Nandini

She was sitting in her room looking at the ceiling , it was night already but she didnt feel like turning on the lights , it didnt make a difference anyways . As long as her mind was clouded, external lights would not do the trick. she had failed all her attempts to fill her mind with awe.

She had always adored her name "Nandini" which means full of joy . She had lived that life as child , Then there was not a thing that did not catch her admiration , Smell of earth when it rained, myriad colors reflected by the soap bubbles . She had leapt with bees and butterflies hopping from flower to flower , drenched in rain quacking along with those frogs . She had made every desperate effort to recreate those days again , In an attempt to fill her mind with awe again, Even travelled far and wide to see if that would help , but in vain.

This was more than what she could take, she just turned and started crying her hearts out , with tiny drops of tears moving down her cheeks , It was those tiny beads reflecting the light of moon that caught her attention , they were beautiful just like pearls arranging itself to make a string. Washing away those tears she decided to take a walk. Lost in her thoughts she tripped , she tried to balance herself but landed on her knees and had failed to notice a street dog beside her, it was enraged at this uncalled for intrusion and started grinding its teeth making a growling sound. she was always scared of dogs , she leapt in a split second , running like a maniac down the road until she reached the end , she stopped and looked back , the dog didn't seemed to have moved from its place , but what caught her eyes was the road. It looked awsome with gulmohar on either side that was already flowering, moon shining bright in the sky , just then cool breeze swept her untied hair carrying the sweet smell of parijata and few petals of Gulmohar.This was a wonderful feeling she had not felt in years, In the very road where she passed everyday.

When she reached back her friend was anxiously waiting for her asking what was wrong, she smiled , her eyes twinkled amidst the smudged kajal . she said , I agree with bernard shaw “We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing" , I today realized that although it is said that with age we need a lot more to fill the heart and experience awe , it is not true. All it takes is to have a mind ready to plunge into new realm , free of prejudice and expectation , You just need to look within and grinned winking at the fly that had just entered the room . Although her friend was already asleep it didn't matter, today she had realized the way to realize her name.