Life with tinted glasses

“Denver, hey Denver. Sophie and Natasha are going to the new burger joint opened at the end of the street. John is coming as well. Won’t you come?” asked Nidhi.
Denver questioned her back, ” You also joining along then?”
Nidhi said, ” Yes I am, and you too are coming with us. Spare some leisure for yourself sometimes.”
Denver mockingly asked, “Today someone is like a bit more cheerful than usual, what is it about?”

“Abhishek has planned a dinner for her this evening” replied Sophie.
Sophie continued, ” We all know how she is, one day, just one day Abhishek decides to please her and she dreams roses.
Denver said, ” I am happy she is so cheerful today, she brightens up the whole class.” Sophie added, ” She is the spark in our ‘not so interesting German classes’, even Dr. Britney is so fond of her.”
Nidhi said, ” Okay now enough you both. Doctor Britney is fond of every one of us unless we forget completing our assignments. Now let’s join the others at the burger joint please.”

Sophie asked both of them to carry on and she shall join in a while.

Denver and Nidhi started to walk side by side along the foot lane. He made sure to walk on the curbside himself. It is a little cloudy and a cool breeze blows occasionally. The city of Munich looks serene and beautiful. The sky is Pink.

Denver said, “You shall get cold again, cover your neck with the scarf.” Nidhi with her wide open eyes stared at him for a few seconds longer and rolled the scarf around her neck like an obedient child.

Denver, in his tall stature , with his enchanting blue eyes and a head full of brown hair was no less than a classic hero straight out of an English novel. He said, “I have repeatedly asked you to start with your PhD, very few get an opportunity to to study at the Ludwig Maximilian University. I know what you think, what your dilemma is about but let me tell you for once more that you have immense potential to grow, grow so much and touch the clouds.

Nidhi held his hand suddenly and said, “I know what you think of me. I also know that I don’t deserve so much. I promise to you that I shall think about joining the university. I even appeared for their clearance test and submitted my abstract too, because you insisted, you motivated me. Please give me some more time to sort my life. But right now, you should eat what I made for you.”

She then pulls out a small box from her bag and hands it over to Denver. His face lights up looking at the white coloured Sandesh (Bengal’s sweet made from curdling of milk) inside the box. He was in love with all the Indian sweets Nidhi prepared. In fact he relishes whatever she cooked.

Denver said, ” you are spoiling my diet every time but I so love them.” He pulls out one sweet and breaks it into two, then puts one half into his mouth and was about to feed the other to her but stops midway and gestures her to pick it up from his hand instead.

Denver said, ” Nidhi, I really hope you have a great evening tonight and an amazing birthday tomorrow. Stay as beautiful as you are now, a very happy birthday in advance” Nidhi just looked up straight into his blue eyes and smiled.

After tasting the exotic pizzas and burgers with her friends and spending some quality time, Nidhi takes back the train to her stop and reaches her bungalow sharp by 5.30 pm. It has been already two months she joined her German classes. Abhishek wanted her to learn German so that he could make her more involved with his clients and their wives in parties and social gatherings.
Nidhi has made new friends in the institution already. Her favourites are but Denver and Sophie. Sophie is a girl in her early 20s from Nigeria who just started college in Munich. She is so funny and witty that when Nidhi meets her, the day seems yellow.
Denver is an anthropologist who shall be doing some fieldworks in a nearby village He is originally from Spain and had lived there all his life. Nidhi has found a confidante in him, a friend who she can count upon. Denver is like an oasis in Nidhi’s deserted life. Denver looks at life through his tinted glasses, he is an optimist. He keeps pushing Nidhi towards a better and balanced future and asks her to breathe in happiness every second of her life. Every time they meet at the institute, he asks her about her day, he asks her about the new rose plants she planted in her garden.
Her visit to the institute thrice a week is an escape from her monotonous life. She is just Nidhi in the institute, with her friends; not Mrs. Abhishek.

The mobile rings, Abhishek is calling.
” Nidhi get ready asap, we are going to a party. Please put on something appealing. I shall reach within 10 minutes.”
Nidhi questioned back, ” But we have a table booked for the dinner you promised me and then what party is this again, you know I get bored in these.”
Abhishek replied in irritation, ” Oh come on Nidhi, we would have dinner in the party as well, I don’t see any difference. Besides it is an important gathering as many clients from around the world would be attending. I forgot to mention you somehow. Anyway get ready, also please don’t forget to put on the new ruby set I bought you online.”
The call gets disconnected and Nidhi starts to wonder if she has turned so crazy that she doesn’t even realise that there would be dinner at the party as well. She wipes away the couple of tears that rolled down to her chin all the way from her eyes, through her cheeks and lips.

Nidhi gets in the car dressed in a maroon bodycon dress. Her ruby necklace and earrings were gleaming in the car’s head light. But her eyes were still moist.
Abhishek said, ” The rubies look heavenly Nidhi. Such an amazing purchase I had. You are looking absolutely gorgeous and Mrs. Abhishek is going to shine at the party.”

Amidst the roaring sets of laughter and the loud DJ, where everyone is speaking but no one listens; Nidhi is sitting alone in a corner with a glass of coke and waiting for a single glance from Abhishek who is being busy with his clients for an hour now. All of a sudden she notices Abhishek staring at her from a distance and then very steadily he comes to her, he comes closer and closer until he was inches away, and then stretches out his right hand, bends his knees and asks her for a dance.
She was taken aback, even skipped a beat and the following second she was already in his arms dancing to the tunes of the song, ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’.

The final episode comes out next evening ❤️