LOVE THROUGH LETTERS
Connecticut
70
A
Saturday
7:30
AM
Today I was home alone. My
husband is at the conference and will be returning from the United Kingdom next
week. My two lovely daughters are on the tour and they will also return by next
week. Bot of my daughter got a scholarship. My elder daughter got a scholarship
in Ph.D. in IT whereas my younger daughter got a scholarship in MBA from UCONN.
I got up lazily. After
breakfast, I started cleaning my room. Firstly, I opened my cupboard. In the
cupboard, I found my red colour box and I opened the box. I was in bed with the
box which had my old kinds of stuff. I was looking at those kinds of stuff and
was lost in the memories. In the box, there were filled with letters. I got
emotional when I saw those letters because those letters were not letters but
they were filled with love. When I saw those letters, I was in the flashback
and my eyes were filled with tears.
I
1985
AD
I was studying for a Bachelor’s
Degree in English from Tribhuwan University. I was in the second year. I was
fond of reading novels especially of D.H. Lawrence and Charles Dickens. Not
only English Literature, but I was also fond of reading Nepali novels.
Today was Saturday. I went
to the stationery and brought Nepali magazines ‘Madhuparka’ and ‘Yuwamanch.’ I
love reading Nepali stories published in magazines. Although I loved writing
short stories, I never preferred to send my stories to those magazines. I
wanted to see my name in the magazine but I had feared.
I was reading Maddhuparka and the last page caught my
eyes, The last page was of making friends. Every person had photos but Nitesh Shrestha didn’t have a photo. He was studying
for a Master’s Degree in Commerce and was at the age of 22. His hobbies were
stamp collection, reading novels, and writing stories. There was something about
him that I wanted to write a letter to him. So, I started writing a letter to
him:-
Dear
Niteshji,
Namaste. My Name is Anisha
Dahal. I am originally from Dhankuta but I live in Kathmandu. I am been staying
at Maitidevi for the last ten years. Furthermore, I am studying a Bachelor’s
Degree in English Literature from Tribhuwan University, Kirtipur.
When
I saw your profile in Manuparka Magazine, there was something about you that
made me write a letter to you. Although you didn’t have the photo in the magazine,
I was more curious to know about you. The most interesting is that we both love
reading novels and writing stories. I also write short stories but I have never
published my stories. I want to know that if you have published any of your
stories?
I
hope we will be a good friend and I hope you will send me the letters.
Sincerely Yours
Anisha
Dahal
I read the letter again. After
finishing reading the letter, I kept the letter inside the envelope. While
writing the address, I realised that I didn’t have post number. So, I planned
to go for the post box number by tomorrow.
The next day, I reached to
Lazimpat. Lazimpat was only place for the post box. After filling up for the
registration, I posted the letter. I was nervous as well as excited.
II
After two weeks….
After college, I reached to Lazimpat
with excitement. I opened my post box. There was a letter. With excitement, I
reached home. It was my first letter until now. Without changing my clothes, I
started reading letters.
Dear
Anishaji,
Namaste. I was glad to
receive your letter and know about you. Moreover, I was glad to know that you
are also from Dhankuta.
First of all, let me introduce myself. I am
studying for a Master’s Degree in Literature from Dharan. I am a teacher and I
teach for class nine and ten.
I am
glad that you also love reading novels and writing short stories. I love novels
that have depth in life. For example, I loved the novel ‘Anuradha’ of Bijaya
Malla. It had portrayed the meaning of true love. The love showed by the male character
towards Anuradha is unbelievable. The novel touched my heart.
Another
novel which I liked was ‘The English Teacher’ of R.K Narayan. It showed the true
relationship between husband and wife. Not only that, but it also showed the
meaning of life, love, and relationship and struggle.
Besides
reading books, I love writing short stories and my stories are published in
Madhuparka too. I write about love and life. Next month, my story will be
Madhuparka. I hope you will read and provide me constructive comments.
For
today this much. I hope you will send me a letter again. Thank You.
Sincerely Yours
Nitesh Shrestha
III
After returning from
college, I brought the magazine ‘Manuparkha.’ I was excited to read the story
of Nitesh and after lunch, I rushed to my room and started reading his story.
The title of the story was “The Far
Distance, The More Love.”
Isha
and I were in the same school. We were good friends. We were never separated.
Moreover, our house was nearby. We used to visit each other house too.
Furthermore, she was only one friend whom I had in my childhood but I didn’t
know that time could separate us.
After
class five, she left the beautiful place Dhankuta and was shifted to India.
Before leaving the place she came to meet me.
“Nitesh,
we are leaving Dhankuta tomorrow.”
When
Isha said that she was leaving, my eyes were filled with tears. I felt that I
will not have any friends to share and play.
After
a few minutes, I said, “Why are you leaving Dhankuta?”
“My
father is shifting to India.”
“Now,
I will not have a friend to play and share.”
