Chola Street, Varsha Towers, 8:45 pm
Dithi is sitting near the study table in her room. She is switching on and off the study lamp continuously and thinking deep about something. Her father is scolding her from the living room, but she is simply ignoring him. After sometime he comes to her room.
Her Father: “Don’t you go to sleep?”
Then she switches off the study lamp. So, he leaves the room and shuts the door by making a huge sound.
***
Sharada Street, Yamini Enclave, 9:02 pm
Arjun is standing in balcony, looking into the dark sky. After a while, his father comes there.
His Father: “Arjun, Life is very short, listen to your heart, not to the people”, he slowly taps on his shoulder and goes away.
***
Dithi’s house, 9:20 pm
Dithi switches on the light in her room. Then she slowly opens the door a little and her big eyes dig out the darkness. After concluding that there is no one in the living area, she comes back to her study desk and sits on the chair. She takes a white paper and starts writing.
“Amma, I love you because of your unconditional love and Daddy, I hate you because of your useless stupidity”, she writes on the paper and puts a paper weight on it.
After that she slowly comes out of her room and silently approaches the main door. Then she unlocks it carefully and comes out of the house.
***
Arjun’s House, 9:51 pm
Arjun sits in a sofa in the living room and writing something on a paper.
“Dad, I’m going to follow my heart! I love you so much and I miss you too!” he writes on it and places the paper near his mother’s photo. He prays to her mother and leaves the house with a bag on his shoulders.
***
On the street road, in the moonlight, 10:17 pm
Dithi is standing alone on the road and she is feeling very nervous. Suddenly her face lit up with bright smile. Because, Arjun is coming from the other end. He finally reaches her. They look into each other’s eyes and they share their feelings silently. After exchanging their words through their eyes, they leave that place and begin walking, holding each other’s arms.
The moon shows them the way while the stars come along with them. The winter winds make the couple closer than the usual. After a while, they realize that footwear is not necessary in this journey and so they remove them and left over on the roadside.
***
Chalapathi University of Technology, 10:47 pm
The watchman is sleeping on a stool near the entrance gate. There is a narrow entry beside the gate. Through that entry, Dithi and Arjun enters into the college. They reach the college canteen where they met for the first time. They spend sometime there by recollecting all their memories.
Later they enter the college garden, which is their favourite place. Arjun then takes out a box from his bag. In that box, there are two wedding rings. Dithi and Arjun exchange those rings and at that very moment the snow begins to shower on them from the sky.
At that moment, Dithi and Arjun are struggling to express something to each other. But they forget all the words they know and so Arjun kisses Dithi on her lips in the snow. Then they understand, what they wanted to say to each other. Dithi eyes turn red. Their lips are smiling and their eyes are crying. But the smile of their lips slowly reaches their eyes too.
Later, they slowly come out of the same narrow entrance.
***
Shanti Nilayam, 11:22 pm
Finally, Dithi and Arjun reach a burial ground. They offer some money to the shepherd who takes care of the burial ground. He doesn’t like what they said, but as they offer huge amount, he agrees to that.
They enter into it and the Shepherd starts making all the arrangements according to their wish. Dithi is terrified of seeing that place.
Arjun: “Don’t fear Dithi, Humans are dangerous when they are alive, not after they die”, he comforts her by gently caressing her hair.
Then she smiles. Arjun takes out a saree from the bag and gives it to Dithi.
Arjun: “I bought this saree with my own salary, go and wear this”
Dithi takes the saree and goes into the hut. In the meanwhile, the shepherd makes the fire outside. Arjun also gets ready in a traditional attire for the wedding. Shepherd’s wife helps Dithi inside and transforms her as a bride.
In the presence of the shining moon, the glittering stars, the cool wind, the blazing fire and the elder couple, Arjun ties the knot. Tears rolled out from Dithi’s eyes. Arjun wipes her tears and kisses on her forehead.
Later he takes a small bottle from the bag which contains a liquid.
Arjun: “I’ve made this for us. There will be no pain, but there will be gain”, he smiles.
Shepherd: “Dear son, please think once”
Arjun: “Grandpa, we're not dying, we're just starting to live together”
Arjun and Dithi then shares that liquid.
Later Arjun sits over a rock near the fire then Dithi sits on his lap. They close their eyes and feel all the love inside them, the love of the wind, the love of the moon and the stars and the love of the nature. A bright and huge smile lit up their faces and hence they are shining brighter than the moon.
After sometime, the shepherd comes and sees them with tears rolling from his eyes. He doesn’t want to separate them. So, he builds a tomb around them without disturbing them. He makes it wholeheartedly as a memorial to them.
Later, Arjun’s father thinks that they are living somewhere happy, whereas Dithi’s father tells everyone that his daughter had died. But both of them don’t know the truth.
***
After few days…
A letter from that shepherd’s hut which is driven by the air comes out of the hut and reaches the tomb of Arjun and Dithi. It was the letter given to that Shepherd by the Arjun.
“We don’t like this country where people give importance to caste rather than character and we also don’t like to live in other country. So, we decided to live together in the clay where there is no caste. Now, none can separate us!”, they said in the letter.
Written by
Hemanth Karicharla.
