#598 Room No - 432

 Room No - 432

Photo by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon 2025 

It was the day of campus placement, and just like every final year student, Saloni reached the college Auditorium hall in time to attend the sessions of placement drive.

Her diligent preparation made her confident in her knowledge and skill. She could answer every question asked to her satisfactorily.

As expected, when she found her name in the list of selected candidates at the end of the day, she called her parents first to share this news, and all of them were over the moon!

---

There came the day of leaving the city and moving to her workplace. With a heavy heart for leaving her parents and a lot of excitement about her future, Saloni bade goodbye to her parents until they met the next time.

Everything seemed so alluring to her as she looked through the window of her moving cab when it crossed innumerable branded outlets of apparel or footwear.

After around 45 minutes, the cab dropped her in front of a giant gate that was supposed to be her destination. She was amused to witness the largest training center of IT, where she would be enrolled.

Inside that giant gate, beautiful and sophisticated tall buildings lurked. Such a scene was enough to uplift her spirit and trust in her future, which seemed so promising.

---

After completing all the formalities of joining, she was allotted a room, which was a room on the 4th floor, room 432. She tried to recall the familiarity of that number, and to her surprise, her spiritual self recognized it as the frequency of Om.

She perceived it as a sign from the Universe to welcome her into this new venture in her life. The cozy interior of the room gave her a homely feeling. “Wow! A home away from home”, she exclaimed with joy.

---

As the days progressed, so did the stress of the training. She tried to cope with the tasks and assignments that would make her return to her room exhausted until she fully collapsed onto her bed.

Every night, she would feel her roommate entering the room around 11 pm and leave the room early morning. It didn’t create any kind of suspicion in her as the trainees were allowed to use the resources of the training center till midnight.

Upon special requests, some of the training centers would open an hour earlier than usual to prepare for the training exams. So, leaving room early wasn’t something she found unusual in the case of her roommate.

So, Saloni never got a chance to communicate with her roommate. Days passed, and she got even busier with the preparation of the final test. On being requested by her batchmates to know about her roommate, she waited for her during the weekends, but she didn’t come.

Saloni thought that her roommate must be a localite, leaving nearby, who might be visiting her family during weekends.

---

It was the last day of the training session, and job locations were allotted to the trainees. It was the last time the trainees of a batch saw each other; they may or may not have met in the same office.

Saloni wanted to meet her roommate once before leaving the training. She enquired at the administrative block. What shocked her the most was the reply of the guy at the administrative block, who, after searching on his computer, said that room  432 was just assigned to Saloni and no one else.

©All Rights Reserved!
 Swati Sarangi
 12.10.2025

You can support my work through Buy me a Coffee.

 

#487 Transient connections in dynamic world

 

Transient connections in dynamic world

PART-2

                                                    Image Courtesy: Google

Read PART 1: https://creative-constellation.blogspot.com/2023/07/476-transient-connections-in-dynamic.html

Years have passed but the memories of Naman which Riya had stored in her brain had never faded exponentially. After two years, while browsing social media, Riya found a profile picture in which Naman was there with another girl. Later, when going into the profile, to see the exact thing, she found that Naman was married to someone from his surrounding who was elder than him in age and did not belong to his caste as well. Riya got shocked to find that whatever he told his criteria to Riya for marriage, did not match his present situation. She was pretty sure that she was being cheated by him in real sense. In order to vent out her feeling she started journaling her feelings in form of a letter she wrote.

To the Cheater, (Here cheater is indicated to Naman)

I don’t know whether you would read this article or not. I thank you for leaving my side in the worst phase of my life because I got to know the real version of you then. Some people stay in one’s side when things are merely perfect and leave when things fall apart. You did the same and proved that you are no different than those “some people” who wanted to bring a positive change to my life ironically. I did not like the way you had ghosted me without clarifying the reason. Though I had tried to contact you several times to sort out the issue but everything was in vain. The sudden disappearance of you like a chemical reactant giving out the product was unpredictable for me. The last words of our conversation is still intact to my brain that it’s better to stay single than to marry. And see, what you did. To complete your motive, you searched someone from your surrounding and get hitched as quickly as possible as if what I did to you were fruitless. The interesting part is that the that girl neither satisfies your criteria (that you had described me) nor your family. Even it’s the game of upper age as well. It had wowed me the moment your picture with her in one of the social media platforms flashed before my eyes. It hurt me the moment I saw both of you because I felt the commitments that you had made to me are being fulfilled with her. I know that she is more qualified, but does that make one change the partner soon. If this is the case, then you would be keep on changing partners for life and I am pretty sure that will happen.

