Ariya FF The lucky charm - Page 14

Originally posted by: ruhi1985sheetal

Riya nahi to match haar gaye superstitious arjun bhi shaamil ho gaya ab publicialy bhi ho gaya fab update dear eagerly waiting for nxt and thanks for pm

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Originally posted by: ariya143

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NEXT PART

Shree had said he'd send a car to take me to the match,which was being played at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Wednesday. I'd been in toomuch of a hurry to get home that night to even ask him who our team was playingagainst.

THE DAY:

Riya:Is anybody touring India right now, rosh?

Rosh: I don't know, Let's ask the boys. Neelo!

His head stuck out, giraffe-like, over the cubicle dividers.

Neelo: What?

he asked in adistracted way.

roshWhat's this match: on Wednesday? Who's India playing?

Neelo: There's no India match on Wednesday, Use your brain,Rosh, if there was a match, we'd have been deluged with requests for passes bynow.

Riya(M.v): Hmmm, valid point. So what wasShree up to?

I called him, but got his voicemail. I hung up withoutleaving a message. And then decided to call Chotu

Chotu: Riyaji! Arrey aap toh bade aadmi ban gaye ho! How areyou, madam Lucky Charm?

Riya: I'm fine, Chotu, listen...

Chotu: If you want an agent, give me a ring! I'll get you acontract from Mohun's Cornflakes, Breakfast with Riya. Victory guaranteed! GetSet Jo!

Riya: Ha ha, ( after a pause) Chotu, listen, what is thismatch day after at the Kotla?

Chotu: Parson?

He thought for a bit,then went,

Chotu: Arrey, voh IPL ka exhibition match hai - for theeflood victims, you know. Champions Mumbai Indians are playingrunners-up KingsXI Punjab.

Shree, that snake,they called him the Sangrur Express, which made him Punjabi, right? No prizes for figuring that one out. In amoment of total revelation, I could see into both their minds clearly. Shreewas planning to get kissed on both cheeks by me, make a double hat-trick orsomething, win the exhibition match and pressurize Rawthe into making me thenational animal or whatever of Indian cricket.

I sat with Eppa in the garden the next morning. My dad andshe had been doing a great job keeping the Chacha/Chachis off my case over thelast few days. I don't know what they had threatened them with but they'd allgiven me a lot of space. Eppa was spraying water on the cannas as I sat therethinking about what a messy situation I was in. It made a lovely soothing soundas it spattered the dark green leaves and a smell of first rain filled the air.

Eppa: Riya beta, sab theek hai na

Riya: Haan gorgeous, sab theek hai.

I handed her the flowers and she went in to say her morningprayers, humming the first lines of a hymn under her breath. I wandered aroundfeeling unwanted at work. In my super-sensitive state I was convinced that evenmy pals in the Zing! group resented me. Because junior servicing people don'treally end up getting talked about on NDTV. Animesh was nice to my face but Iwas convinced he was moaning behind my back about having a freak like me in hisgroup. I heard that jerk Shiven my collegue, say that there was no wonder thattrue love had blossomed between me and Shree Sen, because he was asmall-town,non-MBA-holding, sports-quota type and his English sucked; just likemine, apparently.

Shiven: They'll be so matching-matching, they're from thesame SEC, after all! D minus minus same same

I wanted to shove my ballpoint pen up his nose. Instead, Isaid snootily that I was expecting a call from Barkha Dutt, went into my cabin,and tried to write a new Chocolate Maximilk brief.Which is when Shree finallycalled me.

Shree: Sorry, Riyaji, Team meetings you know.

I didn't want to talk to him. I said, as shortly as I could,

Riya: Shree, you snake, I'm not coming to your match.

He got very upset. He tried to persuade me for a while, andthen infuriatingly, just when I was weakening and about to give in, he suddenlycaved in;

Shree: okay apki marzi, I can’t force you

I slammed the phone down, a crushing feeling of anticlimaxsweeping over me. My innings as an important person, as a national lucky charm,was going to be over before it ever really began. I sank down and I cried. I know, I know. It's really uncool to cry inoffice. But, hello, I was really messed up.

Firstly, there was this whole Good Luck thing. It wastotally seductive. I mean, who wouldn't want to believe that they're special?Maybe God had blessed me specially, to make up for my motherless,chubby-cheeked, twice-jilted, not-smart-enough-to-crack-the-CAT status. Maybe Ireally was a Goddess of the Pitch. I was born at the stroke of the auspicioushour and so my very pores breathed pureness for men in badly fitting, light-blue, micro fibre, cotton-blendtracksuits. Maybe this was my ticket out of the boring, safe, middle-class lifeI'd lived so far. Maybe this was how I'd become rich and famous, appear onmagazine covers, and have lean mean cricketers grovelling at my feet. Yeahright, I thought, and blew my nose vigorously. Like that'll happen.

