1 Chapter 1

As the phone bell rang, Avni came out from the kitchen and picked up the phone.

"Hi, may I talk to Avni?" The voice on the other end of phone asked.

"Speaking; but I didn't recognise the voice. Who is calling?"

The female voice responded in a sullen tone, "Hey Avni, I am Nikky, Nikky Gupta."

Instantly, Avni knew that this Nikky was from her childhood. Nikky was Gupta Auntie's second daughter. "You are Nikky?! Oh my god! I ..."

Avni was so excited that she couldn't contain her excitement, but suddenly Nikky cut her short, "Where do you live? I have to meet you. I am staying at a hotel near the airport. Would it be possible for you to come and meet me? I know you live in Gurgaon. Prasanda, our servant, told me. Please come positively. I'll be waiting."

Avni felt excited and elated to be able to finally meet her friend from her childhood's Gupta Family. Soon enough, Avni was lost reminiscing in the past; her childhood when she was a little girl.

Avni used to go to school with four other children; Arvind (or Arvi), Misha, Ranjini, and Nikky; Avni's neighbours. Gupta Uncle, their father, was a shrewd man who worked as Manager in a Chemical For, but always wanted to set up his own business. He hailed from UP. When Gupta Auntie gave birth to three daughters after Arvind, she felt herself blameworthy for the curse that befell from Heavens, in the form of three girls. She felt it was not necessary for her to be a good mother to all, so, she would discharge all the motherly duties for Arvi, and that the girls would get only leftovers, whether it was love or anything else.

However, thankfully, because Gupta Auntie had a fair face, the girls inherited that beauty of their mother, which comforted her a little. "At least, they will get married easily, otherwise how could we arrange dowry for them," is what Gupta Auntie would often say to Avni's mother, Sunanda, who in turn would be appalled to see her behaviour towards the girls. "What are you saying? You didn't take proper care or planning from having more children, but you're blaming and cursing the girls for being birth." However, without missing a beat, Gupta Auntie would always retort, "You are only saying this because you have two boys and only one girl." Avni's mother would not argue further, because it was almost impossible to make Gupta Auntie understand that it was not a crime to have daughters instead of sons.

Gupta Auntie had a habit of not preparing a proper breakfast and lunch for her children, and would normally just toast the bread with butter and put it in lunch boxes of the children. Avni, however, liked the smell of roasted bread with butter more than her own packed lunch which contained a parantha made by Sunanda, with a piece of pickle. Anyways, it is common for children to find other children's lunch more tempting. In those days, there were no canteens in the schools, and children had to eat what they brought in the boxes. At the same time, there was always a nameless vendor standing outside or inside the school with a small bags full of different types of assorted goods, candies, wafers etc., for which, it was mandatory on parents to give money to their children.

Children used to walk on the pavement for kilometres, talking endlessly, and in no time they would cover the distance to the School.

However, on that fateful day, something bad happened, which Avni still remembers, and which changed Nikky's life. As the children were talking and laughing, a car coming in great speed, ran over Nikky who was on corner and perhaps slightly on the road side. It all happened in an instant, and even though Nikky wailed and cried as loud as she could, they were only children, and couldn't do anything. In some time, people noticed and gathered around, and eventually Nikky was brought back to her house with some help. Back at Nikky's house, Avni's parents wanted to call the Police, but the Guptas were hesitant, "Let's not drag the issue far. Nikky is okay and, after all, alive. There's no need to blow this out of proportion." However, Avni's parents were very worried. After all, it could easily have been Avni.

After some time, things started to return to normal, but Nikky's condition was not good. The wound on Nikky's foot was in a bad shape, but Gupta Auntie didn't care much about it. She had already concluded that Nikky would never be able to walk and would be a burden, whom they will have to bear. Nikky was almost always in constant pain. Avni's mother was a working woman, but whenever it was possible for her, she would take Nikky to the doctor for a check-up or gently massage her feet to relieve some of the pain. Gupta Uncle would often tell her, "Bhabhi Ji, why are you going through so much trouble for Nikky? She will be fine, it'll get better itself."

Thankfully, luck did not abandon Nikky like her parents had, and one day a doctor came to live in the neighbourhood with family. He happened to meet Nikky by chance, and after seeing her, he managed to persuade the Guptas that they should get Nikky treated properly at a hospital. Good sense prevailed, and Nikky was admitted to hospital for treatment. Although the treatment helped immensely, and Nikky was able to walk again, a prominent limp was visible in her walk. Nonetheless, Nikky started going to the school again with the other children, and being a bright child, caught up with the studies very soon.

One fine day, Gupta Uncle decided to go to another city to try his luck in starting his own business, "A friend has offered me partnership in his business," Gupta Uncle told Avni's father. Just like that, the Gupta Family had left. For some days, Avni badly missed her friend, but as the days passed, she made other friends and life moved on, as it always does.

...

Avni had gotten married to Anish, and moved to another city. Anish was a busy man, and his his work required him to stay out for most part of the day. So, naturally, Avni had free time on her hands, and she would often reminisce about the past. Her childhood memories of the Gupta Family kept playing over and over in her head, to the point of becoming haunting. In this free time, Avni had taken to writing letters. She remembered some details about Gupta Uncle's business and city, and tried to trace their exact whereabouts. Avni managed to find a phone number from the internet, but to her dismay, the person who picked up the phone did not recognise her. The voice told her, "No one is at home, right now. Sir (Avni imagined that must be Arvi) has gone on a vacation with his family."

"And what about Misha, Nikky and Ranjini," Avni asked eagerly. However, to her disappointment, the voice, which perhaps beloved to the servant, replied dryly, "I'm sorry. I can't give out any of that information. If you tell me your name, I can inform Sir that you'd called."

Avni gave her name and number to the voice, and hung up the phone. She didn't expect a call back; if they too had missed her, they would have tried to contact her, too. Perhaps, fate didn't want it that way.

As months rolled forward, Avni found other things in her life to take up her free time, and became busier with her newly wedded life and home.

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