“I can’t believe it,” Samiya was still not convinced, “every phone has it inbuilt and you say you don’t have access to it?”
“I work in remote areas and don’t have any access to mobile networks. By the way – is she a celebrity?” he asked Samiya a bit awed himself.
“She is a popular magician and a mind reader.”
“Oh! I didn’t know that – I now seem to understand how she selected the dresses which pleased them… thanks a lot to your skills…” he said smiling at Mohini with the revelation from Samiya.
“Now that you know me, why don’t you come up with a better introduction of yourself? How come you don’t have access to mobile networks?” Mohini asked with a bit of disbelief.
“I am Major Chaitanya from Gurkha Regiment. I am normally posted on edge of our country’s borders to make sure enemy doesn’t cross – on remote locations where getting a mobile signal is an achievement for us – you can’t expect mobile range in the high mountains of Himalayas, do you? We normally call our people back home to know how they are doing when we find a spot where we get a signal… or when we come to a nearby town to collect our supplies.”
“Oh! I see… glad to meet you. So are you on a holiday here?”
“Yup… Came to meet my only family left in this world – my bhaiyya and bhabhi.”
“Why don’t you visit Mumbai and see me perform this Saturday?”
“I wish I could, but I got to go back tomorrow and join my duties. Maybe on my next visit…”
“I understand – can we talk on phone in the meanwhile – if you don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind but I don’t know when I will be in range of a mobile network. You can send a message when you feel like talking to me – once I get it and the mobile will be in a range and I will call you back – if that works…” she agreed to what he said and they exchanged their phone numbers. He took leave and joined the group of his friends back. She kept watching him enjoy the time with his friends.
“I have never seen you behave such with unknown men – what’s so different in him that you have opened up so much to exchange phone numbers?” Samiya was a bit puzzled at Mohini’s behaviour.
“You know I keep meeting people and apart from my profession, it’s my hobby to keep reading various thoughts they think… This person is different. I read his mind. He is genuine. He found me beautiful and attractive but didn’t think of playing with me or didn’t have thought s like one night stand about me. He was looking at plain friendship as a human being. Further, he is patriotic, when I asked him his favourite colour; his mind had the image only of the Indian flag – no other colour. He is different and I want genuine people like him to be my friends. Let’s go back to our hotel.” They left the lounge after saying bye to Major Chaitanya.
Once in the hotel she sent a message to him asking him to call back even if it was late. It was almost 1am when he called back and they chatted for a while… when he hung up she looked at the watch, it was almost 4am. They had been chatting for 3 hours. She had liked chatting with him. After that they had been speaking on phone for 3 months or so when he had visited again on a 3 day leave for meeting his bhabhi who had given a birth to a beautiful princess.
He had a late night flight from Mumbai on his return and she had asked him to join her for dinner. They had been speaking about their dreams and aspirations all evening and after a lovely dinner had dropped her back to her flat. He had looked at her lovingly and proposed her genuinely but didn’t think she would accept. She had to his happiness accepted his proposal and decided to marry him. She had then accompanied him to the airport and on the way visited a mall where he had bought her this official looking blouse. She smiled at all those memories and picked up the same blouse for the show tonight.
The preparation for the show was up to date and the show went very well. She and Samiya had a code signal as to where Samiya should start recording the parts she wanted to upload on the Youtube.