But if one day, they'd lose after eating with me. And thelater it happened, the worse it'd be. All the Riya fan club guys wouldswarm upladders and put gobar on my hoardings.... The rejection would probably kill me.

That's why going to the Kotla breakfast was not an option.

I mean, I'd probably just end up watching my team of choicebe smarting-from-losing-to-Bermuda Arjun Rawthe, who was obviously out on amission to crush me under his foot like he would an ant.

No way was I going to give him that satisfaction. When I gothome that evening my dad was all jumpy because Anita Chachi's nephew, Kattu,was visiting from bengaluru and haddropped in to our part of the house and formally asked Dad if he could take meout to dinner. Dad, instead of calling me and asking first, had happily toldhim, of course young man, by all means.

Dad has recently become a real bore on the subject ofmarriage. My two Chachis - Rinku and Anita - have been at him ever since myeighteenth birthday . After I broke up with my second boyfriend, the three ofthem even got together and put an ad in The Times of India.... Beautiful, fair,convented, Rajput, retired colonel's daughter, 5.4 feet, 27 years, seekshandsome kshatriya match, boy must be tall, highly qualified professional,26-30 years...

Kattu called me a short while later.

Kattu: Hi, Riya, Remember me?'

I rolled my eyes. I hate people who call me up and say archthings like, Remember me.

Riya: Hi, Kattu, I believe we have a date tomorrow night?

Kattu: Ya! So tell me, where would you like to go?

I told him to pick me up from work the next day and hung upas fast as I could. Still, in a way I almost welcomed the Kattu development. Itold myself severely that my head was too full of romantic Bollywood nonsense.Real life wasn't all about Zing! shoots and Shah Rukh Khan's torso and sparringsessions with Indian skippers. They laughed them off and kept their feet on theground. So I made a special effort with my grooming the next day. I wore a'good girl' salwar kameez, shampooed my hair and applied my make-up with care.

Kattu was lurking near the sidewalk in a fat yellow car whenI came down from office in the evening. Totaram was giving him dirty looks.

Riya: Hi, Kattu,

I said as I openedthe door of the car and recoiled at the blast. He'd really overdone the aftershave. The mature twenty-seven-year-old woman in me wanted to turn tail andscurry for an auto.

Kattu: Hi, Riya,

I inhaled cautiously and internalized the fact that theyears had been kind to Kattu. He looked okay, nice. Then he put on music, whichwas good because we didn't have to talk, and I directed him to the Carmic Cat,a nice cosy pub nearby. They serve drinks and dinner and it's pretty brightlylit, so I could examine Kattu minutely for flaws and he could do the same tome. I ordered a Zing!, took a sip and immediately an unbidden image of Kattu'sface.

Kattu: D'you have stomach ache, Riya?

Riya: No!

I said, smilingbrightly, wondering if his cheeks would drop in that position. His lower lipdefinitely would. And I couldn't shake the creepy feeling that he would drool.

Riya: I'm fine, what's up?

Kattu: Are you sure you're all right?

He looked unconvinced but continued,

Kattu: I'm here for a sales conference, though Ma and Babujiwant me to meet some girls, too, and then it's just work, work, work.

Riya: How nice, How many girls have you met?

Kattu: I've lost count actually. Some of them were verynice, but you know, I'm looking for something magical.... You know, aconnection?'

Riya: I know exactly what you mean.

I said, and meant it too. Really. I liked the fact that hewas romantic, that he was looking for true love. I tilted my head to one sideand tried to imagine how his face would look below mine, say if I was on top.

Kattu: Why are you squinting?

Riya: I'm not.(after using some f my observation skills onhis face) Could I get another drink?

He nodded and snapped his fingers at the waiter in anauthoritative (some might say obnoxious) way.

Kattu: You've grown up a lot since we last met, I like it. Idream of meeting an unspoiled girl, Riya!' he said, his eyes locking into mine.

Kattu: A shy, unopened bud, a kali you know, whom I willthen, slowly, slowly, turn into a flower.

I choked on my drink. He beamed at me and said,

Kattu: Please excuse me, I have to relieve myself.

I nodded, hiding my face in my napkin and he sped away tothe loo, his shoes squeaking a little.

Riya: (m.v) Had I gone through two heartbreaks to end upwith this? This was the hero of the movie of my life? Because, hello, I'vegrown up thinking I'm starring in DDLJ. Or Titanic. Or at least Bride andPrejudice.

