Abhi-Pragya one shot: Desi Girl and the Guy with no name

I am in Eger, a small city in Hungary.

I could say I am on a vacation. I am alone. I am not lonely. I am alone because I am tired of the crowd. That's why I didn't choose Budapest, let alone New York, Paris or London for this time off of my life. I am the one and only rockstar of India. But I do get recognized all over the world, mostly by desi people living abroad. So I just am avoiding the hoopla.

I am in Eger, a beautiful place in Hungary.

I want to see the whole world and it has started with Hungary. I am glad to be finally doing this. I already took a tour of Budapest, the capital city. But I want to see more of this beautiful country. I am a graduate student in the University of Oxford. I study psychology. It's so worth doing those weekend jobs and tutoring to have this extra money for travelling.

I didn't want to stay at any star rated hotel. I just want to live life for a bit, like I used to do five years ago, when I had no money, no luxury or fame. I will be going back to the grand craziness of my life in a week, which I love and enjoy actually. But I do need a break once in a while, to rewind, to rejuvenate and to make sure I am not lost. So I have decided to find a small hotel or something to put up. I might do some sightseeing or just stay in my room. I might just drink and doze off too. I just don't have plans and it's great to not follow that strict schedule for a change.

So tomorrow, I will do that hiking trail; day after, the castle. Third day would be churches. After that Szeged may be? I have to remember to charge my camera. I hope the dorm I have booked is clean. This is the cheapest I could find, hopefully it will be okay! I wonder what kind of people I have to share the room with in the dorm. And I really hope I will find some vegetarian food, else I have to buy some bread and jam. Uff.

I get off of the taxi and walk to the small bread and breakfast kind of place I had looked up on internet. It turns out they don't have any rooms left. But they guide me to the dorm on the other side of the road. The dorm does accommodate me and I actually get a room that has four beds but no one has occupied any yet. I feel it would be better if no one turns up indeed. I take a shower in the small shared bathroom, which reminds me of my struggling days. Having not slept for almost 24 hours now, I decide to get some sleep. As I lay on the bed, I hear someone talking in Mumbai Hindi accent, outside my room. And then I hear a knock. I wonder if this is someone I have to share the room with and I get a little nervous thinking what if this person recognizes me. I quickly wear my reading glasses and a beanie to hide myself somewhat.

"Oops, sorry, you can finish changing. I will come back later", I tell the guy that opened the room door. He is just wearing shorts and the first thing I see is hulk like muscles.

"It's fine", says the guy letting me walk inside the room. I feel really nervous to think I have to share the room with this almost naked guy. I know that they don't have any other room left. I wonder if we have to close the door when we sleep. I knew I will have to share room if I choose a dorm but I didn't imagine it was going to be one half naked guy and me in a room.

"I am gonna sleep. I don't mind the light left on", tells the guy as he lies on his bed. I notice that he has an Indian accent. I wonder if the guy is actually from India although he is more like these biker guys I see in England, bodywise. I decide to take a shower and find some food to eat.

"Good night. I will come back later, please don't lock the door", says the girl and leaves the room. I am glad this desi girl did not recognize me. May be she is not really from India. Or may be people do not recognize me if I am not in my typical sunglasses, tee shirt and shades look. Whatever I am happy she didn't go OMG ROCKSTAR ABHI as soon as she saw me. Well, I do love that kind of attention I get normally but I don't want it right now. I am too tired to think further as I can literally feel sleep taking over me.

I come back to the dorm after buying a coffee and a pack of cookies for dinner. I hear snores of this hulk guy. I am glad he is asleep. I change in the bathroom and come back to the room. I take a bed farthest from him and decide to leave the lights on. I have never shared a room with a man, so my heart is thumping with nervousness. I leave the windows open and door slightly open too to make myself feel comfortable. I am not really able to sleep because I worry what if the guy wakes up and.. but then I tell myself I can always call the security and I don't have to doubt this guy unnecessarily. I keep thinking lying on my bed and I find it hard to sleep.

