ONE MONTH AGO
As the yellow studio lights fell on her, Avanti felt droplets of sweat forming on her upper lip and below her eyes.
She was minutes away from winning the ‘What’s your IQ?’ show. She had five more questions to answer. The make-up man patted her face dry and soon the cameras started rolling.
The quiz master asked the five questions and she got all of them right. She had won. Things were a blur as she was showered with glitter. The judges walked up to give her the prize money. The main sponsor was giving away a unique prize. She was asked to write down five wishes or dreams. The sponsor would endeavour to help her realize one of these five dreams.
FIVE YEARS AGO
Avanti clucked in diasapproval and looked at the handsome twenty-something man, who stood before her, giving his usual cheeky smile.
She worked at the Employment Bureau in her town.
The man said, “Do you have any updates for my job?”
She replied with barely concealed irritation, “Mr.D’Souza, we have your number. We will definitely call you if something comes up.”
But he stood there and said, “Will you come out with me for a cup of coffee? And the name’s Mark.”
She refused but he persisted.
He showed up there very often asking her out, sending cards and flowers. She was quite irritated, as he never took her ‘no’ seriously.
One day, when she was already having a bad day, he showed up with a long stemmed red rose.
She was in a bad mood and threw the rose down, and said, “Do you know why I don’t like you? It’s because you are unemployed, and are just floating around without any purpose.”
He looked at her strangely and walked away. She walked away in a huff, and that was that.
That was the last time she saw him. He stopped coming to the Bureau. The flowers, cards and chocolates stopped.
She worried and brooded. Her womanly pride was hurt. Every morning, she looked for him, with no luck. Heart of hearts she felt that maybe she had started liking him a little. His phone was out of reach.
Life moved on. After about three years since she last saw him, she saw his photo splashed on all newspapers, and TV. He was hailed as the next big literary sensation. His books had become bestsellers.
She smiled to herself.
NOW
After the high of winning the quiz show, the sheen of fame was slowly wearing off. The sponsors had promised to call her within the month to let her know, which dream of hers they would help her realize.
She was back to the dull monotony of her job at the Bureau, all days the same.
After a month she received a call from the sponsor.
“Ma’am, we are making your Wish No:2 come true – A trip to the Amazon”.
She was a little disappointed but sounded cheerful and thanked the sponsor.
She then asked, “Were you able to speak to Mr.Mark D’Souza about my wanting to spend a few hours talking to him?”
“Yes ma’am, as that was your first wish, that’s where we started. Mr.D’Souza sends his regrets but has promised that he will send you a copy of his latest book, autographed by him”, said the sponsor.
Her trip to the Amazon was fantastic but there was a niggling worry about Mark that wouldn’t leave her.
She constantly thought about him and their past. Did he remember her? She could only wonder.
One day, finally, Mark’s latest book of short stories, reached her. She eagerly opened it to see his message.
She was disappointed to see that it was simply signed – ‘Dear Avanti, Wishing you the very best, Mark.’
She looked through the book and her heart stopped, when she saw a short story titled – ‘The lady at the Employment Bureau’.
She did not have the courage to read it.
Karma and what goes around comes around for mean lady at unemployment office. My heart would melt if someone brought me flowers! π
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The law of Karma at workβΊ
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I loved this story. You ended it very nicely, leaving the reader to imagine whether Avanti would read the story after all (or not) in future. Plus, the the characters were very real. I am thankful that you did not turn this into another hopeless romantic stories where the author gladly grants Avanti’s wish… it would have been so predictable had it been that way. Thanks so much for sharing this. It is a wonderful piece.
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Thank you dear Arpita
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Loved this one Nimi. Sometimes we judge too soon, shallow but he harsh truth. This brought tears to my eyes. I played AvantI once , was too young then but I know I hurt someone bad …really bad a d just a couple of days ago after ages I came face to face with the person and just as AvantI had noncourgae to read , I couldn’t muster the courage to even say hi. An awkward smile and a twitch in the chest …..that’s all.
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Aww….thank you for sharing your experience Priyanka. Sometimes we realize a lot of things in retrospect.
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Pardon the errors . Just too moved.
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Loved this! What a great and ironic tale. You know, you really must do a sequel where you actually write the story “The Lady at the Employment Bureau”…whether she ends up reading it or not!!
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Thank you dear Marissa. Yes, there’s another story in there
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I’d love to hear it. This was one of your best for sure. So multi-faceted. It would be great to draw on it.
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Thank you Marissa
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Very nice Nimi…loved the ending
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Thank you dear Shivangi
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More please. You’ve got my attention. π
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Aww..thank you KimβΊ
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Nimi! I absolutely loved this. There are always consequences to how you treat others. Brilliantly written Nimi! π
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Indeed a beautifully woven story π
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Thank you NJ
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Nicely written.
P.S. I have nominated you for a totally voluntary challenge called 3 quotes 3 days challenge π Check it out here β
https://aamrits.wordpress.com/2015/06/15/the-3-day-quotes-challenge-day-1/
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Thank you Amrit. I am travelling at the moment so wifi access is not great. Will take this up once I have good wifi…Hope that’s ok
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Ya sure. Take your time. Thanks for accepting the challenge. π
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very nice story… i am eagerly interested to read what happened next… hope you will post it soon… liked it so much… π
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Thank you Ashish, so very much, for your kind words. Wirking on Part 2βΊ
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oh… that’s great… this story is really heart touching with a message in it…
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Ohoho, that was a rough one! Loved the story though π
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Thank you Akanksha for the follow and for your kind words.
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