HAPPINESS

It was raining heavily one evening, Kabir was walking down towards one of the nearest metro station. He was returning back from his coaching institute where he just enrolled himself few days back for the MBA entrance preparation. He was under umbrella and he was puffing his cigarette, walking down on the streets of Calcutta. Suddenly he found someone trying to get into his umbrella, it was a girl who was almost wet due to rain and trying to get under his umbrella. [read more]

“Excuse me, can you share your umbrella up to the metro station, I forgot to carry my umbrella and since I’ve to attend a family function I need to catch the metro as early as possible so I cannot wait for the rain to stop.” The girl asked Kabir.

Kabir barely gets along with others as he remains in his own world and he is barely concerned about others. He was a very career oriented boy and he wanted to complete his post graduation from one of the country’s finest MBA College.  He was completely engrossed in his own thoughts which got ripped by a girl who stomped him on that rainy night.

Kabir was speechless as he did not expected this to happen with him but since she was a girl and it was raining heavily so he thought to offer her the umbrella but he wanted few of his queries to get cleared. “Do we know each other?”

“We both study in the same MBA coaching institute.” The girl replied back

“Which batch?” Kabir asked the girl.

The rain was getting heavier so the girl asked Kabir “If you don’t mind can I come inside the umbrella and then you can continue with your questionnaire session.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, please.” Kabir politely offered help to the girl.

“By the way my name is Khushi and I do not like people smoking around me,” Khushi wittingly introduced herself.

Kabir realized it and threw the cigarette bud in the road side trash bin.

“My name is Kabir.” Kabir introduced himself to Khushi.

“You do not belong to Calcutta as your vocal accent can say that. Which place do you belong to?” Khushi asked Kabir.

“I’m from Delhi, and I work here for a battery manufacturing company. Basically I’m an engineer but I want to do my post graduation so I’m preparing for it.” Kabir answered her.

“Oh that’s great. How did you like this place?” Khushi asked Kabir.

“I barely get time on weekdays and on weekend I prepare for my post graduation.” Kabir replied her back.

“You know Calcutta is called City Of Joy. There are number of places where in one can visit and enjoy the cultural heritage which this city is carrying and Victoria Palace is one of them. People from across the globe come here to enjoy the cultural colors of this city, by the way how long have you been staying here?”

Kabir started getting irritated with the questions of Khushi but he preferred to behave in a gentleman’s way so he answered politely. “It has been almost one and a half year since I’m staying here.”

“Oh my god, you have been staying here from past one & half year and you have not visited any single place of this city. You seem to be the king of boredom city.” It was a matter of surprise for a fun loving person like Khushi who barely leaves any place untouched which comes under her knowledge.

Kabir was speechless but he was helpless too, the same type of question and answer session was on till both boarded the metro rail and departed for their respective destinations.

Next day Kabir was walking towards the coaching institute and as usual he was puffing a cigarette deeply engrossed in his thoughts.

“What joy do you get by puffing this killer machine?” Kabir turned back and found it was Khushi who interrupted his series of thought, he immediately threw the cigarette bud and smiled back to suppress the embarrassment.

“Hello, how are you doing?”  Kabir asked Khushi.

“I’m doing fantastic but you do not seem to be doing so well. Why do you smoke?” Khushi was straight in her question.

Kabir was taken aback a bit but due to difference in the gender he thought to stay polite and replied her back softly “It helps in releasing the stress.”

“Smile, as smile is the best way of releasing stress. When was the last time you smiled?” Khushi asked him.

“What does your question mean? I smile every day. Anyways let’s get into our respective classes.” Though Kabir tried to stay positive and avoid this question but this question went deep down as he was full of boredom. His routine included only two things one was his work and other one was his studies, he neither visited any place nor does he had any friends.

The class got over and the question of Khushi was still hovering around the mental stature of Kabir, he was just trying to find the answer of the question which was asked by her. The helicopter of Kabir’s thought landed as a new passenger asked for the lift.

“Hey, how was your class?” It was Khushi from the back as usual.

“It was nice.” Kabir answered with a smiling face.

“My question was not funny enough to make you smile so better you do not wear a fake smile as I can figure it out that your smile is not a real one.” Kabir got confused by her statement and asked her.

“What do you mean by fake smile? What is the difference between real and fake smile?”

“I’ve to shop something so please accompany me to the nearby mall and help me carrying the shopping bags and in return I’ll help you in getting a real smile.” Khushi asked Kabir.

Normally Kabir’s routine says to prepare for next day’s lecture but since the next day was Sunday and neither there was any class nor there was any office so he gave a thought to accompany Khushi.

They shopped and had a coffee with a small chit chat on various relevant and non relevant topics. They were heading back to their destinations and both of them were waiting for their metro rails .

“Did you notice the lady who was standing ahead of me in the billing counter?” Khushi asked him.

“Yes, she was really funny, and the way she was talking on the phone was even funnier.” Kabir burst into laughter.

“This is your real smile.” Khushi winked and made Kabir speechless.

“Our metro rails have arrived. Let us leave for our respective destination.” Khushi offered her hand for goodbye gesture. Kabir grabbed her hand for the handshake.

“Can we meet up tomorrow?” Kabir started liking her company so he asked her for another meeting.

“Sorry, I keep my Sunday for my boyfriend.” Khushi answered him.

“Oh, that’s great. What is the name of your boyfriend?” Kabir asked Khushi.

“His name is Abhijeet and we are in relationship from school days and soon we are going to get married.” Khushi answered him.

“Can we catch up the next metro rail, if you do not have any problem?” Kabir asked Khushi for the favor.

“Yes, that is ok with me. I can catch up the next rail but you need to leave my hand first of all.” The hands were still in the handshake position and it was getting awkward as the nearby passengers were staring both of them.

It took almost 5 another minutes for the next metro, but in these 5 minutes Khushi revealed that she would not be meeting him anymore as she would be accompanying her boyfriend to New Zealand and they are flying down to New Zealand on Sunday evening. Kabir and Khushi exchanged their contact numbers along with a promise to be in touch forever.

The metro rail arrived and both of them left for their respective destinations, Khushi worked like a magic wand and the life of Kabir changed a lot. Now he was a new Kabir who loves to smile and stay happy. Khushi alike her name spread happiness in the life of Kabir. They both kept the promise to be in touch as friends. [/read]