It was simmering summer of 1995 in Varanasi. Anahita Shringar was desperately pleading her tears to keep loyalty with her eyes and doesn't spill. Still, the unruly liquids were adamant about disavowing the brown eyes and slipped down on the pillow from the corner of her eyes. Hurt with the betrayal of her tears; she allowed its ungracious fall. She has seen enough betrayal of fate in her 24-year-old life that it was nothing too much to moan. However, today she was anxious as she does not want to be seen as a weak girl by her heavenly mother. 

"Ana." "Where are you, beta?" Come down and have tea. Jaigosh Rayal called out his darling daughter, placing the cups on the table in his lawn. Anahita heard her father calling. She wanted to stand up and go, but her heart was still not finished off with the desire to see her mother smiling and showering love on her. She kept looking at the photo of her mother, hanging on the wall in which she was standing in the middle of her father and mother, and both were seen planting a kiss on her cheeks. The love of parents is a kind of free-falling water of Himalaya, which is innocent, pure, and its stream of blessing never dry up falling on their children even if they are nowhere around. 

Ana, your friends, are waiting here. Her father called again. She quickly lifted her hand and plowed the rolling tears over her cheeks. No more tears! She sternly whispered to herself as she remembered how her mother would cuddle her and say, "you are my blood, my darling, if you shed a tear, my blood will be shed."

Anahita waved to her friends. Sorry, Papa. I am late. I will have to rush to dashaswamedh ghat. She said in her utterly hurried tone.

''Your tea, Beta.'' Her father urged her to sip tea.

You know Papa, no boat will ferry us after sunset. This is the 10th death anniversary of Mom, and I can’t miss having Ganga puja for her peace. Had I ever missed it? She said in her choking tone.

Jaighosh looked at her daughter. His eyes hung open for a moment, reading the fall of variegated emotions on her saddened face. He never had malice of doubt on her darling daughter, whom he raised with pride and love. She lost her mother when she needed her most to understand the world from a women's perspective. Without a mother, life is like education with no learning. His eyes were transfixed on her, and he seems baffled, thinking how his little girl has suddenly grown so strong that she can camouflage her sadness. His saddened heart sank to see how she cares for everyone but has forgotten to love and care for her own. She has forgotten that she is an adult now and should try to look gorgeous. He regretted to notice that he has passed on his crude looks on her. Had her looks gone on to her mother, she would look beautiful? No, she is gorgeous. My daughter is gorgeous. He rebuffed himself and corrected it immediately.

When Anahita was gone, he slowly flumps on the reclining chair. He thought about what he should do to make his daughter realize that she is beautiful. He prayed to God to send some angel from heaven to make her daughter acquainted with her beauty and talent.

~

 Anahita and her friends decided to take a holy trip to Ganga. They went to a boat which was nicely decorated with the scented mesh of flowers and the tiny pieces of mirrors. They were surprised to see the absurd beautification of the boat.

Madam, do you want a boat ride? A man clad in white clothes said smilingly.

Girls nodded and inquired about the fancy decoration of the boat. Shringar is the theme of my life. Life is beautiful if we understand shringar in our life.

Anahita's friends looked at her. Miss Shringar, you are the quest of his life. Atipriya chuckled while saying. Anahita was bemused with the logic of life; a boatman has learned which others fail even to feel. Beauty has never been an exciting topic for average looking Anahita. She hated her surname shringar, which she feels mocks her.

How much you charge for the ride? Anahita inquired.

Ten rupees for regular and 12 if you want to enjoy this ride feeling the most beautiful girl in the world. The boatman said artistically.

Girls looked at him, wondering what beauty this ugly looking man is talking about, how this boat ride could make them feel beautiful.

Madam, I have a man who praises the women in such a poetic way that even ugly looking woman would feel like the princess. His narration about a man having extraordinary poetic skills of admiring women made girls curious. The curious girls took no time to hire the man of gifted talent. 

Boatman went hunting the man in demand.

After 15 minutes, when the boatman returned, girls spotted a man with him.

He is Pampa Mori. Boatman introduced the man.

Anahita looked at Pampa Mori. Below ordinary looking, Pampa was a midget.

What a weird name? Disappointed girls mocked Pampa, whom they thought was exaggeratedly described as a gifted man.

So, he is your gifted poet, who will make us feel like the princess. Uruma mocked the boatman. Atulya sniggered too. However, Anahita kept her calm. She could relate the insult of Pampa with her.