Somewhere in my heart, I fell a stone has been removed. I feel free now because I wanted to go back to sort things out and always wanted to think that whatever has happened it was because of my fault. You know, it’s very difficult to stay with a regret. But, see god has saved me again by showing me the true side. Sometimes past moments do flash in my eyes. But, I have also learned to move on. I agree to the fact that, I learned it a bit late.

Being a writer, I like to express my emotions through my words. That’s what I am doing right now. I am not sure whether the words would reach to you in anyway. But I congratulate you for whatever you have done in your personal and professional front. May you feel the same agony; I have experienced because of you. I know that there is something called Karma and It is very powerful. I just want you to see my comeback in my area soon. May be then you would realise what a gem you have lost in your life. Till then, enjoy your phony world.

RIYA

 

Now, it’s up to readers to think that was it right for Naman to leave Riya because he found someone more suitable than her from his surrounding? Was love of Riya not enough for him?

 Stay tuned for part 3

SWETA SARANGI

21-01-2024

 

#481 Bonding

Bonding

Once upon a time, there lived two creatures named Mr. Fool and Ms. Phool in a planet called “Andromeda”. They were dissatisfied with their daily chores as they were going through lots of situations which were out of their control. In order to feed their minds with relevant answers to the questions, they wanted to visit different heavenly bodies in universe. The condition was that wherever they found happiness and peace, they would settle there.

While roaming around the universe, they found a celestial body which was estimated to be around 4.543 billion years old and having a radius of about 6371km. It looked blue and often referred as ‘blue planet’ due to its abundant water, with approximately 70.8% surface covered by oceans. It was a planet called earth which was rich in flora and fauna with abundant natural beauty. It has a very close connection with sun and moon. Both of these creatures got attracted to the beauty of planet earth, its day and night, seasonal changes, vibrant colours around and made their mind to visit it.

They met a very fascinating creature called ‘owl’. It has distinctive appearance, including a large, broad head, upright stance and binocular vision. It has the ability to locate prey by sound.  It has feathers adapted for silent flight. The uniqueness it had, the ability to rotate the head to 360 degrees.

Mr Fool: Hi Owl, we want to be friends with you and wish to know more about earth.

Owl: Hi everyone!! Welcome to earth. Earth is a lovely place to stay in. We enjoy living here.

 Ms Phool: Are you happy here?

Owl: Of course, yes!! For me happiness is spending time with my family and navigating this sky. I am a nocturnal bird, so I like to stay awake and active mostly at night. Happiness is all about enjoying little moments in life at present without thinking much about future.

Ms Phool: I am amazed to know about your viewpoint on happiness.

Mr Fool: What do love and bonding mean to you?

Owl: Love is a most important part of happiness which is run through a two-way junction- give and take. Foundation of love is sacrifice from which happiness manifests. Let me explain it with an incidence. I saw a pair of pigeons in brilliant mood. My heart brimmed with joy and laughter by seeing them. I saw them making their shelter out of straws over a flower pot. Both toiled throughout the day for collection of straws in their tiny break. I felt so obliged to see them making their shelter day by day. Then came the role of mother pigeon to lay eggs over the shelter. Father pigeon would take care of the eggs as well. These eggs got hatched and squabs came out one by one. It was the day a joy for the birds.

There was a cat nearby, which was constantly keeping an eye over the squabs. One day the same cat fought with father and mother pigeons to eat those squabs. The fight kept on continuing, in the end both father and mother pigeons gave their life for their kids but it was too late and the small squabs became the pray of cat.

