Running a race
Isha was running as fast as she could. She knew that she was not going to win still she kept running. She could clearly hear laughs of kids from behind. She didn't care. She never wanted to stop. She just wanted to finish that race. She knew that she was slow runner. But she had to do it. She started running as fast as she could. She never had time to look back when she heard voice of her friend Rucha. She was telling her that she must stop. She didn't understand why did Rucha wanted her to stop. She had to run ahead. She didn't need to stop. She got to move fast. She knew that she had to touch finish line. But she kept hearing Rucha's screams to stop her. She was running then she suddenly felt someone was shaking her. She opened her eyes. It was her husband Mandar. Mandar " Stop banging your legs in bed. What are you doing? Do you want to break our bed?" Isha was so confused. She was running that race in sleep. She was so shocked. She looked around. " I had strange dream. I was running a race of school." Mandar was shocked now. He suddenly started laughing. " You are running race of school in sleep. My god!! You love running so much. But you never mentioned to me. We are married for years with two kids but you never mentioned it." " Since it was nightmare. Let's not talk about it. I want to sleep." " Same here." So they both fall in sleep again. Isha didn't even remember it much in morning. She was alright on every point. She just started working on every day. She began to make breakfast in kitchen. She was so relaxed when suddenly Pooja came in kitchen. Pooja was once again wearing low neck dress. She knew that it was modern dress all girls who went in school with her wore same type of dress. She knew that she must not stop Pooja. But still she felt strange dislike. Pooja sensed it. She immediately wore jacket. Isha smiled so her daughter value her opinion. " So today when you will have first lecture?" " Lecture Mom? It is late but I need to go early I am studying with my friends." Isha was confused again. Isha wanted to ask about her friends but if she did then it would look bad. After all Pooja was always simple girl, she never did any thing which could disgust her parents. She just couldn't ask Pooja directly. Isha just kept smiling and returned to her cooking. She hoped that Pooja would tell it by herself. But Pooja just started to pack lunch box. Isha " Do you need more for your friends? How many friends are there?" " Mom you don't need to pack lunch for all. We can buy from outside." " But I thought you like homemade food. I just felt you like my cooking so I packed." " Mom I love your cooking. But you are just my Mom not maid that you should start to cook for every one. Some of them don't even care. They just make faces and I hate it when some one make face at my Mom's food so no need." Isha smiled. She knew that she just couldn't ask Pooja anything now. Pooja hugged her and ran away. Pooja was nice girl but still Isha didn't like the way she was getting influenced by other kids. It was so shocking that she dressed in this way. Pooja used to different when she was child. But at that point she was just wearing what she liked. She was so glad that Mandar didn't came out. Mandar always get angry when he saw his daughter dressed this way. Mandar just didn't understand why didn't she dress in proper traditional way. Pooja hated to argue but then she didn't even want to look odd before her friends so it would create worst scene. Most importantly then she had to defend Pooja before her younger daughter which she hated. She did want Leena to wear such dresses but in her heart she knew that Leena was also going to wear them. Isha just wanted to turn back clock sometimes and make her girls little. It was so hard for her to handle them now. She couldn't force them to act in different way that her friends but she didn't like the way her daughter dressed. She started to get upset by those thoughts so she began to turn her whole attention on just cooking. She started to keep those thoughts away from her mind. She needed to cook fast. Slowly she felt that she managed to do it. She smiled to herself and kept cooking for lunch boxes.
