Jack is used to the habit of ‘early to bed, early to rise’. It’s already 8 a.m. in America. Yet, Jack is still sleeping. He went to bed only after 11 p.m. last night. The reason he had to break his long held habit is Menaka – the nineteen year old beauty living in India. Menaka is waiting for Jack for the past nine hours. Now it’s time for her to go to bed as it is 8 p.m. in India.
Jack and Menaka are close friends for more than a year through social network. Not only they two, but their parents also have become online family friends.
Jack woke up at last at 8.10 a.m. and opened his laptop.
“Gud eve, Menaka. Sorry for the delay”
Menaka was already ready with her smart phone for the chat.
“Gud mrng. It’s ok. Had a sound sleep?”
“Ya! Woke up just now. What do you do?”
“Having dinner with family. Anything special today?”
“Nothing…”
“Where are aunty and uncle?”
“Mom is getting ready for the church. Dad is watching T.V. in the hall”
“Ok. When is your summer vacation starting?”
“Ten days to go”
“Where are you planning to go for the vacation?”
“Nowhere”
“Why don’t you come to India for this vacation?” Menaka asked just for fun.
Jack never thought of this before. He did not know what to say. There was silence for about twenty seconds. Menaka sent the same message again.
“Why don’t you come to India for this vacation?”
The same message appeared again on the screen. Jack had to say something now.
“I wish to come. But…”
“You have to discuss with your parents?”
“Yes”
“Take your time. But I won’t take no for an answer”
“Why all of this sudden? Had you thought of this plan before?”
“To be frank, I was just kidding. I just wanted to know what you would say if I asked you to come here. But you agreed.”
“Why don’t you speak to my mom about this?”
“How can I? I am afraid I can’t.”
“Well… Let me try. What if they don’t agree?”
“Don’t disappoint me, Jack. I am looking forward to meeting you. Convince your parents anyhow.”
“Ok. I’ll talk to them. Finished your dinner?”
“Ya..Finished”
“Ok, I’ll tell you in the morning for sure. Go to bed. My mom has come back. I’ll connect you later”
“Don’t know how I am going to sleep tonight. I am expecting a positive reply from you when I wake up. Have a good day.”
“Gud nit. Sweet dreams”
Julie, Jack’s mom, finished preparing breakfast.
“Honey, breakfast is ready” Julie said to her husband Peter.
Peter turned off the T.V. and came to the dining hall. The table was set. Jack also joined them. Jack did not know how to start. Yet he started somehow.
“Dad, where shall we go for this vacation?”
“Let your mom decide that”
“As you two wish” Julie said.
“Then ok, you decide it Jack”
The ball has now come to Jack’s court. It is what Jack himself wanted.
“How about India?”
“What?” both Peter and Julie asked in astonishment.
Jack was taken aback by their astonishment even though he had expected this. Jack felt uncomfortable of not saying anything. So he uttered, “Yes dad, we can go and meet Menaka’s family in this vacation”
“It’s a good idea honey. We have not yet met them in person. Why don’t we go to India this time?” Julie said.
Jack felt happy that he had his mom’s support now. But Peter remained silent.
“You don’t like the idea, Dad?”
“Not that, I have some work here. Let me think of it. I’ll tell you in the evening” Peter said.
After breakfast, everybody left the dining hall.
Peter and Julie went for shopping. Jack was left alone. It was hard for Jack to push the time forward. Time felt like frozen. Despite all his efforts to pass time, only half an hour had passed. Though his eyes were looking at his laptop, he was completely out of mind. He was very much anxious about what his father would say. He could not think of anything else. He had no hope that his father would agree.
“If Dad wanted to agree, he would have agreed at once” he thought. “But, Dad has not yet said anything, why think negatively?” he consoled himself.
To his surprise, his laptop displayed:
“A NEW MESSAGE”
His fingers rushed to the keyboard and opened the message.
It was, of course, from Menaka. But it was an empty message.
“ ”
“Are you awake?” Jack replied.
“I woke up just now. I couldn’t sleep any longer. I am just lying on the bed in this midnight. I was never like this before. Did you speak to your parents? What did they say? Positive response?”
“ NEGATIVE”
On seeing that single word, Menaka felt like crying. She almost cried. She didn’t reply anything. By then, Jack sent his next message.
