That was when I started Living - Part 1

Down is the street light,
Gloomy is the starry night.


Cool is the night breeze,
Rattling the leaves of the trees.


I flip through the papers in my hand,
With work I wish would never end.


Day starts here and nights too,
Life has become nothing but an amalgam of these two.


The clock ticked 11:30 pm in Anu'soffice. This was the usual time she thought of doing her end of the day activities. Shouldering the responsibility of the deputy general manager in one of the most famous pharmaceutical companies in the world required an enormous amount of dedication and hardwork. But logging in at 9 in the morning and leaving office by 12 in the night was something that was unusual.  Anu worked 15 hours a day because she feared being alone at home. It had become a phobia to her for the past 10 months, ever since she shifted to Chennai.

"There is another woman in my life  Anu and I love her a lot. I do not find our relationship compatible any more. I need a divorce so that we need not bear each other anymore." 

The words still rang in her ears. It had come like a cyclone in her life. "Arun", the man who she loved and for whom she had left her parents, had found love in the arms of another woman. Was it infatuation or was it Love? She din't know, she din't want to know because it din't matter anymore. Ever since then she had shifted to another city as the divorce proceedings were going on in court. She woke up every morning by 6, finished her morning chores and left for office. She avoided talking to anyone and was always professional at work. This was her daily routine and never did she bother to change it. Life had moved on until one day she came across a person who changed her life.

One day while waiting for her cab at the bus stop, a small girl came to her and asked "MANI". Hearing this  Anu felt sorry and asked, "Who sent you here?" She pointed out to a man sitting across the street.  Anu sent her away irritatingly. Looking around she found the small girl standing near a soup shop. Her face looked as though she hadn't eaten for days. Feeling sorry for her,  Anu called her and handed over a 10 Rupee note. Seeing this she waved her hands and said "Vendam"(which meant NO in Tamil).  Anu asked her "Isn't this what you asked me a few minutes back?". The child replied "ILLA, Mani ,Mani". It was then that  Anu realized that she asked the time.(Mani means Time in Tamil) and she had got confused between "Mani" and "Money".  Anu touched her on her head and told her the time.

On her way back home, she kept wondering who the girl was. She had brought a smile back on  Anu's face. The truth in the girls eyes was something that  Anu could not forget. Ever since that day , she kept seeing the girl at the stop very frequently and would wave at her. She din't know what was the relationship that she shared with her but it was beautiful. Maybe the truth is what made a difference because she had lived all her life with a man who lied. Her days would start by thinking about the little girl and end by seeing her. On one such occasion, she finally gathered herself and went ahead to talk to her. She called out "Hey!!" The girl came ahead to talk to her but immediately a man came and pulled her away. Since then she stopped going ahead to talk to her but her friendship continued as she waved hands to her everyday.

This seems to be a dream,

Out of my darkness like a gleam

Lies were what i lived with,

She taught me what truth is.

My days begin with thoughts about her,

And alas i thought my life was a blur.

It was the 15th of November, the rains slashed the city and since morning  Anu's thoughts were about the little girl. She was worried if she had a home to stay. As usual, she stood with an umbrella waiting for the cab, but that day she couldn't see the girl. Her cab came and as she got into the cab a sudden thought crossed her mind. She immediately left her belongings, asked the driver to wait and ran to the subway near the stop. The subway was empty, water dropped from the holes that were created due to rains. The lights on the passage were flickering. A dark silence filled the area and after sometime Anu's eyes started becoming blurred. At a distance she saw a small light and kept walking towards it. As she went close she saw something and her hands started to shiver.......