The Invincible Dreamer

By Neha Shrivastava

Prologue

This short story is about a girl named Naina who comes across a lot of difficult life situations but yet never give ups on her dreams. She is a pure soul and she is in search of her true love.

In this short story you will come to know about how Naina became a strong and independent girl. This is dedicated to all the girls who go through many life difficulties and circumstances but n

Chapters

1. The Begnining

2. Hope

3. The Dream which came with cost of health

4. Heartbreak

5. The New Begnining

6. Whats Next?

7. Healing

8. Living the Dream

1.The Beginning

Naina is a girl born in the ’90s. She lives with her Mom and Maternal Grand Mother whom she calls Maa. Naina’s life is full of challenges and hardships despite all the problems she has in life. She has always been kind, understanding, and a lovely soul. Naina was 8 when she came to know about her parent's separation. She was born in Hyderabad and then has spent her entire childhood with her Maternal grandparents and Mother. She has not known what the “Father” word stands for as she has always been surrounded by love from her Mother’s family. People usually say that to give a good upbringing to a child both parents are important. There are some duties of parents that by default has to be fulfilled. While the mother gives birth to the child and takes care, the father on the other hand has the responsibility as well towards the child. Naina’s father was always neglectful towards her Mother. He was a man who ran away from his Father and Husband's duties. Which somehow affected Naina’s Mother. Her mother is full of kindness but is disturbed by the scenario that has happened to her because of her husband. Drinking Alchohol, Verbal Abuse, Physical abuse as well and rude behavior from Naina’s Father made her Mother mentally unstable. Later on, when her mother’s family realized that her Father is an irresponsible person, Naina’s Grand Father wrote a letter to her Father stating that he will no longer let him interfere in Naina’s life. He(Naina’s Grand Father) is going to take care of Naina and her Mother.

Naina being unaware of all these complications was happy with what life gave her. She has been grown up on her Mother’s side Family. She thinks that’s how every other family is outside as well. Naina is also unaware of a disease she is going through. Hemangioma, the disease has affected her left eye vision but despite an eye problem and a difficult life situation, Naina is a pure soul. She believes in compassion. She is in search of love. Her heart is so kind that she thinks that Love is everything a person needs because where there is love there is compassion, kindness, and respect altogether. Naina’s story is a story of just another girl with dreams and a search for a peaceful life. She has gone through a lot since childhood some pain she is not even known of but her body knows it (Hemangioma) and some pain she has when she was old enough to understand what “Father” means and since then she has been hoping for happiness and peace. She is a cheerful girl and of course strong. Her biggest support system is her Maternal Grand Mother (Maa). It is because of Maa she was able to survive after falling from the stairs, there were all blood stains over the cloth, her mother was in school (went to teach), and Naina was so small she didn’t even remember what exactly that pain looks like. She just believes what her Maa tells about the Incident. She loves her Maa so much. She is her biggest strength.

2. Hope

It was 2010 Naina was in Class 10th. She struggled with Mathematics as a subject because she found it difficult and hence had no interest in it. Her Maternal Uncle and Aunt told her that she has to choose Maths/Science for 11th Standard to have a good career ahead. Little did anyone know or cared about what Naina’s plans were. Was she willing to become an Engineer or Doctor? Was she the one who finds it easy to study Mathematics? Naina has seen a lot of arguments in the family, fights, and whatnot. She has become more silent, scared, and an over-thinker. She wants to be understood but she is afraid to speak out. She thinks even if she tries no one will bother or listen to her the way she wants them to. With all her courage she tries to convey that she wants to join coaching to learn Mathematics. She talks first with her Maa and tells her everything. Her Maa(Maternal Grand Mother) understands and says: how far is the coaching? Do you want to commute by your bicycle? we can't afford a Scooty right now but let's talk to your uncle and see what he says.

Naina’s Maternal Uncle lives abroad. After her Maternal Grand Father( Nana Ji) retired her uncle has taken all the responsibility financially. Every decision in the home is taken after discussing it with him hence the decision of going coaching by scooter also depends on her uncle. After a lot of ifs and but and a lot of crying the scooter didn’t purchase for her. She tried to pull with her friends but they also betrayed her. She felt helpless, demotivated, and hopeless as well as she thought without coaching how am I going to make it? She was sad for a few days. Lying down in bed and thinking how will she crack the board exams? Then CBSE announced the CCE pattern. Which gave her a ray of hope. She gained strength somehow and hoped for the best.

The 10th Board results came. Naina scored good marks and she was happy thinking she made it through. She passed the exam with her hard work. Now another challenge in front of her was to convince her family that she wanted to take Commerce and not Maths. After a lot of disagreements, she finally was able to convince her family to Commerce. She later scored good marks in 12th and was ready with her dream. Her long-term goal was to complete her MBA degree and get a job. Middle-class families' children mostly don’t have big hopes that’s how society has made it sound like a stereotype. She had some dreams: visit Venice and other foreign countries. Basically to travel around the world. She dreamt of many things to achieve once she starts earning. She dreamt of having a peaceful life. Her hopes for life were not much big she just wanted to be happy.