Then Leena and Mandar came in kitchen. Mandar " Where is Pooja?" " She went out early." " Ohh..I want to speak with her. Now a days I hardly able to talk with her." " She is always busy." Leena started smiling slowly. Isha was so confused. She needed to stop Leena now. Leena knew that Pooja was trying to avoid Mandar. She knew that Mandar would start screaming on her if he saw that dress. Pooja wanted to wear those stylish dresses. Mandar looked at Leena with suspicion. "Why are you laughing my angel?" " Nothing Daddy." Mandar looked confused. He took lunch box and went away. Isha went to window. She wanted to sure that Mandar didn't see Pooja. She took breathe of relief when she saw that Pooja was far away. It was happening every day. She didn't need to tell Pooja. Pooja was doing this by herself. Leena started laughing. Leena " Mom why are you so scared of Dad? He is not going to beat Didi." " I know he will not." Isha knew that Mandar was not that kind of father who would hit his daughter. No he never did that he loved his daughter from heart. In fact he was not that kind of man who hit any one without strong reason. He was man of kind heart. She knew that how much he loved his daughter. She knew that he had many dreams for them. His daughters would become like Isha was one of them. He wanted them to be considerate and loving. He wanted them to be wonderful. She wanted them to be dressed in traditional and decent way. He wanted all to be perfect. But she knew that Pooja wanted same thing. She wanted to look normal to whole world. Pooja's world was her friends. She wanted them to be normal. Her all friends dressed this way. She wanted them to understand it. But it was not easy for any one. She dressed in modern way. Since it was need of her life but it was not easy for Isha or Mandar. Isha managed to keep Mandar away from this fact but question was how long. She was so scared. She didn't want to imagine what would Mandar do. She knew that one day people would tell him. Isha " Leena Dad never hurt her but he feel so sad about it. He might hurt himself. " " What? Daddy would kill himself because Pooja dressed in modern way?" Isha started laughing. It was most nonsense thing she ever heard. Leena also joined in her laughter so they decided to forget issue. Isha gave lunch box to Leena and returned to her usual household work. Then when it was over, she went to phone. She wanted to discuss this issue with some one so she decided to call her Mom. Isha told it all to her. Her Mom " This is not such big thing Isha. Do you know what happened yesterday in our house?" Isha was confused. Her Mom stopped talking for few seconds. One thing was clear. She was making sure that Isha's brother and sister-in-law were far away. Her Mom just loved gossiping behind her brother's back. Isha knew it was not right. She wanted to discourage it but then her Mom was lonely after her Dad's death so her Mom thought this as perfect time pass so she let her do talking behind back. She felt that it was better that she was talking just to her not to some one else. Isha " What happened?" " Your niece came drunk last night. She was so drunk that she couldn't even walk properly." " What? Who drop her then?" " Her boyfriend. They were planning to marry her off to some boy. But after this they didn't have option. She wanted to marry her boyfriend. He is not from our caste but he is rich." " Then Mom it will be okay." " No it is not okay. Do you let your daughter Pooja marry some one who is not from our caste?" Isha was so shocked at this thought. She couldn't imagine it. Isha " Mom Pooja is not like that!!" " I know that is why I was telling you that you are lucky than your brother." Her Mom started telling her how did her niece was getting spoiled day by day. She felt somewhere in her heart that she was lucky to have daughters like Pooja and Leena. She knew that it was wrong but she felt happy when she heard about her niece. She felt her daughter was nice and her life was perfect. She kept listening to her Mom to reduce her tension.
Mandar had managed to forgot an important file at home. He just needed it. He kept calling but phone seemed to be busy whole time. She just kept talking on phone so long that she had lost sense of time. Mandar never saw Isha act this way. He sensed that some thing was wrong. He kept calling. Finally he felt that he had this enough. He just needed file. He decided that he might call Pooja who could go home on her bike and brought file from home. He felt scared to tell her to drive so much. But then on other point he felt that it was fair. She must get chance. He decided to give one chance to her daughter. He called Pooja. Pooja took call. When he told her every thing, Pooja had to agree. Pooja knew that her dress might look wrong. Then suddenly Mandar remembered that she could bring file from his friend who had copy. " No need to go home. Just go to Sandip Uncle's house and bring file." Pooja was confused now. She didn't want him to see dress but she knew that no option was there so she agreed. Pooja knew that she might get punished but she didn't want her Dad to suffer. She decided that she might just do as she said. She might just obey him.She looked at herself. She dressed in modern way. She was not looking that much vulgar. She was looking okay. She tried to console herself. But she was still scared. Finally she started to drive before going there. She reached at her Uncles's home. She rang that bell. Auntie opened bell. She was friendly. Pooja sensed that nothing was that much wrong with her. Her Auntie gave her wonderful smile. Pooja smiled back so it was normal. Even Auntie admired her new style. Pooja felt so glad. Pooja felt so happy that she was finally getting things as per her choice. Her Auntie didn't insult her. In fact she gave her file. She felt fulfilled since at least those things went ahead in perfect way. She managed to get her things to give her Dad. She immediately went in her Dad's office. She went inside. She saw that her Dad was standing with his friends. Pooja " Dad your file." Her Dad looked upset at first but then his friend came ahead and said " Lucky man. Your daughter is smart enough to reach here on time. I am glad that you are not like other people who prefer to hide their daughter in home. Girl's need freedom if we want them ahead." Her Dad looked at his friend. She saw every one was nodding in agreement. Her Dad smiled. Mandar " Good girl." Pooja smiled then she went back to college. She was so happy and excited to tell this to her Mom. She tried to call Isha but she didn't pick up phone. Isha just managed