Magic

Magic

   

Chapter 1: Do you believe in Magic?

Even as I was waiting for Raj, all I could think of, was our science project. It had been declared as the best project from our class out of 30 odd entries. In fact, our teacher was so impressed with our work that she had recommended us to present it to the Mr. D’Souza, the Head of the Department. The presentation was scheduled today.

Having done the final rehearsal the eve of the presentation, Raj and I had decided that we would rendezvous at the Central Park at 8:00 AM on the D-day.

I was 15 minutes early that day. I sat on the Park bench and closed my eyes.  

‘15 odd days of planning, 16 days of relentless effort including a couple of sleepless nights; this was what it took to give a shape and form to our idea. And the fate of our project was to be decided based our presentation which would last not more than 10 minutes’

The very thought of the presentation had made me anxious.

‘Raj and I are a perfect team.  Our project is technically sound. I can take care of all the technical queries.  Raj, the impeccable orator that he is, is the best person to convey the idea effectively during the presentation’, I tried to convince my subconscious mind.

I had read somewhere that our subconscious mind has infinite power. If you truly madly deeply wish for something and convince your subconscious that it is yours; the universe will conspire to bring your wish true. 

‘The presentation is going to be perfect. No force on earth can jeopardize it!’ I had reassured myself; oblivious to the fact that universe had taken my last statement as a challenge instead of wish!

***

‘Excuse me’, I heard a voice call for me.

I turned and looked around, only to find an old lady smiling at me.

I returned an awkward smile.

‘Should I be knowing her, by any chance?’ I thought even as my mind started matching her face with the ones in my mental database. I found no matches.

‘Can I sit here?’ she said pointing at the empty space on the bench.

‘Oh! Yes. By all means’, I said making some room for her to sit.

‘Thanks a lot!’

‘What’s your name young boy?’ she asked, having parked herself.

‘I am..’, I started.

Before I completed; she had closed her eyes and slipped into a small prayer.

I noticed a coin in her hand, even as I sat there all by my awkwardness.

Having opened her eyes, she noticed my discomfort.

‘I am a very religious person, you know’

‘Do you believe…’, she paused, as if she wanted to stress on the words she was about to utter.

‘…in God?’ I completed the sentence for her.

‘If by God, you mean a force that guides us; then yes’, she clarified.

‘Do you believe in any such force?’, she reiterated the complete question.

‘I believe in myself’, I said.

She smiled

‘How can you believe in someone or something that might not even exist?’ I asked.

‘What you believe in, is not important’, she whispered.

‘Belief, in itself, is important’, she continued.

‘I believe in God, not because I am sure that he exists. Whether god exists or not is a debate for another day. I believe in Gods because their stories teach me how to lead a perfect life’

I couldn’t make the head or tail was what she had just said.

I nodded with an affirmative smile, anyways.

‘So, you are waiting for someone here?’ she asked; trying to change the topic, perhaps.

‘Yes, for one of my friend’, I started, even as she started fiddling with the coin in her hand.

‘We go to the school together on his scooter’

She tossed the coin in the air. It flew up spinning and landed back in her hands.

‘Is she even listening to me?’

‘Heads or Tails?’ she asked.

‘Tails’, I replied unmindfully, even as I looked into my watch.

‘Raj, you moron! Where the hell are you! I will kill you if we get late today!’

She opened her fist and looked at the coin.

‘Ohh! I am afraid you will have to look for some other means of transportation today’, she sighed even as I received a text.

This time I decided to give her a deaf ear as I produced my phone from my pocket.

“Dude! I am down with fever. Won’t be able to make it today. Try and get our presentation postponed. Sry - Raj”, the text read.

The lady’s words rang in my ears. I looked at her with suspicion in my eyes.

‘How did you know he is not coming?’ I asked.

She looked around. After making sure no one was eavesdropping, she showed her coin to me.

She then signaled me to come close.

When I obeyed, she leaned forward and whispered in my ears.

‘Do you believe in magic?’

The sounds waves which were aimed directly at my ears resonated their way through my ear drums and landed on my brain. Her words left me shivering in broad sunlight.

‘No’, I stammered, having pulled myself away from her.

‘You should’, she smiled.

***

Chapter 2: The Mahi way!

Now that Raj and his Scooter were out of the equation, I had 2 options for commuting; First option was to get a cab, and the second was to take a local.

The first option was the obvious and logical choice. The word “choice” reminded me of the words which the old lady had said to me.

‘Whenever you have a choice, flip this Magic coin. It will lead you in the right direction’, she had said.

