A loser's valentine

A story about how an ordinary person dreams of an extraordinary woman for his ultimate Valentine date, but gets more than what he bargained for!

“And now, to present the award for the Best playback singer Female, may I call upon stage the charming actor, Mr. Abhay Kapoor!” the tuxedo clad superstar hosting India’s biggest entertainment awards announced, as a dashing man wearing fashionable thick rimmed glasses and sporting a fuzz which made him so popular amongst girls, walked up the stage. Several hearts started racing with excitement as Abhay opened the paper on which the name of the winner was written. “Ladies and gentlemen, this award goes to someone who has sung some of the most memorable songs of the decade, but never got her due. Today, I am proud to give her the prize she had always deserved. Presenting the award for the best female singer to Ms Preity Sharma!” The entire auditorium stood up to respect the wonderful singer with a melodious voice that had inspired a generation. The ever graceful Preity walked up to the stage and accepted the award from Abhay, who bent to touch her feet. Preity started to speak something but she was overcome with sobs. She climbed down from the stage without uttering a word.

 

She woke with tears in her eyes. As she surveyed her surroundings- a single bed with sparse bedding, a creaky fan and an ancient cassette player, Preity realized that she had just had another of her nightmares. For her, the dreams of happiness had been nightmares because they promised her so much, but took it all away the moment she woke up. Preity was never afraid of scary dreams because her own life was nothing short of a scary dream. A decade ago, she used to work with the best music directors of the Hindi film industry, charged an astronomical price for recording a song, and in most instances, got what she demanded. All this before the taste of music underwent a drastic change. Suddenly her contemporaries were crooning mindless remixes that showed half nude girls thrusting their hips suggestively, and those numbers went on to become big hits. People stopped paying attention to melody songs which had made Preity such a popular singer. Her songs soon lost their appeal and were termed ‘antique’. The lines of people offering a song to her started dwindling alarmingly and soon, Preity was gone from the public eye. She had to shift to a tiny house in downtown to afford living off whatever she had saved. When that money too ran out, she took to teaching music to anyone who would come to her. Preity had become the classic example of someone who was at the pinnacle once, only to fall from grace faster than a shooting star.

 

After waking up from the realm of dreams to the reality of her life, Preity listened to some of her hit songs on the IPod, a routine she diligently followed since the days of her downfall, as if to remind herself that she still had the talent. Just as she was going to brush her teeth, her phone rang out. Thinking that it might be one of her students, she picked up the phone. A nervous and hurried voice, presumably of a young boy, was heard from the other end, “Hello ma’am! Good morning to you. Sorry for disturbing you so early, but I have a problem which only you can solve. I had kept a bet with my friends that I will date the most beautiful woman of India this valentine’s day. For me, you are the one. Please, please don’t refuse me! If you accept my little request, please come to my college in Ahmedabad on 14^th  Feb. Thanks!” The connection was lost before Preity could utter a word. She washed her face again and again to confirm she wasn’t dreaming. No, it was a reality! She was actually invited on a date by a boy! Preity looked at her face carefully. During her heydays, she used to feature in the music videos of her albums because of her gorgeous and glamorous looks, but after years of neglect, her beauty had waned like her popularity. What was the boy thinking, inviting her on a date? And, he never told his name! Preity thought it might be a hoax call and dusted it off her mind like another of her nightmares and went back to brushing her teeth. Just then, she received a voice message on her phone “Sorry ma’am, in the excitement of talking to you, I forgot to give my name. My name is Shyam and I study in BJ medical college at Civil hospital. I’ll be waiting for you in the canteen with a red rose in my hand.” Preity almost jumped with excitement! “So, there still exists someone who values genuine beauty and genuine voice,” she thought. Unlike her contemporaries, Preity never applied heavy make up. She believed that she was naturally beautiful and should look so. She started feeling the pangs of anxiety like she felt during her days of supremacy while going out on a date with a famous movie star. While the present circumstances were not equally glamorous, Preity could feel an excitement rising up her chest again.

 

The days ticked imperceptibly, the hands of clock playing a cruel game as they seemed to move slower than ever. Preity’s ‘students’ were given a ‘mini vacation’ of five days. She purchased as expensive a costume as her purse allowed. At her age, she had no business wearing western outfits (though many of her contemporaries didn’t feel shy of showing their sagging bodies in skin hugging outfits, or their oversized abdomens in bikini tops). Preity decided to travel by a plane, just to relive her old glory days, and hence booked the first available flight to Ahmedabad on the Valentine eve.

