.
"Of course I am okay with it. But what's gotten into you? You seem kind of... different."
"Different?"
"Yeah, all happy, ecstatic, planned, satisfied."
"Don't you like it, me being this different?"
"Of course I like it. I have always wanted you to be like this." His father gave him a warm shake-hand and grinned.
Arjun realized how much he had missed his dad, missed his dad's smile and the shake-hand he always gave him when he achieved anything. He concluded that what he had done was the correct thing.
He spent the whole day with his father, learning all the details of the work he would be taking on, going around the branch offices and other sites, pondering over the information regarding the business, meeting all the people he would be working with and the ones who would be assisting him and so on. That night, as he lied down on his bed, he realized how his life had taken a sudden, new turn in just one day. All because of one pretty, strange girl whose name he didn't know. He smiled to himself, enjoying the change he was witnessing in himself.
The next day morning, he woke up early and went five minutes before the usual time, to the beach.
"You are early," Miss. D said mockingly as soon as he lowered himself to his usual place next to her.
"That's because I have a lot to tell you," he replied, panting after the jog, sitting beside her.
"What is it? Settled the score with your father?" she asked with interest.
"That's not it." He looked straight at her and said, "You made my day."
The smiles on their faces thinned as he said seriously and earnestly, "You have no idea how happy my dad is with me. Thank you."
Arjun wasn't sure if Miss. D felt anything, but he was feeling a little fuzzy, as if the air between them was slowly heating up. She was simply looking at him, reading him, batting her eyelids subtly.
After a moment, Miss. D smiled and said, "It's not because of me. Anyone can be the source of inspiration. But it is up to you to decide whether you will follow it or not. Have you heard of the saying, "You can drag a horse to the lake but you can't make it drink the water"? It's the same here. You decided to heed my advice. It's your wilfulness, your acceptance and greatness that made your day."
"Still, you had a part in it," he retorted.
"Okay. Let's leave it to God to decide it by the judgement day," she said mockingly. Both of them laughed.
He observed her as she wrote her diary and asked her, "Why do you always wear white or soft coloured clothes?"
"That's because it makes me feel pleasant, in good humour." She smiled warmly as if she was pleased with herself, satisfied.
Later, as they parted ways, she asked him, "I guess you will be heading off for work today, right? Have fun." She grinned as she cheered him up with that one wish of a good day.
"Sure. Thank you," he returned her smile.
As days passed, Arjun started enjoying his work more than his expectations. He always did whatever struck his mind first, went with his instincts, believed more in himself. And every minute, he remembered that the change in him was because of Miss. D. For every morning, she would say the most inspiring things, really casually, which always boosted him up. He never told her what work or business he was doing, nor did she ask him. She never spoke of what work she did either, although she looked close to being a college student. The topic of jobs and work never came up between both of them, nor did any materialism or capitalism related things.
One morning, they had a small talk which turned into a kind of bet about life and reality.
"You always know what life is, but you just don't realize it," Miss. D said.
"Really? I don't think so. Life is always a confusion. You can never know what it is." Mr. J argued.
"You are wrong," Miss. D contradicted cheerfully.
"Really? If I ask you to show me what life is, here, right now, how will you show that to me?" he asked her, challenging her.
She pursed her lips, thought for a moment and said, "Okay. I will show you."
Without getting down, she rose and stood up on the wall, facing the sea and looked down at Mr. J. She gave him her hand and said, "Get up."
Without asking anything, he took her hand, got up and stood on the wall next to her, their arms touching slightly.
"Face the sea," she said. He obeyed her.
"Fold your arms," she said. He did it.
"Now, close your eyes," she said softly. He sighed and closed his eyes.
"Hear only the sound of the waves and nothing else," she whispered.
He nodded and concentrated on the sound of the sea waves, the slashing of the waves; the sound of the waves hitting the shore and the rocks nearby. Within a few seconds, his mind was totally fixed on that sound.
"Feel the mist the waves are spraying at you," she whispered. He felt the droplets spraying on his face. It felt cool.
"Welcome the sea winds that are blowing over you," she continued. He breathed a lungful of the air, feeling the coolness of the winds, washing over him, flushing his face, soothing him, and he sighed feeling peaceful somehow.
"Now, imagine yourself alone at the beach, not a single soul with you. Just you and the sea. Imagine the sea and the beach as you like it," she whispered softly.
With the winds and mist washing over him and the sound of the waves filling his ears, his closed eyes saw a blue sea, radiating the morning sun's first rays, waves slashing at the shore with a rhythm, blowing the coolest and sweetest winds, spraying cool mist into the air, And he was standing alone in the sands. No, standing next to Miss. D.
He loved his day-dream. It felt like heaven.
After a few moments, she said, "Okay, now open your eyes."
Slowly, Mr. J opened his eyes.
"Look at the sea and the beach now," she said.
It looked quite in contrast to his dream.
"See how the water is murky and not so good, how the mist is not so cool, and how it is so crowded for a weekday morning?" she spoke slowly.
He looked at her questioningly.
"This is what life is," she said and continued, "Look, when you closed your eyes, you saw everything like how you wanted it to be. But when you opened your eyes, it was completely different. Still, you like coming here every morning, you sit here, you go jogging around this very beach. Life is the same. When you remain oblivious to the reality and the world, you think that your life will be the way you like it to be, like how you imagine it would be. That's what kids do. As you grow up, as you see and realize what reality is and what the world is, how murky everything is, you freak out. But afterwards, you try to compromise, adjust with what you have. Some people don't like that and try to escape it. They don't even give it a try. Like how some people stop coming to the beach after seeing how murky the water is or how crowded this place can get. Life is never a confusion. It has all things that are different from what we expect. We make it complicated, we think that it is confusing. Because we don't know how to go through it. Once we figure it out, life is a party. The best party you can ever be in. Just like how we both love sitting here every morning and enjoying the sea and this beach, even though it is full of people and murky waves."
He looked at her, absorbing everything in, comprehending what she said.
"Did I say too much?" she asked at last, winking, grinning mischievously.
He took a full minute and then smiled. "No, no," he said. He seemed kind of out of words. Finally, he chuckled and said, "How did you figure this out?"
Smiling, she raised he eyebrows and her shoulders in a shrug, indicating that she didn't know.
"You are... unbelievable," he whispered and then breathing hard, he looked at the sea. He then turned sideways to look at her again.
Maybe it was the talk about life and dreams, maybe it was the way she had said it all, maybe it was the way she had a radiating warmth in her eyes, maybe it was the way the light of the rising sun shone in those eyes of her, maybe it was the way he saw his reflection in those eyes, Arjun didn't realize it when he leaned a little closer to Miss. D. She was looking at him, and so was he. The air seemed to vibrate with some electrifying sense and Arjun felt his pulse quicken.
Maybe Miss. D felt it too this time, for she tore her gaze away to look at the sea and breathed quite heavily. Arjun took a deep breath, controlling his thoughts and shifting on his feet, realizing that they hadn't spoken for a really long moment.
Feeling a little flushed, he looked at his watch to see they were past their usual departure time of seven. "We... we're getting late, I guess," he mumbled. Miss. D simply remarked, "Oh, yeah, right."
Arjun got down the wall and gave her his hand. She took it and jumped down on to the ground. Holding hands, there, he looked into her eyes with an awe and she stared back at him, unable to say anything.
After a few moments, Mr. J said, "You are amazing. Lets go." They went off together.
Before parting ways, he squeezed her hand, smiled and said with a weird expression on his face, "Have a good day."
After much deliberation, they went their ways.