A Dream

The drops of rain gushed in through the window. Anu rose from her couch and went to the window to close it. On the table lay the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Anu was standing at the window watching the rain drops. She loved this sight. She loved to see trees bending in the wind. She loved the sound of this vernal shower falling on the smooth tops of the stones.

          Though her eyes were on the slanting raindrops, her mind was indulged in a deep thought. She was thinking of her one and only ambition – to write, to dally with words. She often had many characters and stories about them running through her mind. At night, cuddling next to her mother, she saw stories in the shadows the trees outside left on the window. Her teacher used to encourage her to write reviews of books she read, and Anu used to do that quite diligently. She had already tried her hand at creative writing but she knew that she was not up to the mark. Every day at prayer time she had only one prayer to God – to bless her with the talent of writing.

          Anu was a voracious reader and could read the complete works of Shakespeare in a day. Books were her dear companions. Of all her books she possessed, her favourite one was Little Women by Alcott. This time she was reading the book for the umpteenth number of time. She was so well acquainted with its characters that she felt they were a part of her daily life.  Jo was her heroine; she admired her. Jo was her inspiration to write; her attempt to publish her works had a great influence on Anu. 

Now as she stood at the window, watching the rain, a story was slowly brewing in her mind. Yes, she had switched on her flow of imagination. She went to her table and started jotting down whatever that was going on her mind.

The rain had stopped; a cool breeze was blowing. Anu was unaware of her surroundings. Till now she was in another world, deciphering what she saw there, in words.

She was giving life to her imagination. She looked contented. Then like Virginia Woolf had done, put her paper in an envelope, sealed it and put a stamp. Next morning she put it into the post box.

           One fine morning, after fourteen days, Anu was perusing the supplement news paper. Suddenly there was a start. Her eyes brightened; her lips widened. Her excitement was at its peak. Yes, her work has been published. That was a great day in her life.

        And, Jo was smiling at her fan through the pages.