Once upon a time, there was a
girl, whose smile was the only question, I ever wanted to answer.
The only problem was that I
didn’t know how to make her smile then.
This was my 20's. I had just
started working for this MNC and she was already spoiling the place with her
smile. I would often catch her passing by with that cherubic smile on her face.
It had that old-world charm that would melt away my strains. I didn’t know then,
how to talk to her. I couldn’t even muster courage to say hello. Days went like
that, with that smile becoming more of a routine, more like a ritual, a kind of
a silent affair, a mellifluous rhapsody with the words missing.
Then one day, God had some
strange salad and wanted some fun. He created this event at our office graced
by none other than the charm then – Alia Bhatt. The entire floor attended it,
and I stood in one corner, gazing at ‘her’ open tresses and their flare, an
occasionally when she would turn smiling or laughing. So, while this interactive
event with Alia, was on its course, the host asked if someone had something
impressive for Alia. When no one took the bait, I reluctantly offered my head
to be decapitated. Don’t know if I was sloshed with overdose of ‘her’ charisma
but ‘she’ had certainly bewitched me.
I walked up to the dais,
presenting the shabby looking me, and Alia quipped, “it better be good”.
“If that special someone flashes
before you and you are compelled to smile, consider it one”, was my whip.
I’m not sure which one of my
previous writings I recited that day, but all I remember is ‘her’ attention to
my words, her smile to the meanings and the applaud at the end. While Alia had
her good, I too had my moment. She walked up to me and said those three magical
words, “YOU ARE AMAZING!”
That was the first of many. At least
God had thought so, but he didn’t work much on me. L
This is my mid-30s.
I have withdrawn from that
mundane existence and that typical 9-6 routine. Yeah, it did take that media
giant to buy my blogs and make my pockets full in order to take the plunge, I
guess by that time God did work some on me.
To settle down in this wettest
town was a natural choice. There is something about rains that brings out your
romantic best. In summers, the days can be scorching hot, but post lunch, the
breeze sets in, the evenings are pleasant and nights cold. Sleeping under a
warm quilt is all that makes sleep the most wonderful thing to do. And
occasionally there is other warmth between the sheets.
Experiences are that I live for
these days. Meet people, go for adventure thrills, visit places around the
globe once a while, make memoirs and pen them down. I had thought to anchor a
travel show that could take me to beautiful locales at their expense but they
couldn’t help put away my shabbiness. Hard luck, I do that on my own now.
Sometimes, wet strolls give a whole new chilling experience. You then set down
to warm yourself with that special masala ginger tea or the monk who has been
keeping people warm for ages.
I was at this talking human
library one fine evening. Amongst all my regulars there were couple of new
faces and one seemed so familiar, a face that I almost dream each day but this
one seemed only a resemblance and possibly I was hallucinating. Ohh these
rains! Somehow, I felt like reading ‘that day’ to my audience, yes that day,
when she said those three magical words. That day is still fresh like a lily,
etched in my memory, and like a record I can read it in its entirety. After the
session and with the customary greetings done, while I was putting back my
paraphernalia, I heard, “hello there!”. That voice, did I hallucinate again?
With that astonishment I raised my head, and I was in for more surprise. How in
the world it could be possibly be her? But there she was, and it was indeed
her, with that charming smile of hers, bedazzling me like it has always, ever
since that first strike.
“There are few words that have got stuck in my heart and
mind, and all these years, I have been wondering, if I want to run away from
them, or I want more of them. Initially, I tried running away but it didn’t
work really, so I thought, lets try to get more of them.
You have been hard to get, almost vanished socially, if
it hadn’t been for that last blog of yours, I would still be running amok.
And your voice is more deep, husky and invigorating than
the first time I heard it.
God, you won’t believe, what your voice does to me, …… that
day something knocked my heart, but I was too afraid to open that door”
And I just sat there, enchanted
by that smile, lost in her eyes and bewildered by her beauty.
“I guess I too was afraid to knock again…
You are beautiful!
That smile of yours is the best thing on you!”
It didn’t stir
her, it wasn’t the first time she may be hearing it, but there was a certain
blush.
“I don’t know
who was compelled more, but as you see I’m here”, she said with that
effervescent smile of hers.
“I guess I have
arrived too”, time for me to blush.
We set out for
one of those wet strolls, initially we spoke rather inquired about each other,
but slowly the talking stopped. The chill & wet both had their effects on
us. Our breaths were deeper, profound, louder and the teeth chattering. I looked
at her, the water droplets fell from her eyelid and rolled down her cheek, her
lips spread out, I could hear her deep breaths, the ears had turned red &
hot, but eyes were wide open. There were no words said but a lot of talking
happening at that moment. We had stopped walking to let this intense talk reach
its culmination.
I felt she
needed some warm breath and I touched those red-hot ears of her, ran my fingers
through those wet tresses and held her wet warm neck gently. She let her self-loose,
almost submissive but reading my eyes all the time. The other hand held her waist
and for the first time in a while, the eyes stopped talking and the breaths
became one. Natures own music played and we matched our rhythm to it.
Its in years
that I was feeling content and kind of complete. I don’t know if she knew what I
had for lunch but I really knew how luscious those lips were and how deep and
long she could breathe. While we kept each other warm in our embraces, the sun
had decided to call it a day.
To be
continued…