“My dad asked me to wait until evening”
Being perplexed, Menaka asked, “What do you mean?”
“Mom said ok. But Dad said nothing. He asked me to wait until evening. Have to wait.”
“Then why did you say NEGATIVE?”
“To prepare you ready to be disappointed, if need be. I don’t think my dad would agree”
“Why?”
“Don’t know why. I just said.”
“Go to hell, Jack. Having seen that single word NEGATIVE, I cried, you know”
“You cried?? Why?”
“Don’t know why. I just cried.”
There was a long silence. Only now, they both realized that what is between them is not just friendship. It is something beyond that.
“ ” an empty message came from Jack.
“ ” an empty message came as reply from Menaka.
These two empty messages added fuel to the fire. This empty message from each other confirmed the suspicion of whether this could be love.
By then, Peter and Julie returned home.
“Ok. My dad has come. I’ll connect you later”
“Ok. Have a good day”
“Gud nit again.”
Peter didn’t say anything until late evening. Jack didn’t have the guts to start again. Everybody came together for dinner. Peter opened up, “Well…Let’s go to India. As I have some important work here, we could spend only two days there. Ok?”
Jack’s heart was overflowed with joy. He was speechless for a while. He said, “Thank you so much dad, Love you so much”
By the time Jack finished his dinner and reached his laptop, there had already been three messages from Menaka, with five minute gap between each message.
“I fell asleep .I woke up just now. What happened?”
“Why no reply?”
“Pls reply”
Jack opened and read all the three messages and typed,
“Gud mrg. Dad said ok. It’s unbelievable. I am so happy.”
“Really? I can’t believe this. It all started as fun. But now, you are seriously coming to India? I just can’t believe this. I am so excited.”
Before she typed and sent this message, there was next message to be read. It said,
“We’ll be staying there for two days”
“Ok. Pls wait Jack. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Menaka informed her parents of this. They were also eager to meet Jack’s family. Menaka’s father, Rahul, told his wife,
“Look Seetha, we must give great hospitality to Jack’s family. They are from U.S.”
“Certainly, I’ll take care of everything.” Seetha replied.
Menaka joined back the chat with Jack.
“My mom and dad are also very eager to meet you all, come soon.”
“I am looking forward to that day”
“Me too”
The day finally arrived. Menaka’s family was waiting at the Calcutta airport to receive Jack’s family. It’s 9 p.m. in India. Menaka had worn bright yellow chudi. It suited well to her fair complexion. The joy that she is going to meet Jack for the first time is apparent on her face.
The flight arrived. Jack’s family was coming out of the airport. As they had already seen one another through web cam, identification was easy. It was Menaka who noticed first and waved her hand. Then everybody saw each other.
“ Welcome to India” Rahul extended his hand to Peter.
“ Thanks for receiving us” Peter shook hands.
“How was the journey?” Seetha asked Julie. Amidst of all this, Jack and Menaka were looking at each other and exchanging their smile. Though they had been chatting, at sometimes, for more than ten hours, they don’t know what to speak now. They all reached Menaka’s home within minutes by taxi. They all had dinner and went to bed as they were all tired of journey.
Peter woke up next morning at 7 a.m. Jack and Julie had already got up. Julie was with Seetha in the kitchen. Jack and Menaka were in Menaka’s room which is next to kitchen . Rahul was scanning the newspaper. And Peter started surfing the Internet.
Seetha asked her husband loudly from the kitchen,
“Where shall we go for an outing?”
“Kaali temple” Menaka suggested loudly.
“I am not coming for an outing, if you all plan to go to a temple” Peter said.
“Don’t you go to any religious place other than church because you are a christian?” Seetha enquired.
“He is not even attending the church” Julie clarified.
“Then, which religion do you cling to, Peter?” Rahul asked.
“Is it compulsory for a human being to cling to any religion or worship any God?”
“You don’t believe in God?”
“What do you mean by God, Rahul?”
“Every religion has its own God. For you Christians, Jesus. For Muslims, Allah. For us Hindus, many Gods. Particularly for our family, our family deity is Kaali Devi.”
“So, this is how you define God?”
