Kaisi yeh Yaariyan Season 3

Chapter 135

Things are often not, what they seem on the surface.

Who would have thought, staring at those dirty, obscure, betel stained walls, that inside, they held a world, so grandiose! Not one, but spread across 3 sprawling floors, packed with green rooms, auditoriums and vanity rooms for the stars, this was a world of its own... a world that thrived in darkness and came alive, only under the glaring spotlights; a world where few realized their dreams and countless others returned with debris of hope, they had carried on their fragile shoulders for years. Such is the ruthless world of showbiz ...dazzling , but blindingly so, & maddening, yet addictive. Not everyone got a chance here, but those who did, either reached dizzying heights or got sucked down to plummeting lows. Friday, the globally most loved day of the week was dreaded here, for none could predict in advance, who fate it was going to write and whose , it was waiting to wipe off.

Manik took a deep sigh and stretched his sore hands in the cool early morning air..

Nandini had explained to him one evening, while watching the sun set from their balcony, when as he lovingly closed his arms around her waist - that this phase was nothing but life's way of teaching them how to walk, again. No child is born with the knowledge of how to walk or run or dance, she had said. They all start with crawling, eventually learning to balance themselves on their two tiny feet. And then countless tumblings later, one fine day, they are able to hold their feet firmly on the ground as they attempt to take their first few steps.

That's exactly how life was panning out for them. Despite that initial bolt, Manik hadn't given up. He hadn't confided in Nandini though, taking the pain in his own strong stride. One agency down, he had approached others. These were less than half as famous as the one he went to first, but thankfully, the people here weren't as treacherous. Manik was getting a few assignments here and there. Nothing worth flaunting, but enough to make him the primary bread owner. Modelling paid good, even those forgettable assignments for midrange brand, 10 k for 3 - 4 hours of shoot. If you extrapolated that, Manik could easily make close to 2 lakhs a month. Given his jaw dropping looks and determined no- nonsense nature, he knew offers weren't going to dry anytime soon. In fact, he was waiting for that one break, that one fluke, which could propel him into the world of bigger brands. And today was going to be that day. He was at the Excel studios, Andheri, to shoot for a print advertisement for United colours of Benetton.

But, despite the money and ease, did he like what he do? NO. Would he have done it 4 years ago, even for fun? NO. Did he see himself doing this five years from now? WHO KNOWS.

Life had taught him never to say never again. Good, bad, petty, every experience teaches us something. He remembered Nandini's words "Nothing in life is a coincidence, every single thing happens for a reason. May be this is your gateway to something grander." At times he wondered, where did she get all this wisdom from. In every perceivable way, she was tinier than him, younger in age and 2/3rd in height, yet her innate qualities gave her a stature, he could only aspire to touch. But the best part about Nandini was how she could effortlessly flip between the ages of 3, 15, 22, 30 and 60. One moment she would make a baby pout and in the very next, utter something profound. She was many people in one, and yet each of these loved him to bits.

Who knows, who had held his hand the first time he was learning to walk, may be one of the house helps, or may be the walls. But Manik was glad that this time round, Nandini was there, holding his hand as he graduated from crawling to walking and was now pushing himself for a run.

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The shoot had gone remarkably well. Gliding down the flight of stairs, Manik was reflecting on the fact, that if luck didn't go out of its way to screw him up this time, he would be all over the billboards, across all the major metro cities in India. UCB as United colours of Benetton is better known, is a giant of a brand & insanely popular amongst the young urban crowd. May be this was the break Nandini had been hoping for all this while.