The Mridangist - Part 1

Disclaimer: The story is a figment of my imagination. The characters and incidents does not relate to anybody.

Vvvrrrooommm!!!......... A black Pulsar whizzed past her and almost unseated her from the black Activa that she was riding on.

“Peeda..” she muttered under her breath in typical TamBrahm style and scowled at him but he had swished past that road before the wink an eye.

She sucked in a lot of air and blew it through her mouth to calm herself down. She slowed down her bike and rode in a speed that even people who walked on the road could challenge and win over without any particular effort.

Before her heart rate could return to normal, the same black Pulsar came very close to her again but this time slowing down as it came. The guy rode past her a little and stopped his bike across her lane, blocking the way. She applied the brakes, looking confused and little flustered. She gazed at him, weighing the chances of him being an womanizer. 70%? No, less than that. He looked more decent, more like a racing bike model to her.

He was wearing a dark blue jean, light green and white horizontally striped T-Shirt, a black sleeveless jacket and a very stylish looking coolers and helmet. He removed his glasses and perched it on the neck of his zip-up jacket. He slipped his helmet off and placed it on top of the petrol tank. He really was looking like a model; too handsome to look away.

“Are you a classical dancer?” - he asked, without any preamble.

“What??” - she responded, frowning.

He rolled his eyes casually and tried again, more slowly. “Are you.. (he pointed at her) a classical dancer.. (he moved his hands rhythmically in mid-air to show dancing)”

The initial shock inside her diminished to get replaced with a dangerous fury. “That's none of your business!!” - she snapped.

He shrugged, unperturbed by her snappy retort. “Probably!!” - he shrugged again and continued in the same casual tone - “I just got curious looking at your dress.”

Her eyes travelled down to her yellow and green practice saree and snapped back at him with a look that clearly suggested, So? What's that got to do with you? “ Nonsense..” - she muttered mutinously and made to turn her handlebar and move away from that place.

“Hey wait!! I just have one little suggestion.” - he said, holding out his arm to stop her.

She felt the heat rising around her ears irately. She glared at him menacingly and arched her eyebrows. He didn't seem to care about her anger. He smiled crookedly and said - “Just wear a helmet hereafter. Ok? Will u?”

“And why on earth do you care?” - she snarled.

He smiled and it reached his eyes without any difficulty. He looked at her intently through his dark brown, long lashed eyes and said calmly - “Because even guys like me would want to come back again and again to have a look at your beautiful face.” He stressed on the word “Me”.

His words made her stomach twist with an indecent rage. Her eyes flashed dangerously. She gritted her teeth and said - “Guys like you will only want to do such cheap things. Indecent Bloody...” - her voice trailed away as she fled past him, leaving him to gape behind her back, accelerating to her maximum.

To be continued...

---Bala Iyengar---