Living a life in moments(reflection in the mirror)

Some opportunities in life are only surfaced for a moment, if you capture them at that instant, it’s yours

or else it becomes your remorse. Recognizing that opportunity and acting the right way can be called as 

an art or maybe an intuition, a blessed gift. All don’t have that. It’s rare. In our culture a very lucky man 

is often referred as PARAS, a rare stone that turns everything that it touches into gold, something valuable 

and worthwhile. We may say that anyone who holds to every valuable opportunity offered without 

wasting it, automatically becomes a PARAS. Most of us doubt the opportunities that we get and mostly 

think that we are not yet ready for it and neither want to take risks. But to become PARAS one must hit 

and try. No matter we become a PARAS ourselves.

Rania wanted to find her PARAS, her man, she thought she was a hard cocoon. She never opened up 

herself or her heart to the world outside. She had abilities and talents but they had never surfaced because 

she was unsure of their value and even their existence. She wanted her PARAS to love her for what she 

possessed and open her cocoon with his love and attention and one day she will be able to discover herself 

and her PARAS will accompany her on this journey.

She was standing in a very popular market, full of hustle and bustle of life. Shoppers roaming from one 

stall to another to bargain for prices and look for a good purchase. It was a busy street and pandemic was 

just over, majority of the population of the city had already been vaccinated, still a proper check at the 

entrance ensured a safe shopping spree. The ornament of the market were the food stalls. Food stalls 

always serve as a sweet delight after shopping. Eating out after shopping is always a showstopper. It’s an 

inevitable bond.

There was a general sense of relaxation and a sweet smell of happiness in the air. People had been stuck 

in their houses for over a year. They all were missing the normal life, gatherings and congregations. Aroma

of fresh KARAK CHAI (strong tea) and Anda shami burger (a modified cuisine of indo pak) were in the air. 

This combo is fatal, Rania thought to herself. She moved towards the stalls and bought for herself the 

divine package and started enjoying it. There was a special way to enjoy that combo, just like how 

strawberries go well with a glass of champagne. Take a bite of that savory, king of burgers. Feel how well

the fried omelet goes with the ground meet and pulses accompanied by a tangy sauce and crunchy salad.

Chew on that for a while and when the chili hits your taste buds and the tickling sensation brings sweat 

to your hair roots, sip the hot sweet KARAK chai, the tongue gets on fire but the sweetness of the chai 

compensates the burning, and as you gulp that down, BINGO! you hit ecstasy. 

After finding happiness in the food, she started visiting new stalls. She didn’t feel like buying anything. She

was just nostalgic and wanted to feel that same happiness of shopping and product concessions. She had 

nothing much to do at home either. Her family was only her mother. She felt lonely and without any sense 

of direction at times. She was tired of holding herself responsible for everything that happened against 

the plans. But now she had learned to forgive herself for every opportunity that she missed.

She had developed her own opinion about forgiving one’s self and also others. For her, forgiveness was a 

unique virtue. An angry person becomes a cage in which he captures the person responsible for his anger. 

He nurtures the hatred in his thoughts, gives them the energy of his blood. Holding anger for long turns 

that grudge into a beast of destruction who takes over our true self, our decisions and our perspectives. 

That captive issilently damaging the cage so we must let it leave soon. We should let the key of forgivenessopens that cage when yet that anger is small and fragile. Now she understood why they were trained as 

children to resolve disputes with the siblings and friends within three days of the occurring.

She failed to understand the gravity and needs of some situations. She believed everything was pre 

planned. Her failures taught her important lessons of life. She promised herself that she will not repeat 

same mistakes again. If inevitable she will make new ones, because for her; making new mistakes meant

learning new lessons too. She had learned to turn her perspective in her favor. She had learned that 

worrying too much never did anything good. 

She was creative but never created a masterpiece, was an artist but had no art piece to prove that but 

she was capable to becoming a PARAS one day. She was a gold cocoon covered in mud, it was 

undiscovered but that mud shall shed off soon. 

Her heart craved for her true love. A love that will complete her gaps like a lock and key model. Two 

different looking blocks with different shapes. One has gaps in some areas and the other has abundance 

in the same, both coming together, filling each other’s gaps, complete into a perfect picture. She craved 

to find her filling block on a random place, just by chance, just by luck. Her heart was hopeful. She was 

roaming aimlessly like a single lonely albatross. She trusted the creator. She knew that her creator loves 

her 70 times more than her mother. She knew one day it will happen, he will come and surprise her. she 

will not waste another moment of her life and live with him to the fullest. She knew things will flow in the 

right direction once she meets him. Everything will fall into its right place. The moment he will touch her 

hand all her sorrows and worries will foam down and vanish like they never existed. 

Walking pointlessly, she entered a nearby shopping Plaza situated at the end of the street. She visited two 

floors but was soon bored and decided to return home. She stood in front of the passenger lift. It was 

made of glass doors cleaned to perfection. Suddenly two men came near the lift and stood behind her. 

