SERENDIPITY
“Bye mansi”
the voice said. He was holding a deodorant in his hand when he heard the voice.
Did the voice say “mansi” he pondered? His heart started beating fast and he
started walking toward the other section. He peeked at the next section which
was full of cosmetics. There was a couple there. The next section was full of
all kinds of cookies, chips etc. three or so kids were loitering there. Towards
the right was the grocery section, which seemed to be empty. He thought his
mind was envisaging circumstances. He slowly turned to leave, when his eyes
caught something. Someone was there, picking something from the bottom rack. He
wondered if this was her. It was 1 in a million chances that of all the places he
will meet her in a reliance store. Far from his place and if he was correct
from her’s too.
She looked
at the popcorns kept on the top rack and knew the limitation of her height
would not permit her to reach there. She looked around and saw him. “Excuse me,
can u please get it for me,” she said, signaling at the popcorn packets. Her
voice brought him back. She, with her large eyes was looking inquisitively at
him. How anyone could ever say no, if she looked with those beautiful eyes, he
thought. He walked towards the rack and reached for the packets. She said “not
that, that’s salted I don’t like that. I want the chilly surprise”. “Women”, he
thought. And he gave her the packed. She took the packet and thanked him.
She started
walking away from him. He could not let it happen. So he followed her and in a
few giant steps he stood in front of her, blocking her way. Ordinarily he would
not have done something as impulsive as this but this was no ordinary circumstance
(he told this to himself whenever he did something like this).
He said “I had a school fren …….” She crossed
her arms and said “hold on, if u think this whole well rehearsed school fren
drama is going to work with me u r absa-fucking-lutely wrong”. He simply stared
at her. She pushed her trolley and moved. Was this actually happening? He
wondered. She turned and he called “Mansi” she turned back. She looked at him
and said “what did you say?” she looked at him suspiciously. “I called my friend’s
name” he said.
She said “Friends name uh! Does this really work?
If u calls me by any random name I will be irrated and tell u that my name is
not what u r calling and then will give my real name. That’s cheesy and old. Be
creative.” he decided to go with the flow.
He envisaged
“well, u didn’t hear me out. “I had a school fren who is in coma so I was wondering
if u would like to contribute some money for her. Her family cannot afford it. I am here 4 a good cause, missy,” he added for good effect. She looked at him and asked “seriously?” She saw a slight smile on his face and knew
the truth.
She played
along too,“for good cause meaning, u r here to befriend women who can help your fren?”
He said “No,
m here to polish my skills on chivalrous code of conduct when talking to beautiful women”.
She said “Who beautiful? I think u need spectacles.
I need second opinion”.
He said “Then
u can ask me twice” he said. She was charmed but did not accept it.
She continued “I take the opinion only of
experts and u doesn’t look like a person I would like to take opinion from.”
“Looks r deceptive”
he said. “So r u”she said. “I repeat, don’t go by my looks, its deceptive".He
said.
She said “I understand
deception when I am faced with it”
He said “that’s
y, u hadn’t faced me till now”
She said ‘I face
ur mirror images every day”
He said “u r
mistaken, I carry my reflection and no one can be as good as me”
She said “u
have misconception about ur looks”
He said “who
talked about looks?”
She said “someone
who hasn’t seen himself in the mirror”
She was
walking a few paces ahead of him so He caught her by her arms and took her face
in his hands, which made her look up to him. The large, beautiful eyes stared
at him in utter disbelief. Their eyes interlocked. He could feel the smooth
texture of her skin under his fingers.
He said “I just
looked at the mirror”
She shut her
eyes and pushed him. He did not want to scare her and unknowingly he had. He let
go of her. Her face looked flushed.
He said “r u
ok? I didn’t mean to hurt u. I just wanted to look at the mirror…’
He stopped
abruptly. She was showing him her middle finger.
He said “one
o’clock, suits me’
She could not
help smiling at this. She had never thought of the middle finger in this way. She
was amused. He is actually good, she thought. She looked over her shoulder and
there he was just next to her.
He said “truce?”
she nodded.
He said “under
the circumstances when a man is trying to befriend a woman, what would u have
said”.
She said “well,
I would have said, the perfume u r wearing is intoxicating and so r u”
He said “does
this work”?
She said “u
try and let me know.”
He said “I would
like to try other things.”
She said “u
mean things, exclusive of “other things”
It was his
turn to smile. To a person overhearing their conversation none of it would have
made any sense. But they were just engrossed in their conversation- cum jibe.
He said “preferably”
She said “u
would prefer what? Their number? At
this point she looked up at him and saw him smiling. She said “hello, I am
talking about phone no. what no. r u thinking about?”
He could not
stop smiling, it was after all her, he was sure of it now. They had reached the
billing counter.
He said “there
r so many numbers I can think about, that it is confusing”
When the
billing was done. He offered to leave her to her place in his bike. She
declined saying her place was not far and she preferred walking.
So he said “walk
with me to my bike, I will keep my purchases there, then we can walk back; holding
hands” he added mischievously.
She looked
up to him and said “I might let u hold something more....... than my hands”.
He was
fiddling with his pockets, looking down. The minute she said it, the slide show
began…he thought of holding her in his arms very close, holding her eyes to
his, holding his breath and holding her lips. In a nano second he visualized
all these.
She watched
him closely and had a good idea of what he was thinking. Then she said “l would
let u hold my......my....... grocery bags”. He was still looking down n he smiled at himself,
his thoughts or her, he knew not.
He knew she
was never going to walk with him. So he looked at her and extending his hand
said “nice meeting u. I know u would not like me going forward than this.”
They shook
hands and parted ways.
He started
walking towards the parking lot, thinking about her. So he had finally met her.
The woman he had been talking to for the last 4 years. Ok correction, he had
been talking to her over yahoo, then orkut and then face book for almost two
years then she had vanished. He never thought he was going to meet her in
person but such is life. He kept looking back, for what, he didn’t know. Perhaps
she had not recognized him. Should he have introduced himself?
could have been no one else. No one could continue such baseless conversation with such quick wit. She kept thinking about him and looking back. Perhaps he did not recognize her. Should she have introduced herself?
Engrossed in
their thought they walked away from each other.