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The Box
Kritika Dubey
TRUE STORY
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Submitted to Contest #2 in response to the prompt: 'The lines between fiction and reality get blurred when your character starts writing a new book.'

Prerna was bidding goodbye to Shreya with a deep throat, Holding back her tears, Prerna hugged her sister.There was a storm of sadness in her mind, various thoughts were running which she could not even express to her sister..…Go carefully,........text me when you reach,she was looking at Shreya with a fake smile holding back the tears suppressed in her lips.
Okay…okay…. she nodded,,,Now we will not be too emotional, whatever has happened has happened, forget it and enjoy today.Today is your anniversary, don't fight today…'now you don't fight with Jiju for me', "didi", 'Today is your day', didi" cheer up,,...with her chirping voice and tinkling laughter have finally melted Prerna's heart…..she smiled…
Ok ok, whatever you say… She opens the car gate and bids goodbye to Shreya,
Taking a deep breath, she slowly retraced her steps and went inside the house.She muffled her words and entered the house with a shuddering step; Rachit (her husband) is sitting in the adjacent room.He was ignoring her as if nothing had happened.
While combing her hair with her hands, tying it in a tight bun, she is releasing her inner anger by picking up the utensils for the guests,.......

'This house is running to kill me now, no one cares, no one wants to understand, no one cares about me, no one.'
She is cursing herself by banging the utensils... Rachit was also completely ignoring Prerna, Rachit's ignoring was making Prerna more furious…

.....I have been talking like a mad person for so long, don't you care at all?Are you not listening or don't want to listen, Prerna irritatedly shouts at Rachit……..

Why do you feel the need to humiliate me in front of everyone today? ......Since you know I am still learning how to cook,…But still you made fun of me in front of everyone,...she becomes uncontrollable in anger,

Who is your sister to speak to among us...huh???.........Rachit speaks irritatedly.
Jiju, 'you like to eat the food of your office friends only,' imitating it.Speaks angrily…
Prerna...I don't like this habit of your family members at all,...I am fed up with the behavior of those people…Rachit says angrily…
I am also fed up with you and your behavior. Prerna vented out her anger by shaking her head.,.....She quickly opens the door of her room, goes straight to the bed and sits down... Prerna calms herself down from anger…
The sound of mail comes from the computer placed in front, it was from the mail office…Keeping her personal life aside, she focuses on her professional life…

Prerna is an editor in a book publication house by profession, her generosity towards her work makes her the most responsible employee in the office…
Before sitting in front of her computer, take a long deep breath, stretch her neck, pull the chair in front of her and sit down. Opens the mail, which has come from the office,
This mail has come from Rita Sharma, there is a manuscript which Prerna has to read,,
She wants to keep her mind calm from the troubles going on at home. This mind will be calm only when its mind is focused somewhere else…She thinks it better to divert her mind somewhere else.
Prerna starts the story, she didn't seem interested in reading the story for 5 minutes,
"Who would read this boring, worthless and useless story?"...She speaks angrily..
…But suddenly a dialogue turned her interest…

"Every social person is locked in a box, they finds the world of that closed box very beautiful and familiar to them, they feels that ,this is their little world For them, this is the rule, this is the law, if they even tries to break it, they will be thrown out of this box world...no one will accept them".

Prerna narrated it to herself. She felt that these quotes were written just for her…Taking interest in the story by inspiration ….And starts reading again…

(Reading story)

Four friends who have locked themselves in a social box,Now that all four of them have become so comfortable , now that they do not want to come out , in their view , breaking the rules of the box would be like breaking the rules of society.If they break these rules they will be expelled from the society…


So the question is, which such boxes are these?,
What are these rules after all?
What is their ultimate objective?
Why is this rule applicable in society?
This question can be asked by every person who is imprisoned in this box.

There are some rules in the society which a person considers it his duty to accept.,

Rule number one- satisfaction of ego
Rule Number Two- To follow the rules of society.
Rule number three-lack of self realization

These four friends have obeyed the rules, they are living their lives according to this.All four friends feel that if they don't follow , society will not accept them…

Ramesh- He considered it his pride to obey his wife's orders, he felt that if he bowed down then the society would consider him a slave of his wife.

