Monday, January 14, 2013

The Diamond in the Rough

She looked out of the window at the twinkling stars in d night sky. It was like they were shining just for her. On her big day. As the sleek limo glided through the streets of Mumbai, she looked outside the window at nothing or no one in particular and smiled to herself. Today, finally, the day had arrived, her day. The day when the world would celebrate her. Today, after all the hard work and sacrifices, she was going to get the prestigious national award. Although given her acting talents in her last movie, the award wasn’t a surprise. But she did feel vindicated. It felt good to shut her detractors finally.


As the car jerked to a stop at a signal, she was roused from her reverie. Only then she realized he was also there in the car, sitting next to her, looking dapper in his crisp black tux. They had begun dating only a few months ago, though they had known each other for many years as acquaintances. He was the best thing that had happened to her. He wasn’t a part of tinsel town, and that suited her just fine. He was loyal, devoted, hard working, well settled... even their families liked each other. Everything was perfect.


She smiled back at him, and lovingly squeezed his hand, knowing that they seldom need to say out loud what they feel. Then she noticed the venue was near, so she quickly reached into her diamond encrusted clutch, and started to touch up on her makeup. Her old makeup man had spent hours dressing her up in a beautiful peacock blue gown, with matching subtle makeup, glittering diamond jewellery and elaborate coiffed up hair. She had worked hard in the past few months on her hair, skin and figure, and it all worked out just in time… she was ready to flaunt herself. As she finished touching up her lipstick and tucking a stray strand of hair, the car glided to a stop outside the function hall. With a last cursory glance in the mirror, she clamped shut her purse, smoothed her gown, put on her camera face, and stepped out on the red carpet, hand-in-hand with her beau.


There was a huge roar from the crowd behind security and a million cameras flashed, looking for the perfect angle to catch her beauty. As she proceeded towards the entrance, she bumped hard into a plain looking girl, possibly a passerby loitering around to see what was going on, like so many others she saw from her window as she reached the venue. She was shaken by the hit and by the time she steadied herself on her high glass heels, she heard a man growl at her “hey! Get out of the way! What are you doing? You are obstructing me view. I want to see her… if you don’t want to then move out and let others watch…” and suddenly her world came crashing down. The car, the dress, the guy, the crowds, the cameras…. All vanished into thin air. And she remembered who she really was… a plain looking girl, who saw a sleek limo pull up nearby and a beautiful woman get out, with a handsome man in tow, and had fallen into a stupor. “One day, even I’ll be there, one day”, she murmured to herself as she walked away into the night.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I think most have ridden in that limo in one form or another.
A lovely little story :) I'm glad to have happened upon it.