Ishaan was deployed in the operational specialties of the army. According to the regimen he had a tough physical routine. This included physical exercises, games, and a daily routine of running for several kilometers to keep both mentally and physically fit.
The evenings were a free time which he used to enjoy playing chess with his batch mates. Since he was well settled and earning a stable salary, his parents began to pressurize him to get married. They would often say, “See your cousins have all got married. Most of your friends too are married. It is always advisable to get married at the right age.”
His reply used to be “Mom! I have told you repeatedly that I am least interested in getting married for the present.”
“You can tell us if you have a girl in mind, or else we will start looking for a girl for you.”
‘Mom! If you start pressurizing me time and again; I will stop coming on holidays.”
But parents being worried as they usually are for their children; they would keep pressurizing him and slowly it began to sink into his mind that there was no escape and he would have to get married one day. So he agreed and asked his parents to look for a nice girl for him. From his side, he got enrolled on one of the matrimonial sites.
In the evening after his duty hours, he used to be busy looking at the profiles of the girls, and his weekends too used to be devoted towards the same purpose. He used to look at the hobbies and thoughts of the girls and used to talk to those who matched his thinking.
Inthe past six months he had talked to many girls and even met three of them, but there were significant differences over many things. Most of the time the girls used to be bowled over by his drop-dead good looks, but the one place where matter used to get stuck was about them leaving their jobs every three years as there was a new posting for him according to the army rules. They did not want to sacrifice their careers.
After meeting a few girls he began to lose interest as many of the girls did not agree with his viewpoints. His parents too introduced him to some of the girls but he did not like them. Ultimately he left everything to destiny saying that everything would happen at the right time.
One day he went to attend the marriage of his close friend who was staying a few kilometers away from the army base. The marriage functions were to last for a week and daily he used to go after duty hours and return to his base after having dinner.
The relatives of his friend were placed in a guest house and all through the night, there used to be celebrations involving song and dance.
“Nice arrangements you have made. The place is so lively” Ishaan complimented his friend.
“The fun has not yet begun. We are going to have many more relatives and are booking additional rooms in other hotels. “ his friend replied.
The next day Ishaan again went to his friend's place. There he saw a beautiful girl and was completely mesmerized by her beautiful looks, and he could not take his eyes off her. She was tall, slim, and very beautiful. His friend introduced them “Meet my cousin, Aditi.”
Ishaan shook hands with her and after his friend left he got talking to her.
“ What are you involved in nowadays.”
“ I am a school teacher and teach students of 10th standard,” Aditi replied.
“That’s a good job. You are improving the future of many students.”
Aditi too was taken in by his charms and good looks.
“What do you do for a living?”Aditi inquired. “Are you working somewhere or self-employed?”
“I am working for the army,” Ishaan replied.
“That’s a good job. Our country is safe as you are keeping watch on our borders.”
There was instant chemistry between the two of them. They could not take their eyes off each other and kept talking for a long time.
The marriage was over the next day and Ishaan was now desperate to propose to Aditi. But he had forgotten to take her phone number.
He again went to his friend’s house so that he would be able to talk to Aditi, but was informed that she had left for the station with her parents.
“I think you are in love with Aditi.” His friend remarked. If you would have told me before I would have initiated the match for you. They would be at the station right now. The train is to arrive in an hour. If you wish, you can meet her there.”
Ishaan immediately rushed out of his friend’s house, jumped onto his bike, and reached the station in fifteen minutes. He rushed towards the platform and could see Aditi and her parents waiting for the train. Reaching near to the place where they were standing he requested her father “Uncle, if you don’t mind can I talk to Aditi for a few minutes?”
“Sure you can”. Her father agreed to his request and they moved away.
Both of them moved a few feet away and got talking, but still, he did not have the courage to propose to her.
“I loved your views on so many things and enjoyed talking to you. One thing that I forgot to ask is, what are your views on marriage?”
“I am waiting for my prince charming. “ Aditi replied.
“The first day I saw you, I fell in love with you. Will you marry me?” He proposed to her.
Aditi too was in love with him, but replied: “I still don’t know much about you; another thing is I have to convince and take permission from my parents as well.”
“Don’t worry about that. Just give me your mobile number.” Soon they exchanged their mobile numbers.
In a little while, the train arrived and Ishaan waved her bye and left.
Daily they used to talk over the phone. The only problem with the girls he had seen previously was that they were not willing to shift every three years due to his postings. In his heart he wanted Aditi to agree to his proposal or else he would be heartbroken, as he was completely taken by her beauty.
But to his utter surprise when he mentioned his frequent postings, she readily agreed. He was overjoyed and raised his fists with joy.
“But what about your career?” Ishaan inquired.
“I will look for a teacher’s job in the new place. If that takes time, I will take tuition’s for children.”
Everything was agreed upon and both of them were deeply in love. They dated for a year and once they were confident, they decided to get married. Ishaan’s parents were overjoyed. Since he was their only son, they decided to get him married with great pomp and show. Soon they were engaged and it was decided that they would marry in two months.
