(28-01-07/st) I was sitting at a coffee shop with an old friend of mine. It had been long since we last met. It must have been around four pm but the weather outside was pretty cold. You could see a lot of young people sitting around cozying up to all the cushions and leather provided. Almost everyone inside had a cup of nice hot coffee to look to after a cold and rather dull day as far as meteorology is concerned. The sweet aroma of freshly ground Arabica beans was luring more and more people from outside and the murmurs were drawing quite loud after a while. As me and my friend started sipping our own coffee, our conversation became rather animated. Its amazing how wide a spectrum of topics appear once you are around a large number of people.
Every face we looked at seemed to be providing us with something interesting to converse upon. Daylight began to fade and it seemed we were the only people left who had entered a couple of hours ago. Aah, city life, people never have enough time for anything. I and my friend finally decided that we had no more time to waste and so should leave I was about to ask for the cheque when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught one of the most unusual sights ever. A light so bright shining into the store that it blinded me instantly. The aroma of coffee had been overshadowed by that of tender lilac and it felt as if I had been transported to another dimension. My heart stopped for a moment as if to admire for itself, the sight it had been presented with. Suddenly, my left eardrums detected some sort of vibrations and as soon as my brain realized it had a body to control, I could make out that it was my friend asking me if I was alright. I looked at him and almost instinctively turned to where I was looking at before. It was then that I saw her. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Every feature of hers drew enormous attention from me and all my senses seemed to be fixed at her. Even though I could see everything in the shop, all I could visualize was her. Somehow I made a part of my brain send my body signals that gave me the ability to say to my friend that I would like it if we sat for a bit longer. My friend agreed to my demand. As I set my gaze upon her once again, it felt as if all of heaven's fortunes had been passed onto me. I was out of my head and for me, it was a special feeling as the only other time I could have that was when I would indulge in a sport. My brain had, by now, started normalizing bringing my heart rate down and transferring power back to my senses. My friend could see that I was taking keen interest at admiring her. Soon enough, my friend put forth a rather simple but inquisitive sentence. I was saved for by that time I was so full of thoughts I wanted to share that I would have had a seizure. As I started to speak with my friend, it seemed there were no words I could use that would even have come closer to what I was feeling then. I soon figured out that I was not making any sense with my words and my good friend was amused at how unbecoming of me it seemed. All pragmatism I had stood for had gone out the window and I had a new dogma infused into me. The way she wore her hair, the posture she had as she sat on the sofa, the gentle but lively motions of her hands and the strikingly radiant glow on her face seemed as divine as that of Aphrodite herself if not more. It felt as if one lifetime would not be enough to describe her beauty and I was trying ever so hard to find my way through words and at each step, only feeling as if underestimating it. Only a quarter of an hour had passed since her arrival but I could already see myself spending a lifetime with her. My friend looked like he had had enough of my talk for a more than a couple of lifetimes. He started an attempt to resurrect the old me to get me out from the bag of delusional contentment that had a firm hold on me. I must say he had some success and we decided to get ourselves some more coffee. I
could not stop myself from talking about her and my friend had to give in. as our conversation grew longer, it became more and more meaningless. A sip at my newly ordered coffee restored some of the practicality that I stood for. I realized that she could walk out at any moment and all that magic could be lost forever. Where I come from, it is hard to make a girl let her talk to you. It would be easier to get a lion to jump a rope than the former. There is a strange shell that envelops all these fine creations of the lord and if you get close enough, you will see these words clearly etched on "narrow minded". As soon as this thought crosses your mind, you are inevitably drawn into a discussion on the same. My friend seemed to have some peculiar thoughts on it. This discussion consumed us so much that we did not realize how late in the evening it had become. Only when my friend received a call from her mother, did we realize it was almost half past eight. The intensity of thoughts the sight of this girl had aroused in me had made me ignore her presence for a significant period of time. I turned quickly to where she was sitting before and to my horror, I saw an empty couch. I turned frantically to every corner of the shop and found that she had changed her seat to one where I could not always keep an eye on. I asked my friend to do that for me as a similar episode was almost apparent. It was now that I decided to not let the "shell theory" that we were discussing, get the best of me. I tried to muster up the courage to walk up to her and to try to brew a conversation. I knew that if I could get her to give me her phone number, I would live.
There was no lack of motivation from my friend and for a moment, I thought nothing could go wrong. A whiff of air as I stood up and the whole of earth trembled with each step of mine. Walking as though I was a titan towards her and suddenly something struck me. Strike me hard it did, and it was no other than reality itself. With a loud whoosh, the balloon of confidence around me deflated and I was reduced to a mere mortal. A mortal who had fear rooted deep into him. Embarrassingly enough, I made my way back to my seat and my dear old friend could not help the grin on his face. I tried to look sure of what I was doing but the color, which was rather red, on my face gave me away. Strangely but thankfully enough, my ego decided to stay down for a while and let whatever part of me that made any sense, come out. By now, it had been so many times that I had looked at her that she glanced back and then it happened. I was looking straight at her and her, at me. It seemed like a lifetime to me but my friend had to mention that it went on for about two seconds. I was sure I would kill somebody then and we know who. As I was trying to find a way to start a conversation with her in my head, my friend told me that she had laid her eyes upon me at least twice during that short while. With a deep sigh, I looked straight at my friend and I said to him that it had to be at that very moment itself. I said that the moment for me to deliver had come and that if I didn’t do it, I would forever feel sorry. A hand was placed on my shoulder by my friend then and it seemed to be the best gesture ever. I took my cup of coffee in my hands and emptied its final contents, as if it were a chalice of will, into me. At that moment, it seemed I needed nothing more to get through this troubling test of a time. There I was back to old glory and I got up from my seat. I could not find her. The realm of darkness had arrived. All that stood for and by the lord, vanished. Heaven was no more and so was I. I had been betrayed by time itself. There was no more I could do. It felt as if there was no more air to breathe. A lifetime of guilt, it seemed, was destined for me. My friend tried hard to make me feel better and nothing seemed to be working. We got some more coffee for us thinking it would be of help. I looked apathetic and that was scary to my friend. My friend took a good long sip at the coffee and then she spoke. She spoke, what seemed then to be, the most enlightening of words one comes across in a lifetime. She said “this is exactly what happened the last time we were here and I’m sure it'll happen again". I am over with that little incident now but there is a fact that goes with me. I will definitely face the same situation again and I cannot help but fare the same. Anyone had a deja vu yet? If you have ever been in such troubling and at the same time, funny times, let me know. Advice on better self control the next time it happens and on how to really walk up to a stranger and start conversation is really needed.
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