The Lesson: A Short Story

Breathless, eager and anxious, Avyam could not take his eyes away from the laptop screen now. He also couldn’t help gazing at the wall clock along with the impatient click on the mobile. He never knew it that sitting on his couch could make him feel like running a marathon of emotions, of cravings that he thought he would hide. Today, he was about to see Mira online and he started writing a mail to her because Mira liked to read his long mails. Dating someone at the age of twenty was not unusual but despite of loving someone so passionately; living with a dual personality was strange. Avyam spent so many days and nights with Mira. He was still not interested to name their relation as that of lovers. Physical union was never realized as a means to something- marriage was not at all in his mind. He loved Mira in his own way. Today, Mira was out of town for her cousin’s marriage.

Mira had her own lifestyle with no inhibitions, no hiding, no duality and no loud claims. She smoked sometimes and often loved to share drinks with her friends. Avyam was captivated with  her outspoken spirit but Mira was still his secret because his social circle did not approve of unreticent and candid girls. Mira was all that Avyam had always aspired to become. Avyam thought that his upbringing with over protective parents had made him indecisive and unpredictable.  His wavering and irresolute disposition was unalike Mira’s steadfast and unflinching spirit of life. He had always yearned to receive impassioned love from his lady love but now the sway of Mira’s love expressions made him burn and freeze.

Avyam met Mira two years ago at his friend’s birthday party. Little did he realize that the initial fascination would soon lead him into an enchantment pool. Over thinking is a curse and Avyam was now suffocated with this bane. Avyam always pushed himself up with this curse. Mira was still happier either in his company or in her own life. To be happy with Mira or to share her as a life moment in his circle, was Avyam’s big dilemma. Mira’s message on the messenger shook the musings of Avyam abruptly. He was overexcited to see Mira’s charming face. Mira showed her delight on receiving his mail. For the first time, she looked grim. Before Avyam could ask, Mira told him that she would return after a fortnight because of the various counselings she planned to attend to take admission in her masters. 

Mira’s parents never objected to her choices and decisions in her life. She felt it was because of this rare freedom given by them that  she could become a focussed adult. Many of her friends would marvel at her independence and resolute will. Now after her graduation in commerce, she wanted to pursue  MBA from a well-acknowledged institute. Her only aim was to get admission and her relation with Avyam could not tax her attention and devotion towards reaching the aim. She decided not to return to the city and to study harder for the various entrance tests. She wanted to cherish Avyam then as a pleasant memory but Avyam was getting more hysterical with the mere thought of losing her company. With each passing day, Mira was turning into an enigma for Avyam. He lost interest in studies and life. Life for him was a void with his little urge to fill the vacuum. His father was anxious to get him into his business. Avyam was all the more weak- physically and mentally. Impulsive and cynic he became within a couple of days.

This whirlpool of emotions seized his psyche that he could no more decide how he would continue his life. What did he want then? It never occurred to him that gradually he was throwing himself into the abyss of mania and obsession. Could his life be like a cheap ware that could be bargained with so much of unrest and despair? Who would advise him? Mira? Life is unpredictable with many twists and turns that moves the ride towards a completely different direction. What Mira' presence could not do, her absence did it with more sweep and immensity.  Life is a strange mentor. It leads a person to a productive outlet when he/she is not at all willing. 

Some unknown power was at work for Avyam. How was it possible then that in less than a month's time, he began to think about his career and interest? As a graduate in Bio-Tech, his dream was to go into research field and not just be a partner with his father. Sitting on his favourite couch today made him relived all the past moments with so many achievements in his student life for his outstanding projects and well-researched reports for which Mira was to be acknowledged somewhere. He reminisced about Mira as a stimulant who aroused his dormant faculties to seek his inner strength and identity that helped him look ahead in life.