(Friend -1)
When Prerna reads Ramesh's story, she feels as if Rachit is Ramesh. Or she treats the story as herself, Prerna thinks of herself as a former wife....Now she had found a motive to read the story, the motivation was to read with passion and interest,
Prerna was comparing Ramesh's wife with herself.She wanted to understand her pain, understand how a wife feels when her husband does not support her…

(Friend -2)
Neeraj- A lover who is crazy about his love, who loves her a lot, calls her at night, takes care of her a lot, checks his condition, Neeraj makes himself worthy of her.Working day and night…
Prerna becomes disheartened and dejected here,

Rachit, "can't you also love me like Neeraj loves his girlfriend, I wish you would take care of me like these lovers do. I am really looking for your love, but you don't care about me"...........................She was talking to herself with sad thoughts.
How lucky will Neeraj's lover be? "And look at me, it's my bad luck that I got a husband like Rachit."By twisting her face..
She continued reading ,Prerna had forgotten the fights in her family, she was now enjoying reading.She felt as if she was reading a book written on her life.

In this story Prerna was searching for herself, sometimes she felt like Ramesh Rachit, sometimes she compared herself to Ramesh's wife, and then the next moment she was jealous of Neeraj's loved one…
Now Prerna was going to read Sameer's life, suddenly there was a knock at the door, ……..who is there?...Your anger is over?, So Can we eat food?, I haven't eaten anything since the whole day....I have to go to the office tomorrow too... Rachit is standing at the door,
Ignoring her husband's words, Prerna starts reading again,....."he speaks as if he cares a lot for me", muttering…

The story begins again…
Sameer - The one who left his wife or children's house ruined his condition, his health started deteriorating, the love of his family was driving him crazy, his life was destroyed..He remains immersed in a cup of wine in the morning and evening remembering his wife.

Prerna started wondering what happened that his wife left him?Did Sameer beat her? Was Sameer's wife unfaithful?
What could be the reason,....
A flurry of questions started flowing in her mind...all the questions started roaming….
The story of the fourth friend begins,
Rehan- This young man who is very happy with his life, free and carefree, is living a very free life, living on his own terms, this young man is very happy with himself…

Reading about Rehaan, Prerna starts remembering her youthful days. Prerna compares Rehaan with her own youthful days,She used to be so happy when she was young, I was so carefree and free like this She gets lost in the memories of old days,

(Past days)
Prerna remembers herself in her youth, making two braids in her hair, coming out of school without any worries,Buying Tamarind at the shop on the way..

Bhaiya….., give me two tamarinds, Sakina… oh ,, which one do you want? ,...One sweet and sour tamarind…Sakina tells with enthusiasm,
Remembers her friends with whom she used to read cartoon magazines.And when she reached college, she used to go to watch movies with friends……
"What a day those were... it was so much fun... getting married is useless, why did I buy this tied life…Today I regret that by getting married...I made a big mistake"...While thinking, she rests her head on the table and closes her eyes.,
Honestly, if i could have, i probably would have run halfway around the world again,i couldn't stand to be in city anymore, everywhere i turned,i felt there were signs of my failure,



( Next morning)
The sun's rays were falling directly on Prerna's face while spreading their brightness. Prerna opens her eyes while narrowing her eyes……..
Prerna peeps outside after hearing the sound of rustling outside. Rachit was making breakfast…
"you got up ... .You slept on the table the whole night last night,.... and didn't even eat anything,I have made an omelet for you, eat it... Rachit breakfast is being prepared",
Prerana left without answering ....
.'how shameless he is, he did not apologize to me even once, I am not able to stay with him now with him, not even for a moment',...She goes to her room grumbling…

The story starts reading again on my computer,

(Story begins)
Preena quickly opens the story on the computer and starts reading,

"I want to ask my readers, which of these friends is right"?
Ramesh
Neeraj
Sameer
Rehan,

I know most people's answer will be Rehan..It is very easy to choose Rehan, his life is like that which most people wish for,And seeing Ramesh you must have felt very angry, seeing Neeraj you must have felt love.And seeing Sameer, you must have felt a feeling of pity. But in reality there is something else, this is the aspect which is created in the eyes of the society.Same thing happens in real life too, we become judgmental after listening to one side of the story. And that becomes reality for us.

