"Divyaj was thankful that she did not haunt him .......................conspired with tears. Uninvited moistness; it has a weird relation with those moments, for they often betrayed them, only to wash away the pain that surfaced, not the one that cuts inside and leaves everlasting imprints." Contd: With time, those heartrending days were history. Prerana had grown up to be a strikingly beautiful woman and was soon to be married. Divyaj himself was 33; a bachelor by choice. He would not and could not allow his attention to be taken away from Prerana for the sake of living his own life. No. He would always be there for Prerana, and now Anuj. After all his little sister Prerana have always been the focal of his happiness. Anuj; he beamed with pride as he thought about his sister's groom to be as he indolently gazed around the room. They say, "We exaggerate misfortune and happiness alike. We are never as bad off or as happy as we say we are." How untrue it was for Divyaj. Neither could he express 'enough' to himself on his misfortune then, let alone exaggerate; nor is he being able to articulate his happiness for being able to 'realize' this day. Divyaj let a glowing smile run across his face as he conceitedly looked around the various reminders of his multifaceted little sister. The trophies, medals, certificates, stuffed toys, other ingenious knick knacks.... .....Yes, Anuj was also a very accomplished young yuppie; a young MBA graduate from a recognized Yale School of Management, and had decided to try his fortune in his own homeland and not surprisingly doing well. He was just the right match for Prerana, and what's more, they were so much in love. Lost in his reverie, Divyaj failed to hear the loud screeching of brakes on the road below, and was less concerned about the tumult of what seemed like a large crowd and the bawling of the ambulance sirens. The knock on the door after what seemed like perpetuity, yanked Divyaj out of his catnap. He sluggishly glanced at the time-piece on the mantle and was shocked to see that it was already 10 o'clock. "How is it possible?" he conjectured. Must have been those blasted bananas that always seemed to make him lethargic, he thought as he limped to open the door. It was Sukha dai and he was holding Prerana. She looked as though she was hit by a tsunami. Lost and in trance she just stood there. One look at her ashen face told him that something was terribly wrong. She was shivering uncontrollably and her eyes seemed distant and dead. As he saw his bubbly sister in the state of shock, Divyaj's emotions went on kaleidoscopic trails. A chill ran thru his spine. And he bawled, "What happened?" "It's...it's Anuj," she spoke as if in a reverie. "He's dead." Divyaj's jaws opened wide as Prerana fell in to his arms. Sukha Dai said, "He....he slipped in front of a truck....stepped on a 'banana peel'." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits: Please note that the basic plot was taken by a story I read a many many years ago. Bar few phrases, I have tried to create something similar in plot, but different in the presentation. I hope with this note, I satisfied the moral responsibility for the due credit (to whoever S/he was/is). However,close to 100% phrases and sub-lopts are mine. Ref: 2nd posting 1st para*. 4th posting 1st para**.