 

Noise, hustle and utter chaos ruled the government medical college canteen. In midst of old, tattered waiters, who often doubled up as cooks, and the gazing eye of Mansukh kaka, the manager cum cashier of the canteen, Valentine-struck couples sat on rickety chairs and rusty tables, with their eyes locked into each others, or whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ears. Sometimes a whisper in the ear progressed to a little naughty kiss on the cheek. On the furthermost table in the furthermost corner of the canteen, sat a group of four boys and three girls. No, they were not group dating, in fact, the three couples were teasing the only single boy of their group.

“So Shyam, found any girl for you yet? Or still single?” jeered Ravi, the brilliant poet who, with his superb poetry skills had impressed Suchita, the Miss Fresher of their batch. Shyam had once tried his style, but lacking any skill at poetry, had lifted a poem off a blog and read it to Mansi. It turned out that it was Mansi’s poem which he was reading. She never talked to him again.

“I think you’ve got to learn bike riding if you want a girl to at least touch you!” joined Akshay, the legendary bike racer of their college. Fast bikes, racy girls had been his mantra. His current girlfriend, Surbhi, reportedly clutched his hand even when they walked together, a habit from long racy bike rides.

“Even a painting class wouldn’t do much damage to our Shyam! What say guys?” laughed Shekhar, who was a brilliant painter. He had gifted Shikha her portrait which he had made secretly just by looking at her once. No wonder she was crazy after him!

Shyam heard it all quietly. Then, with some hesitation, added, “Guys, you will have your reply today. The most beautiful woman of India is going to become my date today!” The group laughed out aloud at Shyam’s idiotic statement. The voices were clearly audible to Preity who was standing outside the canteen. She asked someone to call Shyam outside. Preity held her breath. Her ‘date’ was coming in a few moments.

“Yes,” a voice, which was deep enough to be adult and yet had the freshness of a child, came from behind her. She turned around to see a boy looking at her inquisitively.

“Hi, are you Shyam?” she asked nervously.

“Yes, but I didn’t recognize you.”

“I am Preity, Preity Sharma. You remember calling me a few days ago about the Valentine’s Day? Well, here I am!”

The boy obviously looked flabbergasted. He asked slowly, “You are not Preity Zinta by any means?”

Preity now understood what he was thinking. He wanted to call Preity Zinta, and must have called her by mistake. She became dejected, but did not show her feelings, and started walking away abruptly.

“Hey, excuse me, Preity ji! Will you be my date today?” said Shyam. The sentence made Preity stop dead in her tracks. She turned around slowly with an expression of shock, surprise and happiness rolled into one.

“But why? Won’t you be ridiculed by your friends?”

“Preity ji, your happiness is more important to me. These friends tease me anyway. But today, I want to make your day special,” saying this he escorted Preity inside the canteen. As was expected, he was the target of ridicule. The first blow was by Ravi, “Here comes Shyam with the most beautiful woman in the world, or at least the most beautiful woman to have accepted him as date!” Shyam looked him in the eye and replied calmly, “She is someone who has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. She is someone who, despite her age, has more enthusiasm than your plastic-doll like girlfriends. She has an inner beauty which not everyone can understand. If you can’t understand, better leave me alone.”

Ravi was stunned. And so was Akshay, Shekhar and their respective girlfriends. Preity could not believe her ears. Here was a boy, young enough to be her son, and was praising her in front of his friends as if she were his real girlfriend! It was almost ethereal. She broke down into tears, her first genuine tears of happiness in years. Everyone on the table was silent, trying to gauge what Shyam had done. Their silence was suddenly ripped apart by a clapping sound. Everybody turned around to see who broke their self imposed silence. It was Alisha, the veejay of a popular music channel.

“Excellent Shyam, excellent. You have shown the true spirit of Valentine’s day today. Can I spend some time with your date? I wish to interview her,” said Alisha. Shyam was speechless! A few friendly pokes from Ravi jolted him back to senses, and he managed to stammer, “Er… yeah. Sure. But finish the interview soon, I have to take her a chic place,” he finished with a mischievous grin.

Alisha laughed out aloud and said, “Yes, sure lover boy!”

“Hey Shyam!” a sweet voice called him from behind. Shyam turned around to see Muskaan, the girl everyone in the college wanted to date.

“Yes, Muskaan,” he replied with a slight smile.

“Shyam, er, will you go out on a date with me today?” The question made everyone look at Shyam with surprise and jealousy. Shyam laughed slightly and said, “Sorry yaar, I am busy today. Don’t make so many boys jealous of me!”

Muskaan could just look at him, as he walked away from the canteen, towards the veejay interviewing her ‘date’.

Author's Note

A few points-
1) Preity zinta is a very popular Indian actress
2) Ahmedabad is a city in India
3) yaar- an endearment for a friend

Reviews

[ChloeKirk]

I liked the description of a good dream being a nightmare, very clever. Sweet story too, very cute.

[deeps]

This is quite the remarkable story here.
I throughly enjoyed the read.
Excellent theme and descriptions.
I enjoyed this.