A bookish love story: My Entry for the Get Published Contest

Kabir, an unusually shy guy in his early twenties has recently started working for an MNC in the capital city of Delhi. One day, he goes over to the house of his sister’s friend to return some of her books. He has seen her and talked to her on a few occasions before but never found her attractive. But now, as he finds himself sitting in her drawing room, looking at her approaching silhouette; a strange feeling of calm passes over him. He forgets to be anxious – something he can never avoid in the company of an unknown. But is she really an unknown? He wonders for a moment and then loses himself in the innocent wonder of her eyes…watching her lips gently form words…words he does not hear that day, words ringing hollow behind the din of his wildly pounding chest. They exchange a few pleasantries before moving on to the topic of books – the only topic they are both comfortable with and passionate about. She, a literature student aspiring to be a writer; and he, a secret admirer of the written word who never quite had the courage to acknowledge his dream, let alone pursue it. They open up to each other like a young bird opening her wings to take her first flight – nervous, but wildly excited at the thought of flying in the free air. She starts talking about her poetry and acting, and he sits there like a log. Suddenly, he remarks quite coolly that he also write poems. She insists on reading one and he promises to bring it for her on his next visit. Quite bewilderingly, she asks him to write it down the next time instead of getting a print out. That’s weird, he thinks. Let her try her luck with my horrific handwriting, he chuckles to himself and says his goodbyes. This short visit leads to a series of meetings, culminating in the coming together of two strangely awkward personalities. Both lost in their own ways, each waiting to be found by the right eyes – eyes that don’t look past their dead faces, but eyes that look inside the inert façade to see them as they are. Without trying to change, without trying to judge. Both looking to come across love, unwilling to find it……….. An old world love story about two simple souls finding solace in each other, what makes this story enjoyable is the attention to the protagonists’ feelings and their deep awareness of emotions – their own and those of lives around them. In the end, I believe what matters in a love story is how much it makes you remember from your own life – that adolescent crush, that adorable someone, the excitement of getting drenched in the rain …..simple emotions etched on the canvas of our strangely complex lives. This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs fromYashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India. Total no. of Words - 500