A matter of chance

The child smiled at me. It was an honest smile, seeing that I had no candy and was not making any faces. I smiled back and stuck my tongue out. From experience, I knew kids couldn’t resist it and the child was no exception. It wandered over and looked expectantly. I reached into my pocket and brought out some Éclairs and handed it over. After that, our friendship was sealed and we were bonded forever in his eyes. “If only, things were this easy with everyone”, I sighed.

“What a pretty child, you have?” said a voice behind me. It was a nice voice with a ring of soft notes in it. I looked over and smiled, “That will take some doing, considering that I have no girlfriend or wife”. “Oh, I am sorry” said the voice. The voice turned out to be a pretty girl dressed in a black sari. She was not a knockout by any stretch, but the face had an attractiveness and innocence that was striking. She smiled, a very pretty smile, I noticed, she being one of those people who had a smile for everyone.

I felt a tug on my trousers and looked down. The child was looking at me with half-expectant eyes and I cheerfully obliged by emptying my pockets from the rest of the chocolates. After taking the chocolates, the child cast a curious look at the girl and later me. Under the realization that it had nothing more to gain from me and knowing from experience, that competing with a pretty girl would be a lost cause, the child having played the part of cupid, wandered off in search of other Éclairs possibly. “Nice wedding”, I murmured, not been able to think of anything else to say. “I suppose so”, she said half distractedly. She seemed to be anxiously glancing at a middle aged lady, who was dressed way too extravagantly and was excitedly talking to a middle aged couple. The middle aged couple seemed anxious to head off somewhere but the lady was having none of it.

“I don’t know why she always does this”, the girl said, half to herself. Putting two and two together, I said “Mother” and waited expectantly. She glanced back at me, studied me for a minute and then said with some exasperation, replied “Yes, she will embarrass me to death one of these days”. I chuckled and we then both sat on two chairs. Her mother seemed to finally convince the couple of something and both parted ways. Seeing that, the girl visibly relaxed. I studied her, “She was as I said before, not a drop dead type”. But her eyes were very pretty and her long, sharp nose accentuated her attractiveness. As she smiled greetings at passersby, I noticed that she laughed with her eyes.

She seemed to be in something on her mind and didn’t seem to be in the mood for any conversation. “Most of what matters in our lives takes place in our absence”, I offered my take on things. She shot me a curious look, but maintained her silence. So I shut up too. Then the band struck up “Aap jaisaa koi mere zindagi mein aaye” and I gave a chuckle. She turned towards me and asked with some irritation, “What’s so funny?” I explained that one of my friends once sang the song as “Aap jaisaa koi mere zindagi mein aaye, tho baap banjaaye” instead of baat banjaaye. She laughed and a very pretty laugh, I might add for the nth time. That seemed to break the ice for she said “Excuse me, I am not this silent normally”. “My mother is in the mood of getting me married off and I hate it”. I waited for her to complete her story, but she didn’t. So I commiserated, “Me too. Same story everywhere I guess”. She looked at me with interest, as though in a new light and we exchanged war stories about fiascos in bride/bridegroom ceremonies. “You must have girlfriends salted away some where, that’s why you are not marrying”, she guessed. “I wish”, I said and with more alacrity than I should have, asked “How about you?” She laughed, “Too afraid, I guess. I think my mother suspects a boyfriend and I always try to lead her on” She was talking a lot more freely, I noticed. After some more conversation, she asked, “What’s your name?” seemingly stuck by the fact that we had been talking for quite a while without exchanging names.

“What’s in a name? A rose by any other name smells just as sweet” I pulled out my Shakespeare trick. “Shakespeare, I am impressed” she smiled. “Sandhya” she offered in exchange to my visiting card. Software Engineer, US she studied the card. You don’t seem like a Yankee, she remarked. I will take that as a compliment, I replied. She looked away and seemed to be in thought. Then she hurriedly jumped up and said “Gotta go” and hurried away. As she rushed away, I espied her mother walking towards me. Her mother studied me for a second and then looked at my Metallica T-shirt and jeans with some disappointment. Having seemingly decided that I was not worth her time, she wandered off in the direction of a guy in suit who seemed to be doing his best to hide. “Mother be damned, she can jolly well kiss my ass”, I said to myself with some anger. As I watched her (the girl I mean, not the mother) hurry away, I noticed that she had an easy gait, graceful in her movements, almost like a dancer. “Must ask her the next time”, I said to myself. “If we meet again”, I corrected myself. I saw some friends of mine and wandered over.

I saw her again by the buffet. She was eating with a couple of her friends. She saw me and waved. I put half of the food on my plate back on the buffet pans (much to the disgust of the guys behind me) and walked towards her. She broke off from her friends and spoke to me, “Empty plate” in an amused manner. I looked up sharply and there was a twinkle in her eyes and so murmured about oily food feebly. She let it pass and asked “So how many days are you staying?” Two more weeks, I replied.