The entire family unified for happiness, grow for happiness and end their life for fighting for happiness together.That was very painful to watch. But I could not help except seeing the entire incidence. I found the love and bonding between these two pigeons was the main lesson to learn. 

Both Mr Fool and Ms Phool got emotional on listening to the entire story. They understood the real meaning of life and decided to settle in planet earth forever.

 

SWETA SARANGI

15-9-2023

#428 The Permanent Roommate Part-2

     

The Permanent Roommate(Part-2)

Source:Google Images

From her previous experiences, Sarika resolved to get this issue fixed as soon as possible but never by compromising with her requirements of life-partner. She started to participate in this process actively by taking the initiative and interest to interact telephonically with the prospects. What was she losing in this process; nothing but definitely those prospects were losing someone like her which they could never imagine to have in their lives! She was no longer compromising with her self-worth. The more she interacted with different prospects; she learned a thing or two about different psychologies, stories, view-points, careers, struggles and insecurities. It was enriching her experiences; her journey of self-discovery and search of twin-flame. She, now, wholeheartedly, gave chance to prospects to interact with her as well as bid them goodbye gracefully when the situation demanded to do so. As a result of changing her attitude, she got a chance to interact with some nice guys. She could now discuss on topics that matter more openly and parted ways when she felt compatibility issues on any ground.

Most of the time, the process just ended up with the interaction of parents of both sides; prospects were never in the picture! So, she wanted the prospect to show interest or rather than parents getting involved at the initial stage. She wanted the prospect to have enough interaction with her so that there is not a little bit of doubt about marrying each other. She believed that they should be able to interact without any barrier and let their parents know about their decision. She believed that she was at a stage where she can choose her partner better than anyone else because she had never ever discussed her requirements in this area with anyone in her life, if she doesn’t take full responsibility for her requirements and choices today, who else is to be blamed for, in future?

[It's the biggest responsibility of any parent to find a suitable match for their daughters whom they hold as the most precious entities of their lives (for whom their love is very unconditional, inexplicable). So, this attachment through unconditional love makes them restless every moment and the hunt for the suitable groom continues.]

         When she was left with no live proposals in her hand, she thought of giving this process a break and focusing on something else. Amidst all these happening, she kept doing her homework honestly; feeling happy and grateful about the current situation, enjoying her hobbies, practicing meditation to be calm, praying, listing the qualities of her dream partner, visualizing spending moments with him, journaling, watching wedding videos, healing her mentally, psychologically, spiritually and preparing herself for the biggest day.    

...............................................to be continued.................................................................

All Rights reserved

Swati Sarangi

24.12.2021

#427 The Permanent Roommate

 The Permanent Roommate

Source: Google Image

After staying with 16 roommates till now at different hostels (in different cities), Sarika started developing a feeling of losing them which was something inevitable. This gave her an idea of pondering about the permanent roommate; soulmate. After all, at the end of the day, in this ever-changing world, finding someone to rely upon completely is an obvious desire.

 

Sarika has always wondered about the permanent roommate; her soul mate; how he might look like, will he be prince charming? Will he be full of knowledge and appreciation for all good things around, that she has always wished for? Will he be mature enough to understand her as a person as her father does? Will he be the most comfortable person for her to be with?  Will everyday duties and responsibilities of life get eased down with him through a true sense of love, emotional intimacy, and understanding of every little thing around them? Will her life just be straight out of any Hollywood movie where the expression of love has been portrayed so immaculately? These were just a fraction of several zillion thoughts going around in her mind at that point of time.

