Last page of the Notebook

This morning while I was searching for some important information in my personal diary, I stopped at a page which read- "Never say die! Always give life hundred percent and never worry about the result, you will get the best of what you DESERVE!". Signed Ananya...
And then it didn't even take a moment to fill my mind with her memories... memories which I would like to cherish again and again.
This all begun nearly an year ago, when one fine morning while turning the pages of the newspaper I learnt about a fifteen days workshop which was going to be held in the town, it was about "How to improve presentation skills". I decided to join it and thus got myself registered the same evening. I was perusing my MBA final then.
Currently I am working at a bank, so I had to hurry grab the information and leave for the work. The whole day I was unable to concentrate on my work as Ananya's memories never left me alone! Every now and then I thought of her- the way she talked, smiled, helped... I felt her presence all around in my surroundings, when suddenly one of friends, Raj, patted on my shoulder and said, "Hey Karan! Where are you? Since morning I have been noticing you, you are lost in your own thoughts, you are smiling at yourself, is everything ok?" I surprisingly disturbed, turned around and all I could say was "Yeah!" He further inquired "Aren't you coming at the restaurant? Its Ria's birthday, remember? common hurry up." Some how I got up but honestly I was least interested in the party. Halfheartedly I went there with him, but we reached beforehand. While I was lost in Ananya's thoughts I didn't even notice when Raj started reading my diary, suddenly he stopped at the page signed by Ananya and said "Who is she? You never told me about her. Where did you meet her?" Actually I and Raj were best friends since childhood and we didn't have anything concealed form each other, except Ananya! Then I started telling him, about her-"She is a princess, she is an angle, she is a fairy, she is..." When Raj interrupted me "Ok ok, but who is she? Where did you meet her?"
"Well" I begun, "Remember last year I joined a workshop, the presentation stuff?"
"Yup"
"I met her there. She was my batch mate, a PCM student from 'Little Angles School' a student of standard XII. She entered the room and introduced herself so confidently that all I could say about her was 'She is cent percent confident!' The same day I talked to her, but to my surprise she replied politely, it is hard to see a girl with so much of talent but not even an air of boast. She was very down to earth and friendly. Soon the days passed and the day of our partition arrived, I asked her for her phone number but she refused, instead she gave me her email id so that we can at least be in touch. Then I asked her to write a few lines and sign, this is then, when she signed.”
“Great! So you people are still in contact?”
“No! I mailed her once, but she didn’t reply, it is nearly a year now but I am still waiting.”
“Gosh! You are great!”
By the time Ria and others had arrived and it was party time now…
Through out the party, I didn’t even enjoy a moment, I kept on thinking of Ananya what disturbed me more was an incident that happened a few day back. One day I saw her in a mall with another girl probably her friend, she looked at me, I smiled, but she turned as if she has never seen me earlier. Before I could reach her, she had left. What happened? Why didn’t she react? Why didn’t she reply my mail? Where was I mistaken? I could not understand. Exactly what had happened? What was the matter? Something was wrong, terribly terribly wrong, but what? While thinking all this I suddenly returned to my present as I heard everyone singing “Happy birthday to you Ria!” After the birthday song & cake when I was having a look around I suddenly I noticed a familiar face… she was Ananya!!! She was about to leave when I excused myself from the party and caught hold of her…
“Hey Ananya! How are you dear?”
In her same old polite, humble and confident manner she replied “Fine thank you Karan! It’s nice to here from you!”
While saying all this she turned around and I noticed that she was not looking at me she was looking some where else. I wondered why and all of a sudden I realized that she had gone blind! But how? When? Where? Her smile fainted when she told me about the accident she met just after few day of the workshop when she lost her eyesight and this was the reason she never replied my mail and notice me in the mall. But she didn’t even take a moment to regain her million dollar smile and said “Any way good and bad happen in life but life moves on! You can’t stop, you have to manage any way, either you accept it with a smile or accept it with your eyes filled with tears, you have to go on with life. No matter what happened I chose to manage it happily to make life easier and smoother make it a bit more enjoyable. This is it!” all I could do was just wonder about her positive attitude and admire her more.
Then she said “Oh my God! It’s getting late! I am here with my younger sister and we have to leave for home. It was a pleasure meeting you here, let’s hope to meet again. Bye take care.”
While seeing her go my mind overflowed with the lines “Never say die! Always give life hundred percent and never worry about the result, you will get the best of what you DESERVE!” for that moment all I could say was “She is cent percent confident! She is life!”