to lost track of time completely. Finally when Isha looked at time she sensed that she had to cook snacks since her daughters would return to home. Pooja came first. Pooja hugged her and told her every thing. Isha was shocked. Isha gave smile but she felt that something was wrong. She knew that Mandar was hiding his feelings. She knew that it was not what seem. She felt that Mandar must be showing off before his friend. She was so tense whole time. Soon Pooja and Leena both got tense. They all were sitting with tense expression. When Mandar came in house, he had brought gift for all. Every one started opening their gifts. Isha was shocked when she saw that Mandar had bought new dress for Pooja which was modern. Mandar gave nice smile to her. Mandar " You can wear this type of dresses. This is modern but not too low neck." Pooja nodded. But Isha still felt something was wrong. Since Mandar never liked such dresses. Isha looked at Pooja who went inside and came back with new dress. It was too much. Isha didn't like it. She looked at Mandar and she saw same feelings in his eyes too. She knew that he would hate it but he still nodded. She was so confused. She looked at that dress. It was too modern. She knew that her daughter must not wear it. She didn't want troubles in her house. Leena was also admiring that dress. She knew that Mandar would not accept it. He was doing it for few days. But then she remembered what her Mom told her that her problem was small but she felt that it was getting bigger step by step. She had to stop it. She could clearly saw anger in eyes of Mandar. She felt one thing for sure that one day he would slap his own daughter if Pooja kept dressing like this. She just didn't understand why did he bought that dress for her. She was so scared. She didn't understand his motives any more. She must had given some wrong expressions since Leena asked" What happened Mom? Dad is happy?" " Yes...yes.. he is." She went in kitchen and called Mandar. " What happened? Why are you pretending." " Pretending? I am not!! I am trying to adjust. This dress is better than last one. I can understand she needed to wear those dresses..." " Do you? Then why did you look so upset?" Now Mandar started looking angry. " This is too much!! I am going in room and I am fine with Pooja's dressing style and send my dinner in room only." Mandar went in room. Isha was little relaxed that he finally showed his anger.
Mandar was so shocked. Isha was forcing him to get angry on Pooja. He hated those dresses but his friends convinced him that he must adjust with time. After all when he was young, he also wanted different things and his parents were many times against them. He could still remember his bike. It was style of that time. But it was also just waste of money and he did those bike races with them. He felt so much shame about it. He remembered clearly that one day he was about to hit a old man. After that he came to sense. His daughter was not doing stupid stunt of that kind. He felt that he had to adjust with her. But Isha kept irritating him. He just sat on his bed. Then slowly door was opened. He was sure it was Isha. " What's wrong with you? Why are you forcing me against Pooja? She is our daughter!! I don't understand." Then he turned. He was shocked when he saw that it was Pooja. Pooja was so shocked. Pooja " Mom is against my clothes. But she told me that you are against it." " No. She just took one thought in her head that I am against you clothes and she is not ready to give up that idea." " This is rubbish." " I know this is outrageous but you know your Mom. She just never understand." " But Dad I need some break." " I know. I will talk to her." Then Pooja sat with him on bed. They both started watching TV soon Leena came inside. She joined them. But Isha just stood in corner. She was still shocked. She didn't understand how did he manage to do that he was pretending in perfect way. He was giving even some angry look to her. She knew from heart. He was upset. But she decided that she would not question him. She just smiled. From that day she decided that she would not say any thing until he didn't confess by himself. She needed to say it from his own mouth. She decided that she might wait for some time. From that day Pooja started dressing in modern way. Isha was always so tense on every day. She just felt one thing that one day Mandar was going to slap her. But he seemed to be controlling his anger. She just felt so wrong on every point. She kept watching them carefully. One thing was clear Mandar didn't like her dress but he was accepting it. He was trying to adjust with it. But then slowly her dreams started in worst way. She began to dream every day. She was racing that school race. She just kept banging on bed which was not good news for Mandar. He wanted to sleep but she never let him do it peacefully. Mandar was so upset by this. He knew that he had to adjust but this was not healthy for him. Slowly he started doing one trick. He started sleeping in coach in hall when Isha started banging her feet. He knew that it would hurt Isha but he had no option. He just couldn't stay awake whole night. He started sleeping out. He mostly managed to come back before Isha woke up. But Pooja saw him one day when she went out to drink water. Pooja was so confused. She knew that she must not get involved in matter of her parents. But this was something which was making her tense. Her parents never fought this way. She began to feel she was cause. Leena sensed that her elder sister was upset. Leena " What is it?" Pooja started crying slowly. Pooja " Dad was sleeping outside. Mom was looking upset. Something is wrong between them." Leena " What? But I never sense they looked so happy." " They are pretending. They don't want this to come out before us." " But what if they decide to divorce? I love both of them." Leena started crying. Pooja never thought this way. On that point Pooja decided to ignore all manners. She decided that next day she must go and meet her parents. She needed to do that. She knew that she must move ahead in life. She must act brave. She didn't able to sleep that night. Leena was also crying slowly. They both heard voices of crying and crash. They both ran in their parents bedroom. They both were shocked. When they saw their Mom was inside broken bed and her Dad was pulling her out they were shocked. Pooja " What happened? " Mandar " Isha broke bed." " But how?" Isha " I was running race in sleep." " What?" Pooja and Leena both looked around with confused expressions. But when he kept insisting, they must help then they helped.
