They met through friends . The girl didn't want to leave her old , aging parents . She was happy to be by their side for the rest of her life . But society has its own ways . Marriage was necessary to mark her identity as a woman . In her mind , she cursed those who had had made her parents believe in this .

The marriage was completely arranged .They met each other just once and agreed to do this . It was a cold , winter evening when they said their wedding vows.She hoped and prayed that this was something that was going to lead her to happiness , satisfaction , love and hopefully someday a precious family too.

After the marriage , she shifted cities and came to a city - A city that brought with it a new set of challenges .The first few months just passed by in arranging , settling in and accepting the new life that she was made to choose . Inspite of this , she forced herself to look for those tiny bits and pieces to complete the puzzle -The puzzle to eternal happiness .

He cared about her . But he also cared about his job , his friends and was not willing to compromise on his old life style . Very naturally she tried to fit in .She made friends with his friends and tried to be like them to make him like her more .She wanted a job but she believed her husband when he told her that she needed to study more to be able to manage a job in a city like delhi - where the professional world was a rat race and only the fittest of all could survive. That in itself was enough to lower her confidence. But she believed him . Maybe she was falling in love with him too and accepting him for the man that he was.

He was a scholar. His life revolved around writing , books , politics , change in the government gave him sleepless nights and she secretly began to take pride in his intelligence and knowledge. All she needed now was an offspring and that she felt would complete her idea of a perfect , precious family -the ones she had grown up reading about in books during her graduation days. Just thinking about it was enough to bring her back to life.

They had their first child in the winter . The baby was a bright , happy and an extremely healthy boy. She fell in love with him the moment she held him.He became the apple of her eye , the joy that she had always waiting for had finally arrived.She loved bathing him , dressing him up , making his hair and most of all holding him.She felt like the luckiest woman on this planet . A few years later , her joy was doubled when they had their second child- a beautiful girl with thick brown curly hair ,gorgeous eyes and a smile that almost made her cry each time she saw it. This was her perfect family. She spent most of her time with the kids .

The kids Sahil and Nayab loved their mom. She was the most beautiful , the most perfect mom in the whole world.They always ran away from their father . He was always angry and screaming at their most prized possession-their mother . Sometimes Nayab would wish for him to vanish so that the three of them could enjoy by themselves . Nayab loved her father too but most importantly she loved him most for introducing her to the world of books. Nayab and Sahil learned to read John Grisham and Sydney Sheldon at the age of ten . Nayab would cry each time she finished reading Mill on the Floss. She had already read it 3 times and still couldn't stop feeling Maggie's pain. Both of them would wait for saturday nights when their father would tell them stories till late at night .Nayab loved the confidence in which her father lived his life on his own terms .Strangely enough ,she was also proud of his odd ways.

Sahil loved crickek , loved writing , singing , acting funny and made his sister laugh all the time even when she cried . She loved her brother more than anything in the world . He was her best friend .

As teen-agers they shared their secret crushes and the usual issues that come with adolescence. They were best friends . They even wrote stories together and hung out with each others' friends.They built tent houses together ,cycled together,played in the sun together, wrote letters to each other to make up after a fight , cried together , hugged a lot too .

Then one fine day Sahil left to study abroad .He left for an unknown land , an unknown future and took away with him Nayab's happiness -Her only reason to laugh and smile in trying times. She missed him but was happy that he was going to be a big man one day and would come back to take care of his little sister just as he did before he left. She waited for four years for him to return.

One afternoon in the month of June , he did return .He was not alone. He was accompanied with his friends from college. They had brought him back home. Sahil was unwell and needed immediate medical help.Sahil was diagnosed with a disease that Nayab couldn't even spell. All she understood was that he had to be at home and she needed to be there by his side. She cried , howled in her room. This was her brother -the one she had waited for all these years.She prayed for his recovery .

It took years for him to recover. She took care of him like her younger brother. She loved him more now. She was ready to give away anything to see him smile.

Today Sahil is doing well . Nayab too ,found love -true love . Inspite of everything ending well ...Nayab killed herself 2 months back.

She could not stand being misunderstood by the ones she loved the most -The ones she was ready to give away her life for.

Such is the irony of this life.

ps.All characters above are fictional .But some of the experiences expressed above are based on real life stories