 

 Sarika’s parents and sister started the process of groom-hunting through a matrimonial site, even when she was not fully prepared to get married as she was about to complete her Masters's and take up the best available opportunity for her career. Her parents believed that arranged marriage process takes time to get materialized into a marriage which usually starts from matching the birth chart of both the candidates. During those formal meetings which were of too-conservative-types for her, in which either the match was fixed even without meeting the guy or not getting enough space to interact personally with the guy, she realized that this process of groom hunting was something not working in her case. Every time, these matrimonial meetings were done at her native place which was around 1800kms away from her place of work. Each meeting that didn’t turn out to be successful was testing their level of patience (owing to long-distance travel) and draining their resources like time, energy, and finance [Even though her parents were okay with it as long as the right match was not fixed, they were never in hurry]. So, she started to think about more practical and optimized approaches to fixing this issue.        

 

It is said that behind every successful man, there lies the strong support of a woman who has always believed in him when the world never had.  A responsible lady is one who not only takes care of herself but also the needs of her husband, family, and everyone around. Sarika has always admired and followed those love stories where there has been mutual growth and those stories have prompted her to believe in the power and strength of this intangible emotion called 'Love'.  She has always wondered about the lives of famous personalities who have been successful enough not only in their professional lives but also in their personal lives. That's where the concept of balancing these two spheres becomes of utmost importance. Those love stories which I look up to for inspiration are onscreen Dakota Johnson +Jamie Dornan, Mark Zuckerberg+Priscilla Chan, Narayan Murthy+Sudha Murthy, Sundar Pichai+Anjali, and her parents.  She wanted to be like those ladies to become a pillar of strength for someone who has lost hope in his potential that once brought him all laurels( that he had always desired.)

The difference between the above marriages and her parents was that her parent's marriage was arranged. She always believed that achieving a sense of understanding and care in an arranged marriage involves a lot of sacrifices when you don't know the other person well. So, she has been a little bit skeptical about arranged marriage for her generation but perhaps it was what was destined for her and she has to accept it the way it is. Perhaps it is going to change a lot of predefined notions and concepts from her mind.

 

The image of marriage in her mind has always been a love one as she has always wanted to be a very independent woman, capable of finding her own life partner. This image of marriage that she had in her mind during her childhood started to get hazy in the coming years when her confidence got shattered due to a series of continuous failures. She has always thought of setting an example to the world by her love story but little did she know that destiny had a different plan for her.

................................…………..To be continued…………………….

 

All Rights reserved

Swati Sarangi

18.12.2021

#416 Dreams into reality

 Dreams into reality

It’s a story of a girl, Richa who enjoys being in her world of fantasy; where she has all rights to do anything, where there’s hardly any difference between imagination and reality, where there’s no time delay between her wishes and their manifestations.

 

Google Images

Richa is someone who believes in happy endings. In spite of keeping optimistic views about life and her future, she had to go through several incidences of heartbreaks or breakups. Perhaps she was not so lucky in love or her prince charming was yet to arrive in her life.  Life’s unpredictable, there’s no one who has been successful enough to decipher the equations of life. So was Richa. When she attained marriageable age, her parents set out on a path of groom hunting. After meeting a few Rishtas or proposals, her marriage got fixed with Rohan.

 

It was an arranged marriage everything happened so hurriedly from engagement to performing rituals in Mandap; they barely had any time to know each other. Like every other girl, she had a lot of rosy dreams about her marriage and partner which she decided to keep aside for daydreaming in the future. She was wondering if Rohan would be her prince charming or it would be ever possible for her to express her dreams and world of fantasy to him.

 

Just few days after their marriage, the news of the breakdown of Corona spread like a forest fire. Everyone was unprepared for this uncertain phase which had never happened before. This pandemic was life-threatening and scary. She had made a lot of plans for trips which couples go after their marriage; so-called-honeymoon-trips. She made a secret list of her attires, poses that she would make while posing for a couple pic; kind of pre-wedding pics which she had always wanted to treasure for her lifetime and which will be framed to adorn the walls of her house. She searched for few destinations from the internet along with options for hotels to reside in. Why would she need a tourist guide when she was so passionate to research and make all plans?     

 

There goes a saying, “Man proposes, God, disposes”. Corona was testing everyone’s patience by spoiling all plans. Richa was no exception in this regard. How can she ever imagine her plans to materialize in reality when social distancing became the new norm? She surrendered her wishes to this unexpected phase.