Isha slowly told them every thing. Pooja " But Mom why are you having nightmares like that?" Isha" I don't know." Mandar " Look at your feet. There are having bruises. You are hurting yourself on every step." Isha looked at her legs. They were getting worst day by day. Mandar " I think we need to call Doctor." " No..No..I am fine." " You are fine Mom. Dad is not even sleeping with you any more in bedroom. Do you think this is fine thing?" " What? You are not sleeping in bedroom?" Isha looked at Mandar with anger and hurt. " You need to understand I need to sleep." " But you never mentioned it to me. You never said that.." " I want to protect you." " But it just made me worst." " I know but Doctor will help you now. Please go to him." Isha screamed " I am not mad and I am not going to Doctor." Leena and Pooja felt so scared when they saw their Mom screaming this way. Mandar " Stop it. You are scaring girls.." Isha suddenly stopped screaming. But from that day every one became aware of Isha's problem. Soon every one began to sense that Isha was even having problem while walking. She started to limp. They all knew that she needed Doctor. She was now sleeping on ground. Since bed didn't able to manage her, she was getting worst day by day. She started screaming on every one. One day finally her back gave up and she had to admit in hospital. Mandar told every thing to Doctor. Doctor took x-ray of her back. He started studying bones. Doctor " You need to take rest." " But I walk in dreams." Doctor " Then we need to tie your legs." Mandar and Isha was shocked. " You can't try her like that?" " Okay then what I suppose to do let her bones get shattered?" Mandar got tense. Isha " I want to be cured. Do whatever you feel right." Doctor " Only if you were wise like this earlier, you don't need such big treatment." Isha started crying slowly. After that they kept her tied. It was not easy for her. She tried to run every night. Then she woke up due to restriction to feet. Her legs were getting hurt in that process. Then psychiatrist came to talk with her. She started talking to him. She told him about her race. Psychiatrist talked with her for long time. Psychiatrist finally told her. " I think you are tense about your daughter." " My daughter?" " You are not running race but you are trying to protect your daughter from all modern thoughts. You need to sense it that this not your life. It is life of your daughter. You can't run race for her. You need to let her move in her way." " But I am her Mom. I need to feel concerned." " But don't you feel it is not simple concern?" Isha looked at her legs. She nodded. " I am giving you few medicine to relax. But most importantly I give you books to read and DVD to listen. Try to listen and learn from them. You must not become so obsessed about your daughter. You need to give her some space. She need to move ahead in her own way." Isha knew it but she just didn't agree to it. She took those material from Doctor. Doctor started to counsel her every day. She started to feel relax step by step. Soon she sensed that she was getting more upset when she heard her Mom talk about her niece. It was relaxing her instead it was scaring her. She told her Mom to avoid that chapter. Slowly her nightmare became occasional. She went back to her home. She started sleeping peacefully in her bed. She didn't told any one cause but she knew that Mandar knew it all. From that day she never ran after her daughters. She knew that they might act right or wrong but she knew that she taught them her best so she let them move their ways. But somewhere in her heart she still wanted to interfere but now she convinced her soul that she must understood her limit to change things. So she started accepting their decisions with both feelings. Sometimes it gave smile to her soul and sometimes it gave sorrows. But it never managed to give nightmare to her again.
