The ship announced a last warning as the sound of the engine reverberated in the sky and if it was possible, the crowd got crazier than before. Looking through them or telling the people apart was impossible, let alone passing through them. Amidst the relatives who waved off their dear ones with happy smiles, a group of worried faces looked on towards the entrance to the harbour.
Gun - Guys! I don't think there's any point in waiting.
Ritch - No bro, don't be such a pessimist. Everything's gonna be fine.
Shikha - You think so?
Amanda - Are you kidding me? There's no way in hell she'll make it on time.
Pooja - Just shut up will you? I cannot handle the stress you're giving me.
Ritch - Yeah Amanda, Pooh's little brain is too sensitive to handle anything other than the weight of hay that lies there, like ghaas-phoos.
Everyone chuckled while Pooja glared seeing them all, as she mentally throttled and strangled Ritchelle's thin-skinned neck.
Ten minutes later...
Amanda - I think we should get going. We're just wasting our time.
To avoid Amanda being murdered bare-handed by Pooja in the broad daylight, Ritch took the latter by her hand and moved hurriedly towards the exit. Gun followed next with Amanda and Shikha when they all heard Mohini scream and doubled back to her.
Mohini - People! Look, there!
The group followed Mohini's line of sight, only to see nothing. They turned to look at Mohini, whose gaze was fixed intently at the door. As if right on cue, a few seconds later they heard a pair of red, sexy BCBG heels clicking. Yes, surprisingly they could hear the sound. Closely followed by the noise, the owner of the heels came in view. With a Burberry handbag clutched to her chest and a scarf struggling to let go of her fingers, Sonia looked every bit of a sight worth watching. She ran towards the group as if her life depended on it. Technically, her life did depend on it because missing the ship meant a cruelly painful, merciless and torturous death at the hands of Ritch and Pooja. Mohini would forgive her, she loved her too much to kill her; Gun was a saint at heart, a little emotional drama would melt her and Amanda and Shikha wouldn't mess with her for their life.
Sonia ran towards the group and just when Gun opened her mouth to speak, she ran past her and towards the ship. The group was left gaping as they watched their ever so serious lawyer happily jumping off to board the ship as it was on the verge of leaving.
Shikha - Guys! We might have a little problem. (Everyone went wide eyed as Shikha flashed the overnight bag they'd packed for Sonia that has all her essentials).
Mohini - Thank Heavens my immense blind faith in Sonia forced me to leave her handbag in her room. (She chuckled)
Gun - Let's just hope she remembers that faith of yours when she realises you didn't leave behind her bag.
With happy smiles, the bunch moved along as they contemplated how Sonia's trip would be.
Once inside her cabin, Sonia was too relieved to take notice of anything as she slumped on the bed. The day's hectic schedule took over her as she followed the lead of her dreams.
Constant door-breaking knock brought her out of the dreamland as she forced herself to open the door. The look that she gave could've killed the man in front of her, which was why he ran as soon as he handed her an envelope.
"Time for your first stop. Just follow the instructions below. Enclosed is a piece of paper that would help you fulfil a dream"
Sonia smiled at the cheesiness of her friends as she freshened up and left the cabin, but not before pouring in enough swears for the bunch of loonies who'd sent her away with nothing but her documents to the land of dreams, Paris.
Following the directions written on the paper, Sonia was left gawking at the building in front of her. Surely she wasn't supposed to enter here. She read the bold letters at the entrance.
Cancan
With baby steps, Sonia dared to enter the place, dreading the moment when she'd be thrown out. When nothing of that sort happened, she moved around with confidence in her heart and a dazzling smile on her face. She caressed the ample fabric that surrounded her, in shades of black and grey, blue and pink, white and black again. The place was filled with formals and semi-formals. She spent a good two hours in the showroom when she decided to try on the last of the suits she'd chosen for herself. Assured that the suit looked good on her, she exited the trial room only to bump into someone.
The lady turned to her muttering sorry when Sonia was hit by nothing less than a tornado. Deepika Padukone stood in front of her, apologetic for not having seen where she was walking. When no reaction came from Sonia, apart from deep silence, Deepika smiled and moved away. A second later, Sonia ran off in Deepika's direction after realising how she'd let her favourite actress go without a word. She fell down from the impact of another bump, with Deepika again.
Deepika - "I kind of have a proposal for you. Help me got out of the store without my bodyguards and..."
A few minutes later, Sonia was heard screaming on top of her voice about a rat that she'd seen. While people got busy searching the invisible rat, Deepika had safely landed out of the place and Sonia moved towards the payment counter, caressing her handbag that now was the owner of a phone with Deepika's selfie with her, and a paper that had Deepika's beautiful writing inked on it. But that wasn't all, as Sonia met Deepika for a third time when she exited the showroom to find her ideal actress waiting for her with a pass for the day's show of the Paris Fashion Week. Sonia spent the day watching the show with her favourite actress in tow with the two gossiping about the dresses they disliked and the ones they would die for.
