STORY. It is sometimes difficult to imagine the true depth of this word. Deep within this meaningful order of alphabets lies a whole world. Forgive me, a whole universe. Countless lives, countless characters, countless emotions all hidden inside one cocoon. This universe itself is alive. Like all living beings, it grows with each new stroke of the writer's pen and evolves with each new plot. Its diversity is also unparalleled, from the mysterious creatures Shonku discovered on Mars to the Dementors of Azkaban.
Our world is round. So like the characters of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, one can return to the place from where his/her journey began. But the world of the story is different. Instead of being round, they are flat. The journey ends at the end of the story. To return to the beginning one has to turn around and turn back all the pages. Most people say that destination does not matter, it is the journey that needs to be memorable. But to me, the destination is as important as the journey. As they say, "all's well that end's well". What good is the journey when the destination is not worth it? So like the destination of a journey, the end of the story is extremely crucial to me. The end brings justice to the whole story. I cannot count the number of times that I have read a story and felt the end is unjustified, meaningless, or not worth it. Likewise, I also cannot count the number of times that the beauty of the ending has left me in awe. It has often happened that the ending which I resented at the beginning were also the ones I have fallen in love with later on. Some of them have reached out to the far depths of my heart and pulled out emotions I know nothing of.
Despite all this, the story never really ends at the end. It merely opens the windows of our imagination. Countless possibilities, countless if's and but's, countless different ways for the story to end or to not end, all spring from the last page of the book. beautiful it is the world of stories, where one ends, countless others begin.
Illustration by: Shreyas Gangopadhyay
Thank you.
Well written brother !