After years of hard work, painful sacrifices, staying away from each other, their dream of being together, of a happily ever after ending was finally coming true. Both Priya and Raj were finally allowing themselves to relax a bit, allowing themselves to dream about how beautiful life would be together again.
Growing up in a small remote, nondescript village in the rural hinterlands of India hadn’t stopped them from dreaming the impossible.
In many ways they felt blessed because they never had to fight for their love to be accepted, they had been childhood sweethearts, a match made in heaven. Their families were highly respected in the village and were very close. Their love was just an extension of that strong friendship; they had already been accepted as a beautiful couple, meant to be together forever.
They had infact had to fight their parents to put off their marriage. Marriage for them was just a formality that society demanded of them.
Their struggle instead had been to achieve a dream, a vision that they had both seen.
The relentless pursuit of that vision had taken Raj from the charming little gulley’s of his village to the big mean street of wealth and power. Wall Street
Priya had been just as bright and ambitious but had made the sacrifice and stayed back in the village, building the foundation for their vision.
But on the last stretch, on the last leg of the race, when they were a hair’s breath away from achieving their vision, something happens, something that leads one of them to betray the other.
An act of betrayal that was really tragic and ironic, because it had actually meant to be an act of supreme love.
What happens, what leads a strong and beautiful relationship between two mature, committed individuals like Priya and Raj to end in tragic betrayal?
Why does one of them give up on the other?
What makes this story real..
We are today citizens of a global village. Like never before we have the opportunity to participate in and influence global events. The flat border less world that has opened up roads to economic resurgence has also however redefined our relationships. Our relationships today face a whole new set of challenges; global events impacting us like never before.
The story is inspired by all globetrotters, for whom staying away from each other, being separated by oceans is a conscious choice, a choice that is necessary to achieve goals, fulfill visions.
Priya and Raj are one such couple, eager and active participants of the global game, hoping to live their dream together.
In the end however the dangers on the streets of the global village, the surprises that lurk there prove fatal for their relationship.
Other stories that this one has been inspired by have ended happily, this one has a sad ending to highlight that like so many things in our world, our relationships too have gone global.
This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.
Note: The length of the post and the declaration at the end have been amended in compliance with the rules for the contest.
Words that paint a thousand pictures 