The Dream
By Kiran Kavikondala
This short story is purely a work of fiction and the names, characters, incidents portrayed in it are work of author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons-living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
To my father, Late Sri K.V.Rao
To each & every one of us who believe in dreams
Contents
About the author
Acknowledgements
The Dream
Other books by the author
About the author
Kiran Kavikondala, a stock broker by profession hails from the beautiful coastal city, Visakhapatnam, India. Kiran started his entrepreneurial journey in 2008 after several years of corporate stint. He is a qualified Cost & Management Accountant and has over 500 published articles to his credit in prominent financial dailies & magazines. He has been featured on Zee Business news channel and currently lives in Bangalore with his wife, Rashmi. He is also the author of “97% Selfish."
FB - https://www.facebook.com/kirankumar.kavikondala
Twitter - https://twitter.com/imkeyrun
The author can be reached at -
[email protected] Acknowledgements
"The Dream" is a short story and a work of fiction. I would like to thank all those who contributed to this book -
Rashmi, wife and my best critic – catalyst in realizing my dreams
To all my readers who provided positive reviews and feedbacks for my debut novel “97% Selfish.”
The Dream
“Sunil, Sunil”
“Get ready, your school bus will be here soon, get ready quickly,” Sakshi knocked the bathroom door as it was getting late for her son’s school.
“Sunil, it’s getting late beta,” Sakshi reminded her eleven year old son yet again.
After five minutes, Sunil rushed out of the bathroom and in a flash dressed up in his school uniform and grabbed his mom’s mobile that was kept on charge and started playing his favorite game ‘Clash of Clans’ (COC).
“Stop playing Sunil and eat your breakfast,” his mom continued to chase him. With great difficulty he finished his breakfast but did not stop playing.
“Wear your shoes Sunil, O God and stop playing,” Sakshi pulled her mobile from him. As she took the mobile, couple of messages popped up –
“Due to driver’s strike, school bus facility would not be available today, kindly make your own arrangements. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.”
“Get up at 5 in the morning, prepare breakfast, chase this boy to get ready and now this message,” Sakshi, a single mother said frustrated as she rushed out of the house along with her son to find an auto-rickshaw.
“Auto, auto”, she shouted as she saw an auto nearby. As it came closer she realized someone was already seated in the auto. Still the driver stopped the vehicle and asked –
“St.Aloysius schoolaaa” (Perfect regional accent)
“Yes,” Sakshi said as she saw a cute looking girl seated in the auto who wore school uniform similar to that of her son.
Sunil boarded the auto and started chatting with the girl –
“You study at St.Aloysius is it?”
“Yes,” she responded.
“Which class?”
“Fourth standard. And you?”
“Fifth,” he said.
“What’s your name?”
“Sunil and yours?”
“Dolly”
“Nice name,” he said and they continued to chat until they reached their school.
“Will you be my friend?” Sunil asked before he alighted from the auto.
“Yes,” she said and kissed him on the cheek and ran inside the school. Sunil was very happy as the day started on a bright note. (Obviously)
Two hours later, the class teacher asked students to read out passages from English non-detailed book one after the other. She also mentioned that it would be a competition amongst all students as she would be observing who would read most of the paragraphs without any mistakes. Students started to read out loud and when they stumbled upon a word, the student seated next got a chance till it reached Sunil who was always seated in the last bench. As his classmates watched, Sunil read passages fluently without any errors three full pages before he committed his first mistake. His class teacher was very happy as Sunil’s nearest competitor could manage only two pages. The entire class applauded.
“Sunil, Sunil”
A voice echoed in his ears.
“Sunil, wake up.”
It was his mom’s voice as he slowly opened his eyes, he saw her standing in front of him and it was 6 am. He realized it was a dream as his mother forcibly pushed him to the bathroom. An hour later, Sunil finished his breakfast and started to play on his mom’s mobile. Couple of messages popped up and he immediately ran towards Sakshi. She read the messages to realize that school bus would not be available for that day. Surprised, Sunil stood dumbfounded as the message resembled to his dream. Sakshi went out in search of an auto-rickshaw as Sunil still stood speechless.
“Sunil, come fast,” she shouted.
“Yes mom, I am coming,” he ran towards entrance door with his school bag. As he came closer, he saw a small girl seated in the auto. Sakshi spoke to the auto driver, gave him money as Sunil sat next to the girl. He forgot to even wave at his mom as the auto moved since he was expecting a ‘bright’ start for the day. He started conversing with the girl and learnt her name was ‘Dolly’ which excited him further. Within five minutes the auto stopped and the driver asked Sunil to come and sit in the front next to him.
