So it was on that kind of a day when all of a sudden my friend Vinay called me, I was half asleep and was cursing for distubing me from my beautiful dream.

Almost dreaming, I said, "Hello..".

"Hey man! What's up, are u still sleeping, come on get up man it is almost 12 in the noon".... It was Vinay talking excitedly.

"Hai Vinny, yeah I was just having a great dream of my life man, you just distubed it. anyway what is today's program?"

"Nothing much, there is a good movie running in AMC, I thought you would be interested, what do you say?"

"Oh! that would be great, when is the show?"

"It is at 2:30pm. I will tell u what, I will be there at your place in another half an hour, get ready by then, we will go out for lunch. I know a very good Thai resturant near AMC, after lunch we will go to the movie, is it Ok?"

"It's fine, ok then see you soon, bye."

"bye".

We hung up!

I got up and got ready in 15 mins....

Vinay is a very close friend of mine. We worked together in India. We saw many movies together and had many good moments, we used to hang out in cafes and used to talk about whole bunch of worldly things...those were some good old days. Vinay got married a year ago and came to US as he got a job in bay area. A month after he left, I too got a job in US and that too in bay area. When I wrote a mail to Vinny telling him about my job, he was very happy and excited. So, though we are busy with our jobs whole of the week, we make sure that we spend some weekends together like those old days in India....

Vinay arrived on time and we went to that Thai resturant he was talking about....we got a good table near a window.... After we sat, Vinny said "Do u remember my cousin Shushmi?". "Shushmi, who?" I said, "Shushmitha, the one who was doing MS here in NJ, I told U about her when we were working in India, I guess u forgot." "Oh! that one, yeah I remember, what about her?" I asked enquiringly.... "She stays some 30 miles away from here. She called me on my cell when I was on my way to your house just now..., she finished her MS 3 months ago and she is trying for a job. I was just wondering if you could try something in your company... What do you think?"

"That's ok Vinny, I could do something. Just two days back, my manager was telling me about hiring two persons for the new project which is about to start in a month..., infact I was about to ask you if you knew any good guys who are in need of a project...., anyway, just ask her to forward her resume to me, I will look into the matter", I said. After that conversation, we drifted into our own jobs matters and things about American economy and stuff like that.... The food was too good and both of us stuffed ourselves... We realised it was almost time we got into the theater now and went inside....

The movie was good and we enjoyed very much.... Later when Vinay was dropping me back at my place he reminded me about that job for his cousin... then, suddenly out of that little curisoity inside me, I just wanted to see her once... So I thought why not meet her before she came to office for an interview. I thought for an excuse and an idea flashed in my mind..... I said, "Vinny, my manager would like to hire a person with little experince, but since your cousin does not have any experince at all, I think I should meet her and prepare her before hand about our company and stuff like that, u know." "That will help her in her interview very much."

Vinay thought for a moment and said "Yes, you are right," she absolutly doesn't know anything at all, that is a good idea, since tomorrow is a sunday, why not meet her tomorrow itself, the sooner the better, right?"

"yeah, that is fine...."

"ok then bye, we will meet tomorrow for lunch at my place", Vinay said and left me at my apartment.

I don't know why, but whole of that evening I was little restless. Every now and then my thoughts were going onto Shushmitha, I was constantly thinking about her, how she would be looking, how she would be talking.... She was an Indian born girl but settled in US, I just knew that much about her, .... since she studied here, may be she is little fast than the normal indian girls who r mostly very shy.

I didn't realise how late it was, in the middle of my thoughts, when I glanced at my watch, it was already 9, I didn't feel much hungry, so I just had a glass of butter milk and changed my clothes to go to bed. I lied on my bed and was gazing at the celing then I wonded what I should wear tomorrow. I got up and went into my closet and started scanning through my clothes, I found what I wanted, my dark blue jeans! I am not a great body builder but I do go to gym after my work hours in my office. you know, just to keep myself fit... so I didn't want to expose my body with tight fitting shirts , so I generally buy large size ones which are not too tight for me...... there was one such t-shirt, which I liked very much, light yellow, I thought it would go well with my dark jeans..... it was little wrinkled, "the first thing in the morning after i get up, i need to press my shirt," I thought and went back to bed where I was lying before.... It was little cold, so I took my comforter out and snugged into it. I thought of watching some TV, so I switched on and started scanning throught the channels, but nothing seemed to be interested today....thoughts were drifting, so I decided, I should go to sleep, so that I could getup fresh in the morning... I switched off the TV, put out the light and tried to sleep.. I tossed and tossed in my bed but sleep was no where near....my mind was too excited to sleep, then I thought a good book should do the trick, so I got a good romantic novel which I got from the library the day before and started reading it, but before I finished the first 4 pages, I fell asleep...

