sumay-uncle scolded me

That morning, Sumay-uncle called me on WhatsApp video. The first thing he asked was, “Have you done your morning chanting?”

I replied, “No, I haven’t.”

He seemed upset and asked, “Why not? What’s the problem?”

“I’m not feeling good here. I don’t like the environment or the people around me,” I told him.

“Really? Then why did you go there without asking me first? Now you’re complaining about everything and making excuses,” he shot back.

I stayed silent. Then he asked, “Do you have the day off?”

I nodded, saying yes.

“Then why are you wasting your time? Chant for 15-20 minutes, read the book I gave you, listen to some lectures, and just relax,” he advised.

I just said, “Hmm…”

He continued, “This is always your problem. Your mind is so restless. Why are you like this? I know what you’re doing there. I understand what’s going on in your head.”

After a pause, he said, “People come and go. Why are you so much attached to them? It’s an illusion. Real happiness is in spiritual life; everything else is temporary, like flashes of light in the dark.”

I nodded and stayed quiet.

“Alright, I’m leaving now. Spend as much time as you can on your spiritual practices,” he said.

“Okay, I will,” I replied.

“Sorry for the harsh words, but you needed to hear them. I’m challenging your mind. Don’t identify yourself with your mind and emotions. Okay, see you later,” he said and hung up.

i made my mind to follow sumay-uncle’s suggestions

After that talk with Sumay-uncle, I decided not to waste any more time thinking about Shanaya’s message and questions. I quickly got fresh and then spent about 15 minutes listening to slow Mahamantra chant.

After breakfast, I read the Krishna Book for half an hour may be… and then listened to the wisdom lecture based on how to get serious about spiritual life spoken by Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. After hearing, I felt very relaxed, and I wondered, “Why wasn’t I doing this before? Thanks to Sumay-uncle’s morning call.”

After having a day spent in spiritual practices, I texted him in the evening to thank him for his help. He sent a smiley emoticon and replied, “You should visit our place one more time, or else your mind will push you away from spiritual life.”

I got his invitation and replied, “I’ll visit after my sixth semester ends, in about a month.”

“Alright,” he said, “But you have an issue. You’re still dreaming of living a luxurious life. You want a big house, a fancy car, and to live like a movie star.”

I was surprised at how he knew all that. Those thoughts had been occupying my mind, and I’d been thinking about how to achieve them.

I replied to him, “Yeah, I have these desires.”

“It’s okay. Things will take time. Don’t stop your spiritual practice. Everything will fall into place,” he said, and then he went offline.

I didn’t talk to Shanaya all day. That night, she texted me, asking why I hadn’t reached out.

“I want to live a simple life. I don’t want to engage in any conversation with you. My uncle scolded me, and I feel he’s right. This will cause a distraction,” I replied.

“But we are friends, right? You won’t even talk to me? If that’s what you want, you can block me on WhatsApp and other social platforms. I don’t want anyone to suffer because of me,” she responded with an emotional emoji.

I felt like I was being too harsh on her. So, I said, “No, it’s okay. You can text me whenever you want. But I will reply only when I’m free. Is that okay?”

“No problem. I don’t mind,” she replied with a smiley.

Then we had a brief chat before I fell asleep.

shanaya shared her dark past

The next day was also a day off, so I just relaxed, finished some personal work, and read a chapter from the Krishna Book.

In the afternoon, just as I was about to take a nap, Shanaya texted me.

She told me that her father had started looking for a groom for her. I became a bit worried and asked, “Why so early? You’re not even mature enough to get married. Why is your father in such a hurry?”

“Yes, in our society, girls get married soon after they finish their graduation. So, my dad wants me to get married soon,” she replied.

I asked her, “So, after you get married, will I still be your friend, or will you just block me?”

“No, we will remain good friends. You have a very special place in my life, so I will never stop talking to you,” she replied.

I felt better after hearing this and asked her why she felt that way.

“I went through a very dark phase in my life and was in depression. But then you came along, and talking to you made me feel amazing,” she said.

“What kind of dark phase? What happened to you?” I asked curiously.

“I had a boyfriend in college. We were very serious about each other. I spent a lot of time with him. But gradually, he became very weird. He started smoking and consuming alcohol. When he was intoxicated, he would abuse me over video calls in front of his friends. Sometimes, he even accused me of having a loose character,” she explained.