I looked at the coin, which the old lady had given me and tossed it. It flew up spinning and landed in my hands.

‘The idea of travelling in a local dreaded me. ‘Not Option 2…Not Option 2’, I prayed, even as I opened my fist.

The sight left me disheartened.

‘Ditch you, coin! I am not travelling in the local. I am taking a cab’, I argued with a coin.

The old women’s words came back to haunt me.

‘Do not ignore the choice made by the coin, however irrational it might seem’, she had said.

‘Okay, fine! I will listen to you once. You better be right’, I thought looking at the coin.

I went to the local station at Thane. The sight of the number of people waiting for the next local disheartened me.

‘Ohh crap! I am in for one hell of a ride’, I thought.

Raj had ditched me; I was already sweating; my spirits were at their lowest ebb. Basically, this day couldn’t have had a more bad start.

‘Please show a way out of this’, I commanded my subconscious mind, half expecting it do done.

And that’s when I saw her.

She came running on to the platform.

The song: ‘That’s the way! Mahi way!’ started playing in background. I turned to look at the source of the music; there was none. It was my mind playing that same old stupid ‘I-am-in-love-with-Mahi’ trick.

FYI, Mahi Bajaj is her name.

Mahi and I go to the same school. Both of us are now in 10^th class (she is in section D and I am in Section A). We kind off know each other since 12 years. Nevertheless, we barely converse.

And I might have forgotten to mention one minute detail about how I feel about her: I have a huge 

crush on this girl since the beginning of time.

I watched her in awe as she stood there. ‘Should I go and talk to her?’ I asked myself.

‘No. Don’t even think about it’, came the answer from the universe.

My eyes fell on the coin in hand. Without even thinking twice, I flipped it. It flew up spinning and landed back in my hands.

‘Talk to her’, I read the coin aloud.

‘This is crazy! I can’t just go and talk to her’

‘Anyways, she seems to be in a hurry. It’s not good manners to disturb a lonely girl. I will have to hide myself from her, as I always do’, I tried to talk myself out of it.

‘The coin might ask you to do difficult or irrational things, obey it at any cost. It is for your own good’, the old lady’s words stormed back into my mind.

‘Let me give you an example: If I give you an option to buy/invest in one of the following 2 products, which one will you choose.

Option 1 was one of the most anticipated product of the decade. It was built by experts around the world and promised to leave its customers with an experience of a life time.

Option 2 is a product which was built by 2 amateur people in a highly unprofessional setup’

‘I will obviously choose Option 1’, I had said.

‘Let’s see what the coin has to say’ she said, even as she tossed the coin.

‘Heads!’ I uttered as the coin flew up spinning and landed in her hands.

She opened her fist and smiled. ‘The coin chose Option 2’.

‘That’s ridiculous. Option 1 is the rational choice. It had the least risk attached to it and was highly anticipated. 

And since it was built by experts, any logical person would chose Option 1’, I had said.

‘Peace, young man; Peace!’ she tried to calm me down.

‘Let me reveal the names of both the options I had thought of’, she paused. ‘Option 1 was Titanic and Option 2 was Google! Titanic was built by experts, but it sank; taking thousands of lives along with it; and Google which was built by 2 college drop outs in their garage, touches billions of lives in a positive way even  as we speak’

She was making sense, albeit in a very weird way.

                                                                          ***

Chapter 3: If looks could kill!

‘This is your chance. For once, she is not along with her friends. Just go and talk to her. How worse could it get?’

I started walking towards her, mustering all the courage I could find.

Meanwhile, a crowded train had just arrived at the station. Mahi’s waist length hair danced to the tunes of the wind brought by the train. She tied her hair into a knot and pierced a pen in the knot to lock it in that position.

She was elegantly dressed in a snow white salwar suit. She looked like an angel with a halo, who alighted from the heaven to bless the earth with her presence.

She considered boarding the train. The train was jam packed so she decided otherwise.

When I was just a couple of feet away from her, she turned and looked square into my eyes.

‘Oh crap! I’m busted’, I shouted mentally, even as I noticed her beautiful eyes. With just one look she had managed to kill all the courage that I had mustered thus far.

I suddenly understood what the phrase ‘If looks could kill’ actually meant.

I looked away immediately and diverted my path to a nearby shop and acted as if I was buying a water bottle.

‘Hey!’ I heard her beautiful voice call for me. ‘You are from St. Stephen’s right!’ she said.

‘Yes’, I stammered.