The End
Isha was running as fast as she could. She knew that she was not going to win still she kept running. She could clearly hear laughs of kids from behind. She didn't care. She never wanted to stop. She just wanted to finish that race. She knew that she was slow runner. But she had to do it. She started running as fast as she could. She never had time to look back when she heard voice of her friend Rucha. She was telling her that she must stop. She didn't understand why did Rucha wanted her to stop. She had to run ahead. She didn't need to stop. She got to move fast. She knew that she had to touch finish line. But she kept hearing Rucha's screams to stop her. She was running then she suddenly felt someone was shaking her. She opened her eyes. It was her husband Mandar. Mandar " Stop banging your legs in bed. What are you doing? Do you want to break our bed?" Isha was so confused. She was running that race in sleep. She was so shocked. She looked around. " I had strange dream. I was running a race of school." Mandar was shocked now. He suddenly started laughing. " You are running race of school in sleep. My god!! You love running so much. But you never mentioned to me. We are married for years with two kids but you never mentioned it." " Since it was nightmare. Let's not talk about it. I want to sleep." " Same here." So they both fall in sleep again. Isha didn't even remember it much in morning. She was alright on every point. She just started working on every day. She began to make breakfast in kitchen. She was so relaxed when suddenly Pooja came in kitchen. Pooja was once again wearing low neck dress. She knew that it was modern dress all girls who went in school with her wore same type of dress. She knew that she must not stop Pooja. But still she felt strange dislike. Pooja sensed it. She immediately wore jacket. Isha smiled so her daughter value her opinion. " So today when you will have first lecture?" " Lecture Mom? It is late but I need to go early I am studying with my friends." Isha was confused again. Isha wanted to ask about her friends but if she did then it would look bad. After all Pooja was always simple girl, she never did any thing which could disgust her parents. She just couldn't ask Pooja directly. Isha just kept smiling and returned to her cooking. She hoped that Pooja would tell it by herself. But Pooja just started to pack lunch box. Isha " Do you need more for your friends? How many friends are there?" " Mom you don't need to pack lunch for all. We can buy from outside." " But I thought you like homemade food. I just felt you like my cooking so I packed." " Mom I love your cooking. But you are just my Mom not maid that you should start to cook for every one. Some of them don't even care. They just make faces and I hate it when some one make face at my Mom's food so no need." Isha smiled. She knew that she just couldn't ask Pooja anything now. Pooja hugged her and ran away. Pooja was nice girl but still Isha didn't like the way she was getting influenced by other kids. It was so shocking that she dressed in this way. Pooja used to different when she was child. But at that point she was just wearing what she liked. She was so glad that Mandar didn't came out. Mandar always get angry when he saw his daughter dressed this way. Mandar just didn't understand why didn't she dress in proper traditional way. Pooja hated to argue but then she didn't even want to look odd before her friends so it would create worst scene. Most importantly then she had to defend Pooja before her younger daughter which she hated. She did want Leena to wear such dresses but in her heart she knew that Leena was also going to wear them. Isha just wanted to turn back clock sometimes and make her girls little. It was so hard for her to handle them now. She couldn't force them to act in different way that her friends but she didn't like the way her daughter dressed. She started to get upset by those thoughts so she began to turn her whole attention on just cooking. She started to keep those thoughts away from her mind. She needed to cook fast. Slowly she felt that she managed to do it. She smiled to herself and kept cooking for lunch boxes.