Both were eagerly waiting for marriage. Ishaan had applied for a week’s leave for his marriage. One day prior to proceeding on leave there was a bomb blast in a nearby city killing fifty persons. Due to intense public pressure, the army got involved in looking for the militants involved in the blast.
There were intelligence reports that five of the terrorists responsible for the blast were hiding at a particular location. Ishaan was in the unit sent for nabbing the terrorists. As soon as the terrorists saw the army jeep, they opened fire. For over four hours there was a counter exchange of firing and all the terrorists were killed.
The phone was ringing and Aditi decided to take the call. For a few minutes, she was stunned and could not speak. She was now sitting on a chair holding her head. She had been informed that Ishaan had been hit by bullets during the search and combing operations. Immediately she rushed for the army hospital where Ishaan had been admitted.
“Sister, how is Ishaan?” she inquired from the nurse.
“The operation is in progress. He has been hit with multiple bullets.”
For the whole day, Aditi was waiting in the hospital. Finally, the nurse came and informed her that Ishaan wanted to meet her. Aditi entered the room and saw that Ishaan was on ventilator support. Tears rolled down her eyes. She went near to him and sat down on a chair.
Ishaan moved his hand slowly and placed it over her hand. Aditi too held his hand firmly.
There was no reaction for a while. Seeing him not responding to her repeated calls, she looked at the computer screen nearby. There was no pulse movement. She immediately rushed for the doctors, who after some checks informed her that he had passed away.
Aditi broke down and was completely heartbroken. For many days she was full of wonderful memories of the time she had spent with Ishaan. Her mother would advise “Aditi you have plenty of life ahead. You have to move on now. Ishaan was a good human. It was all gods’ wish.”
Soon her parents began to convince her to get married and began showing her some of the proposals.
She was not interested and rejected all of them. “Mom! I don’t want to get married, but will devote my life to the service of mankind.”
Her parents were taken aback but could not change her decision.
Aditi was now busy teaching the children in a school. In the evenings she began giving free education to poor kids. At the ripe old age of 80 years, she breathed her last. At her funeral, thousands of people had gathered to pay their last respect. They were all in tears. She had helped many poor and destitute people.
Instantly on her death, her soul came out of her body. She saw two persons floating in the air and inquired; “Who are you?”
“We are messengers from the realm of death and have been instructed to fetch your soul so that you can be placed in the other world according to your karma.”
Two dark black spirits were escorting her soul. After traveling billions of kilometers they reached the place where the soul could be given justice according to their karma.
The Lord and ruler of the world of the dead, Lord Yama were sitting on a throne and his accountant Chitragupta was sitting nearby. The spirits who had brought her presented her in front of Lord Yama who instructed Chitragupta to go through the records of her Karma(Sum of good +bad deeds.)
For a few minutes, Chitragupta was going through all the records. After carefully examining the records he turned towards Lord Yama “Aditi is a very pious Lady. She has devoted her whole life to comforting the poor. She did not even marry and treated others as her own children, always helping them.”
Lord Yama took a decision and instructed the spirits “Take her to heaven. Treat her fairly till she passes all the cycles of life and death.”
Before leaving Aditi hesitatingly enquired “Lord Yama, can I know some details of Ishaan?”
“Why do you bother” Yama thundered. “You should discard all attachments as you are not on earth now.”
Aditi replied “I was just inquisitive. But still would be grateful if you would let me know.”
Yama looked at Chitragupta who replied with a mischievous grin “He is in hell, paying for his sins.”
“Can I see him once?’ Aditi requested.
“We do not allow that, but since you are a pious soul we will fulfill your request only once.”
The spirit took the soul of Aditi towards hell. This was a huge fortress and they passed through seven gates. There was pitch darkness inside the last gate. All the souls were weeping and wailing. The place looked disgusting with filth all around. People were being tortured for their bad deeds. They were being served with spoiled and rotten food.
Some were being chased by a swarm of insects and others had worms all over their body. Many were being bitten by snakes. In the far end, people were being thrown into a blazing furnace or being boiled in hot oil. All this was being done to reform these wicked souls.
Aditi could not locate Ishaan. She asked the escorting spirit “O holy soul! I can’t locate Ishaan. Can you please help me?”
The spirit pointed to a corner where Ishaan was being flogged with a hunter. Immediately Aditi rushed and stood in front of Ishaan and as a result received a blow to her soul. With folded hands she cried;
“O! caretaker of hell. Please don’t torture him. On his behalf, you can punish me.”
Immediately Lord Yama appeared at that place. “We are impressed with your love for Ishaan. He had done good karma till the time he was alive. We were just testing your love for him. Both of you deserve to be in heaven. I am impressed and grant you a boon that the next time you are born on earth; you would-be husband and wife.”
The spirit escorted them towards heaven; their final resting place. Both of them were very happy. In heaven, all the people appeared happy. There were no diseases and suffering and beautiful damsels were dancing all around.
The place appeared to be full of bliss. Ishaan was not interested in watching the dance performance of the beautiful damsels. He was happy with Aditi; his eternal love.
After completing their cycle in heaven when the fruits of their virtuous actions were exhausted, they were again born on earth and in due course of time were married and lived happily as husband and wife.
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