The Lady In Pink !

Karan checked his wrist watch on the cold winter morning; he was standing beneath the banyan tree near the bus stop. This was the third time in the last 5 min that he was checking the time; it was 8:35 AM now. The bus to  Chamrajpura had not yet arrived. It was unusual as the bus was usually never late. The bus driver was always punctual and would be there always sharp at 8:30 AM. It took him 48min to be precise to reach his office from Shakti Nagar, where he resided.

Karan seemed to be a little more bothered than usual. It was not that the bus was late but the absence of someone else at the bus stop. It was Friday and she always wore a pink dress on every Friday.  Her name was Vishaka, our boy Karan’s dream girl, as he used to describe her to his friends at work. Vishaka worked as secretary to MD at a travel agency which was housed in the same building as Karan’s office.

Karan had moved to Mysore a few months back, when he landed a job as a marketing manager with a Bangalore based hair Oil Company called LNP Enterprises. They had recently launched non sticky hair oil for men called Ghama-Ghama. His boss Puttaswamy wanted to market this product in tier-2 cities in the state and had hired Karan precisely for this assignment.

Few minutes later he saw Vishaka in her pink top and black jeans, walking hurriedly towards the bus stop piercing the light mist on the road. For Karan it was like a scene straight from a bollywood movie when the heroin makes an glam entry. May be momentarily he felt like spreading his arms wide open like king Khan of bollywood, who does the same in most song sequences of his movies.

When she finally reached the bus stop Karan stood zapped as usual, being able to steal only few glances at her. She stood there with her hair untied, which was blowing away with the cool morning breeze as it eclipsed her face. She looked at him and smiled as she said hello to him while she tried to tie her hair together. Karan was almost frozen and could only muster a feeble hi! Friday was always the toughest day of the week for him, for she was in his favourite colour, pink.

On the contrary it was a significant achievement for Karan, because it was for the first time he had managed to say “HI” to his dream girl. Usually it was just a smile and then 48 min of silence throughout his bus journey to his office. Today was his day number 22 since he saw her for the first time and incidentally day number 1 was also a Friday.

Karan was determined that he would go beyond a ‘Hi’ today and invite her to join him for coffee post work hours in the evening. He took a deep breath and walked up to her. He then asked Vishaka, smilingly if she was free today evening to join him for coffee. She smiled too and just as she was about to reply, his mobile phone rang, the ring tone was the current favourite song of the masses “Why This Kolaveri Di”.

He took out his mobile phone from his pockets and in big block letters he saw Puttaswamy’s name on his display. The moment he received the call and said hello, he could hear his boss yelling at him from the other end about the dip in sales volume of Ghama-Ghama hair oil in Mysore and other neighbouring small towns. Karan cursed his boss (mentally) for ruining his almost perfect Friday morning. He was hoping to score the first base with his dream girl by asking her out for coffee. The rambling of his boss didn’t stop and by the time he could interrupt his boss and explain him the reasons behind the products slow movement in the market, he realised that the much awaited bus was leaving with Vishaka aboard. He thought of slamming the phone onto the ground in the fit of rage.

Just then he heard the screeching sound of his house door bell from nowhere.  Slightly puzzled Karan looked around and then fell on the ground with a thud. That’s when he realised he had just fallen off his bed. He got up and checked his mobile phone on his bed to figure out if he had any call from his boss. There wasn’t any. He was relieved that the erratic call from his boss was just a mere dream. But he was disappointed that saying Hi and walking up to Vishaka and asking her out for a coffee was a dream too. But he was determined he will make it all a reality today.

He looked at the Titan wall clock in his bedroom and it was 8:25 AM. He was late yet again today and would be missing his bus, more importantly he would be missing out on putting into action his epic plan, to meet his dream girl at the bus stop and ask her out for coffee.

As he was remorsing about his lost opportunity and the door bell rang again. Karan who was quiet disappointed and dejected by the double trouble i.e. being late and missing out on Vishaka went ahead and opened the door. He started to blast angrily at the person standing outside the door. And then he heard that fellow sheepishly wishing him ‘Happy Sunday’. A close look at the man and he realised it was his good Malayali neighbour Baby John. He always came to Karan’s place on every Sunday morning to invite him for breakfast, which was usually appam and chicken curry. Karan looked at the calendar hanging on the wall in the hall it was indeed a Sunday today.

Karan then burst out laughing as Baby John starred at him with puzzled looks. Baby John too joined Karan in his laughter when he shared with him the whole story about the dream, about Vishaka, the call from Puttaswamy and being awakened by the screeching doorbell and then believing that he was late to work. Only to realise later that it was all a dream and today was a Sunday and not Friday.

P.S: It was during my trip back home that I happened to have these characters take shape in my mind. As I sat at my desk tonight trying to put my thoughts together this piece of fiction emerged. Hope you folks who read it liked it and enjoyed reading it. Would be glad to get some feedbacks, laurels and brickbats both are welcome.

As always I sign off by saying .... VJ Says ~ Cheers & Peace!