I had a sudden vision of Kattu and me at a honeymoon hotelin Goa, him all cocky and expansive in swimming trunks, with a towel hangingaround his neck, snapping his fingers at the waiter and me in a salwaar. Oh no!

By the time Kattu came back from the loo and sat down again,the mature twenty-seven year old woman in me had been completely vanquished. Iwanted excitement. I wanted adventure. I wanted out.

Come Friday, I was going to the Kotla.

**

The team was already at the table when I reached. I knewShree, of course. Sam was the captain of the Kings XI side, apparently, so Imet him, and Shivee and a couple of hulky, vaguely familiar looking goras.

Shree: They are Australia's best bowlers, You should knowthat much, Riyaji!

I muttered something about them looking so different in thePunjab uniform and he nodded, mollified, and introduced me around. Then NiviSingh rushed in, falling all over himself to sayhi to me.

Sam: She really wanted to be here,

He then showed me this long blood thirsty sms from Preity,telling him to go out and basically kill the Mumbai team.

I admired it dutifully, suddenly feeling very small-time.After that the boys pretty much left me alone. They got into thisstrategic-sounding conversation. Which is good because everybody was kind ofexpecting this match to be a replay of last year's IPL Final in which Arjun'sside had trounced Sam's soundly.

After a rather quick breakfast, I got up and went out on tothe terraced balcony adjoining the dining hall. It had a great view of the fieldbelow. I thought I recognized one of the umpires from Dhaka and was leaning outto get a better look when I heard footsteps approaching and turned to see ArjunRawthe, lean and keen in the spiffy Mumbai Indians uniform, looking right downat me.

Riya: Hi,(stupidly).

(Loathing 80%, Lust 20%)

Rawthe : Hi, little girl You look sweet. Thanks for coming.

Riya: (m.v) Was this guy for real? He'd got me off myfavourite brand, was out to disprove my lucky status, and he was now beingnice?

The outrage must've showed on my face because he saidquickly,

Arjun: Look, none ofthis is personal, you know. It's justthat we're all keen to settle this luck thing before we get into the run-up forthe big one next year.

Riya: How civilized. So you've decided to test my luckinessout in simulated test conditions.

I said sweetly. Histeeth flashed in a very white grin.

Rawthe: Yeah.

I leaned back a little and opened my eyes wide.

Riya: You think I'm going to be a flop today, don't you?

He grinned again.

arjun: Pretty much,

riya: And your side's going to win?

He lifted the collar of his striped shirt and eyeballed mewith his Boost-browns,

Rawthe: Yeah.

Riya: Great, That should make a nice change for you.

His eyes glittered but all he said, pretty neutrally.

Arjun: Are you so nice to everybody or is it just me?

Riya: Just you, actually,because you've been so nice andgone out of your way to have me practically sacked.

He had been looking over my shoulder at the pitch, hardlylistening to what I was saying but at this his eyes snapped back to me.

Arjun: Matlab?

Riya: Matlab, thanks to you, they took me off Zing!. I'mworking on Maximilk now.

Arjun: Thanks to me?' What'd I do? But it's the same company right? What's the problem?

I gave a tight little laugh.

Riya: Oh, just that I hate the job.

Rawthe shrugged and went back to looking out at the fieldagain. 'Oops,' he said indifferently. Then he added,

Arjun(frowned) : Much as I'm enjoying this conversation, Ireally have to get on to that field now.

And with a curt nod he clambered on tothe balcony railing,leapt lithely onto the grass, and got into a chat with some guy in a FlyKingfisher coat below.

I glowered at him for a while, then shrugged andwentdownstairs in search of Shree and the other boys.

The stadium was decently full, but it lacked the hysteria ofa proper India match. Speakers were blaring the Kings XI Punjab anthem andthere was a sprinkle of vaguely famous looking people with their sunglasses on,but there was no one I actually recognized. I looked down and saw Shreechatting cosily with Rawthe, like they weren't set to disembowel each otherlater at all. Guys are so weird....I walked upto them.

Riya: Best of luck, Shree,

I said and he turnedaround, unruly copper curls falling into his eyes, a little surprised at theintensity in my voice.

Shree: Thanks, Riyaji,

he said formally,going pink as always.

As I smiled up into his serious brown eyes, something aboutthe bored smirky grin on Rawthe's face behind him got to me. And that's when Idid a rather silly, filmi kind of thing.I reached out for Shree's hand as he turned to walk away,yanked him back, and kissed him full on the lips.

Loved it dear

Awesome part dear

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Yass nice one

Thanks for pm

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Superb update

Love it

Continue soon

So good

But wait last did she kiss shree

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Woah nice one

Update soon

Thanks for pm

Hey that was great... riya kissed shree...that too on lips... great going...will be waiting for the next part...