“I
will come to meet you during my vacation.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
The
next day, I didn’t see her leaving but by looking the way, I was sad. On the
same day, I argued with my parents that we will also go to India. I cried a lot on this day. This was the last
meeting that we met. After this, we never met and there was no medium to
contact. I waited for her but she never came to meet me. There was hope that
she would come to meet me but it all vanished. I don’t know how she looks now.
I don’t know whether I will meet her in the future or not. She was my first
love.
I was emotional. After
finishing reading the story, I had many questions in my mind. One was that
class he still loves her? What if both of them meet? I felt different in my
heart. Moreover, I wanted to know more about their love story. So, I wrote a
letter.
Dear
Niteshji,
I loved your story. It was
emotional. While reading your story, there were many questions in my mind. One
is that is this a real story? If it is real, do you still love her, and are you
still waiting for her? I am interested to know about your love story. I hope
you will share your story.
Regards,
Anisha Dahal
IV
After two weeks, I got his
letter. I was excited and after reading home. I started reading the letter.
Dear
Anishaji,
Thank You for the letter
and thank you for liking my story. Yes, it’s my own story. I truly loved her. I
still love her but I am not waiting for her. It’s not that I don’t love her but
she might have got married. I have to move ahead.
Please,
let me know about you too. Thank You.
Regards,
Nitesh Shrestha
I was happy to know that he is not waiting for her. After this, we started exchanging more letters. I was curious to listen to his voice and wanted to see him in person. So, I told him about meeting him but he told me that after my final year exam completion, he will come to meet me and my family. It means I have to wait for one year which I happily agreed. During this one year, we exchanged letters. During those days, my father didn’t know about my love life and I was scared to share my love life.
V
My final year of Bachelor’s
Degree was completed. I was waiting for this day. While I was waiting for this
day, my father called me in his room. He was reading a book. The door was open
but I knocked on the door. He saw me and smiled at me. He kept his book on the
table. I sat nearby.
Meanwhile, he said, “You
have completed a Bachelor’s Degree. I know that you will pass the exam with a
good percentage. Today, I called you to talk about your marriage. I hope you
will agree with me.”
The environment was silent
for the moment. I felt nervous and my father was observing me. He, then said, “My
daughter what happened? If you are interested to get married, that’s fine. You
don’t need to rush.”
“Actually father, I am in
love with someone.” I was nervous.
“Who is that person?” My
father was cool and didn’t show any objection. Meanwhile, he said, “Look, you
haven’t seen him and heard his voice. How can you love and marry him?”
“We both love each other.
I will send him a letter that you want to meet him. When you meet him and
dislike him, I will not marry him.”
My father agreed and I wrote
a letter to him.
Dear
Niteshji,
I hope everything is good
with you. My father has been talking about my marriage and I have mentioned to you.
My father wants to meet you. I hope you will come to meet my father with you
and your family.
Regards,
Anisha Dahal
Although I have posted the
letter, I didn’t get any response from him. I waited for his response for more
than two months but I didn’t get any response from him. When he didn’t respond,
I started crying. I felt like he had betrayed me. I felt like he got married to
another girl.
VI
After a few months, my
final year result was out. I passed in the first division. I was happy. More
than me, my father was happier. To be honest, I was happy as well as
low-spirited because he was not responding.
After a few weeks of my
result, my father came into my room and said, ”Did you get any response from
Nitesh?”
I remained silent. When my
father saw me in the silence, he said, ”What happened? Why are you so silent?”
I told everything to my
father. After listening to me, he said, ”Look, whatever has happened in the
past, please forget. Move ahead. Forget him. You will get a better person who
can understand you better and can hold you for the whole life.”
Although I had tears in my
eyes, I said, “For your happiness, I am ready to get married.”
He was happier and said, “That’s
my good girl.” He then left the room. Meanwhile, I thought there was no other
choice.
VII
It was the month of
December 1987 A.D. It was the big day for me. I got married to Vivek Sharma who
did M.Sc. in Physics and got a scholarship in the United States of America. I was supposed to go with him.
After two months he flew
for the United States. I too applied for the scholarship. I got a scholarship
for a Master’s Degree in Literature. I too was in the United States. After the completion
of my Master’s Degree, I got a job at the University. My husband too got a job at
the University.
After four years of
marriage, my elder daughter was born-Suhana. After five years of the elder
daughter, my younger daughter was born-Smriti. They made us proud.
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After
seeing those letters, I was lost in the past, and tears were in my eyes. To be
honest, after the marriage, I wasn’t able to forget Nitesji. I felt guilty at
the last stage of my life because I am not able to see his face. I wanted to
meet him once before I die. I am suffering from brain cancer and I am at the
last stage of cancer. Even my family doesn’t know about it and I didn’t prefer
to say about it. I don’t know how long I will survive but his love will remain
after I die too.
After
a few minutes, I kept the stuff in the box and started cleaning the room.
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