Pampa did not look pained for being sarcastically rejected for his ugly look. He kept his calm while watching the girls making fun of him. He knew these girls would soon change their opinion about him. He said, 'my life as a midget taught me the virtue of forgiveness, the virtue of feeling victorious on the face of sarcasm and rejection.' I am someone significant as people turned back to see me and talk about me more than anybody else. I get more attention than any cupid. As a midget, I command more share of the life of people being obsessed and interested in me. What else somebody needs? His bold utterance silenced the mocking girls.

Madam, don't judge him with his look. He is a pandit in the day and metamorphoses into a poet as the dusk descends on the city.

If it is so, then make Anahita feel beautiful. Atulya threw a challenge to Pampa. Pampa had a difficult task to make a girl feel beautiful who, in her entire life, has never thought once that she is beautiful. 

You can hate cuckoo for her color, but you will love it for her melodious voice. Pampa said once the boat finds its pace in still water.

Anahita Shringar. Pampa chanted the name in a smooth voice. There is the scent of love and affection in this name. There is the assimilation of beauty and desire. Shringar (grace/beauty) is everywhere, in everything we do, everything we expect, every good thing we do has shringar. We wish to have shringar in our body, in our lives and God has made shringar to live around us.

Anahita nodded. A thrill of happiness ran through her spine on hearing the poetic meaning of her name. However, in the next moment, Anahita's lost gloom of inferiority returned to haunt her again. She was crestfallen, realizing that shringar is a subject of beauty. Only beautiful women can claim the possession of shringar. She welled within and argued the almighty. I'm happy that you showered your eternal love and made me a woman, but you took revenge by depriving me of shringar. Isn't it unfair for a woman to have not been beautiful? Lives of swarthy or dark-skinned women are hell in our shringar obsessed society.

Gifted midget understood the infructuous ordeal of the girl being sad for not being physically beautiful. He thought to rescue the faith of the girl in her life, in her body. Why everyone thinks that beauty is all about having fair skin? Our ancient narration of beauty has never been about color. The pine tree is slim and smooth but doesn't yield delicious fruit, and the mango tree has a rough and dark trunk but yields delicious fruit. Does white skin feel the pain that dark skin can't? See, how does our holy Ganga look like, the water seems dirty, but it purges the vicious sin? Beauty is not what we see from our eyes, but what we feel from inside. Beauty is not just about having a great sensual body; it is about being in any shape but feeling blessed and having a compassionate heart to feel the pain of others.

Faith, hope, mercy are the three beautiful pillars of our life. They have the highest level of shringar, and if we live without them, then how can we look beautiful.

All the girls looked at him flummoxed.

These are not my words. Yesterday I met a girl from Coimbatore who said so. She has a dark complexion and looks malnourished. She was suffering from some skin disease and had a poor appetite. She told me she was once beautiful, but in the last few years, she has lost her charm and wealth.

Moreover, when she lost her such futile things, she discovered her real existence. She devoted her life to God as he helped her realize what beauty is. Now when I'm no more rich and beautiful, I'm more content. I realized my real beauty was obscured in this fakery.

The woman is the most beautiful creation of God. The woman who procreates life cannot be ugly. Anyone who gives life should be revered, and someone who is to be revered should feel like a Goddess. Draupadi was the most beautiful woman but became the reason of an epic war. Remember, Amrapali; she hated her beauty, which made her royal escort. Had these women have enjoyed their beauty, certainly not? They all were proud of their beauty, but they never wanted it to be thrown open.

You are beautiful when you possess desire and emotion to love and be loved. Anahita was engrossed in his narration. The magic of midget has a swooning impact on her. 

I was just 8 when a thief threw me in the Ganga. My father risked his life and dived into a deep river to save me. There was Shringar in the decision of my father to save me and faith in his courage. My life is remarkable as it is a gift from my father. He sacrificed his life for me to live. I had never seen a sign of regret in the eyes of my father that I am a midget and look weird. My father sacrificed his life to save his midget child, knowing I will face the humiliation. There was young mirth on the saggy face of the Pampa.

Anahita looked at Pampa Mori. Anahita has never known that she looks amazingly beautiful until she met Pampa. He was probably the first man who made a woman feel beautiful without touching her without even staring at her. Her mere thought startled her. In her entire life, she has never met a man who understands women so well. In his narration, Pampa has not portrayed women as an object of physical desire; he has not sensualized women; instead, he made women the most adorable creation of God who creates life. She looked at her friends. They both were looking at Pampa in the same awe and wonder as if Pampa is some beautifully sculpted creation of God and send on earth for a momentary display. 

Wow! Atipriya said. You have the blessing of God in your narration. Nothing could glorify and motivate women better than this.