“Yes, of course”
“If so, I am sorry to say that you are not using your common sense.”
“Mind your words Mr.Peter” Seetha shouted angrily.
Jack and Menaka were afraid whether this might lead to any misunderstanding between the two families.
Julie felt that her husband had shed some harsh words on the faith of Rahul and Seetha. So, she wanted to intervene the conversation.
“Please don’t mind his saying so. He is always like that. Even when I call him to attend church, he would preach his philosophy to me. Don’t take it to heart”
“Peter is very outspoken. He is expressing his views. That’s it.” Rahul explained. “It is not uncommon to have difference of opinion among people. The man next door would differ from me on many things. Peter is from another part of the world. That’s ok.”
“Uncle, why don’t you visit Kaali temple as one of the tourist places in Calcutta?” Menaka suggested.
“Why not? Sure.” Peter agreed and added “I am just not interested in Idol worship, praying to the statue and such things. I am willing to visit the temple as a tourist place”
Jack was impressed by Menaka’s wit. “She managed to convince my dad” he thought.
“Great job, Menaka. I’ve called him a thousand times to attend church on Sundays. He never agreed. But, you’ve convinced him to enter a temple within minutes” Julie whispered to Menaka.
After breakfast, everybody got ready for Kaali temple. They took bus to reach the temple. In the bus, they sat in pair: Rahul and Peter; Seetha and Julie; Menaka and Jack.
“Is this your favourite place in Calcutta, Menaka?”
“I like this temple very much. I do come here every Friday.”
“I am not as much interested as you in going to temples or church”
“You are an atheist, ah?”
“No, Atheist means people who say there is no God”
“That is why I called you an atheist.”
“I never said there is no God. I just hate the idea of idol worship”
“Believe it or not, Kaali Devi is really a powerful God. Many of my wishes have been fulfilled by this Kaali. Most of my prayers have been answered. I prayed much to Kaali Devi that you should come here this summer. Now you are here with me.”
“So, if you had not prayed, I won’t be here?”
“Perhaps, you might not”
“What if I didn’t come despite your praying? I mean... what if you prayer is not answered?”
“Well, God might have some other plans. I would certainly feel for a while for not having my wish fulfilled. But I accept whatever happens in my life for all is well.”
“You would pray to God again?”
“By all means. Only then we will be given by God”
“Then why is it that your prayers are answered only most of the time, but not all the time?”
“As I told you already, whenever the prayer is not answered, God might have other plans for us. Who knows? That could be a better plan than the one we ourselves had.”
“Then why don’t you just stop planning yourself and let God plan all the time for you? Why do you plan and ask God which is not good for you?”
“Because…” Menaka thought for a while. But she could not offer a logical answer. So she said, “You’re confusing me”
“I’m not confusing. I’m making it clear. Maybe, you’re not matured enough to get it.”
“Let’s talk about something which a girl of my age can understand”
“Sure. What shall we speak about?”
“Ask me something” Menaka said.
Jack wanted to use this opportunity to propose his love.
“Let me… Well… Menaka, what do you think about our friendship?”
“What do you mean by that?” Menaka expected Jack to open up a little further.
“I mean… Don’t we…you know…Don’t you think we are crossing the limit?” Jack pushed a little to get closer to the point.
“Crossing the limit of what?” Menaka could not directly say YES.
“Boundary of friendship?”
“Where is the boundary line for friendship?”
“Menaka, you know what I am trying to … ask?”
“Sorry, I don’t get you”
“Well, let me ask you frankly. You are in love with me, aren’t you?”
“No, I am just your friend. Best friend”
“You are telling lies; I could see it from your eyes.”
“Listen Jack, my parents won’t agree for this”
“I don’t bother about that. Just tell me whether you love me or not”
“I don’t feel like it, Jack” The dominant feminine side of Menaka made it hard for her to open up.
Jack didn’t speak anything. After a few minutes Menaka started again. “I love you Jack, but I can’t do anything against my parents’ wish”
“I love you too Menaka. I promise I won’t let you down. Let me talk to my parents first when we return to U.S. I am sure my parents will agree. I will make them talk to your parents.” Jack promised.
On the other side of the bus, Peter and Rahul were having their conversation.
