The Stunning Beauty...That Sunday Night...

You all must have been to malls of today...hustling n bustling with a lot of people everywhere...shouting children, huge families, young eye-locked couples, spruced-up girls dressed-to-kill and wandering guys with opportunistic eyes...

Nikhil, 23, along with 2 of his close friends, Arun and Vyomkesh went to one of these malls on a really lifeless Sunday just to change the boring mood he was engulfed with due to the recent break-up he had with his girlfriend. The weather was pleasant, so they planned to take up a rickshaw rather than a regular 3-wheeler auto. The hell-bent Rs. 5 bargaining with one rickshaw-wallah made them walk almost half of the distance up to the mall to find another one, but instead of giving them a winner like feeling which can be seen on any Indian Housewife's face after getting a successful bargain deal, this episode had worsened their Sunday mood...

Being really pissed-off coz of the mundane dinner they used to have at home, their main motive was to have good food in this mall along with some raking to the eyes which definitely is the worthy by-product for anyone in a mall on any given Sunday.

So, they went to a restaurant full of so many people that even after somehow managing to get the self-served food, they had to wait for a long time to find a place where they could sit and eat. Vyomkesh really got heated up and the moment he decided to walk out of the place without having the dinner, an old couple from a far away corner got up from their seat, looking content after their dinner. This was the moment; the three of them had to run a lot of distance to get the recently emptied seat.

With filled plates in both of his hands, suddenly Nikhil started running at the top of his speed looking forward may be to break Bolt’s new olympic record, cutting from the middle of the crowd, crossing over the wild kids on the way, the slippery floor and the wary watchful eyes... While he was about to reach the much wanted table; the old couple came back on the seat crushing his hopes of the cherished award in the form of the table, right there, yet again.

But the couple had come only to collect the purse which the lady had left by mistake on the table. Nikhil and his friends gasped a pang of fresh air and grabbed the seat, to finally enjoy their dinner. Plenty of Indian delicacies like Chole Bhature, Raj Kachori, Paneer Tikka, mouth watering Bhelpuri and Sweet Lassi had filled the empty hollows of their craving stomachs.

But that was not enough for all but Arun, the guy with an unending appetite. He said, "I am not done, I want to eat some Chinese too." Hence, they had to go up to the food court, usually found on the terraces of these malls, providing plenty of food options to fill the foodie desires of the ever hungry Arun.

While Arun was exploring his Chinese eating desires..., Nikhil’s eyes suddenly met those beautiful eyes, those exquisite pair of red sandals, those long well-curled hair, that white bracelet, those Jolied lips, and that stunningly amazing face. He had not seen similar features from a long-long time. She was perfect..., a Diva, a beauty, a Goddess standing somewhere right in front of him. Their eyes met...once...twice and even thrice...but nothing happened. Nikhil thought, "It might just be a casual look...which keeps happening in the mall."

But, that beauty turned up to the same Chinese eatery zone right next to the place where Nikhil was standing. She grabbed her already prepared order and went up to the seating zone. Nikhil’s eyes followed, wishing that she does not at-least sit next to some guy coz that will crush his heart suggesting she already has a boyfriend. In fact, Nikhil wished that she would have come with some friends of hers so that the situation becomes easier to handle and somewhat approachable for him. But what he sees takes his breath away. To his dismay, the girl sat right next to a huge fat man, with bald head and white moustache, a definite colonel look...No points for guessing, he was surely her Father with a damn angry look on his face like the one which was typically last seen in Amrish Puri’s eyes in DDLJ, the Bollywood flick which inspires every young Indian heart.
While Nikhil was in his own world, suddenly Arun appeared, with his well garnished Chinese noodles along with Vyomkesh. He pinched Nikhil shouting, “Kaha hai dude…what the hell has happened to you, why are you sweating badly in this chilling air-conditioned space?” And Nikhil couldn't stop narrating his newfound love story right from his heart telling them that he has fallen in love, yet again, but this time it really seems for real.

When Arun and Vyomkesh saw the girl, her mystic beauty swept the floor away from their feet too. They soon decided to sit down at the most 'strategically' placed location, out of the few options available, on Nikhil’s suggestion. Generally, friends laugh things off in these situations which happen quite often in malls. But gauging Nikhil’s seriousness they coaxed Nikhil to do something, charged him up, saying things like you are the only one who can do something…it’s now or never types. Reassuring him that if something happens to him, they would be the first to run away at the top their speeds...

But Nikhil had lost all hopes by this time, seeing that when the girl has come with her Father, Mother and her sister, it’s naturally an impossible proposition to talk to her or for that matter, even approach her. The guy looking for love, decided that he would do nothing insane and sit quietly and cry on his bad luck, after all the girl is with that huge Godzilla sized Father. He couldn't do anything; already life had given him enough bruises, not any more…Nikhil just sat quietly in anticipation of an opportunity…

Suddenly, the beauty got up...turned...their eyes met again, she went up to one of the counters and bought a bottle of mineral water, fancied an amazing look at him again and got back to her seat. This eye-locking had a catastrophic effect on Nikhil’s heartbeat which was soaring a peak of a lifetime. Nikhil was about to get back to his normal self and guess what, she got up again, this time to fetch tissue papers and the stunning eyes met with the opportunistic ones, yet again, leaving Nikhil mesmerized...

But, since the situation was out of Nikhil’s control and since Arun had already gulped down his noodles and had ran away from the situation to save himself from the anticipated beating due to Nikhil’s intentions, Nikhil too decided to leave with Vyomkesh, crushing his lively emotions to a logical death.

The moment they got up from their seat...nothing happened; the moment they started walking...nothing happened; but the moment they crossed the pleasant smell of that amazing perfume of her's, another ray of hope came Nikhil’s way. She rose again from her seat and reached the same Chinese vendor again which was located a little far from the place where the moustached Devilish villain of Nikhil’s new found love-life was sitting. Gauging the moment and finally living his dream, Nikhil left Vyomkesh on the way; he headed the Chinese vendor...leaving Vyomkesh shocked.

He went up there, very close to the counter, right next to where the stunning beauty was standing. For a moment he couldn't breathe, words couldn’t come out of his mouth, he was not even able to blink his eyes. They were staring at each other, standing right next to each other, face to face. A set of three words, “Can we talk?”, Nikhil popped out the question. She blinked her eyes for a moment, a whiff of fear rolled down her throat and she whispered another set of three words, “Not right now!” and she quickly went back leaving Nikhil with an insanely questioned look...

Lot of thoughts went through Nikhil’s mind, “Not right now!”, it might mean..., “Yes!, but not right now!” or it might mean..., “No!!!, not right now and never ever after!”. Nikhil was confused, what he should do, his friends had already left downstairs without telling him whether they are waiting or not, and the girl for whom he was ready to go till the last mile was sitting back right next to her family. He was asking himself, “I should wait” or “I should approach her again” or “I should talk to the angry Colonel directly” or “I should at least pass down my contact number” or “I should wait and follow her”...so many questions...he was devastatingly confused...

What should Nikhil do? What should be his next step? Can you complete Nikhil’s story, if you would have been in his place what would you have done? What if the girl goes to a movie after the dinner with her family in the same mall? What if she moves back in her father's car back home? Did the girl had similar feelings for Nikhil? Can you help Nikhil decide his next move? Well, Nikhil is waiting…

Now, its your time to comment, post your suggestions, post your thoughts, post anything you wish to...the blog is waiting...So, start pouring in ur comments…



PS: The above story is based on imaginary thoughts. All characters in the story are fictitious, any resemblance to actual events in any mall or with any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.