‘Infact, we are in the same class’, I wanted to say.

You remember when I said that we knew each other since more than 10 years. That statement might be slightly misleading; I knew her for more than 10 years. She probably didn’t even know that I existed.

‘Oh great! We have to take a local to Dadar and then shift to Western Line right?’ she asked.

‘Yes’, I repeated my monologues answer.

An awkward silence took over for a couple of seconds. I kind of had a feeling that she was waiting for me to continue the conversation.

‘Is this your first time in local?’ I tried to give life to the dying conversation.

‘To the school, yes’, she started.

‘My dad usually drops me at school. Today he is not in town. And there were no cabs available from my place. So…’

‘Fasten your seat belt, you are in for one hell of a ride’, I announced as the local approached.

***

She went into the first class compartment and I took the general one. We had decided to rendezvous at Dadar station.

At Dadar, I got down first and waited for her near her compartment. She alighted the train with an air of a queen getting down from her palanquin.

 ‘So how was the ride?’ I asked as I wondered what could be bad in a first class compartment.

‘It was fine’, she shrugged as we took the foot over bridge to the western line. ‘It was a tad boring though’, she continued as we reached the platform.

‘I am kind of a talkative person you know! I need to be able to talk all the time more than I need oxygen’, she laughed.

‘I am all ears!’ I thought aloud with a smile.

‘Ohh, you are so going to regret your words Mister’, she laughed.

‘This train looks less crowded. I will get into the general compartment along with you’, she suggested.

‘OMG! She is giving up her first class ticket just to be with me. I think she likes my company’, I hoped against hope.

True to her warning, she didn’t stop talking after getting into the train.  

I was still trying to wrap my head around the thought that I was travelling with Mahi.

‘How can someone be so pretty’, I thought, wondering how her flawless skin was untouched by Mumbai’s pollution.

After getting down the train we took an auto to our school.

‘Thanks for listening to all the nonsense I had to say’ she started her goodbye on a very good note.

‘You are a great listener! We will get along well’, she winked as we reached the college campus.

‘Until next time’, she said as she waved me a goodbye. 

***

Chapter 4: Heads or Tails

I confronted my science teacher for getting our presentation postponed.

‘So your team mate will not make it to the presentation?’ she asked.

‘This will give a very bad impression to Mr. D’Souza’, she warned.

‘The presentation was initially scheduled in the 7^th period today. I will see if I can reschedule it to 

sometime tomorrow’, she said.

‘But I can’t promise anything’

‘Thanks a lot, Mam’, I said with a sigh of relief.

***

‘Did you ask anyone out for prom night?’ Rohan asked me in the lunch break.

‘I have more important things to do tomorrow’, I said.

‘I wish I could ask her out’, I thought as I looked at Mahi in the canteen.

‘Why don’t you ask your new friend for Prom?’, Amit, who was also sitting at our table, said having noticed me staring at Mahi.

‘No. Don’t even think about it’ Rohan exclaimed looking at her.

‘Why; Shouldn’t I?’ I asked.

‘Dude, she’s such a pretty girl. I am sure almost every guy in the school would have approached her’, Rohan speculated.

‘You have just travelled with her once. What makes you think she’ll accept your request? Don’t waste your time’, he suggested.

‘He is right’, I thought.

Nevertheless, I took the coin out of my pocket and flipped it. It flew up spinning and landed on my hand.

‘I am going to ask her out’, I read the coin aloud.

‘If internet explorer has the balls to ask you to make it your default browser every time you open it, why can’t I have the balls to ask her out ones’, I thought.

‘I bet 100 rupees that she will reject him’, I heard Rohan say to Amit, even as I started walking towards Mahi.

She was sitting four tables away from us. When I was closing in, she turned and looked square into my eyes.

My courage was under attack by her killer looks again, but this time I didn’t give up.

‘Hey hi’, I smiled.

‘Hi’, she gave me a warm smile.

‘I need to talk to you’, I said.

‘I am all ears’, she smiled and returned my dialogue.

‘I was wondering…that…if you would…like to….come to prom with me?’ I finally uttered

She was visibly taken aback.

‘I am…I am sorry…I already said yes…to Vishal’, she stammered.

‘Oh! It’s alright’, I said wondering why I didn’t listen to Rohan.

I felt terrible for putting her in this awkward situation.

‘I am really sorry’ she repeated.

‘It’s perfectly alright’, I said and walked away from my first official heart break.

***

I couldn’t pay attention to the teacher in the next class. I found my staring at the coin as I replayed my conversation with the old lady.

