THESE BOOKS AND NOT MY LOOKS

            THESE BOOKS AND NOT MY LOOKS

“Ah! It was the toughest thing I had done in the entire winter rising up at 5 by a terrible alarm,I was afraid that I might have woked up my parents and fellow travellers in the coach but much to my relief they continued with their sleep as I looked up to his seat he was missing,well this guy is punctual I thought he said yesterday that he would be up and running at 5 in such a chilly winter morning and he did walk his talk.

I went near the door of the compartment and on returning from the washroom I almost bumped into him observing him with his eyes closed and standing firmly infront of the washbasin this continued for a couple of more minutes till he finally opened his eyes only to find me staring at him curiously “Good morning Samriddhi”, he said after a slight pause I wished back “Good morning  Atul”.

I further added “What on earth were you doing with your eyes closed?”. “Just a morning ritual ” he replied with a little smile on his face.I wasn’t  much impressed by the answer so I said “You were meditating or something”, he looked slightly embarassed and said “Maybe” again this wasn’t the kind of reply I was expecting but I choose to stay quiet.

Although he was very organised and calm person I feared he would yell at me if I kept interrogating him and would probably dismiss me from his presence which I obviously didn’t want after overcoming the strongest temptation of my life of sleeping peacefully in a chilly december morning just to have some time with him when no one was around staring at us with suspicion.

After a long pause finally he broke the silence and asked “Do you wake up so early?”,this question puzzled me on one hand I didn’t want to lie and if I said the truth the next question that he would shoot at me would be that what made me wake up so early that day and ofcourse to this I could have never replied “Just to have a chat with you in solace” so I choose to dodge the question by asking him what he was going to do next he replied in his usual melodious voice “Well usually I study then go out for exercise but now that we’re in a train I can’t do that so as I had planned yesterday I’ll go through a novel 'The Alchemist' .

Making a puppy face I declared “So all this time I was an obstacle in your plan so stupid of me”  to this he instantly replied “Please you are not an obstacle in my life you’re my l---“ he stopped abruptly after saying just "L", I tried asking him the last word to which he replied “Nothing” avoiding eye-contact. Later he assured me stating “Deep conversations with people with similar interests are always meaningful” he explained I smiled than neither of us spoke for the next couple of minutes.

Finally looking straight into my eyes he said “It’s pretty cold out here and you’re not even wearing a jacket let’s head to our respective seats otherwise you may fall ill”. I said “I am not that weak”,to this he replied in apologising tone “I am so sorry I didn’t mean you’re feeble”. I asked “Sorry for what caring for me” he smiled on hearing this and without any further delay we headed to our seats.

No sooner did he sat on his seat I complained that I can’t switch on the lights near my seat since my parents were asleep so asked me to join him on the seat infront of his much to my happiness.

After I sat down it probably made him a bit uncomfortable as he hesitated in reaching to his bag and grabbing his novel which he had planned to read, understanding his dilemma I said “No problem you can read I am fine”, he said “OK” and then took out a couple of books handing one to me he said “This is one of the bestselling  self-help books of all times have a go.” I refused stating “I don’t need this I  do know how to help myself” he was taken aback slightly then he tried swapping the books and offered The Alchemist to me I refused at once stating “Since you had planned to go through this I don’t want to spoil your plans”.He replied “You’re not spoiling it you’re just changing it and plans do change for special ones sorry! I meant special occasions I mean when situation demands plans should change” looking a bit shy.

Inspite of all his nice gestures I was infuriated because of his decision to hand me a self-help book and I asked him “Why did u hand me a self-help book? Do u think I am regressing as an individual? am I being only a burden to the society?”

He was surprised and with a deep voice replied “I never meant anything as such, you are a very successful  person and people like me can learn a great deal from you”. “Yeah that’s why you were handing me the self help bestseller”.

“I don’t know why I am misunderstood so much even amongst my friends but I can’t help it I am apologising” he said to which I replied “No need to the damage is already done” this really made him anxious and on seeing his face I felt for him and breaking into laughter I said “Don’t you worry dear, I was just fooling please stop being so sad” he regained his relief and with a faint smile he said “So I was officially being trolled”. “Yes indeed” , I replied.

Taking the self help book from his hand I said “Let’s read you’re already late from your usual days but poor me I forgot to bring my spectacales”. “No problem I’ll get that for you” he assured me before bringing my spectacles from my original seat.

“You look good in these glasses” he said only to hear a quick reply from me which said “What do you mean I don’t look good with my glasses off”. “No you look good even with your glasses off but the glasses add to your g---“ again he left an unfinished sentence prompting me to further inquire “My what?” he replied “Your grace and elegance”. “Grace and elegance ?” I asked even though he was fully audible . He nodded.

I really liked complements but I didn’t know why I didn’t like it from him probably because I liked him the way he was shy and quiet not throwing away complements so easily so with a deep breathe I said “

Let’s focus on what’ll add value to your life which are "THESE BOOKS AND NOT MY LOOKS” and for the next couple of hours the guy didn’t take his eyes off his book for even once.

                                

                                          THE  END