With less than 5 days to go for my
vacation, my perennial panic mode was on! Hustling from store to store at the
mall, looking for perfect vacation clothes and accessories; I started to feel
extremely exhausted and decided I needed something to recharge myself. I went
to Starbucks to get a fix of my favorite Green Tea Lemonade, but the long queue
there made me feel even more exhausted. I had lost all hope, until I spotted
this really cute guy who was standing second in the queue.
Without giving it much thought, I walked up
to him and cheekily asked him if he could buy me a drink. He glanced in my
direction, and after a little hesitation, agreed. Probably a part of him
thought I was hitting on him; which let’s face it, I was! But I anyway offered
him cash in exchange for my GTL and he happily took it off my hands, with a
confused look on his face. Flirting was really not on my agenda.
We parted ways, and I walked inside to find
myself an empty table. I was just about to give up owing to the excessive
crowd, when I saw one of my college friends- Manya. She was sitting there, all
by herself enjoying her latte and flipping through Cosmo. She still hadn’t
stopped imitating me- I was flabbergasted! But well, I needed a table to sit
and relax for a bit so I decided to approach her.
As I walked towards her, she noticed me and
stood up to greet me. We hugged in the most pretentious manner and exchanged
cold smiles, before sitting down to chat. Manya hadn’t changed a bit all these
years- she looked exactly the same. I asked her about Anjul- the guy she had
been dating since forever. Turns out, he had apparently cheated on her a year
back and they weren’t together anymore. Manya talked at a stretch about missing
it all- the feeling of being in a relationship; when someone constantly checks
on you, when someone is there for you in your bad times, when someone asks you
how your day was! ‘That’s a wonderful feeling indeed’- I thought to myself.
It had only been a short 5 minutes
discussing relationship pros and cons, when the cute guy from the queue came
and sat on the table next to ours. Manya noticed him in an instant; eye candy
is hard to ignore, and resist. She immediately told me to check 9’o clock; I
could only manage to smile in return, not wanting to mention my rendezvous with
him. As Manya glanced in his direction and exchanged smiles (and numbers
later!), I felt remorse for not having flirted with him earlier.
I understand that Manya was looking to
date, and I wasn’t. But the truth remains that Manya was missing the feeling of
being in a relationship and so was I. Why was I afraid to flirt then? Why was I
so apprehensive? Was it the fear of rejection? Or the fear of a subsequent
heartbreak? Or was it my general belief in the fact that men these days just
want something really short-term? Whatever it was, it was certainly bothering
me.
As I finished my lemonade and waved goodbye
to Manya, I wondered if there were other women out there like me- women who
were not into flirting, approaching cute strangers and reciprocating to smiles
from across the bar. I was certain there were! But really, were all these women
doing the right thing? Was I doing the right thing? I often think to myself
about finding Mr. Right, but when I see someone or talk to someone, who has
potential to be Mr. Right, I start walking in the opposite direction. How can
that be right?
Women out there, just like me, need to
understand that even the Princess had to kiss the frog to eventually find her
Prince! You can’t just sit on your virtual throne, wearing your pink crown and
expect to be swept off your feet by the man of your dreams- that’s not
happening. For you to find Mr. Right, you have to make some effort too. So next time you see a cute guy, or someone
who you’ve had a crush on forever, or someone who talks in a way that makes
your heart skip a beat, or maybe just that guy who seems to have a nice arse- approach them! Talk to them, and
be at your flirtatious best- live a little, and have some fun! Who knows, you
might just find your Mr. Right at that queue in Starbucks? I know Manya did!