 

 Fast forward to a few months;

 

Google Images

The sound of the alarm clock on the table, lying adjacent to the bed started to ring. In an attempt to turn off, Rohan’s hand accidentally slid a diary from the table. It fell down from the table with a loud bang sound. As soon as he opened the diary to see what it was about, the following page came to his notice which read as below;

 

 

XX.XX.XXXX

4^th Lane, 3rd Street

Near Park Avenue

London, UK

 

Dear Diary,

 

Google Images

Thanks for everything. Thanks for the beautiful plan and unexpected surprises.  I can never be happier than today.

 

You know very well that I have been eagerly waiting for the trip; so-called-honeymoon-trip, because of Corona, we could never plan it. I am so glad to write that it happened today  I felt as if I was dreaming, I pinched me from time to time to be confirmed about the fact that I was neither sleeping nor it was a dream.

 

Google Images

We went on this beautiful trip to celebrate our first Anniversary. It felt magical and heavenly. I wore a beautiful gown. We were on a beach, posed for a lot of couple pics. Amidst the waves, soothing breeze, and scenery, I had forgotten the fact that I was married, I felt like a bachelorette enjoying with her best friend. We took a lot of couple pics on the beach, those silhouette pics are my favorite now which I am planning to frame very soon, I thanked that photographer for capturing precious moments of togetherness.

 

Google Images

            After the photography session was done, he blindfolded and dragged me to a place where he made me sit on a chair; I was excited and nervous at the same time, not quite sure about what was happening. After a few minutes, perhaps 15 or 20 minutes, he removed the scarf from my eyes, by that time, it was getting a little dark. I saw a bouquet of roses with a card in front of a table near me and a very well decorated cake with ‘1’ written over it saying "Our First Anniversary ”. I was so happy to see that. I started to pick that beautiful card kept over the table and started reading it. In between, I had lost my notice, he had already knelt down with a ring in his hand to propose to me, it felt like a scene from a Bollywood movie and I blushed like a girl being caught staring at her crush. 

Google Images

 

He slid the ring into my finger and tears of happiness rolled down my cheek. I don’t know what made me so emotional at that time. I was still in a state of awe, not being able to process everything happening right in front of my eyes.

 

Google Images

          The ambiance was filled with floating candles on the containers having water and these containers were placed over the sand. There was soft romantic music to suit the moment and environment. The tent above glittered with Diwali lights and was decorated with our pics. I loved every bit of the decoration. I was literally in a fairyland, just the way I had always imagined.

 

We ate the delicious cake together and blew sky lantern which soon disappeared in the vastness of the night sky. We were celebrating everything that day, our Diwali, Anniversary and my dream proposal.

 

Google Images

That day I realized that I was quite quick about judging my partner just within few months of togetherness. To know about someone, his dreams, wishes, aspirations , etc. takes a lot of patience and perseverance. It demands us to put ourselves in his shoes to analyze situations from his perspective.

                                      

Google Images

Then we went to the hotel, changed our clothes, got ready for dinner. He handed a beautiful box. I opened that to find a stunning necklace set, he put that necklace in my neck and it suited me so well as if I was already the owner of that piece of jewelry. It consisted of colored stones, I was wondering how come he knew about my taste.

 

Google Images

The restaurant was fabulous and the meal was super delicious. I was still wondering if I was sleeping. It was difficult for me to absorb reality and me-being-lucky this time. 

 

Google Images

I was thanking Universe again and again for so many surprises. I don’t know how Rohan had arranged everything to welcome me in a foreign land. The fact which surprised me more was his secret way of knowing my taste. He knew more about me than I had ever imagined. Perhaps, it’s love, and this time I was lucky in love.

 

Richa

      A wave of satisfaction swept across Rohan’s heart after knowing his wife’s reaction to his efforts. The entry was so well written that he was instantly and effortlessly taken to that day and he started to relive all those memories until he hears the voice of Richa from behind. Before getting accused of stealthily reading her diary, he secretly puts this diary back to the place from where he had picked it and resumed his work.

