Tall, smart and handsome (part -5)

A strong beam of sunlight crosses their path and intervenes between their faces and they both close their eyes for a second. She tries to open her eyes and take a look at him, no the ray is blindfolding, she is not able, trying again…again…and again, but no, she lets go of her hand and guards against the beam held across her forehead to look into those eyes.

She sees nothing but a pale white ceiling and the fan running like a tired deer, in slow motion…she does not understand. She winks her eyes, the same no change.

She gets up on her bed and understands it is a dream and the same dream again. She sits silent for a while and wonders, “why this dream always ends there and why she can’t see the entire thing…and dream installments?”

She clears her head with a knock on the right temple and says to herself- “If this wasn’t a dream she might have seen that smile, that face, that eyes somewhere in my work life and they all have come together in a dream…there isn’t so much to be carried away. A simple dream in an extra-ordinary setting…!”

She looks at the full mirror on the dressing table; she looks at her eyes, checks her figure, looks at her face and then gets on with her usual routine life, selects a dress for the day and sets on with her morning rituals and gets ready for the day ahead.

When she approaches the breakfast table, her dad and mom, see her as angel walking towards them with a beautiful smile and a contended face, and the beauty that cannot be missed and makes you see one more time. The beautiful chiffon saree, with a mild crème and maroon prints adds beauty to the dusky damsel in perfect figurine.

“Good morning, folks…so what’s the food today?” Finishing her breakfast leisurely with few meaningful glances with her dad and mom, she wishes them all a good day and walks off to the portico where her car is parked…!

Her dad looks at her mom and says, “Be ready to welcome a son-in-law, my dear wife…you have gone old now!”

Both of them laugh simultaneously looking at each other with a pride in their eyes; they are disturbed by a sound of a sms…“Dad, stop dreaming…!”

The car leaves the premises with a hand weaving from the window…and the window pulling close…! He looks at his wife and smiles, she wonders what is it? He hands her the phone and goes off to get ready for his daily chores.

On reaching her 10 storey office building parks her car at the basement, walks up to the lift and presses the button of her floor, she notices the second floor button already activated.

The lifts door closes and starts moving up…0….1…2…it stops a female gets in. Both of them don’t bother to look at each other and fail to acknowledge.

The fourth floor approaches and the lift come to halt slowly and the doors open. The woman at the second floor, walks out first and then follows, Sandy…when she is about to get out she finds a guy waiting to get in….the second lady has gone few feet ahead and then turns to find the guy moving into the lift, she calls out…Ka…r…thi…k….! Wait!

Involuntarily, Sandy looks in the direction and finds a recognizable smile flash across the man’s face, just then the lady gets in the path and that pair of eyes that sparkle, tell her something.

She is not able to place the smile and eyes but it spoke volumes to her in that few seconds, she turns to find that her lips also have curved into a half-drawn smile and the doors of the lift closing…the pair of eyes looking at her intently.

“Where did I see those eyes…that smile?”

Approaching the reception of her floor, she looks for the register as a regular practice, not finding a pen, she scans the table, she finds a full page advertisement of a famous brand black car with a Mask of Zorro….!

She looks at the door way and the sound of the lift closing by….and in a flash she gets the smile, the eyes, the face…she unknowingly smiles and dropping her bag on the desk runs to the lift…the lift drops by …3…2…!

All dreams don’t come true…but wish certain of our dreams come true and some dreams to remain a dream!

Tall, smart and handsome (part-4)

Her dad comes in and sits on her study table and waits for her to come in completely. She just waits at the door, comes near him and sits on the bed. Both of them look at each other and smile…why is it difficult to talk when you want to?

She looks at him once again and smiles, he does the same and then clears his throat and starts off with whatever he wanted to tell.

“Sandy, I have never seen you so confused or so lost. What is the reason? Is there any trouble or anything like your mom expects it to be?”

“Dad…Dad…There is nothing that I can tell you right now. I agree…I am confused. I…I…I don’t know where to start…and what to tell you? – She starts hovering around her bed and moving up and down the room, with her hands in the air and confusions in her talk.

Her dad just looks at her, thinking what can possibly go wrong. Is my wife correct, is her intuitions true…what am I to do now?

