Hidden Quest

By Lamiya Siraj

“Dare to Dream! Because dreams matter….”A tale of two girls named Ahana and Nishi who embark on an adventurous journey to overcome their fears and conquer their dreams.“Will they survive the journey? Will they be able to fulfil their dream?”Ahana, born with a golden spoon, wanted to experience life like any other ordinary teenage girl leaving her GOLDEN STATUS behind.Trains always fascinated her since her childhood. She dreamt of travelling – travelling across India in trains. She wanted to experience the real adventure of life, travelling through dense forests, mountain passes, and wild rivers and having fun along the way.But being an only child, she was over-protected and pampered by her parents.In the journey of her life and adventure, the person who always supported her and stood by her side was her friend Nishi.The conversations throughout this beautiful journey of Ahana and Nishi are thought-provoking and filled with depth and meaning. At the same time, they explore the themes of friendship, self-discovery, and personal growth.“How do teenagers react when encountering challenges?”“What are the dangers and obstacles they faced? What happens when the gullible girls fall into peoples trap?”“How will they overcome their fears?”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
• Release date: Sep 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9789358190328

Book preview

Acknowledgement

The journey of this book has been a very beautiful one. There were days full of ideas, and there were days when I went completely blank. There have been many who are part of this journey, helping me write this novel, motivating me, and pushing me to convert my ideas into a story and finally into a novel.

This is difficult for me, and I certainly do not want to miss out on anyone that has been a part of this beautiful journey.

First, I thank the Almighty for granting me the opportunity to complete this novel. I would like to thank my mother for always being with me in my journey of life as well as writing all my novels till date. She was with me throughout my writing journey for this novel, too, but with a heavy heart, I want to convey that she passed away before my project took the face of an actual novel from a manuscript.

I want to thank my family, for their prayers, kind cooperation and support, without which I wouldn’t have achieved all this.

I want to thank my daughter Munira for being my first reader while I was writing the story. She was curious after reading each chapter and couldn’t wait for the next one to be written — she was always excited to find out… What next? What after this? All this motivated me tremendously. And the way she researched about the places after reading about them in the novel made me so happy. She is now inspired to visit them. I love discussing the story and the characters with my daughter. This motivates me to give my best.

I take this opportunity to thank my better half, my well-wisher, my husband Siraj, who is always worried about approaching deadlines. His evenings would be filled with questions like Are you done? How much is pending? Do you need me to do something for you? Because of his support and constant follow-up, I could complete my novel before the deadline.

To Fatema Hussain, a friend, the graphical designer for all my projects and amongst the first readers of ‘Hidden Quest’. Her valuable suggestions and designs helped me choose a wonderful book cover.

To my dear friend, my editor Ms Tarannum Bakrolwala, I want to express my special gratitude. She is a dear friend who has given valuable suggestions and guidance in completing my novel. Tarannum, your keen eye for detail and clear writing style has helped to elevate my work to a whole new level, and I am deeply grateful for your insights and expertise.

To Manisha Thakkar, for always being there. Your contributions have made a tremendous impact on my writing journey, and I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done.

To BlueRose Publications and their team for all their valuable time, input, and suggestions.

Once again, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness and generosity will never be forgotten.

Thank you!

Thank you –

For letting my ink slip onto the paper and leave its impression forever…

Chapter 1

There Is Always A First Time!

Have you ever felt Déjà Vu in your life? Like you think that ‘You have experienced this before?’ Or something similar or identical like this has happened to you before. Like history getting repeated. Today is the day ‘Ahana’ feels like it was a moment like a Déjà Vu in her life. She felt like she had experienced what she was experiencing right now, similarly before today. Today was the day she felt like she had lived it before. Whatever was happening today, she felt it had already happened, leaving her amazed.

It’s a regular morning. But Ahana is feeling beautiful about everything this morning. She feels like this is the day she has been waiting for her entire life! She thinks today, the sun is shining brighter than usual. The sky is clear, with a few clouds sailing away here and there, indicating that monsoon is around the corner. The birds are chirping more melodiously today than ever. The breeze today has some magic in it. She feels it is divine.

Ahana was an intelligent child, but as she entered her teens, her hormones started playing with her, and so she started playing with her parents and everyone around, sometimes making them go crazy. She loved the early morning, especially going to school, but since school starts late, she becomes groggy in the morning. She gets up in the morning, asking herself, "Why does all this not end?"