After the show, Sonia went back to her ship, her hands full of the shopping bags. She'd paid for them using the coupon that her friends had sent for her in the envelope.
Now that she had an idea of what her trip was going to be like, Sonia couldn't wait for the next city, which was Seoul. She got off the ship when her eyes landed on a crowd of people that were shouting their voices off. Curiosity got the better of her when she too decided to join them. She thanked herself a few minutes later as she saw Raman romancing with Ishita. In other words, she saw Karan Patel and Divyanka Tripathi shooting for Yeh Hai Mohabbatein. Sonia wanted to jump through the people and reach them, but the number of people blocking her dampened her spirits. With a long face, she moved towards her actual stop - the showroom called MAGNMAG.
She treated herself to a good number of clothes, shoes and bags that were trending thanks to the K-Pop stars who shopped there. She was on her way to the counter to make payment, when a hushed voice coming from the kids' section stopped her.
Man - "Psssttt, help me please!"
As fate would have it, the man turned out to be none other than Karan Patel.
Sonia - "You're talking to me?"
Karan - "Yeah yeah. Do me a favour please and get me a pair of pants please?"
Sonia looked at him, confusion written all over her face.
Karan - "I emptied a bottle of water on my pants, and it is kinda embarrassing if I come out looking like this. I can't go to the men's section unless I look decent, so please help me"
Sonia tuned on her heels towards the men's section as she tried to muffle the laughter that threatened to break away. Seconds later, she returned with a pair of trousers and loud laughter when she handed the cloth to Karan. He would've killed her had this been any other situation and Sonia walked away before he actually had a chance to throttle her. On her way out, Sonia passed Divyanka who was entering the store and gave her a hug.
Sonia - "Your Ravan Kumar is a serious piece of entertainment. Man, I love you two"
Saying this, our lawyer friend moved on to the journey for her next port, Tokyo. As she walked around the place, she wondered if her friends had turned momentarily insane when they were choosing this place. She knew for sure that she was past the age for the sight in front of her. She sighed as she moved in, reading the piece of paper that lay on her hand - 'Welcome to Disneyland'.
A few hours later, Sonia no longer thought her friends were insane to send her here; she'd loved every moment of it. Suddenly she received a message on her phone.
"Party abhi baaki hai mere dost. Go check out the bumping cars"
Sonia did as said and the view in front of her had temporarily sucked the life out of her. Shahrukh Khan and Kajol were two of the riders of the cars, along with their kids and their spouses. She waited no second before she took out her phone and recorded the event. She would've done more than that, but the big guys who she knew were security made her back off. She was about to go, when she saw Shahrukh looked at her and flash his ever charming dimples. She was grateful she hadn't shut off the camera, for this was one moment she wanted to relive all her life.
Finally after two eventful days, she boarded a plane that would take her back to London. She knew it was the end of her trip, and dreaded going back to the pile of paperwork that would greet her as soon as she entered her office. Tightening the seat belt, she heard a man speak, and his voice appeared familiar, so much that she could feel the start of goose bumps on her arms. She leaned forward and looked towards her side. Sitting in the parallel row, in all his glory and daze, was the one man Sonia couldn't have enough of, Fawad Afzal Khan. He seemed to have caught the attention of the air-hostess who refused to move away from his side. Shrugging the lady off with a smile, he rested in his seat as Sonia spent the entire trip gazing at him, trying to ascertain if he was real or a dream. Simultaneously, her mind was busy weaving a plan of things to do.
Get Fawad's autograph and a selfie, holding his hand. That would give Saraa's picture with him a run for her money, where she is almost holding his hand. HMPH!
Get Fawad to sing Zindagi Gulzar Hai, and record it too.
Get Fawad to...
Well well well. Does Sonia get Fawad to do all that is unknown to us, but we do know that a note awaits her when she reaches home. Here is a sneak-peek to the contents of the note, exclusively for you.
"Dear Sonia,
So at the end of this trip you might be wondering how we were generous enough to provide you with all the money to go on a shopping spree. Save the thank-yous for some other time because guess what, none of us paid a single cent for anything. All we did was go to your boss and ask him to transfer all your savings into coupons for the trip. We got him to make the payments, with your money. Hahahahaha. We told him after watching Bang Bang, Katrina had you inspired and you wanted to blow all your life's savings on this trip and he happily agreed. Enjoy the moment while it lasts because we'll be out of the city before you try to kill us all, or should I say before you decide to set loose a hit-man on the two of us.
Happy Birthday again!
All out of love,
Pooja and Ritchelle."
comment:
p_commentcount