Crowning Glory : Life's Game

Read the previous post here

Chapter 10

"Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them. "

If people were the epitome of what their names suggest, Tara wasn't doing a good of it. She looked tired, weary and badly in need of some shut eye. But as it is with most high profile jobs, peace, quiet and rest remain as elusive as ever. The numero uno of Lucky One Media was pacing up and down the whole length of her spacious office, crunching numbers, making decisions all the way.

 In the midst this sea of statistics, came a voice that ripped through the fabric of her thought.
 "Ma'am? Ma'am?", It was her secretary's voice, shaky with the anticipation of a backlash for breaking Tara's train of thought.

 Tara: "What is it?"

 Secretary: "I have a message from Jennifer Joseph, you know, the photo journalist from Marie Claire. She wants another appointment for a photo session at your place."

 "Ufff, not this again....", Tara murmured to herself.

 Tara: "Okay, I'll let you know. You may leave now."

 A clearly intimidated young woman dashed out, and Tara and her thoughts had the room to themselves once again.
 "Why? Why again!?", Tara gazed towards the heavens and shot out an array of questions.
She did hope in all earnestness that Jennifer did not notice her awkward behavior that day. But then, she did gawk at the tattoo for quite a while back then.
"I'm a total crud!", she reprimanded herself.
 It is said that a mind that ponders too much is only better than a mind that ponders too much and is all alone. Tara was in a bad place. She had worries of her own: A past that just wouldn't give up, no one to talk to and to top it off, a big firm to run.
Grave thoughts came to her like mice to cheese, and almost immediately, she imagined the worst. Her world, which she had so painfully pieced together, and to which she was so frantically trying to hold onto, was shattering to pieces. And all because of a few wrong decisions she had taken when she was too young to take any. What sort of a cruel quid pro quo of life was that?

 Questions and more questions with more profound thoughts concocted a cocktail of despair in her mind, and soon enough Tara looked only but a shadow of her confident self that the world knew so well. Depressed and distressed , she slumped to her chair, as thoughts engulfed her...

                                                                           ********

Shekhar: "Look at all these bundles of joy!"

Tara: "You fit right in..."

Shekhar: "Oh don't be such a snob, this is a big decision, a big HAPPY decision."

Tara: "Which I have agreed to."

Shekhar: "After a great deal of nagging and persuasion that is. Never mind, take a look at this cheeky little so and so! Tugging on my pants!"

Shekhar picked up the little devil that had been shadowing him the minute they had entered the room and put her right on Tara's face.

Shekhar: "Isn't she the cutest thing ever!?"

And it was done. Tara was in a hurry to finish up the paperwork for the adoption. Meeting and whole lot of appointments awaited her at work, and this couldn't  take more time than it already had.
She stood completing the formalities when she saw her husband teaching their would-be daughter how to do the chicken dance.
And at long last, the stiff, grim face eased, and let loose a smile. "Maybe, this is the answer. Maybe, this is my family....", she thought.

Roohi, they called her here at the orphanage.

                                                                          ********

 Buzzzzzz!

A cacophony of notifications brought Tara back out of her thoughts. She brought herself back to earth, and steeled her resolve. "No. Not this easily. Not after coming all this way." She decided to allow Jennifer one more appointment, although she had earlier impulsively decided to shun the request, but changed her mind, for that could have led to questions in Jennifer's mind.
Hesitantly, she pressed the intercom and before her resolve could go away, told her secretary, "Give her an appointment for next week .But only for an hour. An hour and no more."

For the next chapter,  click  here

Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.

Crowning Glory : Life's Game

For the previous chapter see here

Chapter 6:

Shekhar had taken refuge on the sofa in the drawing room. There wasn’t any reason. He just felt stuffy inside that room. Watching his wife as she battled to get something as simple as a good night’s sleep was too much for him. And the fact that he could not help was even worse.  With these train of thoughts, Shekhar dozed off…

A dashing young 23 year old blazes into a group of students.

"Shekhar! Buddy! You did it!", and he hugged his dear friend.

"What happened? What did she say?” inquired Shekhar.

"Yes, yes and a thousand times yes. And I have you to thank for it. Your words are magic! The note that you gave me worked wonders. I memorized every bit of it and she was mesmerized!"

"Congrats bro, now learn a bit of poetry yourself. I won't do this for you again.” Shekhar quipped with a wink.

And all friends had a laugh.

And that sums up Shekhar. At the peak of his writing prowess and able to weave magic with his words. His future was bright and his present was perfect.

He was the editor of the college newsletter, a popular choice amongst his friends and touted to be a good, if not great writer by one and all who read his work.

This was the time when he met Tara, at a friend’s marriage. Swept off his feet by the sari and this firebrand of a girl, he knew in heart that this is the person he wants to spend my life with.

And unlike some stories, Shekhar did get the girl. Everything was fine and life couldn't be better. For a brief period of time, Tara was happy. Shekhar’s laid back charm and simple ways of life helped her to see the good things in life. To stop and smell the roses is what she learned.  She was happy and in love.

It was after this that things took a turn for the worse. But you can only run from your past, you can’t hide from it. And Tara’s past was a devil in its own .Love between the couple was lost and with that all their happiness. While their turmoil steeled Tara and gave her a single minded objective to win in life, the simpleton and easy going Shekhar was lost in this chaos.

The simple little things lost their meaning. Waking up to the sight of your loved one was just, waking up. Having a conversation over food was just eating food in front of a TV now. The magic was gone, and so was Shekhar’s will to live.

He still loved Tara to bits, and was ready to support her in her endeavor. But how he wished that Tara, only once a while, would stop and smile. Just once a while, she would live, laugh and love.

All this took a toll on his career, or whatever was left of it. Three publication disasters and a failed book had brought him down to his knees. What had life come to?  

"Thud!"

Shekhar woke up with a start and looked in the direction of the sound. Morning light had flooded the house. It was Roohi, trying to get hold of the fridge magnets again, and knocking down a few things in her exploits. The little minion looked at her dad, gave a squeal of laughter and ran off.

“I’ll be late today. Don’t wait up for dinner.”, Tara emerged out of the bedroom, all proper and ready.

Shekhar acknowledged this with a very indifferent nod  and resumed doting over Roohi.  He smiled. She was the only reason to live, he thought. He felt bad for her too, deprived of a mother's attention and love, what life is that for a child?

He did not want Tara's attention. If only she could give some of it to Roohi. Not that Tara didn't love her. In fact she very much did, and Shekhar knew that. But only if she had the time to express the same.  She was deep into her career. And so single-minded was her devotion, so firm was her resolve that not even her child was significant enough to warrant a few moments of her life. There was nothing Shekhar could do.

Tara had built walls around herself. And no one was allowed inside.

                                                                 ***

“Should we go straight to office or should I stop at a Restaurant Ma’am?” ,  asked the Driver.

“No, just office.” ,Tara replied as she browsed through her mails. And that was when she saw Jenny’s mail. It read:

“Hi Ma’am,

I’m Jennifer from Marie Claire. If you remember, we talked the other day in your office.

Just wanted to know if coming Sunday is good enough me to visit your place. For the photo-shoot.

Please confirm the same.

Regards,

Jennifer

Photo Journalist

Marie Claire.”

Tara took a deep breath, and replied. “YES. SUNDAY IS FINE.”

For the next thriller chapter visit here

“Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.”