The auto-rickshaw stopped at the red signal. They all got up and neared the vehicles standing. They had put on the crying sad faces and started fingering the window glasses of the cars. But he was still, didn’t move an inch. He had right hand placed on the crutch laid beside and the with the right arm he was tossing a coin into the air. He was barely wearing anything. But the Rainlover somehow liked his appearance. There was a sense of originality in that. He wasn’t trying fake emotions to try and look like a beggar. He, justifiably was a beggar… effortlessly. The Rainlover found it really amusing. Meanwhile, the red signal turned green and auto pushed off. The Rainlover had something else going on in his head while he carelessly asked the auto-driver to stop the auto and to wait for him - 'I will be back in 2 minutes!' Before the alarmed auto-driver could say anything, the Rainlover had ran passed the crossing and stood straight in front of the boy. He was still sitting there!

The Rainlover smiled at the beggar boy and asked - 'Free hai kya?' (Are you free?) The boy had thousand questions in his eyes, but his tongue supported only one to come out - 'Kya?' (What?)

- Free hai kya? (Are you free?)

- Keu? (Why?)

- Free hai toh chalte hai…(Let's go if you're free… )

- Pagal ho kya? (Are you mad?)

- Thoda sa.. (A bit)

Then giving any further chance to the boy to talk, the Rainlover seized his crutch, placed it right under the right arm and said, 'adhe ghante mein wapas chor jaunga' (I'll drop you back within half an hour). The boy started smiling…

- Naam kya hai tera? (What's your name?)

- Waise to naam hai Rajan, lekin pyaar se log mujhe Raja kehte hai.. (The name is Rajan, but people love to call me Raja..)

- Toh Raja-ji, kya khana pasand karenge aap? (So Raja, what would you like to have?)

- Matlab..? (meaning..?)

- Chinese? Italian? Mexican? Or Indian?

- Eh sab khane ka naam hai? (Are these foods' names?)

- Ji..Kya khayenge aap? (Yes.. What would you like to have?)

- Pav Bhaaji…

- Pav Bhaaji?

- Keun, tujhe pasand nehin hai kya? (Why, don't you like it?)

- Pasand hai… (I do like it…)

The Rainlover asked the auto-driver to stop the auto near a Agarwal's Sweet store where they intended to have Pav Bhaaji! When the passengers got off, the auto driver checked the meter and said - 'Sixty!' The Rainlover chuckled, 'Chalo na, tumhe bhukh nehin hai kya…. Chalo..' (Come up, aren’t you hungry, come up..) The auto driver was puzzled, when Raja ordered, 'Aja yaar… aja aja' (Come up dude.. come, come)!

What a combination was sitting on the table that afternoon. A beggar boy in his almost-no-clothe, an aged auto driver in his faded-bluish uniform and a young lanky business executive in his business suit. But was it all? Were they only beggar-driver-professional trio? The Rainlover didn’t believe it… to him, it was boy-man-young man trio there! Three were having a great treat time filled with jokes, smile, laughter and total carefree attitude! Pav Bhaaji is incomplete without lassi! After finishing his lassi in a hurry, Raja burped badly…. The Rainlover and the auto-driver (Mangal) started laughing…. Raja quickly recovered and joined! After a while, unknowingly, Mangal also burped! All started laughing…. Raja was almost falling from his chair…

The trio went back, dropped Raja back at his business-place and headed towards the Rainlover's place… it was almost dark when the Rainlover reached his home. The auto stopped, the Rainlover paid, shook hands and turned back… then Mangal said, 'Thank you!'

The Rainlover smiled and meaning his words, he uttered - 'Thank you!'   

Hi Friends, It Seems - I'm Back! 

The Rainlover generally doesn’t attend any wedding ceremony. It freaks him out to see so many people showing it off, that too all at the same time! Yet, that evening, driven by some uncanny feeling, he did something really weird. It was holiday for him. He drank the whole day. He thought of going out for a while and have a look at the city he lives in and the city people he lives with. After some 30 minutes of aimless roaming, he could spot wedding ceremony happening just beside the main road. He paused for a while, looked at his own clothes and went straight inside the wedding hall!

There were lots of people dressed up in bright colours and everyone was having a good time. The Rainlover went straight to a corner of the hall and sat on a chair away from the rest of the group. He could see 'happiness' beaming in front of him. There were young girls exemplifying what decoration means. There were men exemplifying what carefree attitude is. There were ladies exemplifying what 'I'm-not-looking-that-aged,-right?-syndrome' is! Parents had stopped getting annoyed of their children. Children had forgotten almost everything that might annoy them.

The Rainlover was feeling good looking at the happy lot. Suddenly, he realised that a beautiful girl occupied the chair some 10 meters away from him. He looked at her, she looked upset. Whiskey is a great ice-breaker. So it started functioning. The Rainlover went on staring at the beautiful girl, and when there eyes met, he smiled, raised his right arm and invited the girl to sit with him. There was a sense of disbelief in the girl's eyes for a while. Finally, she abandoned the eagerness to understand this stranger's behavior and looked away.

What could the Rainlover possibly do? He got up, grabbed couple of tissue papers from the table in front of him. Now he needed a pen. But where would he get that? None comes to a wedding party with a pen! He waited for a while and then walked up to the catering department responsible for the foods for the guests. There was a waiter brother busy in taking notes of food items. The Rainlover put his left palm on his shoulder, smiled and said - 'Eh pen mujhe dede thakur…' (Give me this pen). The waiter was surprised! The Rainlover went on smiling - 'Tu aur ek pen arrange kar le yaar… please!' (Arranger another pen for you.. please) Before the waiter could possibly react, the Rainlover was vanished with his pen!

He came back to his chair, the girl was still was on her chair. What a beauty she was! And the amount of sadness or irritation or annoyance or whatever had made her all the more beautiful! So the Rainlover started sketching her side face on the tissue paper by the pen snatched away from the waiter. The Rainlover was done within 5/7 minutes and the girl had somehow got the hint of what was going on… as soon as the Rainlover got up from his chair, the girl also got up and vanished inside the crowd in front of her. The Rainlover went back to the catering section, handed over the pen to that respective waiter brother, came back, put the tissue paper on the table where the girl was sitting, placed the small flower vase on it and came back right to the catering section.

The same waiter brother smiled and asked, 'Baat kya hai?' The Rainlover dragged him closer, took a glass of orange juice from the tray he was holding, leaned on his shoulder, started drinking the juice and together faced THE TABLE! He was waiting for it, and it happened! The girl reappeared, spotted the tissue paper, looked here and there with caution, but couldn't spot the strange stranger! So she sat on the chair, carefully lowered her hands and unfolded the tissue paper on her lap. For few seconds, she just silently looked at it, looked up, looked down at the tissue paper again, and then silently a gentle smile appeared on her beautiful face! The Rainlover looked at the waiter brother, smiled, got an uneasy smile back and started walking. While he was crossing THE TABLE, his eyes met with those beautiful ones of that beautiful girl… the Rainlover chuckled, the girl blushed!

While the Rainlover was leaving, the girl was again looking at the tissue, which, along with the rough sketch, read - ''Rx - SMILE!!!''

FRIENDS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING THERE! WAS REALLY TOUGH... BUT I MADE IT! :)... WITH YOUR HELP! LOVE U!