Hello everybody!

I was getting bored so I thought to write something and this one shot came into my mind.

Hope you guys like it and one more thing'

You guys might not be thing about it but let me tell you that my FF i.e. Holiday Fling would be upd8d this Sunday as my computer has gone for repair and this story is being written on my frnd's computer as she's gone somewhere and I am bored'

And please please please please DO comment!...

Neways'

Hope u like it'

Njoy!

P.s.the parts that are written in italics are either the past conversation or the thoughts of the character'

P.P.S. the places are all fictitious

Searching For You

 

At the hotel, the guy in the vest at the front desk had given it to him. The postcard said, 'I met an interesting guy who dances all day. First, they called him the king of dance. When he dint stop, the built a temple for him.' It also had the name of a hotel.

 

Armaan knew he shouldn't become indecisive again, but he couldn't help it now really. He was following a girl who could probably change his life. He hadn't figured out if he wanted to change it even while filling up his leave application at the office.

 

'A month off? For what exactly?'

 

At 4.30, as the heat was beginning to let up, he woke up to the sea, now a little louder, and walked to the Shore Temple. The path was packed with shops selling knick knacks and things made from seashells. She probably wouldn't have hung a lot here.

 

The temple was something else. The minute detailing on the stone elephants would have put a live one to shame. He walked along to the Pandava's chariots and the caves. And finally, had a smoke under the Krishna Butterball.

 

Walking along the shore with the sun setting for company, he reached the old lighthouse. He sat looking for ships the way the locals had for a few centuries.

 

The moon came out to greet the Shore Temple. And the sea looked like it was grinning.

 

Perhaps this was not such a bad decision after all.

 

Early next morning he left for his flight for the town of dancers. He stopped at Sylito for a couple of hours, but wasn't really interested in the boat rides. So he went on to Vita and found the hotel that had the next clue. It looked expensive.

 

He must really be at work. How could she just imagine he would follow her?

 

How could he have actually gone and followed her? Would he have a job when he went back?

 

The postcard read, 'I've decided to follow Him. Better catch up fast if you don't want to be displaced. He's got a pet bull. {No, not a pansy pit bull, a p-e-t bull.}'

 

And the name of the hotel she was going to stay in the next town.

 

'Do you have any rooms free?' Armaan asked.

 

'Yes.' The man at the reception busy writing accounts, answering phone calls and ordering the room service around.

 

'Is the room where this lady stayed free?'

 

The man looked up at him. Then he opened the register, looked at the keys alcove and looked back at him.

 

'No.'

 

'Okay, then I'll wait till it's free.'

 

Armaan picked his bags up, went and sat in the lobby, sprawling on the couch.

 

The man at the reception finally gave him the same room she stayed in. not before he told the room service staff to check if the woman had left behind anything for the man. The man thought he was crazy.

 

But maybe he did need this sort of thing. After a while, life had stopped offering him anything particularly interesting. Which helped build up the indifference that crept into his work, life and relationships.

 

Armaan got into the room and sniffled. No, the room service had been diligent. No sights, smells, articles that could help him get closer to her.

 

He went outside to look how the place Vita looked like. He went to the Greek memorial to look at a Greek god in an unusual pose. He looked pretty cool he thought.

 

While walking back to his hotel, he heard the rhythmic sound of wood striking wood. Through the bars of an ancient house, he saw a few dancers, barely 17 or 18, dancing to the tunes of a mariachi song. He watched his own incidental, private, ticket less performance for an hour.

 

For a few months, acquisition had made the happy. The thought of buying things that could never have earlier. Like the terrace garden. And the Jacuzzi in the big bathroom. Even the plasma TV they never had the time to watch.

 

A pet bull. It could only be in Shaliar. He left Vita as unsure of what he was doing, where she was heading, or where he was following her.

 

A fortnight earlier, she sat him down on a Thursday evening.

 

'This is not working out,' she said.

'Do you want to try and make it work out?'

 

'Yeah, what do we do?' Armaan asked.

 

'I don't know, but I can't live like this anymore.'

 

'But what's wrong? We have everything, don't we?'

 

'Maybe everything isn't enough.'

 

'You're talking like a romance novel.'

 

So, Armaan bought a Shaliar painting. The process of making the painting itself seemed symbolic of building a relationship. First, the image is sketched on the canvas {a cloth pasted over a wooden base}. Then chalk powder is mixed with glue and applied on it. It is sanded to shear off rough edges. After which the sketch is strengthened by more drawing and decorated with jewellery and apparel. Finally, the painting is transformed into a work of art with lace, gold foil and brilliant-coloured dyes.