In the morning, exactly at 8:00, I woke up...... when I opened my eyes, I felt like any other sunday, then suddenly I remembered her.... I felt as if some electricity had passed through my body, I sat up straight in my bed and got out of it in a sec. I did all my basic things very quickly and ate my breakfast... I was very hungry that day morning because I did not eat my dinner the day before. I had pressed my shirt before itself, so I took my bath and put on my jeans and that yellow shirt.... I combed my hair and looked at myself in the mirror... for a sec, I thought it was not me whom I was looking in the mirror, I never thought I could look so smart and handsome......I looked at my watch, it was still 10:45, Vinny asked me to come for lunch, if I start now, it will look as if I was going for breakfast, I thought I should wait in the house for somemore time. I took out the novel which I was reading the night before and started reading it..... After a while, I looked at my watch again , time passed very quickly, it was 12:00 already. I went to my garage and took out my car, I took the directions for Vinny's new apartment from the internet yesterday night itself. I started the engine and backed up and headed for Vinny's house...........

I reached Vinny's house, rang the bell and waited for the door to open...... Just then, I heard somebody shouting in a distance, I turned around to see who it was and then the door opened in front of me, I looked forward and saw her.... For a sec, I felt as if my heart had stopped beating, she was the most beautiful creation I have ever seen.... Her face was very calm and very clear, she was very fair in complexion, she had no makeup on..... she was wearing a light blue colour salwar suit... her hair was loose and air was blowing through and I could smell her shampoo.... She had a slim figure, from head to toe she was an angel.... I don't know for how long I stood there seeing her like that... suddenly I came to this world and by then she was seeing me questionably.... I asked her if it was Vinny's house and she said yes... I introduced myself and she let me in and asked me to sit in the sofa. She went in to call Vinny, all the while my eyes were seeing only her.. then Vinny came and said hai. He introduced Shusmitha to me and I held out my hand to give a shake hand, she said namaste and I withdrew my hand and told namaste. Then I thought, though, she studied here, she is still an Indian girl and values our traditions...... Then bhabhi came from inside and I said namaste to her also and she served some cool drink....After sometime, Vinny shouted to his wife to serve lunch and all of us had lunch, home made food is always good in US....... I enjoyed bhabhi's cooking....After lunch, Vinny called Shushmitha and told her to sit with me and discuss about her resume.... She sat in the other sofa, right opposite to me and both of us discussed for a long time.... time just passed like that. I did not realise how late it was, until bhabhi came with tea cups..... she served tea and after drinking it, I thought I should go...... so I said bye to everyone and told Shusmitha that I will call her the next day and talk to her again and went to my room.....

I was in a very good mood, so I put some music in my system and lied down in my sofa and enjoyed listening... my heart was jumping with joy, I didn't know why. If she gets a job in my office, I will be able to see her every day.... I should try very hard to get her a job in my office, I thought strongly. I got up had little dinner and went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up in high spirits, got ready and went to office as usual. I just peeped into my managers office, but I found it empty...later that day I found out that he had gone to our NJ office on some official work and will return only on thursday. I was little disappointed, as I thought I would talk to him about Shusmitha's job. I thought, if I rushed things more, may be things will get bad, so I told myself that I need to wait patiently for my manager's return on thrusday. That evening, I called Shushmitha, to tell her that she needs to wait till thursday but that call was only an excuse to talk to her, I could as well call up Vinny and give that information. We chatted for sometime about the job and later drifted into other topics, that way I thought I will know her better... I decided that I should try to meet her often. After sometime we hung up.

Tuesday passed without much occurances, I tried to trace my manager in NJ office, but I learnt that he was kind of busy... anyway I could not contact him directly...

Then Wednesday, it happened.... the worst thing which I feared happened that day... may be I was not the lucky guy. I always wonder why such things happen to me only in this big wide world. Vinay called me up that day and said that she got an offer in East Coast and would be leaving the next day. And he offered me thanks once again for all the help which I extended, half of which I was not listening. After hanging up the phone, I was very upset, I felt like I must be the only unlucky fellow living on this earth. I could not work anymore that day and so I left office early.

That night, I couldn’t sleep properly and my mind was always revolving around her. I felt that I should take a step forward and convey my love to her. At the same time, I thought it would be foolish to talk about love, when she hardly knows me. In my case, it might be love at first sight, where as from her side, it might not be the same. I pondered over the matter for a long time and was frustrated with all my plans.

At one point, I thought Vinay might help, if I opened up to him. I got a chance to meet him in that next few days after she left, but I couldn’t raise the topic. I asked him how she was doing, that was all I could do. I felt nervous on one side for not being able to communicate to her my deep feelings but at the same time, I felt like it might not be right to go ahead, without knowing her mind.

Time passed by. And I kind of buried myself deep in my project as the deadlines were coming closer. But now and then, when I get sometime to sit alone, I remember her, the first time, that first moment when my eyes saw her... and I feel I did some grave mistake by not going a step further. But at the same time, I feel I did a right thing...............

-Aparna Pelluru

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