Come!.....Now let me unveil all these characters to you,Actually these are four different characters of one character,These are four stages of life, which we have known by different names,
Ramesh Neeraj Sameer and Rehan,

Till now we have understood one side of the story, let us see the other side of the story also.

Ramesh's wife Sheela is a very selfish and shameless woman, thinking only about herself, Sheela tried many times to break the house, but because of Ramesh's wisdom , Sheela failed. Although Ramesh is a very well-bred and civilized citizen, A family-oriented citizen, who has also suffered from his wife's bad intentions and habits,

Prerna was shocked, she felt ashamed that she had compared herself to such a ridiculous woman.Although she had very good relations with her in-laws,..Prerna was happy that at least she herself was not like Sheela,

Now all the readers must have fallen in love after reading Neeraj...how much he loves his girlfriend, how lucky his girlfriend will be.
Vishakha was a very decent and goody girl, but Neeraj is crazy in one-sided love.This was the job of harassing her day and night, stalking her, passing comments on her along with his stray friends.
Prerna's opinion suddenly changed towards Neeraj,
'He is such a bad person, he should be hit with shoes in the middle of the road.'Thank God Rachit was not like this before marriage, How much he respected me…
Calms down for two minutes,"how crazy I am that I compared him with Rachit"….
I feel sorry for Vishakha, how much she is suffering.
Prerna's views on all the characters were gradually changing,

Sameer came back home late at 3 o'clock in the night,
Priya -Where were you?.......I was waiting for you for so long,......
Sameer said angrily… Don't try to be my mother, I come late Or don't come home, don't interrupt me,

If you were coming back home late then you should have called me once, I was so worried.Priya speaks in her soft tone,...
It is not your father's house where I can ask you to do every work.He abuses and goes to his room.
Priya could not tolerate her father's insult, and in a fit of anger she slammed open the door.
Before blaming my father, check your own status. My father does at least work, he is not idle like you…
Sameer angrily slaps Priya.
With tears in her eyes, Priya packs her bag and leaves the house with her 5 year old daughter.
Sameer sits there on his chair ,and doesn't even try to stop Priya.

Prerna was stunned, her mind went blank, she was not able to understand anything.she felt as if this story was trying to tell her something, trying to teach her a lesson…Without thinking much, She continued reading the story.
Now the character of the last friend Rehaan, who is loved by everyone and is the favorite character of all the readers…... .But in real life he is equally lonely, sad and immersed in depression.
You all were shocked!..
This is the truth of real life.We always form our opinions without thinking.
Ramesh neeraj sameer and Rehan These four are locked in a social box, whose opinions are different in the society, What is presented in the first part is a social opinion, On the contrary, the second part is the part which is often deprived of us.This came to light when we explored their life, Then we found that their lives are locked in a social box.
If their story had been different, they would have broken the box of society.

Ramesh ,If he divorces Sheela immediately, or sends her to father 's home forever, he will be rejected by the society, because in the eyes of the society, he has become cruel, has not ruled over his wife, Because there is another rule of the society, calling a bad woman is against the rules of the society,If Ramesh takes action against his wife, but he is also afraid of the society. Because a respectable gentleman cannot do this,
"So in this way Ramesh got locked in the box of a respectable person,"

If Neeraj's girlfriend Visakha had stopped him at that very moment, had slapped him hard when Neeraj had blocked her path,So today Neeraj doesn't have the courage to harass her.But here Visakha was afraid that she would get new names in the society, she was afraid of being called a scoundrel, a vagabond, without values,Because her impression in the society was that of a respectable woman, and cultured.
"In this way Vishakha also got imprisoned in the compartment of Sanskar."
Sameer who slapped his wife because she called him useless, and on the other hand Priya also got anger and made him fall in his eyes,Something like this could have happened between these two,

When Sameer was angry, Priya should have left without asking questions.
When Sameer said, "This is not your father's house,"

Then Priya should have said, "Right now you are angry, let's talk tomorrow",
and would have quietly gone away without getting angry…….The next moment something like this happened Sameer himself comes to Priya and tells about his feelings….Sometimes bitter words add bitterness to relationships,
But both of them humiliated each other to boost their egos.
"This proved that both Sameer and Priya are locked in the box of ego".

