"Hello, yes Ayesha, say"
"Hello, Rahil, are you there?"
"Yes, I can hear you, bolo", his voice sounded more soft and confused. As human beings, we long for love, we long to be desired, we long to be valued, but Rahil longed to be with her, that would be enough for him.
Slowly the sky started pouring again. The weather seemed to be playing with him, poking him, making fun of him. The fate had already started playing game of chess in his life. Even in the worst, talking to her could put a beam tender, unnoticed smile on his lips. The cold winds continued striking his face, as it penetrated the lanes and by-lanes of Kolkata.
Rohan , Prashit and Joy were still hanging with their never ending discussions, may be this time it was going on with what career plans they had stored up for themselves. Tiny drops of rain continued hitting his face and his Sony Xperia M. His phlegmatic mind din't have an idea what was more intoxicating to him, the three bottles of Kingfisher strong or his newly found zest for living, Ayesha.
When you don't know whats wrong and whats going on, just stop your effort to to know, and move ahead, he said to himself murmuring.
"What are you saying?" Ayesha asked.
"Oh...nothing,nothing, say,"
"I'm so sorry Rahil "
"Whats there to be sorry for? chill, Its ok" he said it again in that husky tone of his.
Rahil had been a player since his high school days. He used to be quite good juggler between the girls. His character matched up exactly with those of sprinters or Usain Bolt . He could cover the short distance swiftly, in a minimum possible time, but in the long run, he always failed cheaply. The last serious relation he had was almost two years before, It had lasted for 6 months and after that the passion faded. It had ended on a sour note just before his 20th birthday. It had been quite incomprehensible and depressing at the same time for him as after that he hadn't had that serendipitous feeling for any girl for almost two years. Now when that faded passion had started burning inside him once again for Ayesha, fate seemed cruel.
"Rahil actually i wanted to ask you something"
"Yes you can ask" he said this with no excitement as before.
"Nothing leave it...."
"Aare say na, its totally ok" he sounded more numb.
"Actually...ummm...can we meet up for dinner today?" she asked it in a low tone. Here comes the third chance, he thought
" Today?"
"Yes today, its 3.30 , so we will meet around 5.30, so will that be good with you?"
He was left speechless for one more time. He was a new man all over again. Throughout the day he had lost all idea about himself, and almost had lost all faith in fate. With a continuous struggle between I can't go I am drunk, but I can't miss the chance to meet her, the fight between him and himself , he replied,
"Yes that will be fine , i guess, so Food Station?" he asked in one breath,his eyes shining all over again.
"OK, see ya then" her voice din't sound like before though.
The never stopping heart beat was just unbearable . He just made a choice and what better state to be in for the first meet, with three bottles down for the first date. The clock started galloping now. Time surely does move at different paces at different situations. The three of them were all asleep now, compressed in a single unmade bed. The TV was left on, and some European football league was going on. The last topic for discussion probably was this before all three got wasted and down, he thought . He switched off the Tv, making his way into the room, through scattered newspapers lying all over the floor , and empty chips and cigarette packets sprawled over. he took a diary out from his red bag. Rahil started moving back to his creativity room with a diary in hand. The clock showed 3.45. Just few hours and he will be with his crush. The feeling did excite him but between that excitement there was the obscured fear of losing the chance for the third time. He decided to fill one more page in his diary. There was no rush this time. What should he wear? How should he talk? How will it be like? What would she think after the first meet? little did he cared about all these questions now. As he entered his creativity room, the rain had slowed down, the roads were half drown with over flowing drainage, and they decide to ban 50 shades, he said to himself slowly with a smile. The traffic was stucked down the road. Turning the pages , with his beautiful crafted Parker Pen in hand, he started writing....
" Let me live this day on my own, I won't live on the validation of others. I am not afraid if i make a mistake today because I am human and I am bound to make one. This day will end soon, the year will end soon and at the end of it I don't wanna discover myself in a boring stand just because I listened to my parents, my friends , my idols or just because I followed the same old perfect dating tips given on the internet or I listened to my priest or some idiotic looking guy on the Tv . I won't give up, I want to fly, to imitate that multi coloured butterfly and for that I am ready to give up my life as a caterpillar. Without twitter, Facebook, I want to follow my heart for once and live a day, because in this world there is so much congestion, traffic congestion, inbox congestion, nasal congestion, artery congestion and the quest to eradicate poverty, the drainage problem, wrinkles problem. Does my face look pumped up in this pic? Am i looking too fat in this one? Between all these confusion and congestion and the continuous effort to balance between food, work,water,career, alcohol,medication,mental health,physical health......let me breathe today and take a time out for myself an my love because I am a human bound to make mistakes and I'm not afraid to make one...."
A smile spread on his face as he gently closed this diary and capped his Parker. He looked up at the once gloomy sky. Clouds had started to spread out and make way for the winter sun. Rahil turned back and entered the room, it was not the one in which they boozed, It was the once where Ayesha had asked him for a movie. The grin went wider on his face as he looked at his drunk pals lying dead on the bed. He looked at the wretched clock which had just struck four. He quickly started searching for what to wear for the day, but he needed to dilute the beer effect, to bring his senses back to normal, so he decided to take a shower, though time was not on his side. He ran out to the bathroom in his towels , dodging a disaster slip by inches.
Black shirt, jeans was the only option left for him. Wet ,spiky hair , immaculate look and with that drunken smile he jogged off the room, having a last glance of himself on his practice mirror. He paused to look back at his utterly comfortable sound-sleeping-friends but realized that there was nothing he could do. He slam shut the door and ran downstairs and decided to check the time. It was 5.10. Quickly he was on the main road now. Hair half wet and his eyes looking deeper than before. He continued running along the flooding pavements, as time was running out of him till he reached a junction few meters away and shouted..."TAXI"
*****
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