 

Google Images

All Rights Reserved

Swati Sarangi

15.11.2020

  

P.S: This is a second short story under the Series- Lockdown Tales with happy endings which I started during the lockdown. This is purely a work of fiction. All names, characters, places are parts of my imagination. Any resemblance to an actual person, living or dead or actual events is purely coincidental.

This is the first story of the series in case you've missed it ;Lockdown Blessings.

So, Happy Reading! 

#404 Lockdown Blessings

This post has been published by me as a part of Blog-a-Ton 59; the fifty-ninth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. In association with ​IndiCreator. For Creators. By Creators.. Share Your #LockdownTales at indicreator.com

Lockdown blessings  

Sanjana and Saaransh agreed to find their partners through a typical arranged marriage process. Their pictures were exchanged and it was their parents who played pivot roles in this process. They met each other for the first time at Sanjana’s house as ‘rishta’-proposal came from Saaransh’s family. Their meeting was a very formal one in the presence of all relatives from both the sides. Like every other arranged marriage, they were given some time for interaction. In mere exchange of conversation, they felt a striking connection between the two and agreed to proceed further in this process of marriage.

After both of them gave green signal to their families to proceed in this matter, the family astrologer found out a suitable and auspicious date for engagement process by matching each other’s kundli; birth chart, which was just a month away from their first meeting.

After their first meeting, Saaransh went back to his city to join his workplace while Sanjana got busy with the preparation of her final year semester which was the most important task in her list of priorities for her as it was just a week away. She kept herself immersed in the preparation process of end-semester exam and promised her mother to help her as soon as the exam got over. As Saaransh was staying at a faraway city, he had to join his workplace immediately as he was leading an important project.

Sanjana has always been an ideal daughter for her parents, a heart-throb for many boys of her school, college and a sincere student for her teachers. She was not just good at academics but possessed various qualities to enchant anyone. Fair look, beautiful radiant smile, slim built, limousine eyes constitute parts and parcel of her magnetic personality. As promised to her mother, she showed her active involvement in the preparation of Engagement ceremony after her exam got over. 

The day of engagement arrived as decided by the astrologer and all family members had gathered at a temple selected by both parents. Relatives of both parties were invited who arrived at the venue at the decided time. Sanjana got dressed up in a beautiful Silk Saree as selected by her mother and put a little make up to complement with her attire .Her ever green smile added volume to her confident persona. She was brimming with an extraordinary satisfaction; a sense of satisfaction of witnessing her parent’s happiness.

Source:Google Images

As soon as she got down from the car at the venue, she saw Saaransh too getting down from his car. It was as if timing was well matched by the destiny, their eyes met for a moment and she could find Saaransh staring at her from the corner of his eye. They exchanged rings after the chant of certain Sanskrit shlokas and performed certain rituals which could not be deciphered by many at that moment. Everyone sprinkled petals of flowers over them as a mark of their blessings to start this beautiful bonding. Engagement process is analogous to the concept of couples proposing each other but in this case they barely knew each other or had spent any moment with each other. The feast began after the ceremony got over.

The photographer called them to the back side of the temple to pose for couple pics. It was when they got some personal time away from the crowd, after their first meet, to shed off some of their personal inhibitions. They weren’t comfortable in giving poses as they had not even interacted well with each other, so they just made it simple. Saaransh broke the ice by complementing her. After some brief interactions, before the photographer started bothering for subsequent pics, they exchanged their mobile numbers to stay in touch; after all officially they were fiancée.  The astrologer selected the nearest Muhurt to be 2^nd day of next month which was barely thirty five days away from their engagement but this time there were a lot of work and both parties agreed to it. All guests and relatives returned to their respective homes with a sense of satisfaction with the arrangement process, food, decoration and divine aura.

Again Saaransh returned to his workplace a day after his engagement. Just after two days, Sanjana received a ‘Hi’ message from Saaransh and their interaction started through messages. After few days, their chatting converted to phone calls .Sanjana was busy with the wedding preparation like shopping clothes ,printing cards, negotiating with catering services, making a list of guests, inviting guests  as well as  helping her brother in academics. There was barely any moment of rest for her. Time was slipping away so fast.

