A new morning broke the cocoon of nightly shell, spreading its wings of sunshine. And with sunshine, accompanied a new hope. Birds had long ago took off from their abode; searching, exploring and living a new day. The trees swayed in a humble pace, showering their delight along with leaves.

Savitri, a woman in her early fifties, joined her palms and greeted the sun. She would have liked to enjoy the scenery over a cup of tea. That was until a loud and irritating song - more or less- an opening theme song from a children's cartoon blared from upstairs, disturbing her peaceful reverie.

She barged inside her daughter's room, instantly being greeted by a uniform chant of 'Shinchan, shinchan'. She slammed the alarm clock with a twitch of her eye.

"This girl, she will be of 24 soon and this, ugh!" She thought. Her face then bloomed with a breathtaking smile. She moved towards the figure on the bed which was covered with a blanket from head to toe.

"Gauri. Gauri, wake up, Laado (dear daughter)," she whispered sweetly.
However, on not receiving any reply, all of her sweetness drained like water did down the drain.
Filled with the concern of any typical mother who wouldn't want their daughters to spend their day under the safe haven of sheets and blankets, she quickly removed the blanket and came face to face with beautiful, flawless, fair skinned...legs.

Puzzled, she glanced towards the other side. A ghost of a figure under the blanket rose from the other side of bed and removed the blanket to reveal a beautiful young lady in her early twenties.

"Good morning, Maa."
Gauri kissed her mother's cheek and got out of bed. "Huh! Why do you always sleep in weird positions?" Savitri, Gauri's mother, asked.
"What weird? It's not my problem that I rotate while sleeping."

"Strange, are you a magnetic compass kept in Bermuda Triangle that you rotate 360 degree every now and then?" Savitri chided.

"Who is Bermuda? Wait, it's a place right? Oh my teacher Maa, sometimes I doubt whether you teach Science or Social science."

Savitri frowned and moved downstairs but not before giving an earful about her tardiness.

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Gauri Singh was the heart of the heart called Singh House - the two-storeyed humble abode of the Singh's. A young lady at 23, soon to be 24; she was the only child of the house, born to Mrs.Savitri Singh who was a divorcee and a government teacher.

Growing up, Gauri had never seen her biological father. And now, neither did she ever want to meet him, nor did she ever wish to see his face. Life was beautiful and happy without him, without his presence.

Gauri had been but a mere pinhead foetus inside her womb when Savitri had walked in on her husband's infidelity. A terrible situation, was what she liked to describe it as, especially when she hadn't even completed her first trimester with their - her first baby. She remembered how he had begged her, had grovelled on her feet for forgiveness. He had even gone as far as to break all the ties with his colleague - his so-called lover. But Savitri had remained steadfast, unfaltering by his pathetic self. Surprisingly, the moment she was granted divorce in the court of law, she had felt no anger, no disgust and absolutely no love towards her husband as if he was a bad chapter that never made it into the book.

Savitri had then come to live with her mother and her elder brother. Although she was cared like the only daughter of house, she did not grow dependent on them. Her merit helped her to grab a government job in a middle school. She had savoured a sense of freedom and viewed a new light in the form of her child - her gifted child, Gauri.

Gauri had always been considered a gifted child, sent by the God to light up their darkest times. She was the apple of Moti Kunwar Singh's eye, Gauri's strict, cool and modern Nani sa (maternal grandmother). She was the only child to her Mamo sa and Mami sa, the child they never had. Rajveer and Soumya were no less than her parents whom she loved to the moon and back.

Gauri's childhood was favoured but not spoilt. While on one hand, she had been showered by immeasurable love and affection; on the other hand, she had also been punished for her wrongdoings. After all, the art of shaping a pot required both support and beatings in right proportions.

She had abided her mother's qualities of righteousness.This was the reason why she worked as an Assistant Professor in JIT, Jaipur Institute of Technology on contract basis whilst pursuing her Ph.D from the same institution. She was beautiful, bubbly, humble, naughty, feisty; in short, an ideal girl. She loved childish things and left no stone upturned in irritating her mother.

She was graciously helped by her darling friend in her zestful escapades. Radhika Vyas, or Rads - as she preferred to be addressed - was thorough and thorough Gauri's friend with similar but amplified traits. She was as crazy as Gauri. If not, more. Both were friends since diaper days. Both worked in same place. They were living upto the term 'friends forever'.

Last came an important member of her life. Or so she liked to refer, the love of Gauri's life: Chetak. The Dazzle Yellow metallic Honda Activa 5G with 109cc engine and 60 kmpl mielage had travelled from 'the road less travelled' to 'highway' with her.

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Gauri bounded up the stairs, still in her PJs, ignoring her mother's scoldings. Throwing the terrace-door open, she all but ran out of the door.

Her voluminous long hair cascaded in waves, resembling no less than the midnight's sky. A few fringes teased her heart-shaped face as if murmuring verses of a passionate poetry. A smile tugged the corners of her luscious lips as her dark eyes sweeped the expanse of the sky just like sun did with its sunrays.

She inhaled a lungful of air while the morning's breeze gently flirted with her velvety soft skin. Her eyebrows drew closer in contemplation. The shut eyelids showed a very traceable path followed by her eyeballs. The fragrance, today's fragrance held a different meaning.

She snapped her eyes open. Staring at the horizon, she drowned herself into an ocean of thoughts. Deep, deeper with little to no resistance from her thoughts. The fragrance carried a mail from someone far, urging her to wait and meet them.

She stared at the bright horizon. Something in her told her that everything was going to change for her.
Soon. Very soon.