Just Another Arranged Marriage: And then we meet

It was a warm Saturday afternoon in a typically cold December and I was enjoying myself being alone after a long time. And to celebrate the wonderful time, I had come to the Annual Book Fair at Pragati Maidan. It’s always great to visit such a fair, alone or with ten other people, it hardly matters as so many books together at one place attract you so much so as to transform the world around you. And even though you may not buy any books, just like me, browsing through the books and the crowd for a brief time is a good getaway.

As I was browsing through my favourite section, “the travel books”, I turned and I guess, I saw a somewhat familiar looking face. The face was strikingly sweet, long thick hairs, red T-shirt, blue denim jeans and a black jacket. The worst thing, it was moving towards me but with a smile. My i-pod switched on,

“Kuch kam roshan hai roshni, kuch kam gili hai baarishein,
kuch kam lehraati hai hawa, kuch kam hai dil mein khwahishein,
tham sa gaya hai ye waqt aise, tere liye hi thehra ho jaise”

I shut it off immediately.

“Hi Karan, did you recognize me”

“Of course, even if I want, I cannot forget you, Ms. Shonali”

“So, did you get any book for yourself?”

“Well, I browsed through a lot, but have not got any yet, I read books but not much and that too only a select few genres.”

“Oh! I just love books, I mean I cannot even live without them, you know my day does not ends until I read up a few lines. And I read everything, be it fiction, biographies, thrillers, love stories, geography, history, the genres unlike you are endless”. As, she finished, she held up one huge bag full of nothing but books.

For the first time, I thanked God. I mean keeping one or maximum of two books in your room or visiting a book fair once a year is one thing and having an entire library in your home is totally another. Phew!

“Great for you Shonali, I guess then, I will not disturb you much in your journey to heaven, Bye”, I said and I left.

As I moved ahead into the crowd, I do not know why but I turned back. She was not there.