“But that’s not what I saw in my…” before he could complete his explanation, Sunil saw his class teacher who was waiting to be seated. He had no other option except to oblige.
“It was not supposed to happen this way,” he kept telling to himself till they reached school.
Dolly smiled at him and disappeared while Sunil and his class teacher walked together to their classroom.
Two hours later, class teacher asked students to read English passage and once again Sunil got excited.
“Students let’s start with the last bench,” class teacher said. Sunil was in shock as it was he who had to start reading first. Once again disappointed he tells himself, “This is not what I saw.” He reads out couple of paragraphs but commits an error while rest of students manage more than what he could read.
As he reached home in the evening, he saw his mom busy preparing snacks.
“So how was the day?” Sakshi asked.
Sunil sat on the sofa with his legs stretched as he relaxed his head on the backrest and responded –
“Not so good.”
“Why? What happened? Did class teacher scold you?”
“No”
“Then?”
Sunil explained about the dream and what happened in reality. Sakshi understood that her son was indeed disappointed and tells him –
“Sunil, when we dream, at times it does happen but most of the time it doesn’t. Enjoy the moment when it happens and do not feel disappointed when it doesn’t. You will understand this as you grow. Now, freshen up quickly, I have prepared samosas for you.”
“Wow samosas,” Sunil exclaimed and rest of the evening he played with his mom before he fell asleep and started to dream as usual.
That night he dreamt of studying very hard for his exam scheduled a week later and he fares decently in the exam which would be very well appreciated by his class teacher. He returns home excited and tells his mom about school happenings after which his mom decides to treat him with a movie followed by ice-cream.
Sunil woke up in the morning and thought of the dream, felt excited but remembered his mom’s words,
so instead of thinking too much about it he chose to make it a reality. For next one week, he prepared everyday in the evening thoroughly for his exam but still managed to play his favorite ‘COC’, though relatively for less time and spent more towards fulfilling his dream.
Sunil did not tell his mom about the exam dream as he wanted to make his dream come true. On the day of his exam, Sunil was not much nervous as his confidence was at peak since he had put his best efforts in preparing for the exam. He wrote the 30 minute exam decently and waited for his class teacher to announce results the next day.
“Students, most of you had written the exam very well except a few,” class teacher said next day. Sunil was worried that irrespective of his efforts his dream looked in jeopardy. The class teacher continued to announce the scores of each and every student with Sunil being last bencher his score was told at the end.
“Sunil – 21 out of 25.”
“Seven of you have scored above 20 in this exam, congratulations and I would like rest of students to do well in the next exam similar to these seven.”
As she announced all those seven names including that of Sunil, he felt that finally a part of his dream did get fulfilled.
Sunil reached home jumping and dancing and as his mom opened the door, he hugged her and told her immediately about the dream and his exam result. Sakshi looked very tired and weak and Sunil noticed that probably his mom was unwell. He asked his mom to take rest and called up their family doctor. After thirty minutes, doctor visited their house, gave few medicines which he brought along and also an injection for her faster recovery. Sunil thanked the doctor and sat next to his mom the whole evening.
A week later, Sakshi recovered from viral fever and was back to her routine. Sunil returned home from school that evening and to his surprise, his mom was waiting dressed up as if she was going out for a party. He inquired –
“Mom, are you going out somewhere?”
“Yes, we are going out.”
“Where?”
“You get ready, I will tell you,” she said.
Sunil got ready within ten minutes (for school – one hour, for fun – only 10 minutes?)
Sakshi and Sunil went to an animation movie and later to a restaurant. She ordered his favorite Gobi Manchurian and masala papad. As he relished the food, Sakshi said –
“Am very happy that I have such an understanding son, you are very young but matured. It’s good that you made your dream come true by putting in efforts towards achieving it. Never stop dreaming but do not expect each and every dream would come true. Dreams should make you stronger so that you work hard to achieve it. They should motivate you but not make you weak. Remember that.”
“Never stop dreaming.” she reiterated.
“Thanks mom I will definitely remember,” Sunil said.
“Ice-creams ma’am,” the waiter brought Sunil’s favorite chocolate ice-cream garnished with choco-chips.
“Wow,” he said as he drooled.
They reached home by 10:30 pm and Sunil went to his room thinking of his dream which got fulfilled that day. As he was still thinking, he fell asleep and started dreaming again.
Other books by the author
97% Selfish – A novel which portrays real-life instances that a reader can relate to, in this exciting and inspiring journey of a student whose life is full of fun, love, romance, studies, work and of course money. Still Sandy missed something important in his life. Will he be able to overwhelm challenges that he faces?
Link - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019IJL8NG?ie=UTF8&at=aw-android-pc-in-21&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links