‘The example of Google and Titanic is a very rare case. You are just trying to make me buy your non sense with the help some weird examples’, I had said to her.

‘You are, indeed, a smart kid’, she had started. ‘It will be a little difficult for me to convince you’

‘Do you guarantee that…this magic coin will make me win always’, I had said.

‘The definition of victory is very elusive, my friend’, she had smiled.

‘For a student like you, scoring good marks in your examination is victory. But for a person like me, the process of 

learning is a victory in itself’

‘I am sorry. You lost me there’, I had confessed

‘How do you usually fare in examinations?’ she had asked.

‘I am one of the toppers of my class’, I had said proudly.

‘Wow!’ She exclaimed.

‘Can you guarantee that you are more learned than any of your peers?’ she had asked

I was not sure.

***

‘Mr. D’Souza was busy in a meeting all day long. I couldn’t talk to him yet’, my teacher had said.

‘I will talk to him and reschedule it. Don’t worry’, she said.

I had a choice of either present the project alone today or getting it rescheduled.

I looked at the coin in my hand. I had an urge to flip it. But I didn’t.

‘More often than not; the hardest thing and the right thing are the same’, my subconscious had finally spoken.

‘When you will understand how this magic coin works, you won’t need it any longer. You will be able to make the right decisions on your own’, she had said.

I knew what the coin would suggest me to do.

‘Always chose the option which scares you the most’

‘That would not be required Mam. I will present it today’, I announced.

‘Are you sure? Presenting without Raj doesn’t sound like a very good idea to me’

‘It is, indeed, a very bad idea. But I will do it anyways’

‘You are presenting it to the Head of the Department. You wouldn’t want to take any risks here’, the teacher warned me.

‘You are jumping off the cliff. This is nothing but a suicide’, my apprehensive brain tried to stop me.

‘Jump. Take the leap of faith. We will figure out how to fly, on our way down’, my subconscious replied.

‘I am sure, Mam’, I smiled.

***

Chapter 5: The legacy goes on!

‘The project work is impressive’, Mr. D’Souza said after the presentation.

‘Although, I am not very impressed with the presentation part of it’

‘I feel the project didn’t get the presentation it deserved’, he remarked.

‘Sir, actually it’s a team project. His teammate Raj, who was supposed to present it, has not turned up today’, my science teacher covered for me.

‘Yeah, I could sense the nervousness in him’

‘I believe this was your first experience of public speaking. Keep practicing and you get better at it’

‘But overall, I stand impressed. I am nominating your project to represent our school in the National Science Fare next month’, he said.

‘All the best’, he smiled.

‘Thanks for the opportunity, Sir’, I thanked him earnestly.

‘Please help him with his presentation skills. I want him to do the presentation in the Science Fare, not his team mate’, Mr. D’Souza said to my science teacher.

***

‘Marks are just a proxy to measure your memory’, the old lady had said.

‘We often fall into the trap of measuring things instead of experiencing them’

‘This coin won’t get you your first rank. But it will surely put in situations where you are forced to face your fears’

‘This coin will drag you out of your comfort zone, throw you in an unknown territory where you will be forced to face your fears head on’

***

‘In retrospect, it was one hell of day’, I thought as I walked back from my school.

I moved out of my comfort zone by choosing to travel by local over a cab. I finally had a 

conversation with the girl of my dreams; I even mustered the courage to ask her out which didn’t end well, though.

I faced my fear of public speaking by giving my first ever presentation, failed at my first attempt. The silver lining, however is that, I earned another fight against my biggest fear. Only this time the stakes are higher. I shall present my Science project at the National Science Fare.   

‘Bottom line: This day sucked big time. But I loved it. Thanks to you’, I said looking at the magic coin.

‘Magic does exist’, I smiled.

 ‘Outside your comfort zone; that is where all the magic happens’, the old lady had said.

***

As I walked back to my home, I saw a girl standing on the crossroads. She seemed unsure about which way to go.

The words of old lady resonated inside me.

‘This magic coin was given to me yesterday by a stranger, he asked me to pass it on to someone once I understand the essence of it’, she had said.

‘I am passing this legacy on to you’, she said handing over the coin to me.  

‘When you are done with it, pass it on to someone who needs it more than you do’, she had said as she left.

***

I walked up to the girl on the crossroads with a genuine smile and said, ‘Excuse me’.

Ten minutes later, when I started walking away from her, I noticed her flip the magic coin and take the road less traveled

.

***

The End…or maybe not!

an art, by
Shashank