“No…No…No…” – Looking at her dad, she knows what’s running on his mind.

“Sandy, see there is nothing to worry. We are here to help you, kid. Tell us what it is. You have the freedom to do what you want with your life. We have never come in between your choices and wishes, so it will be even further. Just tell us, we would never make you succumb to our desires.”

She runs to her dad, and holding on to his knees she says, “Dad, I need some time. I am sure I am messed up. But I want to handle this myself. I want to come out of this and it is going to take some time…maybe a day or two. I promise, I will be all right. I assure you there is nothing to worry and there isn’t anything that can hurt me or us. Believe me; a little cleaning up is all that is required.”

Her dad, placing a hand on her head, for a minute looks into her eyes and then getting up from his seat, he says, “Sandy, if that is the condition, then it is fine. But remember, your mom and me are with you in every decision that you make.”

“Yes, dad, I know I can count on you people. Thanks, dad for being there. I will be myself in a couple of days!” Nodding here head, she says, “Good night, dad.”

“Good night, Sandy!”

Closing her doors, she lies down on her bed looking at the ceiling and moving along with the fan running clockwise, she seems be hold on to her thoughts, drifting off into her own dreams…!

A beautiful castle with a pathway decked with flowers and different kinds of trees on both sides…she is walking along the way, with a lot of birds chirping and singing… air heavily laden with heavenly fragrance, the rays of light playing hide and seek …slowly she walks by engulfing the surrounding.

The castle stands tall and strong, winning lots of battles and magnificent telling many a tales of victory. From the watch tower she sees that same familiar face, yet again bright and handsome. She looks at the face that has become so handsome and tiring to attain, she misses to see the right hand extended to her as if asking her to run into it.

The door of the castle has a bouquet of wild roses in a bunch. She looks at it and then looks at the face, she gets acknowledged by a nod, she lifts it and smells it; it has the same heavenly smell, making her giddy for a second.

She gently pushes open the doorway and finds a spatial garden strewn in front of her and a winding stairway in the center leading to the watch tower. She walks gently up to the stairway, climbing each stair with care.

At the end of the stairway, she sees the face at a distance so less to walk by and too much to run by. She waits for a second there and looks at him, so why has he masked himself even today? Why does he not remove it? Oh! God just once.

Without, she realizing it she utters, “Why do you mask yourself?”

“Oh! No, what did I just say?”

“Why don’t you want to remove them yourself…or should I?”

“I (Smile)…I…I…yeah for sure, I want to…I want to…hmm…see your face….Yeah, I do”

He just gives her a beautiful smile and she thinks – “Oh! The smile could take away a thousand hearts and be silent forever. Why do you want to torture me so? Now, why do you smile so beautifully, my hear is melting…!”

He just nods at her, slowly she just drifts towards him pulled by the magnetic force…she is just a few feet away from him. She can hear her heart-beat in her ears, the bangs against the walls of the heart, the heaving of the breath…and the distance slowly reducing.

She puts her left hand into his extended right arm, moving closer that their breath is intermingled at the center. She gazes on the face and smile that is giving her immense pleasures that she was not aware of. Then, she lifts her right arm towards the temple and the hand traveling further clutches the cloth that conceals the face, she gets lost in the deep set brown eyes for a second….she is almost there.

The nose bridge is fine, the mouth is sensuous, the cheek bones perfect, the chin perfect, the rough look of a warrior and mingled with a rustic man, the nape leading to the broad shoulders, the arms…So it is the blindfold that hides the whole picture, I am going to be throwing some light on to it.

(…to be continued)

Tall, smart and handsome (part 3)

It is the face that was very close to her and very much dear to her. She actualizes it is her dad and wonders what is he doing, there?

“Sandy(Sandhya), where were you? Why did you not attend our calls? We got really worried. What’s wrong child, are you all right?”

“Uhm…yeah dad, I am fine. But where is the other person, where did he vanish, now?” looking around.

“Who the other person…?”

“Urgh, never mind…between dad, what are you doing here? I mean, why are you moving around this alley…er…I mean, are you going somewhere?”

