Aura

It was another typically boring day at the office. Ritvesh was in the cafeteria trying to shove lunch down his throat. And like always he was sitting alone at a corner facing the wall so that he could see anyone, rather no one could see him. He bent down to grab his fork which he had dropped accidentally. He picked it up and continued shoving, but sensed some restlessness in his mind. Something had caught his attention but his senses and mind were totally out of sync. It took his mind longer to process what he had seen/heard/tasted. This time he had seen something. The red ear rings. His heart started racing the very instant. He started talking to himself, "Could this be Raksha? what if she is indeed? That is not possible, definitely not possible. But what if by some great miracle she is?" He had to find out. 

He got up and headed in her direction. She was sitting with her back facing him, so he could not see her face. She too was sitting alone he realized. When he was about 5 feet away from her, she turned as if she sensed that someone was approaching her. That very instant time froze. He was hoping against hope that it would be Rakhsa. She was not, she was some one else. It started making sense to him as to why she got his attention. She was the stand out in the rest of the crowd. He now also noticed that she was wearing a blue salwar, had her hair plaited and was wearing the exact same red ear rings. The combination seemed weird to him but was working for her. He suddenly realized that he was standing in the middle of the cafeteria, 5 feet away from her and staring shamelessly. There was a sudden urge in him to talk  to her. Then emotion overcame his sense of control and he blurted out. 

"Hi I am Ritvesh"

"So?

"And you are?"

"None of your business. Please stop bothering me"

"I am sorry, I dont know what I was thinking. Something got the better of me. Sorry to have bothered you again. Please carry on"

He felt as if someone had slapped him hard across his face. He wanted to die at the very moment. He could not. Instead he did the walk of shame back to his desk. The only solace in his life was his work. With a non-existent personal life, the need to meet people, have fun or laugh, he had all the time in the world to work. His boss being the wily old fox, figured that out and extracted everything that he could. Ritvesh did not mind. So once he was back at his desk he got the much needed diversion from the incident back at the cafeteria.

A few days later, Ritvesh was sitting at the exact same spot trying to eat and not to look anywhere else but just at the wall. He felt someone tapping his shoulder. He turned around to find the same girl. This time though she did not seem grumpy. She was smiling. He found nothing amusing about that given the treatment he got the last time.

"Hi" she said.

He did not respond, unsure as to how this conversation would turn out to be. He just had a blank expression on his face. 

She tried again "Hey, I just said hi"

This time it was his turn "So?" 

"I think we got off on a wrong foot" 

"Really? I thought it was quiet normal for you to bash a guy who says hi"

"Alright mister, enough of this. I was in a bad mood that day and felt that I was very rude to you. I tried to find you the next day but somehow was never able to. Today I finally did and wanted to apologize and get the burden off my head, but looks like you are in a even worse mood than I was" and she turned and was about to walk away. 

"Wait. I am sorry. Its just that after that day I hated myself and hated you even more for having made me feel that way. I am not sure why I even came and talked to you. It just saw that you had those.... ignore that. Forget all this ever happened."

"I am sorry too. I was having a bad day that day. It was my birthday but my boss gave me shit because some other dude failed to do his work properly. Apparently we missed the deadline and I was being blamed. I could not take it and just wanted some time for myself, so was sitting alone and that is when you came and you know the rest." 

"By the way I am Aura, Aura Patel. You said you are Rakesh?" and raised her brows to signal that she was questioning. 

"Ritvesh, not Rakesh. "Aura", thats not a typical gujju name"

"Who said that I am a typical gujju? When I was born my dad took one look at me and said that my name would be Aura, for the innate aura that I possessed. Apparently my mom and dad a big fight over my name, but my dad stood his ground. He is happy now though, when people come to him and say that I justify the name." There was a tinkle in her eyes and smile on her face, a slightly mischievous one, he realized that she was one of those who had cute dimples. He also realized that he never really observed how she looked. Now he was doing just that. He could not help but draw comparisons with one benchmark he had, Raksha. She was not as beautiful as Raksha he observed, but her eyes were special: deep, mischievous, they smiled when she smiled. She could communicate with her eyes he figured. She had left her hair open unlike the last time when she had plaited them. And she had switched to a more corporate attire. She looked very professional though, a little too professional for a software employee, but he was not complaining. 

She snapped her fingers and said "Mr. Ritvesh, dont you think it is bad manners to gape at a girl who has come to apologize?"

"Sorry again. I get lost in thoughts very easily these days. The hangover doesnt help too" 

"You sound and look like Devdas. Anyhow, I got to run. Take care dude. See you around" and she walked away. 

After she left, he felt ecstatic. He did not feel like a total loser anymore. Of course she had a reason for an outburst and that reason was not him. 

When he went home that night he did not feel the need to get drunk to fall asleep and he was right, sleep would come easily that night and many nights to follow...