A dream come true

the exhibition

We were on his bike and I was sitting behind him wearing his helmet, I was just busy watching the sight as we were passing by, the view was nothing special in a way, but for me it was intriguing. Sky scrapers everywhere my eyes could see, the streets were full of all kind of people busy in their own activity, every single one of them had their own untold story. Some were talking to somebody on their phone, some were walking in a hurry not paying attention to their surrounding, probably going to work, some were just walking like not a care in the world, I could see an old couple walking with their fingers tangled together as they were holding hands, visibly happy to be in each other's presence even after all this time, and a group of teenagers about my age having fun in their own world, that one got my attention longer than everyone else. They were in living in the moment, isn't that fun? Watching that unlocked a memory of mine. An old one.

2014

I was walking through the hallways of my small school with a diary and lunchbox in my hand, finding a certain someone. It was recess and all the kids were either running or playing with their friends. I reach outside near the small playground, it was pretty much like a garden with trees and bushes with swings, slides, sea-saw, and other rides kids usually like. In front of that playground was a small area with stairs, the person I was just finding was sitting there.

"Khushi!!!" I call my best friend and sit next to her. Her lunchbox was not opened yet since she was waiting for me so we could start eating together.

"what took you so long?"

"had to give my notebook to ma'am."

She nods and open her lunchbox revealing homemade potato chips, the one her mother makes. I open mine to show paratha that my mammi made before she left for work. We start eating and talk about random things with not a care or any kind of responsibility in this world, what does even 11 years old kids have to worry about? We both were alike, same interests, same dislikes, same stupid dreams for future and innocent hope that it'll come true if we long for it with a strong heart. Then I remembered about the diary I brought with me.

"come on, hurry and finish the lunch so we can see it, I added new photos."

"why not see it now?"

"my hands are oily, it'll get dirty."

"alright."

We both finish our food and leave to wash our hands then come back to see the newly added content inside the book.

"ok, you ready?"

She nods eagerly and I open the pages to show her my new work. It was cutout of a photo of some unknown city that I got from yesterday's newspaper, it was a typical American looking city with busy streets and road full of cars and big buildings. Skysca-scra...skyscrapers is it? That is the word I heard in some English movie I was watching. It was not the only picture, there were many other pictures of different places around the world. Some photos were of forests, some were of desert, but it was not totally out of context, I wrote about those places, and what made them special, the forest was called 'Amazon' and the dessert was 'Gobi' and decorated with so many color pencils and stickers. I customized it like there was no tomorrow. not only pictures but some random essays I wrote and some doodles or drawings of something I find interesting. It wasn't just a book, it was our wish.

"why didn't you write it's name?"

"I don't know where it is from. It was in a newspaper. Doesn't matter, looks good."

"my favorite is still this one." Khushi says and turns some pages back to a photo we both love, a picture of New York. I cut it out from 7th grade social science text book. We are still in 6th grade but I got this text book from mammi. She brought a spare one from the school she teaches in for me.