The first thing I see when I wake up the next morning is her face. I look away but look back at her peaceful sleeping face. She has a captive face. I use the bathroom, take a shower and come back to find her still sleeping. I want to go out and do some sightseeing and read the booklet I have for information on places around. I don't want to do the typical tourist places and decide on a hike.

"Oh My God, it's 8 am", says the girl to herself as she wakes up. She looks at me, and smiles as a courtesy, and I wish her good morning. I am now sure she does not recognize me as rockstar Abhi or at least doesn't want to recognize. I am happy either ways.

"Good morning", I quickly wear my contact lenses and feel conscious again to be with this guy in the room. I am glad the guy is wearing a shirt now. He is in a colorful loose shirt and wearing glasses. He is munching on a snack bar.

"Is there a coffee place around?", he asks noticing the coffee cup on my side table.

"Yes, right around the corner, there is a cafe", I tell him.

"Thanks", he says as he walks out. I go for a shower and by the time I get back to the room, he is back and talking on the phone. I gather he is talking to his grandmother since he mentions Daadi a few times as he converses in Punjabi mixed Hindi. Now I am sure he is from India. I notice that he has got two cups of coffee, and some croissants and bagels.

"Breakfast?", he offers me as he finishes his call.

She tells me she will pay for lunch as she eats the breakfast I got. I then get ready to leave and it turns out she is taking the same direction as I do. She is planning on doing a hiking trail too and we walk together. Now I am pretty sure she doesn't recognize me at all, I am happy she doesn't. But I am really surprised she doesn't.

I had wanted to be alone in this trip but being with a person who doesn't recognize me doesn't bother me, in fact I feel good.

So the guy is walking with me as our destination is the same. I am a bit comfortable now for he has a good sense of humor. I normally do not talk much but he is so talkative that I am responding to him somehow. I can't believe I am sort of smiling and laughing all along as he talks witty about random stuff. I notice he has a knack for rhyming words and even singing a little bit. When we start hiking with a few other people, he takes a route with steep rocks rather than the regular defined way. He asks me to join him on that route but I don't as it seems scary.

I reach the top of the mountain before everyone else as I take a short cut, I await for her to reach too. When she reaches, she is ecstatic to see the splendid view of the hills and I watch her as she jumps around in amusement. She takes a lot of pictures and I politely stop her from taking mine. But I do take a couple of her pictures without her noticing, using the world's best camera I own.

"Pragya Arora, University of Oxford", I read out as I find an identity card fallen on the ground. "Oh My God, that's mine. How did it fall off", she takes the card from my hand thanking me for finding it.

"You are from Oxford, WOW", I show my appreciation and I can see the pride in her smile. "I am originally from India. I am doing Ph.D. for the past three years in Oxford, what about you?", she asks me.

"I am a college dropout", I admit. "I am from India too. I sell stuff for a living. I sell... CDs", I don't know why I had to say so, but I do.

"Your name", she asks. "What's there in a name", I say thinking about what name I should tell her when she asks again. She laughs and doesn't probe further.

"I think it is not vegetarian", he stops me from eating my soup as he tastes his.

"Really? The waiter said it doesn't have any meat in it", I say in shock.

He calls the waiter and we figure out it has beef stock in it and given the waiter's poor English, he was not able to tell us properly when asked earlier. It turns out there is nothing except boiled potatoes and lettuce for me to eat while the guy eats devours his chicken meal. I think for a moment why I am even a vegetarian but it's not something I could give up even if I wanted. He pays the bills again stopping me from sharing, he tells me we could calculate and divide the money later on.

When we go back to the dorm that night, he gives me his snack bars to eat that have extra protein. I feel nice that he noticed I didn't eat much but actually thankful for I am so hungry.

