The next day, I woke up with two clear intentions, first, to visit the museums and second, to negotiate through the deals with publishers. I started my day a bit late at noon but it's Monday a working day so, 2 pm, i directly went to the 'Salar Jung' museum in the old Hyderabad near Charminar. It was a huge building with 2 floors where the ground floor was for artifacts, arms, paintings, and statues found in the Indian subcontinent between the 11-20th centuries among which there was a marble statue from Italy called Veiled Rebecca by Benzoni a true masterpiece because of how great observing skills he had and the 2nd floor was divided into two parts eastern wing and western wing but till I can finish looking at eastern wing vases and showpieces the museum start closing and around 30% museum left to be visited but while I curiously looking at the porcelain artifacts, my head got hit by something, i turned to look there standing a tall girl in a black outfit with a black jacket on, around the same height with her right hand on her forehead by which her brown leather sling bag raised up till upper abdomen, our hit because we were in opposite direction from each other.
"I'm sorry," i said
" no, actually I was just lost in the beauty of these artifacts" she replied with a slight smile
"so, I was totally mesmerized in with the craftsmanship"
"ohh!, these jade ones and blue series are seriously fascinating"
She's unwinding the chain of her sling bag took a book out and then a water bottle to drink water. And apparently the book titled ʼ a Tale of two cities '.
"wow! A tale of two cities!!" I exclaimed
"Have you read it?" she said after taking a gulp from the bottle
"Under reading!" I said and showed her the book from my bag
"It was best of time, it was worst of time," she said, a line from the first chapter.
"fair and plain-faced queen," i said another line from the book.
We both laughed, then looked and discussed each vase together for the next couple of minutes before the museum closed.
In a few minutes all the rooms were closed, and we found ourselves seated on chairs in the hall in front of a musical clock waiting for it to be 5. As it happens to be five the clock mechanism started a musical program for 30 secs and the girl started laughing and clapping with the crowd.
Out of curiosity, I asked "What do you do? "
"I'm doing an internship at Penguins along with my B.A in English literature, what about you?"
"I've recently passed out from school and currently I'm a writer, poet, aspirant, concept artist, and a philosophy freak, hahehe..."
"hehehee..., so, you are everything and nothing at the same time. Have you ever thought about publishing?" with a slightly funny tone she replied.
"yeah, I was thinking too," i said
"btw, I'm Meenakshi can help you with that"
"I'm alAshby, sure but like... How'll you contact me?"
"Ashby, why don't we do one thing, you give me your number and I'll contact you"
"ok,.. (this was very straightforward and awkward for me ), sure"
That's how we exchanged our numbers, then I went for a ride eventually an autorickshaw
Because it's already 5 pm and I don't have much time, I hastily try to cover the Charminar which was very crowded, and every corner filled with the pearl shops on the street. After a few minutes, it just happened to be 6 pm and I booked a cab for the hotel because it's gonna take more than an hour to reach there.
However, I reached the venue on time, it was a restaurant on the 4th floor just beside the metro line, i waited for a couple of mins and then I saw three people walking through the gate, a young boy around 23, a lady around 25 or so, i was bit surprised to see the third one was none other than 'Meenakshi'.
She saw me from afar and said "hi" to me and I replied with a smile and nodded. Just then the publisher came in front of me out of the blue.
"hello!, Ashby"
"Hello, sir"
And our negotiations went by for an hour before the meeting ended, he asked me to join him in the cab but I refused and decided to stay there for a bit just because my food was left unfinished, now, I was eating alone and my eyes caught a glimpse of Meenakshi's table, she had some south Indian dish, just then she stood up and excused from her friends, went to wash hands, then her steps were approaching my table, bit nervous like why was she appeared to come towards my table,
"hi!!" she said and sat down on the chair in front of me
"hhii!, so?"
"So, you are already engaged with the publisher?"
"umm, yeah actually the meeting was already fixed"
"Great!, so tell me about this thing you are going to publish?" she said
In the next two minutes, I explained the story,
"btw, are you done with the tale of two cities?" she said
"umm, yeah actually not yet"
"Anyways, you made a good choice!"
"Actually, it's my first time going for classic literature," i said
"I was not talking about the book" she replied, and just then her friends called her, waved her hand at me, and went.
YOU ARE READING
Uncertain white
Mystery / ThrillerA mentally overwhelmed teenage boy is seeking a profound connection and purpose in this world while grappling with the fear of an uncertain future. In between his existential crisis, nihilist thinking, self-imposed limitations, egoistic complex...