Then Leena and Mandar came in kitchen. Mandar " Where is Pooja?" " She went out early." " Ohh..I want to speak with her. Now a days I hardly able to talk with her." " She is always busy." Leena started smiling slowly. Isha was so confused. She needed to stop Leena now. Leena knew that Pooja was trying to avoid Mandar. She knew that Mandar would start screaming on her if he saw that dress. Pooja wanted to wear those stylish dresses. Mandar looked at Leena with suspicion. "Why are you laughing my angel?" " Nothing Daddy." Mandar looked confused. He took lunch box and went away. Isha went to window. She wanted to sure that Mandar didn't see Pooja. She took breathe of relief when she saw that Pooja was far away. It was happening every day. She didn't need to tell Pooja. Pooja was doing this by herself. Leena started laughing. Leena " Mom why are you so scared of Dad? He is not going to beat Didi." " I know he will not." Isha knew that Mandar was not that kind of father who would hit his daughter. No he never did that he loved his daughter from heart. In fact he was not that kind of man who hit any one without strong reason. He was man of kind heart. She knew that how much he loved his daughter. She knew that he had many dreams for them. His daughters would become like Isha was one of them. He wanted them to be considerate and loving. He wanted them to be wonderful. She wanted them to be dressed in traditional and decent way. He wanted all to be perfect. But she knew that Pooja wanted same thing. She wanted to look normal to whole world. Pooja's world was her friends. She wanted them to be normal. Her all friends dressed this way. She wanted them to understand it. But it was not easy for any one. She dressed in modern way. Since it was need of her life but it was not easy for Isha or Mandar. Isha managed to keep Mandar away from this fact but question was how long. She was so scared. She didn't want to imagine what would Mandar do. She knew that one day people would tell him. Isha " Leena Dad never hurt her but he feel so sad about it. He might hurt himself. " " What? Daddy would kill himself because Pooja dressed in modern way?" Isha started laughing. It was most nonsense thing she ever heard. Leena also joined in her laughter so they decided to forget issue. Isha gave lunch box to Leena and returned to her usual household work. Then when it was over, she went to phone. She wanted to discuss this issue with some one so she decided to call her Mom. Isha told it all to her. Her Mom " This is not such big thing Isha. Do you know what happened yesterday in our house?" Isha was confused. Her Mom stopped talking for few seconds. One thing was clear. She was making sure that Isha's brother and sister-in-law were far away. Her Mom just loved gossiping behind her brother's back. Isha knew it was not right. She wanted to discourage it but then her Mom was lonely after her Dad's death so her Mom thought this as perfect time pass so she let her do talking behind back. She felt that it was better that she was talking just to her not to some one else. Isha " What happened?" " Your niece came drunk last night. She was so drunk that she couldn't even walk properly." " What? Who drop her then?" " Her boyfriend. They were planning to marry her off to some boy. But after this they didn't have option. She wanted to marry her boyfriend. He is not from our caste but he is rich." " Then Mom it will be okay." " No it is not okay. Do you let your daughter Pooja marry some one who is not from our caste?" Isha was so shocked at this thought. She couldn't imagine it. Isha " Mom Pooja is not like that!!" " I know that is why I was telling you that you are lucky than your brother." Her Mom started telling her how did her niece was getting spoiled day by day. She felt somewhere in her heart that she was lucky to have daughters like Pooja and Leena. She knew that it was wrong but she felt happy when she heard about her niece. She felt her daughter was nice and her life was perfect. She kept listening to her Mom to reduce her tension.
Mandar had managed to forgot an important file at home. He just needed it. He kept calling but phone seemed to be busy whole time. She just kept talking on phone so long that she had lost sense of time. Mandar never saw Isha act this way. He sensed that some thing was wrong. He kept calling. Finally he felt that he had this enough. He just needed file. He decided that he might call Pooja who could go home on her bike and brought file from home. He felt scared to tell her to drive so much. But then on other point he felt that it was fair. She must get chance. He decided to give one chance to her daughter. He called Pooja. Pooja took call. When he told her every thing, Pooja had to agree. Pooja knew that her dress might look wrong. Then suddenly Mandar remembered that she could bring file from his friend who had copy. " No need to go home. Just go to Sandip Uncle's house and bring file." Pooja was confused now. She didn't want him to see dress but she knew that no option was there so she agreed. Pooja knew that she might get punished but she didn't want her Dad to suffer. She decided that she might just do as she said. She might just obey him.She looked at herself. She dressed in modern way. She was not looking that much vulgar. She was looking okay. She tried to console herself. But she was still scared. Finally she started to drive before going there. She reached at her Uncles's home. She rang that bell. Auntie opened bell. She was friendly. Pooja sensed that nothing was that much wrong with her. Her Auntie gave her wonderful smile. Pooja smiled back so it was normal. Even Auntie admired her new style. Pooja felt so glad. Pooja felt so happy that she was finally getting things as per her choice. Her Auntie didn't insult her. In fact she gave her file. She felt fulfilled since at least those things went ahead in perfect way. She managed to get her things to give her Dad. She immediately went in her Dad's office. She went inside. She saw that her Dad was standing with his friends. Pooja " Dad your file." Her Dad looked upset at first but then his friend came ahead and said " Lucky man. Your daughter is smart enough to reach here on time. I am glad that you are not like other people who prefer to hide their daughter in home. Girl's need freedom if we want them ahead." Her Dad looked at his friend. She saw every one was nodding in agreement. Her Dad smiled. Mandar " Good girl." Pooja smiled then she went back to college. She was so happy and excited to tell this to her Mom. She tried to call Isha but she didn't pick up phone. Isha just managed