Hearing that she had a boyfriend made me more curious about her life. I realized I was already attracted to her.

I asked, “Then what happened?”

She began to narrate how her boyfriend had behaved like a demon. He started insulting her in front of everyone. Once, he even pushed her, causing her to fall. Everyone present over there including friends of Shanaya took side of him and left her alone. Gradually, she was in great anxiety and started scratching her hands and legs with blades.

I was shocked by her story. I thought, “She is so sweet and well-behaved; I can’t understand how anyone could treat such a nice girl so horribly.”

Then she sent me an old photo of her forearms cut with a blade, blood oozing out.

She said, “I went mad and didn’t know how to behave in front of people. My friends started bullying me.”

I became very emotional after hearing about her tragic past.

“I’m feeling very bad after hearing about what you went through. I wish I could do something to make you happy,” I said.

She sent a smiley emoticon and replied, “Your comforting words are enough to make me happy again.”

Over the next few days, our conversation continued daily. Shanaya shared many of her college moments, filled with both joys and sorrows. Gradually, I began to relate my own experiences to hers. With all these happening day by day, I was realizing that my attraction to her was growing deeper.

Then, my sixth semester exam dates were announced, and I was happy that I’d soon be going back home. However, my excitement to meet Sumay-uncle and spend time cultivating spiritual wisdom had already dampened. I also started losing my focus on exam.

One day, I uploaded a quote about relationships as my WhatsApp status. Sumay-uncle replied, “You rascal, why are you not chanting? How many times do I have to tell you to stop wasting your time and start chanting?”

It was out of the blue, and I couldn’t understand what to reply.

“I’m relaxing now. I’ll chant after some time,” I replied.

“Oh! This is not good. You shouldn’t argue with me. You think I don’t know you’re wasting your time on nonsense. Okay, anyway, when are you arriving at our place?” he asked.

“I’ll be there by the first week of June,” I replied.

“Okay! I’ll get on your case then,” he said.

I felt more comfortable once this conversation with Sumay-uncle ended. Then I talked to Shanaya about other things. She asked me about my past, and I told her about my pathetic childhood love story with Pranshi.

She felt bad for me since Pranshi had cheated on me multiple times. She consoled me by saying, “Don’t worry, your future will be good. You are a nice person.”

I smiled at her compliment.

The next day, I went to college and discussed our exam schedule with my friend Nitin. He was my first friend at LPU. We were about to enter the final year of our engineering, I wanted to go on a trip.

So we checked our exam schedule and found that our last paper was scheduled eight days after the second-to-last paper. This last subject was easy to score good marks in, so we decided to go on a five-day trip to Uttarakhand. Since it was summertime, we wanted to visit a hill station.

We became excited and started preparing the itinerary for our trip. I also talked to my dad about sending the expenses, and he agreed.

Another Chapter of Shanaya’s Past began to unveil

I shared my excitement with Shanaya.

After hearing about my upcoming trip, she said, “Wow! I’m very happy for you. But I’m also jealous. I live at home like a caged bird.”

“Oh! Why?” I asked.

“They don’t allow me to go anywhere. I just stay at home, and my elder brother takes me for shopping once a month at most. But I’m not happy with my family,” she said.

“Okay then, why don’t you join me?” I asked jokingly.

She replied with a smiley emoticon. The next day, she posted a picture of herself wearing beautiful red bangles and a saree on her WhatsApp.

When I saw that, I became anxious. “So, your marriage got fixed?” I asked.

“No, no, this is an old pic. How do I look?” she replied.

“What? But why did you wear this? A girl only wears this attire when she gets married or engaged,” I asked.

“Hmm… I haven’t told you something about my past,” she replied.

My hands began trembling as I presumed that she had already married someone and got divorced. But I held my nerves and asked, “What kind of past do you have? Can you share it with me?”

“Okay, I will tell you everything about myself. But I have some questions. You have to answer me first,” she said.

“Okay, go on,” I replied.

“Would you marry a girl who is a divorcee?” she asked.

“What nonsense is this? What kind of question is that?” I asked annoyingly, as my fear began to turn into reality.

“Yes, first answer me. Yes or No,” she insisted.

“It depends. If I love that girl and she possesses all the qualities I want, then I can marry a divorcee. But why would I date a divorcee?” I replied.

“Are you a divorcee?” I finally asked.

Then what she said blew my mind away.

Stay tuned to know what she replied.