The next morning Anurag woke up as thought he never slept. His hand pillowed his head, his legs were crossed over and his heavy eye fixed up reminiscing her Facebook acquaintance Shweta . Her eye smudged with kohl , her manicured hands clung with wooden bangles and her golden necklace hanging along the curves of her chest. Gold against White. His heart was totally shuttered with her imaginative beauty as his musing suddenly broke when his daddy calling forth his name.
Chandok Soni was an artist and had a boutique in the heart of the city. He was famous for selling antique paintings that stretched back during the era of early Britishers and even before. His handful clients would buy paintings for high fortunes that would be umpteen to sustain even if he would be without sales for one season.
“You are flattering me, I just love to do my duty”, said Chandok.
“I am not.”,replied Chandok's new client Maheshwari
“Your collections speaks volume about you. I tell you one day your paintings gonna hang in the house of our prime Minister”
He then turned towards Anurag and put his hand on his shoulder
“Are you not proud of your Father?”
“I am very much”, I replied coyly.
“Thats my boy” .
He complimented Anurag with a pat on his shoulder. His talks told that he was very much impressed by Chandok's collections and he was looking forward to buy some more in future.
“Daddy, you forgot your coffee”
That was a young female voice. Anurag sneaked little towards side. A slim hipped girl in salwar topped with a yellow duppata. Her hairs curling exactly twice before leaning down to her shoulders and her skin milky white.
“That so dear of you, Thank you so much”, said Maheshwari.
As she came near her father and handed his coffee she looked even more attractive. She appeared like a dream of every artist as if she was carved when God was on a sabbatical. Her duppata was modestly hanging over head before falling down to her shoulders.
“She is my daughter, Shweta”
Anurag lifted his head and their eyes met for a couple of seconds.
Both of their hearts skipped a beat it and for flash they felt they just survived a magnanimous turbulence. It was like collusion of two invisible Titan without making sound. They in their most craziest dream must have never thought once a Facebook acquaintance would meet like this. She looked tensed and Anurag saw how beautiful she looked when there were streaks of concern on her suave face.
“Well, its time go “, said Chandok as he shook hand with Maheshwari
Later when they were driving back home Anurag tried to gather a little more information.
“Who's choice the painting was dad? Was it Uncle Maheshwari or his daughter?”
“I don't know, but how does it make sense, when your paintings are sold?”
“Hmmm”, Anurag cleared his throat.
“Are they from a very aristocratic background. I think the choice of the painting was of Shweta's”
Chandok swiveled his steering past a speeding truck and when the road appeared more serene he said with a gasp:
“Hmmm ! Why do you ask ?”, he looked at Anurag coyly
Anurag shrugged and fought back a smile.
“Just like that, dad”
“O, really? Or my son has hot a shot on someone!”, he said with a playful eye lingering on him.
Anurag rolled his eye with a sheepish smile as they drove all the way on the highway.
That night Anurag felt insomniac. He looked at his watch. It was 2 AM. Not knowing what to do, he logged into facebook. There were 2 notifications and 1 message flashed in red color. As he clicked on the icon, an array of updates rolled down.
“Sudip has sent you a farm ville request”
“Raju gandhi also commented on his own photo"
He squeezed his cheeks in indifference and heartlessly clicked on the message.
“Shweta has sent you a message”
Suddenly his eyes widened up as he checked her profile picture.
“Shweta Vishwas” , read the name. His energy pounced back. Protruding his neck closer to the screen and with an unimaginable gleam in his eye, he stared at the screen.
“Anuuurag ! Cant believe this... you were at my home! GOD ! ! ! for a moment I was blank… something I can never imagine… And thanks for the painting you sold it to us. Its amazing. Love you for this. My dad liked it very much. Thank u Thank u Thank u :)”
Anurag could sense the excitement in her and he too felt his heart pounding again and again as if something can work with her. He clicked Shweta's profile and scanned her details meticulously. About her, her favorite movies, her favorite books and when he saw her relationship status, he felt a tremor in his heart. It was SINGLE. Loud and clear. And when he browsed her album he saw her snap with a boy whose hand lay on her shoulder. With a tinge of green in his heart he clicked next. He was surprised to see the scanned portrait he gifted it to her. A girl in black sleeveless dancing under the rain with her arms stretched wide. Her hairs loose open in harmony with the cool breeze and droplets of water kissing her suave white skin not willing to fall down. She looked beautiful but Anurag thought he could sketch her even more angelic. But one thing kept bothering him.
“Who was that guy in the previous picture”
Nevertheless he clicked on the message and read again and again, God know how many times before he replied back to her.
Dear Shweta...Thank you very much...”
Too clichéd, he thought for a second and then rephrased it as
“Hey there, u don' t need to be too formal. I am glad u liked the painting and even more glad that I saw u. I thought serendipitous situation only happed in movie. But yesterday it happed in real life. Hey...and Shweta I knew you belong to well-to -do family but never thought your parents have such a warm heart. I specially liked your dad, he was very friendly to me and your mom... you mom looked beautiful. Well I wish I could gift your painting yesterday but thank GOD I din’t, for I got a reason to meet you again... and one more thing, You know what...now I came to know why you look so beautiful”.
Guys generally make a mountain out of molehill. He could have just replied her in a simple one liner. But his heart never wished so. He was excited and without much mulling over it he sent the message.
The next day he woke up a little late, as it was Sunday. He kept switching sides reading Shweta's message in his mind. What did she say? “Love you for this.” Is she trying to tell me that she loves me or she just liked the painting?
But she could have told “Like you for this”, then why did she use “Love” and who was that damn guy in that picture. But her relations ship status told she is Single. A million such questions swirled in his head.
To be Continued...
1 comment:
Superb Job :)
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