Ahana wants to escape from this world and all her present situations and go somewhere else where there are no daily freaking, depressing mornings or afternoon tests or a series of boring lectures, no competitions, no judgments, no limits, and no rebuking. All she wanted was to go to a world full of mysteries, adventures, etc…

Ahana often wished to live in the fantasy world of Aladdin, Snow-white, Cinderella or Harry Potter’s Universe full of magic and adventures.

But then she thought of her parents struggling and all the people who repent that they should have studied and worked hard during their school and college days. Her thoughts bring her back to reality, and she starts her day preparing her presentations as best as possible for school.

Today, the school buses that entered the colony honking for all the children to gather at the main gate seemed like a music band playing the most synchronised music for her ears. Nevertheless, today, she is not irritated like the other days by the honking of any vehicle entering or exiting society.

And all this is because, in the past 15 years, she had never got a chance to experience a train journey or go on a trip and experience the adventure on her own. But now she would be able to take one shortly. Travelling on the train is not only her fantasy and her dream but also her craziness. It is a desire that she wants to fulfil before her 17th birthday. She longs for a simple and ordinary train journey, what others actually do almost their entire life, sitting in the second-class compartment feeling the wind touching their faces by the window seat when the train is moving…

It would be nothing less than an adventure for her to embark on her first train trip, as she had prepared for it well in advance. When her friends talked about their dreams of travelling around the world or visiting theme parks in Dubai or Disney World in Florida, Ahana’s maximum response was to embark on an adventure to an unknown land by travelling by all modes of transportation, especially the Indian Railways.

The feeling itself was more exciting than the actual journey that she would ever make.

Ahana was born with a golden spoon, so she mainly travelled by flight or in luxury cars. However, she longed to experience the experience of travelling like an ordinary person in the standard class on a train. Her father was in a good position in the government serving the country has its own perks along with good security for people and their families serving in that position.

Ahana wanted to enjoy this beautiful morning all by herself, sitting at the window sipping her coffee – undisturbed! Today she had also kept her mobile phone aside. Though it was beeping continuously, and she knew who was messaging her, she ignored them. Otherwise, this was the time for Ahana to check her social media apps and messages and reply to them. Usually, while sipping her coffee, she watches videos or reels and tries catching up with the latest hot news about celebrities. But today, she wanted her privacy – undisturbed.

But even she knew it wasn’t possible with her darling mother around the house. She was drowned in her thoughts of witnessing a different morning today when she heard her name being called out loudly – ‘Ahana’, ‘Ahana’ come down and have your breakfast soon, before it gets cold. She was still sipping the coffee, watching the cat moving around in the neighbourhood when her room bell rang as a signal to act fast and join her mother for breakfast. This couldn’t be ignored at any cost. So, leaving the coffee cup on the window ledge, she left the room.

There was pin-drop silence when she entered the dining room. Usually, at this time of the day, it is quite noisy in her house as her father wants his newspaper first, even before he touches his cup of tea and breakfast. On the other hand, her mother wants him to finish his breakfast before he gets engrossed in the newspaper. Ahana witnesses this battlefield daily, every morning. All thanks to her school timings. Why do I have late morning school? She keeps thinking about and regretting it at times.

After settling in at the dining table, Ahana couldn’t take the silence anymore and decided to break the ice. She asked her mother with a smirk on her face, ‘Why was it so that today she could hear the birds singing?’ Her mother tried to laugh back, but she couldn’t. She saw her father eating his breakfast quietly without a fuss and with no newspapers. This was genuinely shocking for Ahana. She asked them if everything was alright. He just looked up and nodded. With this, Ahana was served the pancakes in the style she loved – thick, crispy and a mixture of maple and chocolate syrup. There were no instructions to eat healthy with a plate served with boiled egg, bread, toast, and a glassful of Hot chocolate. Ahana couldn’t take this anymore. It was scaring her from the inside. She got up, went to the kitchen, held her mother’s hand, looked directly into her eyes asked, ‘Mom, can you please tell me what the matter is?’

And so — the melodrama started. Ahana’s mother must have been holding it for a very long time, all to herself. But then, her blabbering started as if she were waiting for someone to listen. Slowly it started getting louder, and now Ahana could make out that it was all about her going on this train trip alone, which was bothering her mother.

Nevertheless, Ahana was happy today and found everything different, serene, and beautiful. The same is the reason for the change of environment in her house. she convinced her parents, and they, out of love, have permitted Ahana, but they are reluctant to send her alone on this trip to India.