But Pampa was not mentally interactive with Atipriya and continued looking at the vincible Anahita against his mighty wish to avoid the eye contact. Anahita felt strange within her heart. She started feeling that she is really a beautiful woman gifted with some amazing power and skill to accomplish her dream. Somewhere deep within her, a caterpillar of young mirth has begun to sprout, and in no time it was to find its robust wing which whirr will make her restless and longing for something she is not prepared. Sometimes ugly is more enchanting than attractive. 

Pampa looked at her more intently against his nature of making eye contact with the women. She was an averagely looking woman with modest lips, tousled hairs, averagely shaped breast, and a swarthy complexion. The one great differentiation she has from all other women was her curious and serious expression. Pampa was finding it difficult to contain his expression still and not engaged with the curious eyes of Anahita, but he soon surrendered himself to the gravity of magic stemming from the swarthy face. Pampa was wondering, that he has satiated the appetite of many beautiful women before with his art of praising the beauty but was never charmed by them. He had never felt this smoldering desire ever before, then why was he losing his controlled emotion to an ordinary-looking woman. Pampa realized the very essence of human desire that 'humans actually need ordinary things in life.' 

Anahita's heart falls for Pampa. She smiled, her face glowed, and she begins to love her surname. She was beginning to love the subject she detested being not so beautiful.

Pampa was no ordinary person. Like Socrates, he, too, was an ugly but great philosopher. Soon Pampa realized his mistake for longing for an invincible woman who lives in the Ravindrapuri colony with his bureaucrat father.

~

Anahita started visiting Pampa more often. She would hire Pampa and listen to his poetic elegance and feel blessed. Eventually, she becomes obsessed with Pampa. Her friends could not believe that her friend, who was so against love, could fall for an ugly looking midget.

Then a day comes when Anahita decided to tell her heart out to Pampa. She had the most amazing proposal for Pampa to spend a life together.

The eyes of Anahita Shringar has the sparkle of stars, and her lips were wavering in a whispering melody. Usually, a shy and low esteemed girl has a burst of confidence on her face. She touched her lips, her fingers press it tighter, twitch it, and giggled. She enjoyed the pressure of her fingers on her singing lips. She looked at her image in the mirror, her throttle was clear, and she was humming a melodious song. Anahita hated the dictated expression of love in a caged society where love is seen as an art to be played behind the veil. The only expression of love Anahita found rightfully expressive was between her parents or in the plays of William Shakespeare. 

Anahita was elated to embark on her new journey. She reached Dasashwamedh ghat and inquired about Pampa with the boatman. But Pampa was gone. Pampa knew Anahita is different from others; she is emotional and will come back for him. She can make a wrong decision, so he better thought of not being discovered by her. The proposal Anahita brought on the bank of the river for Pampa was rejected by his absence. Pampa was a kind of angel who came in mortal form to enlighten her.

Anahita begins to mourn the absence of Pampa, who enlightened her on the purpose of life. The frivolous infidelity of life once again pushed her transformation into the vagary of the past. For a moment, she thought she had lost all that she has achieved. She has lost a man who understands women, who respect women for her procreating bliss. The loss seems to be too big to be paid with mere tears. She allowed her tears to roll down her cheeks.

~

Anahita almost spent a couple of years doing nothing. The person who has enlightened her was nowhere in her world. She just kept herself busy painting the life of Pampa with the imagination of her brush. Her worried father insisted her to join a College of fine arts in Delhi, which she later agreed. During her study, she made such a vivid painting, which was so lively that it seemed that it would come to life and speak. Anahita painted Pampa in her art, which portrays the journey of Pampa being thrown in Ganga by a thief, his father jumping after him, and his father died in saving him. Anahita has won the award of most creative painting at the international forum for embossing the human emotion on the canvass.

Love always surprises life. Atulya said when Anahita met her again on the Dashaswamedh ghat.

I did not think I would ever fall in love again. I know that everyone says that after heartbreak, but I'm not heartbroken. Five years have gone, and Anshuman is my future now. He was my classmate in Delhi and my father likes him. Anahita was moderately elated to begin her new journey. But she was not aware that her fate is waiting to surprise her.

She met Pampa again in her marriage, who was called in to recite the mantra for her marriage. She was shocked to realize that Pampa is the fulcrum of her life who meets her at all important events of her life. She wondered that a man whose wisdom has transformed the life of a low spirited girl is living such a miserable life.

Pampa was pained to recite the mantra of the marriage of a woman who made him realize the thing called love.

There was a reciprocation of respect in each other's eyes as Pampa would think that Anahita is the girl who taught him love, and Anahita would think that Pampa has enlightened her life. But destiny was not so simple. The gifted midget still has some more miraculous role to play in the life of Anahita.