They both wanted to exit the building too. Suddenly one of the man started talking. His voice was so 

unique and different that it attracted her in an instant. She tried to stop her breaths so that she listens 

just his voice and nothing else. She didn’t even want, the noise of her increasing heartbeats to interfere 

with his voice but she was helpless in controlling the throbbing pounding of her heart. She closed her eyes 

and concentrated on his voice. She felt they both were in mountains, or maybe in a cave, his echoing voice

was taking her on journeys far away. There was so masculinity and stature in his tone which reflected his 

power and grace, affirmative but polite at the same time. It was so soothing for her ears. It felt he was the 

one she was looking for. she saw his reflection on the doors of glass lift. He was tall and broad with curly 

hair. oh! It is so similar to what she has always imagined. A broad tall Hercules with curly hair which add 

to his grace even more. she wanted to turn and look at him but she couldn’t do it, she didn’t want the 

man of her dreams to read the desperation in her eyes and have a negative impact of her.

She didn’t realize that while she listened to his voice with closed eyes, he accidently noticed her 

beautiful face, he didn’t know why this girl is listening to him with closed eyes. He knew she was observing

every pause and tone and every pitch of his voice. She was enjoying it like a well-rehearsed melody. He 

never realized his voice would be adored this way. He just stood there and watched while continuing to 

talk with his friend. It was strange and surprising at the same time. That moment was a mixture of 

suspense and delight for him.The lift was late for who knows what reason. She heard his friend saying that they are running late so shall 

rather take the stairs instead. Her heart sank. she wanted them to wait another moment but she knew an 

intervene like this would be a disgrace. 

He moved towards the stairs, Rania’s desperate eyes moved towards him to look at his beautiful face, to 

absorb his existence and to ensure all her doubts that ever came to her mind about him being true. Their

eyes met each other. He noticed her face deeply and that moment was eternal. She never wanted that 

their eyes would return to their owners. She wished they looked at each other forever.

At the same instant the lift arrived and she was unable to stop herself from screaming quickly that lift 

arrived. Suddenly his feet stopped at the stairs, he turned back and looked at her and his friend, not 

knowing how to react to the unexpected announcement. Rania got puzzled with her stupid shouting and 

moved quickly into the lift. She wanted to hide herself. She wished she didn’t have to face him after this 

stupidity. The lift door was about to close when suddenly his hand appeared to stop it from closing and 

then he with all his charisma entered the lift starring deeply in her eyes with a slight smile in them, there 

was something in his eyes that made her cheeks burn. She at once looked away. Maybe he caught the 

scent of the situation and this thought made Rania more nervous. She noticed he was wearing a very bold 

and alluring perfume, perfect to go with his personality. She kept her head down, maybe as a strategy to 

hide her rainbow of changing feelings with every passing moment. she noticed he was wearing casual 

shoes and clothes. Casual, comfortable and cozy …exactly how she wanted her mate to be. His distinctive 

perfume just couldn’t be ignored. She always liked perfumes, she could catch the hitting notes of any 

perfume, it was her natural gift. she smelled him in the air with her eyes tightly shut. White musk, tobacco 

and cedar wood with a little hint of fresh plum and mint. He smelled like a fresh cold breeze bringing news 

from fruit gardens blossoming distant away. That smell felt like hugging everything around, strong and 

captivating.

The lift door opened and she tried to rush outside not seeing that he had already taken his steps forward 

at the same time. She collided at the door with him. The shopping bag in his hands fell down and all gifts 

spread in the lift. She moved to collect them all while saying sorry, he interrupted that there was no need 

to excuse as it was an accident and nothing intentional. She looked at him with thankful eyes, how soft 

hearted he was, someone whispered in her heart.

Her shoulder bag strap came under her feet while she was gathering the scattered gifts. She corrected the 

position of the strap on her shoulder not knowing that the other end of the strap was under her knee. She

stood up and the strap broke from the centre. It was her favorite bag. She at once became so sad when 

she saw it. The sadness was evident on her beautiful face. He couldn’t stop himself from noticing the 

changing colors on her face. He felt she might start crying any instance. He took control of the situation 

and asked her if he could do anything for her. She replied it’s alright and walked out of the lift. He along 

with his friend followed her out. He came forward and asked her if he can see the bag. She hesitantly gave 

him her bag. He observed the bag and told her that the bag was damaged from the center and can’t be 

fixed at home. He suggested they could take the bag to the nearby bag shop as he knew the shopkeeper 

personally and he will take good care of the bag.

They both went to the shop and showed the bag to the shopkeeper. He said he will fix the bag but it will 

take some time as it was an original bag from the famous brand but its manufacturing had stopped now 

and he needs to go to his warehouse to find any strap that can be used as a substitute. She agreed and 

there was no other way either. He made a receipt about the bag and asked her to collect the bag after aweek. She stepped out of the shop and started walking towards her home. She totally forgot about the 

receipt.

One week passed, she was excited to collect her bag from the shop. She hurriedly finished all her work

and went to the shop. She asked the shopkeeper for her bag. The shopkeeper inquired about receipt. She 

said she had no receipt. The shopkeeper refused to hand over her bag to her as it was against his policy. 

She came out of the shop and started walking towards her house.She was clueless what to do.how to find him.she definately had no clue how to meet him again.she didnt even knew his name.may be it was the end of her story with him or maybe the new start was yet to come.