“Sorry Rahul, I shouldn’t have spoken like that this morning. Did I hurt your feelings?”
“Just forgot it. It is the nature of atheists, like you, to speak like that. I just don’t care those words.”
“Do you think I am an atheist?”
“You said you don’t like going to temple and worshipping God?”
“ See Rahul, I know there is a God. I just hate the idea of idol worship. That’s it”
“What do you mean by God?” questioned Rahul.
“The universal intelligence, The force which directs life and everything”
“That is what we call Kaali Devi”
“But, you go to temple, pray and do rituals which I don’t. That is the main difference”
“You remind me of an old friend. He would often say that prayers and rituals are absolutely unnecessary, because everything is predetermined. Is that what you’re saying?”
“My stand is rather different. I am not saying prayer and rituals are not necessary because everything is predetermined, but because God won’t listen to you, it is you who must listen to God.”
By then, they had reached the Kaali temple bus stop. So they had to end their conversation. Seetha bought some things for performing Pooja. After the pooja, they visited around the temple. Jack pointed to a tree and asked, “Why do the people tie bangles to the tree?”
Seetha went on to explain, “This tree is a powerful one. It is the faith of the people that if we tie the bangles and pray to it, married women who are not conceived will conceive soon.”
“This is ridiculous” Peter said.
“No, it’s not. It’s true even in my case. I was not conceived until seven years after marriage. I came here and prayed. Within six months I conceived.”
“So, that is Menaka?” Jack giggled.
Menaka frowned at Jack.
“Jokes apart Jack. It’s their faith. Maybe it might seem stupid to people like us from U.S.” Julie warned.
“What do you think about this Peter?” Rahul asked “ you know, it was only after this incident I started to believe in Kaali devi. You could understand my feelings if you are not having a child even after seven years of marriage.”
“Yes Rahul, many people start to believe in their God if anything happens in their life due to sincere prayer. No matter what you do, it’s hard to erase their faith in God afterwards.”
“Why should we erase their faith? What is wrong in having such faith in God?”
“Having such faith, people start to pray to God”
“What is wrong in praying to God, it need not be Kaali Devi, but let it be The force as you call it?”
“That is where the problem begins”
“What problem?”
“The problem of asking for wrong things”
“I don’t get it”
“You see, we don’t know what is good for us. Only God knows everything. Something which you think good for you may actually be the worst thing for you.”
Seetha interrupted, “Would you mind stopping all this nonsense and leaving for home?”
“Let’s go and have our lunch in any restaurant and then leave for home” Menaka suggested.
Everyone left the place and went to the nearby restaurant. Then they had lunch and returned home.
“As soon as they reached home, Peter , Rahul, Jack and Menaka gathered in Rahul’s room. Seetha and Julie went to Seetha’s room.
“Uncle, could you carry on the discussion which we ended abruptly in the temple?”
“With pleasure”
“Uncle, please explain about ‘asking for wrong things’ to God’. Jack also spoke about it this morning”
“We should not ask for something to God, for we don’t know the greater plan going on in this universe?”
“What is the greater plan?”
“I said we don’t know the greater plan.”
“Oh, sorry. I mean, how are you saying for sure there is a greater plan?”
“The vast variety of species. The meticulous structure of food-chain. The tremendous starry night sky. The mysterious human consciousness. Don’t you see all these have been designed for a purpose, a greater purpose, a greater plan?”
“I never gave a thought to all this in my life before” Rahul said.
Peter then looked at Menaka as though he is expecting some words on her part.
“May be, I am not matured enough to understand all this as Jack says” Menaka said. “I am a bit confused”
“A bit or a lot?
“A lot confused, to be genuine” Menaka confessed.
“Very simple. Majority of people are only of two groups. Those who strongly believe in God and thus go to temple, pray and do rituals. The other group is people who say there is no God and says it is nonsense to going to temple and praying”
“Yes”
“Both the group is wrong. My stand is that there is a God but there is no need to worship and pray to God for God knows what we need”
“I think I am slowly getting your point” Rahul said.
Jack was carefully listening. But still, Menaka was perplexed and had some doubts.
“Uncle, are you saying that God will bless even those who don’t pray at all?”
“Yes, you don’t need to pray but you must listen.”
“Listening to God?”
