Chasing Down The Day Dream

Opia-everyone has a story

"Little girls with big ideas are much scarier than monsters."

~Clementine Von Radics, Advice to teenage girls

Rania Khan is feeling out of place.

Asmara would've laughed at this revelation. She's always going on about how Rania almost always fits in. According to her delusional best friend, Rania was quiet and charming, said the right things at the right time and was confident in her own skin.

Rania really wishes she could borrow that confidence from the version of hers that Asmara imagines.

She is at the Poetry Workshop and with every step she takes towards the hall, her insecurities rise up a notch. She feels conscious of herself, her thoughts and appearance. She is the only Muslim in the entire room and also the only medical student so far.

She contemplates leaving the hall halfway to her seat.

Her escapade is cut short by Phoebe who has returned from the restroom. She looks at the girl pleadingly. Phoebe shushes Rania and they both take a seat closest to the stage.

The thing about Phoebe is that she isn't bound by insecurities or fear. She is a doer, someone who is up for everything and anything. She looks every bit like the wild spirit she is, sporting blue highlights in her wavy, messy hair. She has a hemp necklace around her neck and looks effortlessly at ease in her floral summer dress.

Phoebe is an engineering student but Rania has always believed that she was made for the arts. Everything about Phoebe is raw and artistic, the kind that could blend well in a gathering like this. Her dark skin is shining in the lights of the hall. Rania can feel the confidence seep into her from her companion.

"I'm near the stage. By the speakers. Oh there! I see you," Phoebe raises her hand and waves at the boy she is talking to, on the phone.

As the boy approaches them, Rania's face morphs into that of disbelief.

It's her co-intern, Abhishek. He walks towards them with the smug expression that he always has on. Back at the hospital, he is partnered with Meera who absolutely hates his guts. Rania can understand why.

Abhishek is a cynic who will take you down with his sarcasm. He is brutal and honest and isn't the kind who would forgive you if you ever struck the wrong chord with him. He is the last person Rania could ever imagine at an event like this.

But then, people have always surprised Rania Khan.

He takes a seat beside Phoebe and hugs her from the side. He looks at Rania and raises his eyebrows.

"You look surprised," he remarks.

Rania fumbles.

"Yeah, I...uh didn't peg you as the poetry type."

"Stereotyping much?"

"I don't mean it that way."

"That was stereotyping in any way that you meant it. Aren't you the one who got furious at that guy at the hospital who thought you didn't know English because he assumed that girls who dress like you couldn't be educated enough to be a doctor?"

Rania is taken aback. She wasn't expecting this. She didn't know he was listening to her rant about unfair Muslim stereotypes to Meera the other day at the ward.

"Yeah, but," she realizes the hypocrisy of the statement and bites her lip.

"You're right, I am sorry."