to lost track of time completely. Finally when Isha looked at time she sensed that she had to cook snacks since her daughters would return to home. Pooja came first. Pooja hugged her and told her every thing. Isha was shocked. Isha gave smile but she felt that something was wrong. She knew that Mandar was hiding his feelings. She knew that it was not what seem. She felt that Mandar must be showing off before his friend. She was so tense whole time. Soon Pooja and Leena both got tense. They all were sitting with tense expression. When Mandar came in house, he had brought gift for all. Every one started opening their gifts. Isha was shocked when she saw that Mandar had bought new dress for Pooja which was modern. Mandar gave nice smile to her. Mandar " You can wear this type of dresses. This is modern but not too low neck." Pooja nodded. But Isha still felt something was wrong. Since Mandar never liked such dresses. Isha looked at Pooja who went inside and came back with new dress. It was too much. Isha didn't like it. She looked at Mandar and she saw same feelings in his eyes too. She knew that he would hate it but he still nodded. She was so confused. She looked at that dress. It was too modern. She knew that her daughter must not wear it. She didn't want troubles in her house. Leena was also admiring that dress. She knew that Mandar would not accept it. He was doing it for few days. But then she remembered what her Mom told her that her problem was small but she felt that it was getting bigger step by step. She had to stop it. She could clearly saw anger in eyes of Mandar. She felt one thing for sure that one day he would slap his own daughter if Pooja kept dressing like this. She just didn't understand why did he bought that dress for her. She was so scared. She didn't understand his motives any more. She must had given some wrong expressions since Leena asked" What happened Mom? Dad is happy?" " Yes...yes.. he is." She went in kitchen and called Mandar. " What happened? Why are you pretending." " Pretending? I am not!! I am trying to adjust. This dress is better than last one. I can understand she needed to wear those dresses..." " Do you? Then why did you look so upset?" Now Mandar started looking angry. " This is too much!! I am going in room and I am fine with Pooja's dressing style and send my dinner in room only." Mandar went in room. Isha was little relaxed that he finally showed his anger.
Mandar was so shocked. Isha was forcing him to get angry on Pooja. He hated those dresses but his friends convinced him that he must adjust with time. After all when he was young, he also wanted different things and his parents were many times against them. He could still remember his bike. It was style of that time. But it was also just waste of money and he did those bike races with them. He felt so much shame about it. He remembered clearly that one day he was about to hit a old man. After that he came to sense. His daughter was not doing stupid stunt of that kind. He felt that he had to adjust with her. But Isha kept irritating him. He just sat on his bed. Then slowly door was opened. He was sure it was Isha. " What's wrong with you? Why are you forcing me against Pooja? She is our daughter!! I don't understand." Then he turned. He was shocked when he saw that it was Pooja. Pooja was so shocked. Pooja " Mom is against my clothes. But she told me that you are against it." " No. She just took one thought in her head that I am against you clothes and she is not ready to give up that idea." " This is rubbish." " I know this is outrageous but you know your Mom. She just never understand." " But Dad I need some break." " I know. I will talk to her." Then Pooja sat with him on bed. They both started watching TV soon Leena came inside. She joined them. But Isha just stood in corner. She was still shocked. She didn't understand how did he manage to do that he was pretending in perfect way. He was giving even some angry look to her. She knew from heart. He was upset. But she decided that she would not question him. She just smiled. From that day she decided that she would not say any thing until he didn't confess by himself. She needed to say it from his own mouth. She decided that she might wait for some time. From that day Pooja started dressing in modern way. Isha was always so tense on every day. She just felt one thing that one day Mandar was going to slap her. But he seemed to be controlling his anger. She just felt so wrong on every point. She kept watching them carefully. One thing was clear Mandar didn't like her dress but he was accepting it. He was trying to adjust with it. But then slowly her dreams started in worst way. She began to dream every day. She was racing that school race. She just kept banging on bed which was not good news for Mandar. He wanted to sleep but she never let him do it peacefully. Mandar was so upset by this. He knew that he had to adjust but this was not healthy for him. Slowly he started doing one trick. He started sleeping in coach in hall when Isha started banging her feet. He knew that it would hurt Isha but he had no option. He just couldn't stay awake whole night. He started sleeping out. He mostly managed to come back before Isha woke up. But Pooja saw him one day when she went out to drink water. Pooja was so confused. She knew that she must not get involved in matter of her parents. But this was something which was making her tense. Her parents never fought this way. She began to feel she was cause. Leena sensed that her elder sister was upset. Leena " What is it?" Pooja started crying slowly. Pooja " Dad was sleeping outside. Mom was looking upset. Something is wrong between them." Leena " What? But I never sense they looked so happy." " They are pretending. They don't want this to come out before us." " But what if they decide to divorce? I love both of them." Leena started crying. Pooja never thought this way. On that point Pooja decided to ignore all manners. She decided that next day she must go and meet her parents. She needed to do that. She knew that she must move ahead in life. She must act brave. She didn't able to sleep that night. Leena was also crying slowly. They both heard voices of crying and crash. They both ran in their parents bedroom. They both were shocked. When they saw their Mom was inside broken bed and her Dad was pulling her out they were shocked. Pooja " What happened? " Mandar " Isha broke bed." " But how?" Isha " I was running race in sleep." " What?" Pooja and Leena both looked around with confused expressions. But when he kept insisting, they must help then they helped.
