Falling Felt Flying.

By Maansa. Kalyanshetti.

 My heart  didn't change its pace. Everything in the background didn't seem to fade away. No music was playing in my brain, instead it forgot the lyrics of the favorite song  in my playlist. I could still see people busy buying their grocery, and the discount hoarding over the stationary . Maansa,  please don't tell me you are impressed by a worker in Marvellous Mart! ( A local grocery store. ) 

 MAYBE. All the cells of my body  didn't stop working , yet  I found myself  standing still . As if I was in a statue game, and my heart said, STATUE. 

Mind : OVER. 

I moved, turned back, and looked at him again with full consciousness trying to capture every possible detail, to tell this to my best friend the next day. I guess bringing out the poetic, dramatic comparison would be a crime because he was something beyond compare. His eyes were brown but what caught me was his stunning smile.Those eyes weren't an ocean that I would drown, those eyes held something which made me sail my boat and float.He didn't set my heart on fireworks, he calmed me down.  Maybe that is when I knew. I was flying. He made the falling feel flying! 

People have love at first sight, but what if I tell you mine was love at third sight! I believed that my life resonates only with Bollywood movie tragedies but I was pretty surprised that ,for once, it was more than the tragedies. 

I was having a walk after my exam with the half melted ice cream in my hand, laughing my heart out with my friends. And that's exactly when I spotted Mr. Marvellous Smart. (For the second time) .He was on the scooter, black shirt, busy on a call and what made him more attractive were his sleeves rolled up! My reflexes deserve a Nobel prize for such a keen observation within seconds of just a glance & remembering it till date . I wish I had the superpowers to do the same with my subjects of Science and art rather than a worker of Marvellous Mart.Coming back to Mr. Marvellous Smart, I knew I had seen him somewhere but I couldn't recall when and where. And when I saw him for the third time, it struck me that he was the one that day . I didn't have the courage to even exchange a smile, but through the entire store, I was smiling inside, the happiness got real because Maansa finally fell for someone on this planet. As it is no less than a movie, guess what would have happened next. No points for guessing. I stood there staring at him as if I had found a treasure which lasted only for a few seconds and I was given the task of staring at the treasure. Believe me, it was no less than a death stare. What happened next isn't that surprising, of course he caught me staring at him! I switched my sight as soon as I could. We got home, and all that I could feel was regret. Regret of not smiling at him. Maybe if I had smiled, it would have been a start. But I decided the very next moment, that I will gather all the courage and ask for his contact next time we visit the store.   The "next time " Came sooner than I expected. My eyes looked for him the entire store only to end up not finding the treasure. But  it's a movie don't you dare to forget. Bonus points awarded this time for guessing. He was at the billing counter and we had to go to the counter which he was in. I think he recognized me. He smiled. Who would forget the death stare! I tried, I swear, to at least exchange a smile but it was like the physics numericals and maths calculus for me. Complex. When we were leaving the store, I turned to have a glance, and he was there still smiling . I couldn't.The pain of regret has intensified now. But I genuinely promised myself, I will smile next time whenever I see him. Maansa 's promise. 

The next time wasn't soon this time.  Fasten the seatbelts of your heart,the movie’s climax is here to disturb it.  I didn't have any high hopes as the skyscrapers but all I least expected was to be in touch with him and keep giving him death stares every time I visit  the store,and yes get myself a good picture with him to showcase it in my room to flaunt it while giving people that pretty smile,describing my so called “love at third sight”.Was this too much to ask for? For the first time in my lifetime, Maansa's promise wasn't kept, did the universe have a right to leave it incomplete? Or break it? 

After  a few weeks, when we were passing beside the store at night , all I could  see was my dreams shattering, the petals of my heart withering, all the doors of a story which had started locked up with the keys lost, it broke my heart to see the imagined window of love closed, all I saw was the shutter of the store closed.Forever.

MSK. 

By Maansa. Kalyanshetti.