Anahita
Have you ever put your hands in freezing cold water till you can't feel them anymore? As the coldness is so much that all you feel is numb. That is how everyone describe him, numb. An astute businessmen, for whom the reputation of his famil...
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Anahita
Standing in front of a moderately built shop, outside walls painted with colourful and quirky murals. I took a deep breath and gripped the strap of my bag which I had slung over my left shoulder. I went ahead and pushed the door open resulting in the chiming of the bell. Going inside I ran smack into mass of hair, or is it a person?
"Hey! Careful". A feminine voice cautioned me with concern laced in her voice. Two slim hands gripped my shoulders and braced me from falling. I peered up at my saviour. It's a women maybe in her mid twenties wearing denim jeans and shirt over tank top. She has really big hair and are those.... flowers in her hair.
I was looking at her then suddenly remembered my carelessness. "I'm so sorry I wasn't looking where I was going." I apologized with a hesitant smile.
"Oh don't be. It's partially my fault too. I saw you looking at my shop for past five minutes and decided to come out and ask if you wanted to buy anything, then you entered and.... Anyways I think I startled you with all my rambling." Maybe feeling embarrassed she stopped talking and tried to smooth out her hair which were messed up from our recent rendezvous.
Taking a breath and composing herself, she forwarded her hand towards me. " "Hello, I'm Neela Bakshi. Owner of this shop."
" Hi, I'm Anahita Gujral." I took her hand and introduced myself with my maiden name. It didn't feel strange since I don't feel like a Raichand, not yet at least and maybe it's for the best.
"Neela Bakshi." I repeated the name. "Is that why...." I trailed off.
"Yes. I named this place after myself. Come, you want to buy any of these flowers." She asked, gesturing towards the many rows of gorgeous flowers.
"They are truly beautiful." I smiled. "But no, I didn't come here to buy anything."
I took out the flyer from my bag. Showing it to her, "I was looking around and found this. Do you take volunteers?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. Of course we do." She replied suddenly getting more excited. "You see, this is a posh neighborhood. The business is doing good but we are short on staff at the moment as one of our long time employee has gotten married and moved to another city. Well, It would have been impractical to travel back and forth just for this." She pointed out.
"Yeah right. I was wondering if I can volunteer. I mean, I have experience with flowers, I have a liking for horticulture too." I told her "And I'm a fast learner." I added just in case.
"So, you have planted flowers before?" She questioned.
"Yes." I said suddenly excited. I don't know how I went from looking for a corporate office job to volunteering at a flower shop.
The door Bell chimed again and we both turned towards the door. A young couple came and looked around. Neela signalled me with her hand to wait a minute while she tends to the customer. I look at the scene unfolding infront of me. The man buys a bouquet of pink roses with white sprinkles of baby breaths. After paying he plucks out a single rose from the bouquet and gives it to the women who came with him. Love apparent in his little gesture as she accepts the rose smiling and blushing. Brings it to her nose and takes in the fragrance of it and then gives it back to the man and turned her back to him. He takes the flower, tucks it in her hair carefully and kisses the top of her head. She grinned looking at him and then they both exited the shop. The gesture felt so natural and the love and happiness that they felt was surely contagious, for I was feeling content just by observing their little exchange.