3. The Dream which came with a cost of health

Naina finished her MBA. She was offered a job from a reputed private bank but again the challenge was it came with something different from her forte. She left that job and again got questioned by her family for leaving a job just like that. She was taunted for not valuing money. She knew her area of interest and hence tried giving a lot of interviews. Finally, she cracked one and then the major challenge was NIGHT SHIFT. She took the challenge thinking about her career and the money. She was thinking she has to start from somewhere and it was getting difficult to hear taunts from her family for not doing a job. She took that job and ended up having Nasal Polyposis a few months later because of immunity issues. This was not the only reason. The reason for this sickness was a guy she met a few months before joining the Night Shift job. She made her believe in love and hence she loved him to the core. He then later became dominant and use to stress her with his words. She was getting depressed and use to cry a lot. She then got diagnosed with Nasal Polyps felt miserable and left the night shift job. A few days later she got a call from another company for an Interview which had a day shift job and then ended up working there.

She understood the value of her health and started to focus on it. The initial days were very tough for her as she struggled to breathe. The guy was supportive but at the same time use to fight a lot with her. She understood that if she wants to be physically fine she has to get away from the relationship. The guy use to fight and go and come after a few days with messages full of blames. Later on, she accepted this behavior as well and went with the flow.

After taking a lot of homeopathy medicines and seeing no results she started the Allopathy treatment from an ENT specialist and things started getting better. Naina has seen people changing but this big change she was not expecting from the guy she loves more than herself. He was becoming more aggressive with his words and actions. Due to long-distance things were already difficult but he had his ways to complicate it. Naina on the other hand just wanted to be understood. In her serious medical condition, she just wanted him by her side and expected nothing more than that. Things started to change and it made her condition worse. There were days when she couldn’t sleep at all. She use to talk to herself stating that she needs to feel fine. The more she cried the more her condition got worse. After a few days, she decided she will talk to him and tell him how his behavior is affecting her. Instead of listening to her he again came with blame and made her feel worthless.

Sometimes it is not the other person it's us who give them so much power that their every adverse reaction hurt us. Naina is an over-thinker she only knows to give love and expect nothing in return. The only problem with her is she thinks the world is like her. Kind, soft-hearted but it's the opposite. She needs to learn that her dream is to achieve peace in life and that the medium can be anything. The dream should not come with the cost of her health.

4. Heart-Break

People usually resonate with heartbreak in a love relationship. Sometimes heartbreak doesn’t occur because of another person it can be by the action of ourselves. Maybe we are not able to analyze what wrong we are doing and when the actions of others affect us we feel like they are the ones who are responsible for it. Naina felt the same way. The guy she loved kept her betrayed and she had just one hope every time. She use to think he loves her the same way she does but it was not the case. The guy was a good person but when it came to the relationship he was a whole new dominant sort of person. He had a love for her but we should not confuse love with imprisonment. Yes, imprisonment is when people try to cage you with their thoughts, they want things according to them and when you try to give your opinion they back-fire you with blame and you end up hurting yourself.

Naina has seen her mother, she doesn’t believe in marriage ever but after she met this guy she developed faith in Love and Marriage. Now with all the actions and betrayal she feels broken and she doesn’t want to feel the feeling of love again. She thinks everyone in her life comes with betrayal and she will be left alone.

The institution of marriage states that two people go through a lot of good times and bad times but they stick with each other through thick and thin. The worst thing I have heard is “Falling in love” that’s why most of the time people forget to care about themselves and get their hearts broken by others. Why fall in love? just be in love and see the magic of love. Love helps you grow in all aspects of life. It’s the purest feeling and people usually take it in terms of physical attraction, verbal abuse, and whatnot. Nobody in this world focuses on the person’s heart they usually go with looks or money. Yes, usually girls are expected to look beautiful without any flaws on their skin and face. On the other hand, boys are expected to earn well so that they are stable after marriage. Why so much of rules? When two people love each other they see the soul, not the body. Alas, this is not the world thinks.

Naina is worried about her life ahead. She is broken but she will not tell anyone instead she will focus more on work and try to distract her mind. That’s how she has learned to be alone. Will she ever get her true love? Will society accept her with her Hemangioma-affected face? Will she ever find a guy who will not fall for her body but instead be in love with her soul?

There are a lot of Naina’s out there who are insecure about their looks and judged by society. We have heard this phrase that god has made the couples in heaven so everyone will find their match. Naina is a pure-hearted person I wish she gets the love she is looking for and she marries a guy who loves her soul.

5. The New Beginning

Naina is gathering her strength. A strength that she already had but she got distracted due to the idea of love. She is taking one step at a time to heal her soul. She has started believing in herself and she is doing much better than earlier. She is more focused on her goals, more focused on her family – especially her Mother and Nani. She is doing every possible thing to not think much about the heartbreak and start all over again.

For the future, she is ready to accept what god has planned for her. It can be anything – Marriage or no marriage. She is learning to love herself more and more with kindness and yes she has still love left inside her which makes her a beautiful human.

A lot of people like Naina go through different kinds of family problems. Depression is the new word people have learned these days to tell others what they are going through. There is a certain situation in everyone’s life but they should also remember that they have got only one life and they have to live it to the fullest. Life is too short to worry and stick to people who hurt us and think that they will change. People don’t change themselves for others they do it for themselves when they are ready to change themself others are automatically happy around them.

Naina still believes she will get her Mister perfect one day. She still gets anxious, worried, and many other psychological traumas but she makes sure to come out of it so that it won't affect her family and her career. She believes in one philosophy – This Too Shall Pass.

By Neha Shrivastava