A voice seemed to fade into the air...
Lost in the oblivion of solitude, the world to him seemed so mundane and hollow. Couching on a lone bus at Jeevan Bheema nagar , Anurag kept mulling at every raindrop that kissed the ground and slitted into several smaller drops. A few sporty ones cruised on a roller coaster ride by the rim of the window pane finally dropping on his elbow. He had given hope that his Face Book acquaintance would ever be his friend and date him...
She would ? She would'nt ?....She would ? …..But why not ? After all she had promised him when he last pinged her. His mind was playing a tug of war with self inflicted questions between Would she or Wouldn't she...
SHWETA, thats the name, he typed searching for long lost class mate.
And FaceBook recommended him a bunch of Shweta Aggarwal to his confusion...Many of them sporting a beautiful profile pictures but to no avail. He browsed through one of the profile with no picture but a big yellow color circle that was happy smiley. Suspecting Shweta he was looking for he sent her a message...
Hey Shweta...
This is me...Anurag !!!Remember ? GOD...where on earth I did not search for u ? Where are you and how u doing ? Remember...u said me... We will always be in touch...But it seems the day we parted from school, we lost our connection...Hope you are the shweta one am looking for 'o else I am sorry !!!
Reply in haste...
Anurag
Hello Anurag
I am sorry...I am not the one Shweta you are looking for....But your message was sweet indeed and I see your are a wonderful artist...One of the sketches in your Photos , where a couple is dancing on white cloud... that sketch...it really touched my heart. I would not mind making you my acquaintance.
Love
Shweta
Acquaintance and Love she had used both the words in her short message. Well, for a moment he felt something unusual under his belly. Nevertheless both of them added each other as acquaintance and as the day passed by they became good friends and as more days passed they became a little more than close friends, if you understand what I mean.
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Shweta tiptoed towards the terrace hiding the piece of paper in her bosom which Anurag had given her this evening. It was a starry night with the wind just blowing to soothe her cheeks. Gingerly she unfolded the piece of paper. It was a sketch of a girl in black sleeveless top which looked exactly like her. Her hairs loose open, strands flying in the air, hands strethced wide emracing the rainfall. Droplets of water hanging aoround her nose and cheeks, as thought bidding the last good bye just before falling down and her dress fully wet hugging her body as though taking the warmth of her ethereal skin. In the background there was a coconut tree bowing down to her as if for protecting her from the storm and there was a streak of lightening in the sky which she was not wary off. Completely independent, Jovial and full of frolic she was lost in her own world of dance.
The sketch was just out of the world. Her lips arched from one end of her cheek to another smiling with unlimited blush. She felt very happy that someone can imagine her so beautifully. But there was a tinge of concern as her heart ached for a moment. She never danced so freely and what if Anurag had fallen in love with her ? It was not that she did not like him but she couldn't imaging getting married to him. She was daughter of a millionaire builder while he was just a meager earning artist. She pondered for some time and decided to suppress her happiness in her heart she felt for the sketch and for Anurag.
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The next afternoon she waited for him at Costa Coffee house. Getting down from his bike, he adjusted his hair . She could sense his anticipation of getting tons of compliment from her....
“So, How was it ?”
“It was good”, She said, “But not like me, u know”....
“But Why not ?”
“The girl in your sketch it seems... Seems like very much younger than I am ....plus she is stupid. She could have at least taken a shelter, how can she be so careless to dance in rain under the coconut tree when its lightening.”
Shweta kept speaking and Anurag kept listening as his eyes sinked deeper and breath became shallower.
“But I dint set out to make you stupid. I drew you as you came to me”
A voice from her heart was telling her to keep mum, but she decide not to listen to it..,
“Did u know, my daddy has never ever let me walk in the rain”
“No But-”
“Did you know I have never ever danced in an open area, like you have depicted ?”
“No But-”
“You are completely mistaken about me. I am rich Anurag but I am not as free as you think. My daddy is really strict and he never let me alone anywhere except for when I come to college. He is like that not because he is thinks I am girl but because he cares for me more than anything in the world.”
“Osh...I am Sorry Shweta...but can you give me a chance to fix it....Can I make the real you ? The one which you like to be....Confident ,Careful and your daddy's daughter...I promise...”
“Daddy' Daughter”, these words from him stole her heart. But she was silent...She knew she has spoken so much for no reason and it was indeed a beautifully sketched herself. She felt sorry but she never expressed her apologies.
“OK”, She replied, “But I don't like wearing black top u sketched ”, She tried putting in attitude.
“You don't have to, I gonna clad you in the blue embroidered salwar, with dupatta hanging very carefully around your slender neck. Your ears Jewelled with the perfect gem hiding between your well groomed strands falling on to your shoulder and your forehead dotted with shinning bindi between your eye brows. ”
Anurag was talking about one of her profile picture on FaceBook that she probably had clicked in one the wedding cermony.
“and I dont want to dance under the rain and my hands should be well poised”
“Sure, you will not...I will make u sit on a chair , a well manicured hands perfectly crossed over your knees. I love it when you are like that flawlessly sitting on chair sporting a smile that could make a sad person like me smile too”
“and I love it when my eyes are Kohled and my feet ankled ”
“Your eyes are beautiful, that is perhaps the first thing I noticed about you. I can imagine how pretty you would look, like when your eye rim would be accentuated by shades of Kohl and how good it would sound when your anklet would jangle as you walked effortlessly”
Shweta sensed her cheeks getting redder and her heart pounding unusually extra as she never ever imagined in her sweetest dream that someone would describe her so beautifully.
It was time for them to part. They bid good bye to each other. Anurag promised that he would paint her exactly the way he told her. Shweta smiled for the last time as she turned to go. Suddenlly she became conscious of her dress she was wearing, the melody of her anklet as she stepped each time and her eyes that whether she forgot to smear it with the Kohl today.Was she in Love too?
To be Coninued....
