Beauty And The Beast

                                Beauty and the Beast!!!

I realized it was too late for home but as I am still a bachelor, no one can literally bound me in their time limits. I have celebrated around 26 birthdays and now I have started to bring the money bundles so everyone is kinda happy with me (More with my salary).

So it was 25^th December when I saw her first and a message blinked in my heart saying “Marriage Time.”

“Yeah, I am 26, well educated. Doing good in business. Have a car too. I guess I look good.”

But these qualifications don't matter when you are planning to throw a proposal to a girl- a beautiful girl.

She was standing with her friends and was talking very loudly, grabbing everyone's attention. She was happy. I and my friends started guessing her name.

“Preeti….Ankita….Shefali….Kritika….Hrishita….Neharika….”

I wanted to approach her and with all confidence I wanted to tell her that I wanted to marry her. But I knew it doesn't work this way.

She said ‘good-bye’ to her friends and sat on her scooter. She was driving it very slowly following all the traffic rules that we used to break shamelessly. I decided to follow her. My friends decided to accompany me.

She was driving very carefully. I was feeling strange as the fact that I am chasing a girl whom I never met before, was slightly innovative for a guy like me. I mean i never tried anything like this in school or even college. It was like some magnetic force which was attracting me towards her.

She stopped in front of a medical store and purchased some medicines, we were watching her from a good distance. While going out of the store, she accidentally dropped her cubicle box. I took it and kept it in my pocket. We again started to follow her. I was enjoying the moments and it was like a dream in which I am on a horse and chasing my princess. It was all unnatural and weird.

She again stopped her scooter in front of an old building and entered quickly. I couldn't guess why she went inside the building or what she wanted but suddenly I felt that I should not chase her like this. The guilt conquered me in seconds and I decided to leave the place and to completely rely on faith to match our destinies.

I left the place with my friends.

I reached home and ate something that I don’t remember. I watched T.V for some time, taught my brother a few concepts of physics and then slept.

I dreamed her that night. She was looking beautiful in her white wedding dress. She was standing still like a doll and she said nothing. Her expression suddenly changed and she looked terrified. I saw some people in black dress and wearing a mask over their faces, approaching her. She was scared. She yelled.

I heard that cry and I woke up.

It was a fine morning, sun rays piercing my eyes and then that momentarily blindness. I grabbed the newspaper from my bother. I couldn't believe what I saw. I rubbed my eyes twice.

I saw her photo in the newspaper. Same face which I saw in my dream, I was so surprised. I ran in the house like a mad dog to search my specks, my mother started yelling at me.

I couldn't find my specks, so I told my brother to read the news. I was continuously searching for my specks while thinking of all the possible news.

May be she has topped some exam or won some election. May be she got any award for literature, may be poetry. I think she won some competition in dancing or singing. It can be a beauty contest too. Oh god! Where the hell are my specks!!

My brother read that news aloud and I paused for a few seconds to hear it clearly.

‘26^th Dec

 Jaipur

This innocent girl was brutally raped by a group of 7 college students in an old building. She died this morning. Her forehead is severely damaged. Local people called the police but it was too late. Police had caught 5 students and the further investigation is going on.’

I was blank, terrified, shocked, amazed, stunned and shattered at the same moment. I sat on the nearest sofa waiting for my mind to respond. A thought came suddenly in my mind like an electric shock. I knew she was a beauty and she could not exist in this society. We all have beasts hiding inside us, ready to destroy all the beautiful things of the world. I sat there silently as my mind was forming the real line between the beauty and the beast. I could see the things clearly now and I didn't need my specks anymore.  



Written By :
Ashutosh Mishra