Isha slowly told them every thing. Pooja " But Mom why are you having nightmares like that?" Isha" I don't know." Mandar " Look at your feet. There are having bruises. You are hurting yourself on every step." Isha looked at her legs. They were getting worst day by day. Mandar " I think we need to call Doctor." " No..No..I am fine." " You are fine Mom. Dad is not even sleeping with you any more in bedroom. Do you think this is fine thing?" " What? You are not sleeping in bedroom?" Isha looked at Mandar with anger and hurt. " You need to understand I need to sleep." " But you never mentioned it to me. You never said that.." " I want to protect you." " But it just made me worst." " I know but Doctor will help you now. Please go to him." Isha screamed " I am not mad and I am not going to Doctor." Leena and Pooja felt so scared when they saw their Mom screaming this way. Mandar " Stop it. You are scaring girls.." Isha suddenly stopped screaming. But from that day every one became aware of Isha's problem. Soon every one began to sense that Isha was even having problem while walking. She started to limp. They all knew that she needed Doctor. She was now sleeping on ground. Since bed didn't able to manage her, she was getting worst day by day. She started screaming on every one. One day finally her back gave up and she had to admit in hospital. Mandar told every thing to Doctor. Doctor took x-ray of her back. He started studying bones. Doctor " You need to take rest." " But I walk in dreams." Doctor " Then we need to tie your legs." Mandar and Isha was shocked. " You can't try her like that?" " Okay then what I suppose to do let her bones get shattered?" Mandar got tense. Isha " I want to be cured. Do whatever you feel right." Doctor " Only if you were wise like this earlier, you don't need such big treatment." Isha started crying slowly. After that they kept her tied. It was not easy for her. She tried to run every night. Then she woke up due to restriction to feet. Her legs were getting hurt in that process. Then psychiatrist came to talk with her. She started talking to him. She told him about her race. Psychiatrist talked with her for long time. Psychiatrist finally told her. " I think you are tense about your daughter." " My daughter?" " You are not running race but you are trying to protect your daughter from all modern thoughts. You need to sense it that this not your life. It is life of your daughter. You can't run race for her. You need to let her move in her way." " But I am her Mom. I need to feel concerned." " But don't you feel it is not simple concern?" Isha looked at her legs. She nodded. " I am giving you few medicine to relax. But most importantly I give you books to read and DVD to listen. Try to listen and learn from them. You must not become so obsessed about your daughter. You need to give her some space. She need to move ahead in her own way." Isha knew it but she just didn't agree to it. She took those material from Doctor. Doctor started to counsel her every day. She started to feel relax step by step. Soon she sensed that she was getting more upset when she heard her Mom talk about her niece. It was relaxing her instead it was scaring her. She told her Mom to avoid that chapter. Slowly her nightmare became occasional. She went back to her home. She started sleeping peacefully in her bed. She didn't told any one cause but she knew that Mandar knew it all. From that day she never ran after her daughters. She knew that they might act right or wrong but she knew that she taught them her best so she let them move their ways. But somewhere in her heart she still wanted to interfere but now she convinced her soul that she must understood her limit to change things. So she started accepting their decisions with both feelings. Sometimes it gave smile to her soul and sometimes it gave sorrows. But it never managed to give nightmare to her again.
The End
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