By then Rahul interfered, “but The Bible, the most renowned scripture, says that ASK AND IT IS GIVEN TO YOU. Isn’t it so?”
“Not exactly. Do you think God doesn’t know what we need? God must be reminded of what we need through our prayer?”
“No”
“God need not be reminded of what we need. God knows what we need. God knows everything. That is why we call Him The Omniscient”
“Yes Peter, what you are saying is right. Only now, I understand that we don’t need to pray to God for He already knows what we need”
“But Uncle, why don’t we simply worship and thank God for the life He has given to us?” Menaka asked.
Jack was also intrigued by this question. He was eagerly looking at his Dad expecting what his Dad is going to answer.
“See, I design a machine for a particular purpose. But the machine is not executing the purpose it was designed for; instead, the machine is always worshipping and thanking me for creating it. Will I be happy for the gratitude machine shows towards me?
“Certainly not” Menaka answered.
“I won’t be happy at all. I would rather break it. That’s the case with worshiping God.”
“Well said” Jack exclaimed.
“So we should live our calling, we should live our purpose we were created for. Am I right?” Rahul asked.
“Absolutely”
“But, how do I know my calling?” Menaka questioned.
“To find that, we must listen to God” Jack said.
“That’s it” Peter confirmed.
“How to listen to God?” Menaka questioned again.
“Observe the meaningful coincidences in your life for clues. Decipher the code. Figure out where the life wants you to go. But remember, it is no cake walk. It takes time and effort. You must be willing to give whatever it takes to find your calling. But it’s worth the effort”
That night Menaka chewed the thoughts Peter had introduced. All the others had sound sleep.
Next morning everybody got up very early.
“Where shall we go for an outing?” Menaka started.
“We are not going anywhere today” Rahul answered. “We have to talk out something important”
Menaka thought it would be about the discussion they had the previous day. But it was about something entirely different. They all gathered in the hall at about 10 a.m.
“We have not come this far just to enjoy this vacation, Menaka” Julie started.
Menaka could not understand what she is talking about.
“Jack and you have been very close friends for more than a year. But from my experience, I think it is not possible for a boy and a girl to be only just friends beyond a certain level. I think you will agree that both of you have now crossed that threshold.” Peter said.
Jack and Menaka didn’t expect this. Both of them was startled. Jack looked at Menaka. But she was looking at the floor not knowing what to say.
“What do you say Jack? Will you end this friendship?” Seetha asked.
“We have a rich culture in India. It is not good for a girl to continue chatting with a boy like this” Rahul added.
On hearing this, Menaka got up and went to her room as she felt uncomfortable sitting there any longer.
“Uncle, we are good friends.” Jack tried to explain.
“No, Jack. Please stop this at this stage itself. If you two still want to continue this…” Seetha stopped for a few seconds.
Jack was getting nervous.
“If you two still want to continue this,” Seetha continued “then marry her”
“Aunty!” Jack exclaimed not having expected this.
“Yes, Jack. We have decided it already. We just wanted to play with your feelings.” Julie said.
Menaka was hearing all this from her room. Her heart was filled with joy. She never thought this would end so easily. But she didn’t come out.
Jack looked at his mom. “You know, when we went for the shopping in U.S, Dad discussed this to me” Julie said.
“Yes Jack, when you asked me about coming to India, I suspected whether you are in love with Menaka. That’s why I took some time to decide. I asked your mom about your friendship with Menaka. She told me that Jack would not want to travel this far if it is merely friendship. I spoke to Rahul on that day itself. But everybody kept it as secret from both of you.”
“Is it Ok for you Menaka?” Rahul asked her daughter.
“Say something, Menaka. Is it ok for you?” Julie pressed.
Menaka showed a green shawl standing behind the door in her room. Everybody laughed seeing that. Then Jack and Menaka hugged their parents for making this life possible.
“But you will be married after two years. Until then, enjoy your beautiful love life.” Julie said and laughed.
Menaka felt shy and ran behind her mother.
Jack’s family got ready for the departure that evening. They reached the airport at 5 p.m. It was time for the departure.
“Will you come here for next vacation?” Menaka asked Jack.
“How about next month?” Jack waved to Menaka and said “SEE YOU SOON” and moved away.
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