Moreover, Ahana was firm that she wanted to take the longest train route spending maximum hours on the train and visiting new places. She had been planning this trip for over a year by listing India’s longest-route trains and the places she could visit. Ahana made a list of plans and rejected them based on the research. She knew it would never be easy to convince her parents for this trip. But before proceeding with them, she wanted to be double sure about her planning, ready for the answers to the questions they might shoot at her.

Among the few places that Ahana shortlisted, number one was in East India, number two was in Himachal Pradesh, and number three was Rajasthan. Ahana researched for approximately three months – dedicating one month to one state, checking all the tourist spots and places to see, and penning down all the modes of transport, especially the train routes.

Ahana was still with her chain of thoughts when her mother shouted, asking, Are you listening, Ahana? Are you with me? She replied, Of course, mamma.

Then please understand our concern. Listen to us. We are your parents and know your betterment more than you. My child, there is still time to think twice. Cancel your trip. I promise we will go on a vacation wherever you say as per your conditions and demands. If you want, we will go by train only. But please don’t go alone on this trip, her mother requested her once again.

Ahana’s mother kept pleading with her with the most baby face in a childish manner possible. But Ahana was in no mood to give up. Now, it was her father who took the baton in his hand. He said, listen, Ahana, it is not safe for you to go alone like this. I am not permitting you to travel independently. You know that. To date, you haven’t. I would have considered your request if you were 18 years old. But at sixteen, you are not allowed to travel alone! Not as per the country’s norms too. Ahana laughed, stating, dad, ‘Where is it written?’ Please show me that a teenager cannot travel alone on a train in India.

Her father, not giving up, easily continued, okay, we all will go to foreign countries, and this time we will discover three countries connecting them with a train journey. Now, are you happy, Ahana?

Ahana’s mother looked at her with a twinkle in her eyes, waiting for her affirmative answer. But instead, Ahana looked at her dad, asking how many days he would take. He said five or a maximum of seven days. Ahana replied, That’s it! Then I don’t want to go!

Both asked Ahana, ‘But why?’ We can easily plan this trip well. First, we all would fly to any destination of your choice, Ahana. Then take a connecting train to go to other places from there. We will also book the best hotels and do lots of shopping. Ahana said, Precisely, this is the reason I don’t want to go. Every time the vacations are the same for us. Nothing new or exciting happens.

Immediately her father said, leave it, ‘We will go to the most scenic location of your choice, booking the most luxurious resort. We will travel first class and have various types of cuisines. You can click as many pictures as you like.’ Also, we can book a cruise trip to Europe if you want. What say?

Ahana got up and went to the window. She stood still for some time, watching outside, and then asked her parents when we would go on a vacation.

She wanted to have a vacation on her own. A trip that allows a girl like Ahana to have experiences filled with many thrills. She can discuss with new people around the world and gain new insights. Wherein she could have many learning moments on her trip. She doesn’t mind a companion, only if it’s her best friend – Nishi. No one else but only she could accompany her. She wants to gain confidence from such a trip on her own. A trip that can define her for whatever she could be in future.

Looking at her parents, she said, A vacation means going to the open sky where the sun rises behind the mountains. A place where when the sun sets in the cold evening breeze, we feel like running to the other side of the planet. A vacation with mountains to climb, and in return, we enjoy the flowing streams flowing down on the hills and massive waterfalls. Beautiful flowers bloom everywhere. There are butterflies in the spring, fast-flowing rivers with all their dangerous curves, waves of oceans, deep deserts, and dense forests…

Where there is rain and snowfall, we have pathways that never end. Imagine the happiness. Witnessing the rainbow in the sky, birds chirping, and the animals moving freely, and we are in the van cage to see them. There are so many wonders to see. But we don’t enjoy any of them.

Ahana was still talking when she heard her mother calling out to her, but her father asked her mother to be quiet and signaled Ahana to continue…

Chapter 2

Speaking the heart out!

Ahana turned and saw her mother’s face. Seeing her frustrated, Ahana quietly returned to her thoughts, standing there looking out the window. Everyone was quiet now. There was pin-drop silence in the room. Suddenly the silence was the ruler in the room, the little arguments that took place every morning at the breakfast table were defeated.

After some time, Ahana’s father said, okay, let’s go on a fifteen days’ vacation. All of us go on the train trip Ahana has planned. Let’s start the preparations. Ahana’s mother looked at her with the hope that she might agree.