Last Rehan considers it his pride to show himself independent, strong and lively in the eyes of the society.But inside he is equally lonely and depressed.Rehan thinks that if he shows his weak part to the world then the society will declare him weak.
"So in this way Rehan is also locked in a box of "show off",

We are all locked in some box or the other, breaking which is considered against our dignity.
Actually these are not four characters, one person has four characters,Same character with different names,

Before marriage we often play the role of Rehan and Neeraj, and after marriage or Either we become Sameer or Ramesh,Ego wrapped relationships often leave behind a knot,

Prerna reflected on her relationship, if she had kept her ego aside, our relationship would have been going well today…

Throws light on Prerna's fight…
When Rachit said in the party…Prerna, now you are learning to cook, but today there is less salt in your Matar Paneer, but it will be fine,At that time Prerna's sister Shruti said...Jiju, "you must like the food of your office friends only..right?
At that time Prerna should have said, no need, now Rachit will also like my food, I have been learning for a long time, next time you will see how delicious the paneer I have prepared.
The atmosphere would have changed at that very moment, there would have been no silence, tension... everything would have been happy,
When Prerna went to the gate to drop her sister,Shruti said,.... "Didi, now don't fight with jiju for me."

If I don't fight then how will love grow with your jiju, says in a naughty way….
She would go into the house smiling and say…
Rachit ..you don't like my food right?..this is your punishment from today onwards, If you eat any office friend's food, I will keep you hungry the whole day…She teases Rachit,...

Rachit ,Oh, you think so, do you? But first make a promise, you wouldn't make more cookies, he says in mock horror,
ofcourse i will ,prerna says….
Rachit laughed ... .He hands down and says no...not at all, I accept this punishment,And from today onwards ,I will only eat food cooked by you…

Prerna was embarrassed, prerna thinking that day , today i experienced so many things. "How naive I was then she thought to herself". The tear filled eyes were speaking a lot, it seemed as if she had reached a path from which it would be difficult to ever return.
'I thought badly about my husband',"How can I think like this",Prerna was buried under her own words,
Prerna was drowning in the mountains of sorrow, she was very remorseful for her actions,.....Looking at the photo of her and Rachit kept nearby with her moist eyes, she started crying bitterly. Prerna remembers the old moments, when she saw Rachit for the first time, when Rachit held her hand for the first time, she was getting lost in the moments,She got so lost in those moments that she found herself immersed in an ocean of vividness,Prerna was just crying,

Sometimes the decisions we make leave us with nothing but regrets,One thing must be remembered,

"If a person is important then forget that thing, if that thing is important then forget that person",
Prerna went out in a hurry, rushing here and there, searching for Rachit in every room.,...
Rachit……Rachit….. rachit …
Where are you….
Rachit I entered the gate, took off my slippers…..Prerna suddenly hugged Rachit passionately,she felt relieved after hugging her.
I felt like a burden had been lifted…..
"I will never fight with you after today,"
Rachit, never pushed me away",
she says with a choked voice.
Prerna', i can not push you away from me,', I can't, ….
From the first time moment, Prerna possessed her thoughts, she wanted to tell him what was running her mind in past days, but her emotions and her words stopped her, because now it is all worthless to talk,
I went to get momos for you, now if you are not angry then I am thinking of returning it……speaks teasingly to Prerna
No...I will eat……Prerna snatches the packet of momos,
In this way Prerna saved herself from being trapped in the box,....An unknown story taught her life lessons,
There will be many such Prerna, who come under the control of their senses and take this difficult decision,
We are locked in many such boxes, which become very difficult for us to break.These four friends show us the mirror of a society.We always form our opinion after listening to a one-sided story, spread it throughout the society, and create a new story accordingly.
Ramesh, Neeraj, Sameer and Rehan live somewhere in all of us,And the society sees us in these opinions as shown in the first part.When we saw the second part, we came to know the other side.



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Excellent ????

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Actually it is ????????????????????????????????????????????

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Good ????????

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very well written and composed by the author..

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