We discuss Mumbai roads and Indian politics that night before going to bed. I realize she has strong opinions on things and I love talking about things other than the regular money, fame, luxury, status or the ever so superficial stuff I normally talk about in my celeb circle. We go to bed and she sleeps before me, and I go to bed thinking about her and the day, which I enjoyed truly.

The next couple of days I am not sure what I enjoy the most, the beautiful country side of Hungary, her company or the calmness. I am truly relaxed and happy from inside.

"Daadi come back to Mumbai, are you kidding me, I am not marrying your pind di kudi", I hear him talk in the middle of the night. He is trying to be not loud but I can hear him. "Let's get your grand daughter married first. And listen to this, if you don't come back to Mumbai, I will stay in Hungary forever", he seems to threaten. He finishes talking and walks out of the room. I wonder if he has gone to use the washroom but he doesn't come back for a while. I find myself not able to go back to sleep and feel worried for him somehow. What even, I think, I just know him for four days and I am concerned about him. But then, we have spent more or less every moment with each other in the past few days. I have talked and laughed so much with him, my trip has been beautiful and fun, the latter I had not expected at all.

I just hate this marriage issue brought up every time by Daadi. I love her the most but she is so bent on getting me married to someone. I know that any girl would be ready to marry me for my name and fame but I so don't want that. I haven't found someone I want to spend all my life with. I have had my flings and affairs but I haven't felt the need to take any of those girls home.

"Are you alright?", she asks as she walks towards me as I sit in the garden bench, in the middle of the night. I freeze for a moment looking at her as she walks rubbing her arms against the cold air, her face shining in the moonlight. She looks so precious, I just want to keep looking.

"Sorry I shut the door too loud perhaps and woke you up", I apologize.

"I don't want to lie to you, I was up when you were talking to your grandmother. Sorry", she says sincerely.

"Why didn't you close your ears?", he says in an accusing voice. I feel so awkward that I honestly apologized and he is still offended. I look away not knowing what to say.

"It's okay, I was kidding. Chill now", he laughs aloud. I feel all the more awkward.

"How do you survive being so honest?", he asks looking at me. I don't really have an answer for that given I get into so many situations often not being able to be politically correct. I don't answer him really.

"It's not FBI secret I was talking to with my Daadi. It's fine you heard it. She just wants me to get married. But I told her my sister should get married first. So that she will not bug me for the next one year or so. Knowing my sister, she will reject 100 men before choosing one! Have you rejected any? Are you married?", he asks suddenly.

"No, I am not married, but some men have rejected me", I end up sighing as this routine of scene by boys' families and getting rejected comes to my mind.

"Rejected you? What were they thinking?", he questions.

"I don't know. May be they found nothing attractive about me. You know these days everyone needs to look like a celebrity. I don't know how to dress up, how to party, how to be fun, I am not pretty, beautiful and all that. But thanks to them, I am totally focused on my studies and I have found my goal. Who cares about marriage", I elaborate.

"Hmm, good for you. You don't like celebrities?", he asks.

"I hate them. They are so unreal and flashy and people are merely fooled by them", I just take out my frustration.

"Well, it's their business... I think", I try to somewhat defend myself there.

"Business it is", she repeats.

"You don't watch movies and stuff?" I ask out of curiosity.

"Hardly any, may be some classics if I do. I am totally out of touch with Bollywood, today's music and all that. My sister is an expert though", she laughs.

It makes obvious sense to me that she doesn't know me at all.

"Do you feel okay now? Why don't we sleep now? Tomorrow we need to catch a bus to Szeged",, she suggests.

"Yeah I am fine. I just missed my Daadi I think. She is in Ludhiana, doesn't want to come back to Mumbai. I told her I won't come back either. But I know she won't stay mad at me for too long", I talk about my Daadi.

"You are cute", she says as we walk to the room.

