Museum, where it all began...

 Museum, a place for preserving various important evidence of humankind and the environment, an institution for study, examine and research the raw materials of nature. These places have collections of various objects which were once alive and now being 'perfectly dead' for years after years.  Have you ever thought of meeting someone and find instant connection in such a place where you're surrounded by dead insects, moths and butterflies? Well, that's how they met in the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun. 

It was Veera's second week in the city of love, Dehradun. A new girl in the town with thousands of dreams in her eyes, a bit scared to come out of her comfort zone completely and trust people but equally excited to make new friends and explore the Capital of Uttarakhand. She has always thought of living away from home and create her own identity independently and it was just the first step towards achieving her goals and ambitions in life. Orientation was going on in her college and it was hectic. She was bored and frustrated of giving her introduction for the thousands of times to her classmates, the new faculty, her juniors as well as her seniors. On one such Monday morning she along with her classmates got the notification to get gathered in front of the college bus as they all were going to visit the well known museum of the city. She got so excited as it was the first time she was going out somewhere that too with her new classmates apart from the tapri in front of her hostel where she often goes for chai and cigarettes. She immediately rushed for a window seat and connected her pink Boat earpods. 

They reached the museum and it was beautiful. Places like these always amaze her with it's beauty, architecture and history. She wanted to be in every corner of that institute. But when she looked around to find her mates, they all were eaten by the trend, yes! Social-Media-Fever. Everyone was clicking pictures with different poses or making different weird faces. Someone was dancing in a corner setting the phone in the wall, other was trying to capture her own face from an unrelated angle. Boys were either filming their girl-friends to impress them or they were in a search of a place where they can smoke joint. Veera waited for them to get finished with whatever they were doing but common, it's been more than an hour now and they got limited time to explore the place.

- "Weird", someone said from behind.

She looked back and it was Samarth, one of her classmates. 

- "Hey! Ummm, what's weird?"

- "Insaan (Human)! Don't you think so?" 

- "Aren't you a human too?" She asked with a confused smile.

- "Yeah! I regret."

They both stood there for few more minutes looking helplessly at the people around them and Samarth said, "Chal! (Let's go)"

- "Where?" She was a bit confused as they never really spoke before that day and Veera is not someone who gets along with anyone so easily, it takes time.

- "To find something which we can remember for the rest of our lives, I guess!"

They started walking. Every time they crossed a mirror window, Samarth stopped, looked at it and started setting his hairs. It happened so many times in less than a minute that it started making Veera laugh. She found him to be very chivalrous and extremely self-obsessed which is definitely a weird combo. Veera didn't know much about him except the fact that he writes. She asked, "What are you writing these days?" 

- "Something special!", he said, "I was trying to write about"

- "About me?" She was in shock, as if she heard someone she knew has died.

- "Chill!" He laughed loudly, "I was just kidding."

-  "Thank god!"

They took the tickets from the counter and there were various exhibitions of different things. There were Timber Museum (exhibits of the best-known and most common commercial woods), Silviculture Museum (a renovated and modernized gallery), Pathology Museum (exhibits of various economically important tree diseases and timber decays) and NWFP Museum (a comparison between the conventional resin tapping technique and the newly developed rill methods). They discovered every corner of that institute. They found it so boring and lifeless. It was a hot summer day and they were tired. Looking at Veera's sweaty, exhausted face Samarth asked her to wait and came with two chocolate cone ice-creams which made her very happy. They didn't talk much and for Veera it was weirdly relaxing. She hated people who talk more than needed, and Samarth was also comfortable sharing the silence with Veera unlike others. 

- "I think we missed an exhibition, it's on the other side of the cafeteria." Samarth said pointing at the direction.

- "Man! Is it again about the trees and seeds?"

- "Come with me, I promise you're gonna like it."

Veera followed him.

Entomology Museum, exhibits representing the various stages of insect pests and their relation to the environment and other organisms. Veera's face lighted up as soon as she entered the museum, "This is what I was looking for! Where are the butterflies?" Samarth hold her hand gently and took her to a corner where there were boxes full of butterflies. She looked at them closely, wanting to see every possible color of their wings. She put her fingers on the lead of the box and started caressing gently on the glass, she mumbled, "I wish I was a butterfly. I wish I had such beautiful colored wings and I could fly around my favorite flowers." Samarth couldn't take his eyes of her. He kind of already liked her since the first day they met in college. He smiled and took Veera's finger and put on a particular butterfly with wings colored in different shades of blue. 

- "Veera, if you were a butterfly, you would've looked like this one." He gently left her finger.

- "Why this?" She smiled and asked.

- "It looks rare, fragile, shades of melancholy, seems like you!"

They looked at each other, this was the first time they were standing so close. If it was a film, they would've kissed for sure. Their eyes were smiling, they knew it was a beginning of something beautiful. Her phone rang, one of her classmates called to inform her that the bus will leave within 15 minutes. They started walking towards the parking. Something was bothering Veera, she stopped all of a sudden, looked at Samarth and stood there for a few seconds. Samarth didn't ask anything, just waited patiently for her to speak. "Butterflies don't live long, Samarth. They only live for about 15-30 days. It's unfair, something so beautiful shouldn't die too soon." He wanted to hug her, wanted to take everything away that was bothering her. He took a deep breath and looked deep into her eyes and said, "They die because of the dangers provided by predators and disease but I won't let that happen, I promise."

It was time to go back. She immediately rushed for a window seat and connected her pink Boat earpods. She played one of her favorite songs of The Paper Kites and offered one bud to him. 

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P.S- It was inspired by a true event with a little touch of fiction. Hope you like it :)