text: Amidst the snow-capped Himalayas is unveiled a place of pristine heavenly beauty that is none other than Kashmir. The reason why this place intrigues me so much is - Just as the spectacular beauty it showcases in its lush green valleys, glaciers, and Mughal-era gardens so are the zeal and spirit of its residents. They have a burning desire to achieve the unfathomable. One such girl was Tara, who hailed from Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. A 23 year old, smart and sensible with a good sense of humor was the darling of her parents. As she was born to them at a relatively older age, they pampered her and made sure she never had complaints. So, she was home-schooled and then went on to complete her bachelor's and master's from a prestigious university in Kashmir. So in a literal sense, ‘Life in a Nutshell’ to Tara just meant - ‘Home’ and ‘University’. All through her teenage years, Tara watched the neighborhood kids and university classmates indulge in fun and frolic. She had all the luxuries that she dreamt of, but soon she realized materialistic things could only get her momentary pleasure. Since then, every dusk and dawn, her parents would find her sitting quietly by the window, deeply lost in thoughts. Day by day, her parents grew more concerned about her this behavior. Nobody knew how much Tara longed for a chance to go out and explore the world on her own. That’s when she received an offer letter to work for a world-famous software company in Mumbai. She was thrilled on seeing this. Her parents were both happy and distressed at the same time; happy because they hadn’t seen their daughter so cheerful in a long while and sad as they knew she would be going miles away from them. And so the day had come when she was leaving her house for the first time with lots of goals to accomplish. She took her parents’ blessings and bid them farewell before boarding the flight. Her next destination was ‘The City of Dreams - Mumbai!!’ Tara still couldn’t believe that she had started a new chapter of her life as she gazed at those tall skyscrapers. The Queen’s Necklace - ‘The Marine Drive’ fascinated her the most while viewing from the plane. She didn’t want to miss out on anything this time. Although the next few months were hectic for her as she hustled between home and office, she did make sure to take out some time on weekends to hang out with colleagues or do solo travel. She was enjoying life to the fullest and her parents were contented. Time flew and Tara was transforming into a true Mumbaikar! Everything was going smoothly except for one night, at around 9 pm, just when Tara got back from the office all exhausted, she suddenly felt a sharp, cramping pain in her lower back and left side. She had never experienced such sort of terrible pain before. She used to stay all by herself in a 1 BHK apartment. Hence there was nobody to help her. Neither did she have any emergency medicines in hand. She suddenly collapsed onto the floor but was still conscious. She felt suffocated and started gasping. It was that time of the year when the bitter cold would force you to stay indoors and that’s when Tara had to go through all this. She suddenly remembered her parents and started weeping. The clock struck 10 and there were still no signs of the pain-reducing. Tara lay there sobbing in pain for nearly 2 hours, rolling to and fro on her carpet. Suddenly, in that silence, her phone buzzed displaying a new message, but what caught her attention was the wallpaper and not the message. It said in big words - ‘The Pain - It will leave once it has finished teaching you’. She didn’t know exactly why she had to go through so much suffering alone. But now she accepted this as a challenge and decided to get rid of it, come what may! She didn’t want to be a burden to anybody so late in the night. Hence, she mustered up the courage and rose to her feet, grabbed her trench coat, and walked out of her building, her head held high. Chilly winds were blowing at the speed of 39-46 mph. There was not a soul on the streets and there was Tara, struggling to walk against these strong gushing winds desperately in search of a clinic or hospital. Despite the temperature being awfully low that night, the chilly breeze gave some relief to the burning pain that she felt down her spine. A few cars passed, but sadly none stopped by to offer help. This gave her all the more willpower to fight this alone. Soon after she had crossed two lanes and headed for the third, she spotted a gentleman stepping out of his clinic and locking the front door. Her heart knew no bounds. Suddenly, all her grief just seemed to disappear. She somehow managed to reach that spot and the doctor, at once knew what she was suffering from. So he took her inside, gave her a shot of Dexona to relieve the spasms, and advised her to get an ultrasound done the very next morning. He was all praises for her as he couldn’t believe she made it here on her own, although in so much pain. The next morning, as told, she got her scan done and the reports revealed she had multiple stones in her left kidney. The good thing was she didn’t require any surgery and it was self-treatable, provided taken good care of. Now that she was at ease, she decided to take a day off from work and contemplate last night’s incident. She didn’t want her parents to worry too much and so kept it to herself. All this time, she had just heard that people may even turn into warriors if tough times demand so. Somehow, she couldn’t believe that she had it in her as well. This definitely was no easy feat. But if she compared this intensity of pain to the measure that cancer patients and injured soldiers suffered from, then it was almost negligible. She thought of her old parents and the love they bestowed upon her since childhood. She felt guilty for leaving them alone and having come so far. She burst out into tears and it seemed as if all her grief was being washed off. Her heart was so full of ambition all this while that there was barely any space for compassion in there. Now that her heart felt lighter, she was relieved. She set up a new agenda with altogether a different perspective. The next day she gave her resignation letter at the office and in 2 weeks’ time, she was packing her bags to return to her hometown. Back home, she was welcomed like a queen and she too felt overjoyed seeing that smile on her parents’ faces. She also took them on a mini-vacation to do house-boating in the beautiful Dal Lake. After getting back, she decided to start working on her agenda. Within a short span, she began volunteering 4 days every fortnight in a nearby hospital. In the meanwhile, she was also working on her startup idea of building a healthcare platform that assisted with home-based health care. Although she started off a bit late, still as said - ‘Better Late than Never. Tara was now leading a peaceful and contented life and there was no safer heaven to be in than with her loved ones!