Two days later, I am sad. Because this is the last day of us. Us as in this guy and me. He has a flight to catch to Budapest as he travels back to India. I also am catching a train to Paris and then to London, but the point is we are separating. Stupid of me, I kind of have grown attached to him. But I know this is ridiculous, he was just a fellow passenger in a week's trip. He is really nice, but yeah, he has his path, I have mine. I have to tell him good bye. I prepare myself for the last couple of hours with him.

I know I am going to miss her. She is just so nice. I contemplate on telling her my real identity and name before I leave. But then I fear not wanting to be proved a liar to her right away. There are big chances she would later find out when she will see a picture of rockstar Abhi. Or may be not. She would think I just resembled him may be. I just can't decide if I should tell her my identity or not. I remember she is not fond of celebrities, may be it's better to leave myself as a question mark. I don't want her to be disgusted about me. But more importantly, my heart is feeling low at the thought of leaving her.

I decide to go with him to the small airport in Eger, although my train is hours later. We end up running behind schedule due to traffic jams and he checks in his luggage as soon as we arrive at the airport. I wait in the sitting area. He comes back to sit with me although it's time for him to go to the security for boarding. We look at each other. I suddenly find myself teary eyed.

"Hey", he holds my hand. "I have to confess somethings. I took a few pictures of you in my camera", he says moving closer. I am surprised and we hear announcements for boarding to have started for his flight. We sit still for a few minutes hoding hands. There is another annoucement and he gets up, I do too. I smile at him as he prepares to leave. "You are the cutest, prettiest girl I have ever seen and I will miss you", he says holding my face. I look into his eyes and he suddenly bends his face to press his lips on mine. I am too shocked to react or retract and he moves his lips around mine in a way that makes me weak in my knees.

"Good bye", he says as he walks without looking back. It's silly that I feel a part of me is walking away.

It's been a year and I still miss that desi girl I met in Hungary, beyond measure. It's not just missing her, she is sort of in my thoughts and daydreams, basically in my mind everyday. I look at her pictures, I recollect so many things she said, all the time. I can't get over the image of the way she looked when she walked in the moonlight in the middle of that night. The taste of her supple lips is still felt on my lips. She is such a sweet memory that makes me feel better when I am stressed out, she is like this song of my heart that makes me happy every time I sing it.

"Bulbul, wait, who is that?", I ask my sister as I feel I saw something familiar on TV.

"That was a preview of Abhi's interview, Di", Bulbul informs.

"Abhi, who is Abhi?", I question her.

"Di, you live in UK for four years and totally do not know what happens in India. He is rockstar Abhi, Di. Everyone in India is a fan of his. Me too. He is the most successful celeb in the country in the last 2-3 years", she introduces me to Abhi.

"Bulbul, play that again, where can I see him?", I ask since I find this Abhi so similar looking to that guy I met in Hungary, the guy who never told me his name.

"Arey Di, when did you become interested in Abhi and all? His interview will be on in few minutes", Bulbul hands over me the remote as she leaves for her college.

I watch the interview as my heart beats at its highest possible rate. It's that voice, it's that face, it's that guy.

"It's a business, I sell CDs..", he says. "My Daadi and my sister are my family", he admits. I have tears flowing down my eyes, my feet are shaking. I don't know what I am feeling. I have thought about this guy every day and night for a year now.

I am at this charity event trying to kill time. I didn't want to attend it and preferred to just donate and be done with it, but my friend cum manager Purab forced me to. He thought it would give me a lot of positive publicity given there has been a controversy regarding a 'love affair' with a model, that never existed in my books. As I try to walk away to my car at the end of the event, I feel like I hear my name in a familiar voice. I immediately think of my desi girl, but she didn't know my name, did she? Or does she know now? I look around. And I notice her, in a pink salwar kameez. I want to call out for her but my security push me into the car to avoid fans falling all over me. I frantically call Purab and tell him to find and bring that girl in pink salwar kameez and ask the driver to wait. Purab looks around to say at least 20 girls in the crowd are wearing pink. I show him a picture I have of her in my mobile phone. He goes to find her with my phone in his hand.