Finally the D-day arrived. Sanjana was feeling little anxious inside ; a mixed feeling she was under going ; excitement of embracing a new phase of life as well as going away from her own family was causing some emotional turbulence within her. Amidst all these feelings she tried to maintain that confident smile which she always carried.    

Source:Google Images

Who knew that something like Corona will lock everyone inside their homes for such a long time!

After completing all rituals of marriage and a brief stay with her in-laws, Sanjana had to relocate with Saaransh to Pune where he was doing the job. It was just after few days of entering into a new city, Lockdown 1.0 was declared and it was urged for everyone to be quarantined. Everything was new for her, the city, this new phase of life, new terms like quarantine as well as breakthrough of this new disease called COVID-19.

Source:Google Images

Like every other girl, Sanjana too had weaved a lot of rosy dreams about her future partner. Even though she had never expressed it to anyone, she too had some expectations from her marriage and her future husband. Due to the fast paced occurrence of her marriage, she didn’t get much time to enjoy her courtship period with Saaransh. The videos of being proposed with a bouquet of multi-colored roses fascinated and excited her .She had downloaded some of those pictures in her mobile. She would often see those pictures and imagine herself to be one of those girls which filled her heart again with hopes for love. The declaration of Lockdown 1.0 made her happy secretly as she considered this as a golden chance to live her courtship period again. Was God really reading her mind and knowing about her secret desires that no one had known? Perhaps, yes! Lockdown felt like blessing to her and it was carrying forth a lot of surprises for her.

Source:Google Images

Slowly and steadily Sanjana got used to this new phase of life. She started to devote more time to her hobbies which she had forgotten to have existed because of academic commitments. She was now living and enjoying life like a child; singing, dancing, painting, reading and giving time to a newly found hobby; cooking.  She was getting to know Saaransh better; his likes, dislikes etc. She found that Saaransh too was very supportive of her.

Months passed and the news of rising positive cases of Corona affected people intimidated her. She took all measures to keep her safe from this novel virus. Saaransh was also allowed to work-from-home due to the declaration of complete lockdown. She was missing her family and it was the first time in which she had been away from her family for such a long time. What could have been done in such a time of pandemic except for saving each other’s lives by adhering to safety rules?

It was a day before her birthday. She was missing her family and friends very badly. She was wondering how her birthday in lockdown would feel like. Just few minutes to her birthday, she was asked to come to the hall of their home where Saaransh had managed to decorate everything secretly. Her favourite chocolate flavoured cake with icing of multi-coloured rose was kept on the top of the table. She was overjoyed to witness all these. Before she picked the knife to cut the cake, Saaransh stopped her and started to do a conference call to her family, friends so that they could all be a part of this-virtual-lockdown-birthday. Lights were turned off, candles lit the room up. She picked the knife and started to cut the cake after blowing the candles, she felt something was obstructing the process of cutting. While she leaned forward to catch the culprit obstructing the process, she found out a small box. Saaransh quickly snatched the box from her hand and sat on his one leg, like a proposing pose, with a bouquet of multi-coloured roses, slid the ring into her finger and confessed that “We didn’t get much time to spend with each other after engagement, think this phase to be like a live-in-relationship. So, can I have the liberty to confess my live-in-partner my deepest feelings that I love her every moment since the time I saw her and always wanted to propose her like her dream proposal? Will you marry me again and be my wife forever?” All these felt like her dream coming true, something straight out of a fairy tale. She shyly said yes and everyone cheered them up in the virtual setting.

Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

Lockdown gifted her best memories to cherish for lifetime as she had learnt to enjoy life the way it came instead of complaining about the shortcomings. She now, believed that no dream has an expiry date and every dream comes true one day.

#LockdownTales  #BlogATon59

All Rights Reserved!

Swati Sarangi

19.07.2020

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Show your support for the hastags #BlogATon59 & #LockdownTales. Participation Count: 01.