Hi Frienz! Lets know something about Ashi’s parents. The story goes back to the time when Ashi’s parents were unmarried. I’m telling the story of their marriage because that’s also an interesting episode of their lives.

Ashi’s father is Inder Sharma whom we know as Mr. Sharma. Inder is born and brought up in Delhi. He has completed M.Com from Delhi University and planning to do PhD. He is 25 yrs., tall, handsome, decent and ambitious man who is interested in his studies and career only. His family constitutes of parents, five brothers and two sisters including him. His two elder brothers and sisters are married. One day he comes to know that his father has fixed his marriage with a girl who belongs to a very rich family. Friends this happened around 40 years ago when mostly arranged marriages used to take place and parents din’t bother to ask for the consent of the girls and guys. So. Inder din’t see his would be bride but as usual he was very happy and was dreaming of his life partner. Finally, the day arrived and he saw his bride.

Oh God! What is This?

It seemed the roof fell on his head and he was about to faint.

Heavily clad in bridal dress and jewellery was not a girl but a woman, dark, fat, ugly and around 12-13 years older than him. He got up in lightning speed and was about to flee when his father caught hold of him and forced him to sit again. Inder’s dad was a terror, as most of the fathers are for their sons, and the whole household was under his control only. Reluctantly, he married Damayanti (that was the bride’s name) but fled to Chandigarh the same night. Everybody in his family was shocked and his brothers were looking for him. After a week he was found in one of his friend’s house and was brought back to home. First time in life he opened his mouth in front of his dad and told him that he wont accept that woman as his wife.

Frenz! As per your requests let me tell u sumthing about Ashi’s hobbies and other qualities.

Ashi has two passions in her life i.e. reading and dance. She is an avid book lover n loves reading story books and fairy tales. Sharmaji also have the same penchant for reading all types of books and literature. He is a Ph.D and wants ashi to be highly educated also. In this young age ashi has a huge collection of comics and storybooks.

When ashi was 6 years old, Mr. sharma took everyone, along with some family friends, to a five star hotel to celebrate New Years Eve on 31st Dec. lots of events were happening there including a dance competition. When the dance competition started and hosts asked the guests to participate, then suddenly ashi started jumping on her seat on hearing the music. She asked her mom whether she can go to the floor and participate. Shocked, as her mom never saw her dance, she took her to the floor. Ashi was the youngest kid on the dance floor, music started and everyone looked in awe. the small wonder set the stage on fire, dancing rhythmically on every beat like a professional dancer. All friends n relatives including ashi’s parents were spellbound. Amidst all the cheers, shouts and claps, she made to the final round and finally got the third prize. It felt like dream for ashi n her parents and everyone appreciated her like anything. They were surprised to know that she haven’t learnt dance before, then how she can perform like that. Actually singing and dance comes naturally to Ashi, these are her inborn talents.

Seeing Ashi’s interest, Mr. Sharma got both the sisters admitted in a dance institute where they started learning Kathak. Ashi and Rup also started learning swimming and horse riding but cudn’t continue with it. Ashi’s dad took them to Victoria Maidan for horse-riding lessons on weekends. Oneday when ashi was learning, she requested her trainer to let her ride alone for sumtime. First he denied but when she kept insisting he got down and explained her how to hold the saddle rope. Ashi was riding on her own in slow speed when two guys walked past from behind the horse. If sumone walks behind the horse, it gets annoyed and becomes out of control. When these guys did the same thing, the horse became out of control, hit the guys with his hind legs and started jumping and shaking badly trying to throw ashi off his back. Trainer was trying to control the horse and poor ashi was terrified and was clinging to the horse with all her strength but all in vain. Little ashi fell down, got hurt and started crying badly. Her dad was watching all this from a distance, he came running and took her in his arms and went to show her to the doctor. Though she was not hurt badly, she was terrified like anything. Thereafter Sharmaji decided that they will not continue horse riding.

Similar incident occurred during the swimming classes. The trainer was teaching some new students who were little far from ashi n rup. Both the sisters were swimming with the help of tubes. Ashi went out of the pool and dived into water but as she dived she went under the water and the tube came out of her since it was big for her. By the time she managed to come up, the tube was out of her reach and she started drowning. Rup was too young to understand or do anything but she sensed sumthin was wrong and started wailing loudly. Ashi was throwing her limbs badly but was not able to balance herself. Attracted by rup’s cries, the trainer was swimming towards them but he was a bit far from them. Ashi was struggling under water when suddenly she caught hold of sumthing. It was the water pipe, she hold it firmly and managed to steady herself and come up. Then the trainer helped her out. Hearing this ashi’s dad was very annoyed with the trainer and again decided not to send his daughters for the classes. Ashi’s mom tried to explain Mr. Sharma that such incidents happen while learning sumthing but he dint agree to it.

So. What do u think Frenz? Caring father was doing much harm or Strict mom?

Beautiful Story continues......

