She woke up, butterflies in her stomach! ( No! No! She doesn’t have a stomach upset…). She had been looking forward to this day since long. She had already decided upon the white summer gown for the warm June afternoon. She took a nice long warm shower with perfumed oil to soothe her sensitive nerves and scrubbed her dark skin to a pale pink, put on generously of her perfume reserved for occasions, that one that gently and pleasantly distracted people and made them pass a smile at her, dried her long wavy hair into a cascade wafting like a billowing mist of black cloud about her face. As she buttoned her gown in the front she realized that the one on the top was missing. She reached out the needle box almost instinctively, when suddenly she listened to someone with horns on his head and a tail to go with it and left it untended.
She did not wear a lot of makeup not because she didn’t want to but because she didn’t know how to. She was to meet him at the ‘Café Just for You’ which was on a sidewalk overlooking the zebra crossing, a five minute walk from her hotel. She had always wondered about the mush behind the Café’s name…but today it didn’t sound odd.
She left the hotel as cool-warm sweet early summer wind tickled her. The sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds and she feared it might rain, when the tickle got stronger and the wind began to tease her hair and her skirt, trying to blow it higher and higher, little by little. Plop! Plop! Plop! Huge drops the size of a 25 paise coin began to fall. She was fumbling with her umbrella when the rogue, teasing Wind, chanced upon the opportune moment to take a peek and blew her skirt above her waist. The beggar with black teeth at the street corner, the drivers at the traffic signal, numerous pairs of eyes at the restaurant overlooking the sidewalk, poodles at a distance, it seemed even the trees and the flowers stole a furtive glance before they continued with their business, accentuating the pink on her cheeks. ‘Flick!’, finally her umbrella opened just in time for the rain to stop as suddenly as it started! The wind died down leaving her hair and her skirt ravished! Did the Rain and the Wind conspire!!?!?
She reached the café 5 minutes later than they had decided and was searching her apology archive for one that befit the occasion. She was spared the trouble as she noticed that the corner table where they had decided to meet up was empty. The Sun was high and gently warm. She perched herself on the chair overlooking the zebra crossing and put on her sunglasses for she didn’t want him to realize that she was as excited as a squirrel and her eyes never lied. So she had to hide the traitors. Happiness was in the air as folks around were blithely laughing, chatting, hugging n kissing, drinking for happiness, for the weather, for the sun. She brushed her hair ruined by the wind and stole a quick glance into the hand mirror.
Her previous blind date memories flashed across her mind. Mr. Wobbly Bits, Mr. I-Know-It-All, Mr. Uncle-Paunch, Mr. Steam Engine, Mr. Too-Shy-to-make-a-move, Mr. Looney Face, Mr. Bald on the top, Mr. Totally Bald and last but not the least, Mr. Hunk!
Let me explain the Hunk episode in detail.
She couldn’t believe her eyes on her last blind date. The Hunk sat on his sexy bike with a sexier helmet on. It was an unwritten proclamation. ‘What’s in my face? Look at all the adrenaline I have pumped baby!’
His muscles were bulging under his Tee shirt which she feared might rip open any moment. She felt underdressed without a helmet herself. She smiled at his bulging muscles since his eyes were deep within his helmet and said, “Hello!”. He responded with a muffled something with his helmet on which she believed was a Hello in response. She began to wonder about what lay underneath.(Underneath The Helmet, Dirty minds!!! Others, please ignore ;-) )
She wondered if he was bald. The Bald-or-Not chap continued to park his bike with his helmet still on. She had almost decided that he was bald and probably had a squint and buck teeth or worse, no teeth at all. She was preparing herself for the worst when he finally removed his helmet.
‘This is probably how close a girl could feel the way a boy feels when he blind dates a girl in purdah’, she thought!
She resisted the urge to pinch herself as the helmet veil came off to show a perfectly symmetrical face with lustrous fine dark silky hair tied into a small pony tail, a perfect Close-up smile and a twinkle in his eyes and everything(don’t read beyond nose, ears and eyes! That is exactly what I meant by everything! ;-) ) seemed to be in place contrary to what she had expected.
She breathed a sigh of relief and said,” Lets go get some coffee!”. (That is when the lightning struck, mercilessly shattering her hopes to shards!)
She thought she heard a squeal, and looked to see if she had stepped on a mouse by mistake. She heard the squeal again, this time a bit louder and closer and higher. She lifted her glance from the ground and figured the origin of the near nature confused cry for help, would you believe if I said ,the Hunk, perfect in everyway except when he opened his mouth. It felt like a gramophone record squeaking away its last days to glory combined with the wheeze of an asthmatic patient.
She wanted to become invisible suddenly. But then, decided to be nice and stayed. She ordered strong black coffee to deal with the imminent headache and almost screamed when after five minutes of listening, she realized he had probably left his grey matter at home or his first floor was probably as vacant as vacuum itself! She wore cotton plugs for the rest of the week after that day.
She jolted back to today, as the waiter placed the jug of water and gave her a charming smile which she returned without effort as if was there always only to be noticed!
It took her six months to let go and give God another chance to prove that he still hasn’t lost his finesse.
And hoped that the mistakes she met were probably all just experiments…but what if she were an experiment herself? What if she were a lock without a key? ( hell no! Don’t read the last sentence more than once! There u go! Now don’t blame me…I dint intend to mean that!!! )