“Hmm…confused, kid I have. I came in search of you, thinking you might be somewhere around the corner and came to take a look whether you are fine, coz you weren’t returning our calls and you seem to be driving as if in a dream. What’s all this about and now what were you just trying to do?”

“Dad, I am not a kid any more, I know my way home. I had infact informed mom about my late coming, I wasn’t going to be kidnapped or whatever…as she said that, she took a close look at the darkened alley and wondered…what if it wasn’t her dad.

All her disappointment was coming on to her face of not seeing the masked man, “Oh! Where are you lost and why are you torturing me…?”

“Excuse, me lady, can I come in?”

“Yeah, what…how long you know him and isn’t it little strange running after a masked man…as if he is the Antonio Banderas of Mask of Zorro…!”

“I know…I know…now you stop and get lost…!”

“Sandy, sandy….what and whom are you talking to?”

Looking around her once again, banging her head out her reverie, she says, “Ahem! Dad, I don’t know something weird is happening to me, Ok, come now, lets go home.”

Both the dad and daughter get back home lost in their own thoughts and dad wonders what’s wrong with her. If something of a problem brewing or is she hallucinating something…! Have to get into the matter and solve it. Sooner the better, he promises himself.

Sandhya, internally is still disappointed that it was her dad and not the masked man, for a minute she even seems to curse her dad for being there and spoiling the effect of meeting the masked man.

How can she even think like that…a man of her dreams walking out to her…out of no where and if it wasn’t for her dad, she might have gone and hit some building and would have been in whole lot of trouble in that lonely alley.

It is high time I get out of this weird dream of mine and do something about it. Again, at the dinning table the discussion around her strange behavior starts to take rounds, the dad, mom, and brother giving a different connotation to it as appropriate they thought. She kept listening to it and then denied all facts and truths and comes into her heaven.

She could not resist it, the urge to call her dear most friend and discuss about this masked man. But she will also react like dad, mom and bro, again she would have to deny the facts and truths….wait a minute!

What is the fact here and what is the truth? Huh?!

“Hello, people of this house there is nothing as truth and fact, there is only this thing…the tall, smart and handsome masked man, who keeps coming to me and never lets me know…what is what. Ok, people…do you all, get that straight….!”

Oh! Sandy, who are you talking to again….Grrr……..No, this can’t be happening….I am talking to no audience. Am I going insane? She looks at the mirror and her reflection; nothing is strange she looks the same as she does. What’s wrong?

Then, subconsciously, dials her friend’s number on the mobile and starts to open her mouth to speak as soon as she hears her voice….but then her friend, before Sandy could utter a word goes on like a little propeller jet plane that zooms past you but you still can hear its shudder…it goes on.

Sandy puts her hand to her head and listens to all the blabber she had to say and keeps the phone on the table beside her as it is not the right time to discuss. Shall I go discuss with, mom?

No…No…No…that’s all she will spin her own story and it will become a flash story! Why take so much trouble? Will sleep and he will come and then can talk it out with him…this will give me time to analyze his character also meanwhile…Aiyoo….what’s wrong with me?!

She hears a knock on her door and dismisses it as a dream…and then with a full throttle goes to open to door, thinking that her dream is knocking at the door and asking for her permission to enter. She opens it to find her dad standing there…”Oh! not again!”

She did not mean to say that but it escaped her mouth and luckily her dad, did not hear it. She just smiles at his a half-sly smile and he just looks at her with his hands folded behind his back and waits for his daughter to give way and enter the room.

She seems to be standing in the way…they both smile at each other again and then she realizing that she is standing in his way lets him in involuntarily and then again they look at each other and smile…!

Tall, smart and handsome (part-2)

It is half past seven and still Sandhya is breaking over some calculations on her desk. She can’t be at peace still she gets that right and leave for the day. This calculation of hers has made her forget the ordeal at the dawn and her beautiful dream of hers.

It being that time of the year, when the nights are longer and days shorter…it was just being a little late than a pleasant evening it appeared as night. She hurriedly glances at her watch on the right hand and sets to get going, coz her lanes will get deserted and even being in a car it was a bit scary to pass through those streets.

