First Impressions...

Ayan  paced up and down the long corridor, his hands tucked deep into his pockets. His face was lined with irritation, had a disheveled air about him as if he had dressed up in a hurry, which he had. His mobile phone had low charge as he was impatiently waiting for Rahul at the hall for an event of Make a Wish foundation. Rahul had pinged him around midnight, waking him up “ Saale , waise bhi tu soyega din bhar, chal mere saath , got passes for an event tomorrow “.  Ayan was least interested but Rahul kind of bulldozed him to saying yes in deep sleep. And now he himself has not yet arrived , thought  Ayan.

He watched people walking in and some of them occasionally shot him a look without breaking their stride as they walked in. He hated waiting ,nothing to do, so he just gazed across the people walking in to the auditorium – some in deep conversation , some uninterested some excited – till a sweet voice  fell on his ears “ Of course everything will be fine,don’t be so nervous “  she was talking to her friend.

Something in her tone made him look at her closely. She was a pretty girl, her head held high with an air of confidence, It was a pleasure to see her flowing, brown black hair.. She didn't wear much  makeup, her neutral look  complimented her natural beauty.  Her voguish clothes smelt of a captive aroma. It lingered around long after she had walked ahead.  Her eyes were without doubt the most captivating aspect of her appearance, looking thru you without fear, reflecting a look of wisdom far beyond her age that could not help but draw people in.

“Impressive, She’s too cute to be single ” thought Ayan as his eyes followed as she moved past him.

“ Are you alright?” a whisper into his ears. Rahul had arrived a good thirty minutes late . 

“Yeah, I guess” Ayan said slowly.“She’s beautiful” he breathed.

“Hey , stop checking out girls, lets move in”, Rahul  said, pulling his hand .

“ You just got saved bcoz of her , I had the choicest of gaalis for you for making me wait here this long !  Ayan chided  Rahul as they walked in .

“ What is this event all about ?  asked Ayan

“ It’s a charity event for Make a Foundation, got passes from my office , we are one of the sponsors to the show “  explained Rahul .

“ Oh ok, I could have spent my time somewhere  which could earn me some rupees if not dollars “ snubbed Ayan  as they huddled in to the corner seats .

The events happening at the stage, the crowd cheering all along while Ayan was busy texting his girlfriends to while away the time.

Rahul looked at Ayan and whispered “ when you are not with your girlfriends you keep texting them and when you are with them your phone magically switches off “

“ Stairway from heaven , ….. Ayan’s ears seemed more like an out-of-focus camera, attempting to bring this sound into focus.

 Hey the same soulful voice, a startled Ayan as he looked up at the stage. It’s her, the girl who I saw at the corridor. Ayan couldn’t take his eyes off her till the song concluded and the curtains were pulled down as it was the last performance.

As the crowd clapped and started to move off, Ayan rushed towards the backstage even as Rahul tried to catch up with him.

There was a quite a crowd around her, Ayan made his way thru to  where she sat and said “ Awesome singing, heard this song many times, but you made it special “

“ Am glad u liked it,  but special, really ?” she smiled as she said.

“ Yeah , I wish I had recorded it on my mobile as he fished for it from his jeans .

Suddenly he realized that his mobile was missing  and said “  Oh , now where did I drop this” sounding worried . At that moment, she tried to hand her cell to him and said “ Try calling from cell , maybe someone will pick up and return it to you “ . As he was taking the cell  from her hand , it slipped and  fell on the ground.  

Ayan saw her  groping to pick it up. Stunned and amazed at that moment Ayan realized that she could not see as he quickly held her, picked up the cell and dialed his number…

Rahul walked towards them ,” Hey Ayan u dropped your cell at the seat , here it is . Come on , let’s move .”

Ayan managed a quick thank you and  a bye as he handed over her cell and moved away.

On his way back home , Ayan thoughts kept swirling around the girl.. So pretty  full of life,  she sings like a dream...why did God  take away her vision!   I  don't even know her name,he wondered.  As if on a cue, he checked her number on the true caller... The name flashed... NAINA! !

Ayan kept staring at the name and thought... Life can be so so strange!!

One of the greatest paradoxes of your  physical  senses is that your eyes actually show u what u believe, not what u see