The Turning Point

It was a holiday. “Gauri wake up, it's already 8 o'clock”, her father shouted and knocked at the door. She woke up slowly and started her usual routine. She used to spend time with herself during lockdown days, so now she is not interested in hanging out with friends like before. In the afternoon, she was watching the ‘Dark’ series, suddenly her mom came and gave her an old photo, an old family picture. The photo made her go back to the old golden days. She was a fearless and bold girl. But now she has many fears and became silent, inactive and lazy, moreover the prisoner of her mind. Suddenly, her broken dream came to her mind. She knows that she ruined her life. She had everything and had time to fulfil her dream but she didn't work hard for it. It's been 3 years and she is still waiting for the turning point in her life. She hopes that one day everything will change in her life and she will break the chain and come out from the jail of her mind. She went to the balcony and looked around. People were busy buying things and going home. Everyone is in fear, maybe that's why without a third person’s advice, they are keeping a safe distance.

Across the road, Gauri saw an old man standing in the line of a grocery shop. She knows the old man Dev Sharma. He was a CRPF officer. In 2008, there was a terror attack on the CRPF camp in Rampura, Uttar Pradesh. He got heavily injured and was unable to continue his service as a Commandant. In his life, there was full of pain and sorrows. He lost his wife and daughter in a car accident when he was an SP in Delhi. Now he only has his son. Everyone who was standing in the line was hesitantly looking at him. His son was working in the IT field in Dubai. Due to the pandemic, he reached home. That is why everyone is afraid and is disgustingly looking at him. His son's name is Sidharth and he quarantined for 1 month and reached his home. Suddenly, one bike came near to the shop, the guy came straight to Dev Ji and gave him an inhaler. It was his son, Sidharth. He said to Dev Ji, “Don't forget to take the inhaler”. He sneezed suddenly because of the heavy dust in the street. Then he left. But the people who were standing there started to murmur and speak in a bad way. The shopkeeper shouted to Dev Ji, “Go away from here, there is nothing here to give you”. People started moving away from him and looked at him like an alien. He was an Asthma patient, he panicked and used the inhaler twice. He was not okay. Suddenly, Gauri put on her mask and took the sanitiser, then she came out from her home and crossed the road carefully. Then she walked to Dev Ji and opened the sanitiser and poured it into his hands and gave him water to drink. He smiled like thanking her from the bottom of his heart, maybe that's why his eyes were filled with tears. Then she went to the shopkeeper and gave him the list that Dev Ji wanted to buy. But the shopkeeper denied it, she burst out to him and said, “Learn to respect people and be a human”. The shopkeeper gave the items to Dev Ji. He said thanks to her, she turned and started to walk. Suddenly, she felt like something had bitten her, the pain was unbearable. She looked down, it was a cobra. She got afraid when she saw the snake and fell in shock. Everyone ignored that and ran away.

Gauri was still lying on the ground, her vision blurred. She closed her eyes and tried to open them again. “Gauri wake up, it's 8 o'clock now”, her father knocked at the door. She realized that it was a dream. She woke up from her bed and started her routine. In the afternoon, she watched the ‘Dark’ series. Suddenly, her mom came to her room and gave her an old picture, an old family picture. She became nervous and thought about that dream, then she laughed out loud and left that from her mind. She became engaged in her old memories. She went to the balcony and saw people who were busy buying things and going home. She saw the long line in the grocery shop and she saw him.

By : Manju P B

II BA Communicative English