Her house is anew in the area; some suburbs of the city, which is yet to be explored and overlooking the Bay of Bengal. It was such a scenic place, but deserted, quite calm with the lovely breeze of the sea. Sandhya wanted to be away from the crowd of the city, yet accessible place. She got what she wanted and joined hands with her dad to build this place.

She starts from her office, gets into the lift hits the basement key, when she sees a tall guy walking briskly towards the lift and motioning her to stop it for him. They way he tells her, there is something that her mind relates to it; she ignores it and hits the button to open the doors wide.

When he quickened his pace, he hears his name being called and turns…Ka…r…thi…k….! She keeps looking at that turn of head, towards the sound and she finds her eyes also move towards to it.

In that event, she missed the pair of eyes that said, “Mam, I am sorry…you carry on” and turned the other side, the last tilt that head could take, she caught at the right moment, something struck a chord. She missed it and with a sigh she got to the buttons on the lift and continued her journey.

The basement was almost empty with a few cars around; it is unusually late for her. She has never stayed so late even on requests always had her timings right and kept to it. The tube lights in the basement were hazy and some were flicking for want of light itself and was creating an eerie feeling to the whole place.

She could find a guard lost in thoughts and unmindful of the surroundings in one corner of the area. She wonders even if she shrieked will he be able to hear, the thoughts sent shudders through her backbone and with haste unlocked her car doors and locked them. The sound of the car doors locked gave her a sense of safe feeling, with the ignition she gave the sleeping engine a kick-start and slowly and gently maneuvered the blazing blue Hyundai Getz out on to the ramp.

She kept going with her favorite music being played on, keeping her company on the long road ahead. Leaving the shears of the city lights, crowds and sounds, she drives into the roadway of her abode, the lonely and quite life that was hers…she looks around there is not much cars and her car lights giving her enough light to pass through the way.

She looks into the rear-view mirror for a car behind and then a car passes by with the light reflecting on the mirror and blinding her sight, she loses her balance and the shrill power of fright traveling down her spine; she clutches the steer and pedals on to her home.

She comes to the lonely lane that looks almost deserted on a frenzy evening as well, there used to be street lights and today it looked as if nature was as against her.

On the start of the street something makes her stop for a minute and a déjà vu takes place, the alley in her dreams comes true and she gasps for her breath, right at the corner of the road she sees a bright light beaming for her. She steps on the pedal and moves into the street with all her sense on the verge of breakdown, she keeps moving taking in the weird images that creep in the dark.

She is murmuring to her, her mind is speaking to her – ‘it is ok, sweetheart, you are in a car and safe, all you have to do it keep the car moving no matter what and just finish off with this road and walk towards the light, keep focused…’

The light seems to be moving far away from her as she gets closer how is that possible, she seems to be going on forever…nothing seemed right. She peeps into the rear mirror and finds the path is winding just behind the back of her car, nothing seems right, no this can’t be happening, I am dreaming…she keeps telling to herself, but no her hands are sweating and she is moving this car and there is music that is loud enough for her to hear, there is this favorite song of hers that runs on a repeat mode.

Then, suddenly from nowhere she hears a honk too loud to bear, she lifts her hands off the steer and puts it to her ears and applies the break so hard that the car goes completely an inch above the ground and comes to a standstill.

She had closed her eyes so tight that there was nothing visible to her, why is this happening to her; she can feel a tear roll down her beautiful eyes. She slowly opens her eyes not able to bear the knocking that is happening against a glass door. The tap is gentle enough but for her it is like some huge rock gathering momentum to crush her bones underneath it.

She opens her eyes to find a man standing on the other side of the window. The person looks familiar but she does not who is it, she hasn’t still collected her senses. She lowly responds to the sound and tries to lower her window pane and take a look, her mind runs wild is it the masked man?!

Oh! My god it is the masked man…alright so I get to meet him. She takes a look at her and as the window lowers she sees a familiar smile and a face, she finds it hard to place the face…where did I see it first.

(...to be continued)

Tall, Smart and Handsome…!

It is a dark alley. Nothing is visible even after your eyes adjusting to the surrounding, walking down it was like walking without an aim and endlessly knowing not for what…but she could not stop.