I couldn't tell if he noticed me or not. I think he did. May be he didn't want to notice me. This is why none of my attempts to contact him on social media had been successful. I must be foolish to hang on to those few days. It must have been just a break for him from his glitzy world. I have tears in my eyes as I start to walk away. "Hello, Miss", I hear a guy running to me. He checks his phone and looks at me again.

"Can you come with me?" he asks. "Abhi wants to meet you", he whispers in my ear.

He holds my hand and drags me through the crowd and helps me get into a car.

"Pragya", the guy, whom I now have come to know as Abhi, says as I get into the car removing his sunglasses.

"We need to get going, the crowd is growing fanatical here", says the person who got me into the car as he also gets in. I am sitting in middle of these two men unable to utter a word. This guy holds my hand and squeezes it as the car drives through the crowd that is calling out his name.

Her tear drop falls on my hand that's on her lap holding hers. She is holding onto my hand so tight. I am sure she is mad at me but she is so emotional too. So am I as I feel my eyes wet too. I can't wait to hear what she has to say. I ask the driver to drive to my studio, which is not too far from where we are.

"Hi, I am Purab, Abhi's manager", the other guy introduces himself to me. I introduce myself to him. It's obvious I am crying with my voice choking. I am too emotional to gather my thoughts.

We reach my studio and Purab excuses himself leaving me alone with the girl. I take her inside my little private room in the studio. I am so glad she hasn't let my hand go until now. I make her sit on the sofa and sit besides her. I don't exactly know what to talk and she doesn't say anything either.

A bit later, I get on my knees on the floor in front of her to make confessions, "I am Abhishek Mehra, people call me Abhi. I am sorry. I was hesitant to tell you my real identity. I didn't want to when our trip started and later I thought you would run away from me if I disclosed. I knew you would find out who I was one day, and I was not sure if I wanted to face you when you did. Please tell me I was wrong".

"Who was that guy I saw in Hungary? Why did I remember him every day since then?" I ask facing him.

"Is it any compensation if I told you have been in my mind all this while?", he asks with earnest eyes. "You were averse to celebrities, perhaps to my world I live everyday. I was afraid the reality will break that dream", he confessed.

"Dream? Then who is real? Who was that guy and who are you?", I question.

"Both are real, I am that and I am this. When I am not a rockstar, I am that guy", he sighs.

"I have missed that guy so much", I say looking away trying to hold my tears.

He gets up and pulls me into a hug, holding my head to his chest tightly. I sob into his chest and he keeps on kissing my head.

"Do you want to try this guy for a week?", he asks as I calm down.

"A week? That one week I haven't able to forget all this while", I complain.

"Yes, give me one more week now. I will make sure you will stay with me forever", I beg holding her face.

"As long as that guy is still there", she says with a slight smiling curve on her lips.

"That guy and a lot more", I smile back. My heart is jumping at this second chance. She hugs me again. I hug her tight to my content.

"So our date begins today", he says breaking the hug.

"Date?", I smile at him.

"Damn, I have missed this smile so much", He said holding my face again. "You smiled just like this at the airport that day", he says brushing my cheek with his fingers and I feel his eyes on my lips. I blush and look down and he holds my face and locks his lips with mine. Without even trying, I kiss him back. After a long kiss I move away feeling awkward with my awakened senses.

"What happened", he asks in a sultry voice.

"First date and kiss?", I say coyly, turning away from him.

"I have imagined kissing you countless times all this while", he says opening the door. I don't even want to admit how many times I have replayed the kiss at the airport.

"Come let's go", he says offering a hand to hold and I look at him with questioning eyes.

"To my home, to introduce you to my Daadi. She will be very happy to meet you", he says with a smile. I hold his hand and walk with him.

I don't have the clarity in my mind to analyze what I am doing. But it feels right. I am happy, truly.

I am the happiest guy on earth today.