Painting

She twisted and tortured the ends of her dupatta until the strands of cloth started falling out one after the other. “Where was this Mr Intelligent?” She smiled at the thought. It was fun to give people nicknames. His voice had sounded deep and intelligent. But he appeared to be too serious. Maybe she would find out. In another 2 minutes.

“This had better be worth it. I didn’t wear this traditional suit for nothing!”

“Hello.”

She looked up. He was on time. Good. That was a good sign. She smiled, a mixture of shyness and curiosity.

“Hi..”

“I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
“No, I just reached 5 min back.”

He saw a flash of pearly white teeth, a smile so innocent, he nearly doubted its existence. The whiff of perfume wafted into his head.” What was that scent? Strawberry?” It reminded him, almost painfully of how long it had been since he had the pleasure of female company.

“Would you like to order something?”

She watched him speak. Slow and confident. He looked intelligent. Perhaps he even had a telescope in his bedroom, where he spent countless nights star gazing. Or maybe he had won the child-genius-of-the-century award in school. She giggled at her thoughts and found him staring quizzically at her.

“Umm… yes, one cold coffee with ice cream please! And oh, a chocolate doughnut too and maybe…”

She bit the last few words of her sentences. Her love for food had temporarily erased all memory of the fact that she was meeting him in order to make a good impression.

He was amused. She came across as a very simple and sweet girl, not to mention someone with a healthy appetite. He gestured for the waiter to take their order.

“Two cold coffees with lots of ice cream, two chocolate doughnuts and 2 white-forest pastries please.”

She was secretly pleased. Her eyes caught the swiss army knife keychain that he had placed on the table.

“Oh! A swiss army knife! How cool. Where did you get it from?”
“Well, I had travelled to South Africa on business last year. It was a gift from a colleague there.”
“Wow. South Africa! Do you travel a lot?”
“Yes. My job requires me to travel a lot for the next three years. But I should be able to find a stable location after that. Do you….mind…er..like to travel?”
“Oh you wouldn’t believe how I always wanted to travel! I’ve spent almost all my life in Mumbai. I haven’t seen much of the outside world. I’d love to see more places, meet different people, taste different cuisines… ooops.. am I talking a little too much about food here?”
“I’m glad. I’d be really happy if my partner could adjust to my mode of work and lifestyle…”
She blushed and looked down at her lap. “Why am I acting like a little girl?”

“So, I hear you’re a kindergarten teacher.”
Her eyes lit up. He noticed they twinkled whenever she talked about something that was dear to her and he liked it. She twirled her jet black wavy hair, not realising that they softly framed her face and complemented her red luscious lips.

“That’s right. I just love kids. They always make me feel so energetic. I feel there’s always something that we can learn from children every day. There was this one boy in my class who…”


He listened to her talk animatedly. She was chirpy, bubbling with life. Her favourite colour was red. She loved glass bangles and wearing bright colours. She didn’t mind singing in her baby voice as long as the neighbours didn’t complain. She loved cooking and experimenting with books. She was very curious as to why he tilted his head by 5 degrees whenever he listened to her. She wanted to know why his cell phone looked like a pebble and if it was really the Dalai Lama accompanying him, in the photograph on his cell phone wallpaper. She refused to believe that the cross pen in his pocket was worth more than all her sketch pens put together. She wanted to start a small school for Autistic children some day and she wanted to do her part for the society.
And he could tell that she was quite taken by him. His profound statements left her puzzled initially, but as they eased into the conversation, she would occasionally burst into fits of laughter, recalling a joke he had made fifteen minutes prior to that point of time.

Now there was a life time left to discover more. That's what made the wait worth it.