The Attire of Attitude
I love
reading shedney sheldon’s books! (The thought crossed my mind)
‘You know what, in my initial stage when I was a toddler at
ready …I used to read the unworthy writer: Shidney Sheldon‘ Priya (name
changed) exclaimed with her childlike ascent.
With her this comment I was juggling with so many feelings.
And further I went as silent as a clock that had lost its batteries.
*
My eyes twinkled as I stepped in ‘Chocolate heaven’ (Rajkot),
after all I placed that place in the list of those places which are meant for
upper class people. My eyes witnessed a girl with glossy lips and curly hairs
with 4 boys; and I kept scratching my head thinking ‘Among these 4 boys, who
was her boy friend?!’, on one corner a couple was busy ‘depicting their love
saga’ with their eyes locked to one another, further there was another group of
three boys whom I suspected of goggling at me; I cut a glance to them and their
eyes were still on me.
Time just pretended to stand still and I got lost within me.
I was dressed so ‘Chumpu’ type: oily pig tail, casual dark pink dress with
black leggings, a two year old ‘Sonata’s’ white watch on my wrist and those
regular black slippers. My attire made me to think of Priya (Who was chic- as
revealed by her whats App dp!), moreover, I was going to meet her for the first
time (a friend’s friend).
The atmosphere of that place made me to feel uneasy. And to
just divert my mind I started ogling at the menu card. I felt restive seeing the prices of the food
items as I was in no mood to spend much that day. So, I charily decided that ‘I am not going to order anything’, and
if the situation demands ‘ordering something’ than I will just go for a ‘Black
Coffee’ (Worth Rs.40!).
As soon as I lifted my head up from the menu card …I saw
Priya with a look which could make a 100 flowers bloom.
*
‘You know what, I suck at poems. I have only written one poem
till date that to about Draupadi.’ Priya said, depicting her verve.
A poem on
‘Draupadi’…! Not my cup of tea.
‘Well, I have also read a book on ‘Draupadi’. The story
revolves only around her. I forgot the author’s name but it was indeed a good
book. And yeah! I have even read about Lord Buddha, even that book was very
lucid.’ Priya started without an intention to end!
Helplessly, I was just nodding my head in unison.
‘And the book which I feel like hugging is Ayn Rand’s books
namely ‘The Fountain Head’, ‘Atlas
Shrugged’ , ‘The virtue of Selfishness ‘and many other. I read and re-read her
books …’n’ number of times! I am just fond of her and her books.’ Priya pointed
out in her voluble English.
Janvi, you
didn’t read any of Ayn Rand’s books. Shame! Total shame!
‘As I am in the final year of my MA, we even have ‘literary
books’ to read; Means a word and so many meanings for it. Even they are so fun
to read.’ Her verve was as always, at her highest pitch.
*
Everything inside of me collapsed into a singularity, something
had broken within me when I acknowledge the fact that I was NO WHERE in
comparison to Priya’s expertise. I am considered the Connoisseur for novels in
my college; people come to take suggestion from me, if they wish to read
anything… I always had this secret suspicion that I was special but before Priya,
I didn’t even have a word to utter.
I felt a certain unbridgeable distance between us when I knew
what she was and what ‘I’ wasn’t. But I took only a couple of minutes to digest
the reality as she was neither egoistic nor a pompous, she was more of innocent
and straight forward. She had a great amount of grey matter and also enthrall
looks – a lethal combo!
*
The world went on, as it does without my full participation,
and I only woke up from the reverie when Priya said ‘Janvi, Look at this, the
article which I wrote when I was in Xavier’s school -9th Std.’
She placed before me a school newspaper and the paper
reminded me of a rugged old woman who has lost her charm.
I than felt like I was playing a chess game wherein I was
about to defeat her by saying ’Check
mate’ as I finally brought out my tabloid ‘Rajkot Now!’ to display my work.
She touched those glossy pages of the tabloid and fixed her
eyes on the article written by me, while her face still glimmered in total
surprise.
*
‘So, do you work anywhere?’ I asked in a flummoxed manner, doubting that ‘Why such a talented girl is
showing me her article written in 9th std., won’t she be doing a
good job right now!’
‘No, I am not into any job. In Rajkot, there is dearth of
good employers and moreover the payment scale is also; peanut like! Rajkot
seems to shallow in comparison to Ahmedabad. Even the people here seem a bit of
narrow minded in comparison to my former city.’ She avowed with the brilliance
of her smile dimming a bit.
It took me forever to figure out what I wanted to say, &
even then I wasn’t very happy with it as…her words reminded me of my journey in
Rajkot ; being a girl from khambhaliya I found Rajkot sooo…vast and being from
Ahmadabad she found Rajkot sooo…shallow!
Her talks threw me in the skeleton of memory …
…memories of my journey…wherein
I was rejected several times by several firms. I was happy to serve them for
FREE but still; the employers closed the doors for me. And, how can I forget
RajkotNow! The tabloid in which I am presently working…I worked for them for
around 1 year, without expecting a single penny in return. Those were the days
when I was deprived of a scooty and still I had to roam in this big city to
meet people and come up with an article, I even didn’t have a laptop and so
those endless visits to cyber café were just…! But today the whole equation is
different as today I am valued, I am paid and I am given a chance to grow. I
suffered & I survived!
Here, the whole
drama was about the attitude one has for a city or for one’s work, which made
all the difference in our lives as otherwise I was wise and she was WISER!
*
Pink, black, Red, yellow… No matter what color of attire I
wear as the only attire I then took serious note of: was my ‘Attire Of attitude’.
From Janvi’s Honey bag… *
Sidhiya un ke liye bani hai,Jinhe sirf chatt par jana hai.Aasma par ho jinki nazar,Unhe to rasta khud banana hai..!
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