Ashi is studying hard for her final exams as she wants to be ranked 1st this year also. her only competitor is her classmate Devlina. there is always a difference of 4-5 marks in their papers, so the competition was tough. Ashi's dad has appointed 2 tutors for both the sisters, Miss Lee and Miss Reva, so that they don't face any problem in their studies. since few months Reva miss is noticing that ashi cudn't study for long hours due to sum problem in her eyes. she cant look at the light even for long and keeps the books close to her eyes while readin. reva miss mentioned this to ashi's mother several times but she didn't pay much attention. but the problem in ashi's eyes persisted and now she faces problem in seeing the board in class also. now her mom also started noticing and finally told her dad. her dad took her to an eye specialist. he checked her eyes and said she is havin bad eyesight and needs to wear glasses. an 8-year old kid wearin specs was not very acceptable to her dad, he asked whether there is any other option. doctor said that he has brought her too late and her eye sight has been partially damaged, so she needs to wear specs or contact lenses. her dad was shocked to know that she was havin a power of (-4) and she was too young to be operated or wear contacts. after a week the -4 glasses became an eminent part of her life and with that came the title of "chasmish".

Today is the Results Day at school. Ashi is very happy as her mom has promised an elaborate lunch for her if she gets the 1st rank ane she was confident she wud surely get. all the students were waiting anxiously for the Headmistress to arrive and announce the results. at last she arrived after a long wait. she started giving a small speech which the students heard impatiently.
"And now i'm going to announce the name of the student who got the 1st place. let me tell u there is a difference of only 3 marks between the totals of the 1st and 2nd student but as u know sumone has to be the winner. so the name of the 1st girl is....."
Ashi is about to stand up to take the report card from Mam.
".....Devlina Biswas."
wat did i hear? mam has gone crazy or wat? no, no, she must have made sum mistake, she'll rectify it now.
devlina stood and received her report card. everyone clapped loudly.
"2nd is Anshika Sharma."
nobody gets up.
"Anshika come here."
ashi sits like a statue.
her class teacher hurriedly come forward and almost drags her to the headmistress. she receives her report card half heartedly and goes back to her seat. other names were announced but she heard nothin and stared blankly at the board. mansi hold her hand to console her but she din't look at her.
Ashi reached home reluctantly as she was too afraid to face her mom. she wished her father was at home but she knew he wudn't be. Terrified, she handed her report card to her mom and all hell broke lose. her mom gave her a piece of her mind followed by a good beating and finally locked her in a room which opened only when her father returned. after hearing everythin from ashi he wanted to confront her mom but ashi stopped him and said if he told her anythin, again she wud be after her life when he'll not be at home. on hearin this tears came into his eyes. both of them wept badly for sumtime before he realized ashi has been hungry for long. when he took her to the dining he saw rupika was also crying in her mom. the poor girl has witnessed what her sister has gone through and terrified, she was weeping the whole day. she even refused to eat without her "didi" and finally got a tight slap from her mom when all attempts failed. Sharmaji was amazed to see such determination and love for her sister at such a young age. he became proud to be the father of daughters like them. if only their mom could realize she has got two precious gems. will she ever?

Life goes on in its own way irrespective of the happenings n incidents in life. Ashi's life is also flowing through its way. she is 8 yrs old and in class-IV now. she has made sum good friends and a cute girl Mansi is her best friend. Mansi is an average student and very weak physically. she has fever most of the time whereas ashi never fell ill. mansi's attendance was poor but rarely did ashi miss the school. school was her favourite place, her own world. ashi being a good student always helped mansi in studies. she felt a strange satisfaction in helping her friends specially mansi. at that time birthday parties were not very much in practice. ashi was the only girl in the class whose birthday was celebrated in a lavish way, only one to come in school in a car and only one with loads of stationaries which made other girls jealous . they used to tell ashi that she was lucky to have parents like hers and their parents always discriminate between their brothers and them. all good things were for their brothers and not for them. ashi was surprised to know all this, still she longed for a brother. one day mansi told her that next day was her birthday. ashi gladly asked about the birthday party. mansi became sad and said my parents are not rich like urs that they will celebrate my birthday. ashi din't understand properly but she wanted to make her happy on her birthday.



Mr. sharma returned home and saw that ashi is not in a good mood. "wat happened to my sweet baby? y r u sad today?"



"papa i told u about my best friend mansi na. tomorrow is her birthday but her parents don't celebrate her birthday , so he is very depressed. can we celebrate her birthday in school tomorrow?



"ya sure, anything for my doll. i'll arrange everything"



suddenly her mom comes to her mom and hears this. "wat nonsense is this? ashi is a kid but are u also out of ur mind. who are we to celebrate her birthday. everyday there will be some child's birthday and ur daughter will say to celebrate his or her's birthday. ridiculous. i'm fed up of this girl."



on hearin these words ashi started crying but mr. sharma consoled her and somehow convinced her mom that this is the first and last time. reluctantly she agreed.



Next day ashi's dad took permission from the principal to celebrate mansi's birthday in the recess. two cakes were bought as one was not sufficient for the whole class. then ashi came to know that today was the birthday of one more classmate, abhijeet. she thought he will feel bad if only mansi's b'day was to be celebrated, so she requested her teacher to ask abhijeet also to join and cut one of the cakes. when he was told this, his joy knew no bounds. same was with mansi, both of them thanked ashi and promised to be her good friends forever. all the teachers praised ashi and said that she was not only a good student but a good friend as well as human being. after a long time ashi heard sumthing nice about herself and she was very pleased. she decided that she will always try to bring joy and love to others lives and stay away from bad people.