 

He went to the hotel and asked for the postcard.

 

She'd written, 'Your luck's going up. He has a wife. He invited me to Their home.'

 

She decided to change her life without asking him. She told him if he really wanted her, he had to change his life too.

 

His bus had to go through Trichy to get to Capeville. But he also wanted to catch up with her as soon as possible, so he didn't get off to see the sights.

 

'But where do you want to go?' Armaan asked.

 

'I don't know. Remember when we first got together, we told each other we'll travel around Venice?' she said.

 

'Yeah?'

 

'Well we never did it, did we? I want to do it now. And if you don't want to come, perhaps this marriage is as good as over.'

 

'You are traveling alone?' he said. 'Its not safe.'

 

'Who cares? I want to be young again. I want to have an adventure.'

 

'We're too old to be young again.'

 

'You're talking like a TV serial. How old are we? Barely 28? And no time is too old.'

 

 

When he got off at Capeville, he had the strange feeling that twists the lower part of the spine of an uninvited guest. He picked himself up and went to the hotel.

 

The card read, 'The place is neither here nor there. Half Eden-half Sahara. The people's temperament is red, like the soil.'

 

She left two days after the ultimatum. Leaving him a picture postcard of Mila, the first clue {and the answer}. So he would know what to expect.

 

He slept for a couple of hours and woke up to go to their house. He was uninvited, but so was everyone who paid the entrance fee.

 

He wished he could append a few more hours in this beautiful, hospitable place. But found himself on the next bus to Thatchcrop.

 

The trip was beautiful. Thatchcrop was fertile and fresh, its colours conjured up made one's imagination look like a cheap reproduction. Green fields, blue skies and red soil.

 

Before deciding to go to any of the waterfalls and animal sanctuaries, he decided to go to the hotel.

 

The postcard showed green hills and read, 'I am tired, a princess has offered me to stay in her kingdom. I've decided to stay for a while.'

 

For the first couple hours when he realized she'd left, he thought he'd let it go. Let her go. He had work. Really, at this age, acting like a teenager.

 

Did he really want the marriage to work?

 

Then, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.

 

Finally, should he take his mobile phone with him? No, probably not.

 

'How far is Speculum from here?' he asked the reception clerk.

 

'About three or four hours, sir.'

 

'By bus?'

 

'Yes sir. Or you can rent a cab which can take you there sooner. You want to leave immediately sir?'

 

'Yeah, I want a cab in exactly one hour to take me to this hotel in Speculum.'

 

'So you are checking out now sir?'

 

He left exactly 60 hours after she'd left. He still was insure, but somehow the way she had done it impulsively and the possibility of becoming young again had infected him as well. He was now thinking of her as a girl he ought to try and woo. Not his wife.

 

The cab dropped him off at the Seven Road Junction in the centre of Speculum. Not before taking him through a sort of mild adventure with a hard of bison. There were about thirty of them in a field walking across hurriedly. He would say majestically. He asked the driver to stop and got out. The driver didn't think it was wise, he thought the driver was just making a big deal out of a trifle.

 

The smoke twirled with the mist that came along with the atmosphere there. And he could see the snorting bisons send plumes of the condensed air into the receding sunlight. A young male spotted him and pretending to forage, had moved within thirty metres of the cab.

 

And then twenty.

 

And then ten.

 

He got in and the driver floored all the way to the Seven Road Junction.

 

In the hotel, the postcard read, 'I think I've found a place for us to get bored for the rest of our lives in.'

 

'The lady who left this postcard, is she in her room?'

 

'No, she went for a walk.'

 

'Do you know where?'

 

'She mentioned the Coakers walk.'

 

He dropped his bags and started running. Breathless, paying the entrance fee for the Walk, he ran inside. All he could see was loneliness and flowers. More flowers than he'd ever seen in his entire life.

 

He spotted her near a fountain. And ran up to her. Caught his breath. Tapped on the shoulder.

 

She turned around.

 

'Hello wife' he said and grinned flashing his dimpled smile.

 

Riddhima smiled.

 

He hugged her.

 

'I missed you.'

 

'I can tell.'

 

'We're talking like a Hollywood Movie.'

 

He released her from the hug and kissed her.

 

'I love you.' He said affectionately.

 

She smiled. 'I love you too.'

 

THE END

thanks 4 reading..

njoy life!

tc

hugs & luv

Nimisha

dmglovernimisha2008-11-13 00:34:48