She kept hurrying though, through the alley and could see a ray of light from the further side and suddenly her heart wished for hope and almost ran towards it is.

She knew not why or for what but she kept pursuing not able to stop her and her mind that was raiding her with loads of questions and then the image flashed in front of her.

It was the usual image of a masked man, who smelt of sweat and cologne and he had his shirt buttons left open, the shirt tucked into his pants and that shinny pants…never could make out from where he comes, but he appears and always in the same attire and solves the mystery for her.

Only thing she does not understand in his appearance is that he is all that women talk about, tall and handsome, manly, the vigor, gentlemanly, his hands strong, they way he held her that tender clutch around her waist, strong enough to carry her to a safe distance, then drop her and does the vanishing act…!

In this ordeal everything else was different but one thing remained constant…he was not the dark skinned guy…like a women’s dream. He was fair and his skin had this perfect blend of the colors of a dark coffee bean and the milky cream…he did not fall into the genre of romantic hero’s off the romantic novels or the drop dead dark hero that women always fascinate with!

She never knew why he kept seeing him the same way again and again and never knew why he always kept disappearing after the safety turn…like he did now and she always could not continue further…!

She woke up with a start and looked around and tried to go back to her sleep…looking for that smart looking guy who came from nowhere and went nowhere…she is right at that spot…hill top, deserted plains, watery ways, the dry desserts, the wet swamps, the boat rides, the cruises, the landslides, the earthquakes…but he was not just coming back.

She turns to the right, clutches the pillow tight, closes her eyes shut and places her onto the reel again and waits for him to come…the alley running deep and dark, the light in the corner, she is almost there at the end of the alley…he should appear now…now…!

“S..a…ndh…ya, Sandhya….!” – her mom’s voice. How come she came here? She turns to her right again and finds a hazy figure hovering over her.

Opening wide her eyes, she looks at her mother smiling at her and asking her to wake up…she can see her mother mumbling a lot of things, but she can’t hear any. The room comes into her sight and the things around and finds that she is in her very bedroom and nowhere…the alley is gone, along with it the light and the darkness.

She shoves her mom off and tries to close her eyes again, and she finds a hand touching her…a smile spreads across her face and then it pushes her further and finds that her mother shaking her off her sleep.

“Mom, please do, let me walk to the end of the alley, please…let me see his face today, please. I know it is masked but I want to see his eyes that speak a volume to me…that warmth of the breath close to my lips…that sends slender tremors into my body and soul…Mom, please let me do it, just this one time.”

“Hey, what are you blabbering, Sandhya? What is it? Who is it? Now, you get up and tell me the truth what is all this about? Are you seeing someone? Who is it? Wait, till I tell your dad about this? You little naughty girl, behind our backs you have been weaving your own love story is it….Siva, Siva…come here, listen to your daughter.”

“Aiyoo….mom, nothing like that, said Sandhya pulling the rug off her body that had got tangled with her journey. What did I say? What did I blabber?

No, no, wait mom that was just a dream.”

By now, Sandhya was wide awake and was racking her brains for whatever she could have blabbered to her mom and the after effects of it. She was so sure that her mom is not going to let her go so easily and it would take a longer time to convince them…both the mom and dad.

She found her mom has already gone to tell things to her dad. She did not know what to do. She just closes her eyes and that pair of eyes came alive…Oh! My god not again…!

She ran into the bathroom and started talking to herself loud enough for the whole world to know. She got done with her morning duties along with her long explanations to herself. She opens the doors to find her mom and dad standing in front of her right at the doorway.

Instantly, she closes it and then regains herself and opens the door slowly with a sly smile. They both smile at her and her dad slowly holds her forehand and she starts off…“dad, dad, let me explain…it is nothing just a dream…….she goes on for some 20 mints without a gasp of breath!”

Her mom and dad just listen to her and then laugh aloud when she finishes it. They give a laugh so loud that she is bewildered and after a minute joins them…!

They all have a hearty laugh and get on with their work. She is not able to get this guy off her memory and he seems to be playing hide and seek with her especially with her today…she promises herself today she is going to find out who he is…tonight, wait my dear – she says forgetting the fact it – is just a dream.

(to be contd……..)