Is it so easy to judge people ashi?

Hello Frienz! sorry to keep u waiting for long. due to unavoidable circumstances i wasn't able to post anything these days. so lets start the next part of the story.



Days were passing by in the same manner for little Anshika when one day Darwanji told Mr. Sharma that his daughter's marraige has been fixed and he has to go to his village for a month. Ashi's dad happily gave the permission. when ashi heard this, she created quite a ruckus. her parents made her calm after much difficulty. after 2 days when darwanji was leaving, she started crying like anything, snatched her bag and won't let him go. he also had tears in his eyes but he had to leave. he promised her that he would be back as soon as possible but she won't listen. finally her mom locked her in a room and asked him to leave. he hesitantly left, her cries still ringing sharp in his ears. poor ashi din't eat anything that day but for how long? she started counting days for darwanji's arrival. a month passed but he din't arrive. one week more passed. wats wrong with him? has he forgotten me? now her parents also started being worried. after a week a letter came from his village."we are sorry to inform u that Ram Naresh died a week ago in an accident when he was going back to kolkata". tears flow down from mr. sharma's eyes. since twenty years this man was with him, performing all his duties immaculately and honestly, never did he has to say anything to him regarding his work. he has given all his youth in the service of this household and now he has left the world in this way. suddenly he realised wat will happen to Ashi now, how will he break the news to her? no he cannot do tht. he told everythin to his wife and told her to explain all this to ashi. her mom was shocked to hear this. first time in her life she shivered to talk to her daughter but she din't have any other choice. i feel short of words to write the experience of a mom when she had to give such an unpleasant news to her little child who doesn't even understand the meaning of death. how can a child who don't know the meaning of life properly, understand wat is death and its effects. how a mom did such a difficult task and wat happened after that, this i leave to ur imagination friends. what i know is that was one of the saddest day of ashi's life and she was deprived of the love and affection of darwanji forever. Destiny smiled and said," this is just the starting."

One day an astrologer friend of Ashi's dad visited their home. during their conversation mr. sharma asked him to see ashi's hand and predict sumthin. he started seeing her hand when her mom entered the room with Rup. seeing her the gentleman left her hand sprang towards them and took Rup in her lap and started bantering,"good heavens! what a beautiful child, you are so lucky to have her. she is an avtaar of goddess lakshmi. no need to see her hand, wherever she will go, she will bring luck." ashi waited patiently for the Uncle to see her hand but when this continued for a good 15 mins, her patience gave away. Mr.sharma said,"please see ashi's hand i want to know about her".
"ya sure come here child"
but ashi din't move. when dad asked her to go to him she refused to show her hand.
when the Uncle again asked her to come, she showed her tongue to him, made faces and left the room. mr. astrologer's face changed few colours and he said embarrassed, its ok, she is just a kid."
one year passed in this way. Ashi's dad was very fond of watching movies and he used to buy new video cassettes for his personal collection. he used to frequent a video library and sumtimes took ashi with him also and she really loved that place. she liked to see the covers of the videos very much. the owner of the shop became a good friend of her dad. one day ashi was ill so her dad took Rup with him. when dad came back he was too happy and told her mom,"u know today Rup accompanied me to the video library and wat happened? the owner was so pleased to see her that he treated us with sweets n cold drinks. he also gave me a free video and asked to bring her regularly. he was complaining why i din't take her there before. i was amazed at the way he greeted us."
poor ashi who came to see her dad and sister heard all this from the door stood there dumbfounded. she started thinking i have visited there a number of times but uncle never offered me sweets or cold drinks, why? wat wrong did i do? i never misbehaved with him, then? whenever we visit any relative's or friend's house, or if some one comes to our place, every one talks and praises her only. why not me? they dont look at me also and always behave strangely with me. they were the ones who loved me before now wats wrong with them? is mom right that i'm fat and ugly? even if i'm what wrong i've done with them? dad loves me, teachers love me, darwanji loves me then what is the problem of these people.
Friends neglection and hatred are such things which a small child can feel also. is it right to make small kid so conscious about her looks?
is it right to make such comparisons between kids at this ripe age?
does anyone thinks what impact will it have on her?
From that day ashi never went to that video library again which was her favourite place.

In the evening Ashi's dad comes home and starts looking for ashi as usual. everyday she comes running to him when he returns home but today she is nowhere to be seen. he asks her mom about her,"where is ashi?"
"in her room"
"why? wat is she doing?
"how do i know?"
dad goes to her room and he is surprised to see that she is crying.
"wat happened to my lovely daughter?"
"papa, tell me am i very ugly?"
"wat? who told u such rubbish"
"mom says i'm very ugly and nobody will marry me"
"ur mom is crazy, don't listen to her. she must have joked with u. in my eyes you are the most beautiful girl on earth, beta."
"really papa?"
"yes my doll."
ashi was very happy to hear that. we'll see in later parts how and why this incident was always recalled by her.