She was crazy and trust me she was, every time when I was with her she made sure I went crazy too…. It wasn’t just me anyone who was with her could go crazy……. It was contagious; you could catch the craziness before you could even feel the air around her.

It was summer when we first met, she was dancing in the fountain, all drenched from head to toe, beautiful she looked. Her dress with floral prints simply was adding to the madness of her dance. …. Trance I guess is what she was in….  The music still in her head ringing from last night’s concert or opera….  I stood there watching her just like the rest of the crowd….. Mesmerized in her soft ballet moves in the ring of water…

Just then when I was about to realize I was staring at her too long for my own comfort she looked at me…. her eyes… no makeup on…. pure trance, lost yet happy, content, in its own world, she stood gazing at me as if the roles had turned and she smiled …. Waved and turned around continuing with the dance….

With my trance broken and the guide urging us to move to a different attraction I moved.  Her face still fresh in my memory… for some reason couldn’t get passed it.

The whole day after that wasn’t as pretty as the fountain…. same monuments, the stories and the monotonous voice of our tour guide often I wished only if I  could strangle him ….. But preferred being civilized and moving on with a faint smile.

That evening in the bar where we (as in my tour mates and I) sat talking about the day gone by, somewhere deep down I was hoping to see her, the town was small, still ancient with roads made of stones and building with wooden frames, wonder how many bars could this town host and someone answered just two… the odds were good provided she was the bar visiting kinds (bar visiting???? hello everyone visits bar who doesn’t? ah! the mentality)

I sat there sipping on my scotch hoping infact begging to the universe for her to turn up….. I was just about to leave when I realized there was someone staring at me… curiosity at its peak I saw in the direction only to find it was her!! Her!! All this while the girl I was hoping for…. she was there and was staring at me…. now I was in fix cause I wasnt sure what I was suppose to do !!

Do I say Hi? Would she understand English Did we really need language? well she wasn’t thinking so much for sure…Even before I could gather courage to say hi she got up and walked up to me…. and before I knew it…

She was standing in front of me, looking in my eyes, with an angel like aura around her… I sat there still in trance, she smelled like fresh spring and in all the smoke and smells of the bar for that moment we were just us, no one around, no sound, no interference , she held my face in her hands came close and gave me a peck on forehead……

Quite frankly I was so taken back that I could barely figure out what was happening everything seemed still and I oblivious to everything moving around….. Someone sure must have tapped me or something that my trance was broken….

Coming back to my senses I realized i was holding something in my hand….. How it got there I am still lost at that….

I sipped my scotched hoping to slow my racing heart which now had become audible and looked at the crumbled piece of paper. It had something written on it…. it wasn’t English… Oh!! Now I would have to share it with someone … how I wish I could read the script….. Anyway next logical thing to do….. I shared it with the bar tender hoping for some help… the minute he read it, he smiled… write the message down for me on the tissue, folded it and gave it to me. I took the paper back from him, all I realized the paper sure had the same smell…. fresh spring…..

The tissue I held for long….. till I was scared that  it would get wet because of my palm sweat….by the time i moved out of the bar it was pretty late… the roads were deserted and the lamp post lit the pathway just enough to see a few feet ahead and then the next lamp post took over….. The road looked more like a black and white holly wood movie set featuring Europe then an urban town now where I was working…. holding the paper still I tried to walk fast , I wanted to reach the room soon so I could unfold the tissue and read….. all the while I walked I was busy contemplating what must be written …… would it be just a contact number to call on like movies or would it be her name and number….. Longest shot of faith would it have a message for me….

The road seemed really long and no it didn’t strike me that I could read the message on the road itself…. wonders why but it didn’t….

While my thoughts still drifting in contemplation of the message and feet trying to work u the remaining distance to my room I suddenly felt a sense of fear….. What if the message said meet me out now or meet me at (whatever) place at 10:00 pm or 12:20 am as in whatever time and what if it was too late to read the message. My feet stopped, my brain numbed, my heart still, I looked at the tissue, folded in my hand, I was still a few feet away from the lamp post, I actually ran towards it, help the pole with one hand steadying myself and opened the tissue .. To read…

“Marissa 8941224555″ meet me at church tomorrow… I let out a sigh of relief; no I had not missed her!!!

The might was long…. longing for the fresh spring…. wondering how what when why and so many other questions, playing & replaying the episode of the bar in my mind and building new episodes in anticipation of our meeting tomorrow…. i didn’t realized when I fell asleep….

My sleep next morning was broken by the alarm and it certainly took a couple of minutes for me to remember the adventure I was supposed to embark on….. The minute the realization kicked in so did the panic, I barely managed to catch my breath after that till I reached the church….. I never had been so determined to reach anywhere ….not even for my only bachelor’s party…..

The church was old, built centuries ago not majestic but big , beautifully adorned with carvings fit for palace, I am sure the artisan would have poured his heart in it, just like God did while making Marissa…..

Marissa … well I was at church, where the hell was she ………… may be behind the church (nah it’s not some Bollywood movie) may be inside praying…. I don’t expect her to call me here if she wanted to pray….. But then where was she…. I was at the ends of my wits when I felt a tap on my shoulders……

I so wanted to turn around and hug her but opted to act civilized and with deliberate effort I turned around with a faint smile…. it wasn’t her! What the XXXX!! Who is this???

The person standing in front of me was a white guy approximately in his 40’s, with a black suit he was wearing he looked more like the MIB kinds…… Well for his contribution he handed me a piece of paper…. another message…eeeeeeee I wish I could just tear the chit up in such small piece that it would be impossible to resurrected the chit again……….

But again we don’t always do what we first think of now do we…. so I politely took the chit and waited for the gentlemen to leave so I  could read the chit in my space….. But he wouldn’t move…. well I guess he either was waiting for a tip or a reply…. I tried to offer him what I thought was a size able tip and he  just stepped back and I guessed may be he was waiting for an answer so this time I step back and opened the chit…. a thousand thoughts flashing in mind in the split of seconds time and the chit this time was written in English…. It took a while for me to understand what was an address and I was expected to be there….. there was a car waiting outside the church yard which would facilitate my visit…. to be frank this felt a little awkward  and a lot thrilling…. it was something I didn’t expect and something not shown in whole lot of movies I was used toooo… you know ore of mafia feel to it…..

I wasn’t sure if I should follow the man and enter the car…. though the stories of ransom, I am sure they must have done some background check…….. So why this secrecy, why can’t she just meet me in a bistro or cafe, I mean for all we know she kissed me in the middle of the bar… so why? What was all this? The secrecy!! Though it was all thrilling a shiver ran down my spine with fear of unknown….. I decided to take the ride….. having remembered the instructions from the well-wishers I quickly called my colleague and repeated the address and in Pure Hindi told him if I don’t return by sunset he needed to call the cops with the address…… to be frank had I told my colleague the whole thing in Mumbaiya Hindi it would still mean nothing to the man standing in front of me….. Anyway so I followed him to the car……

The car was black Jaguar and I wonder why didn’t this town not have the any rules on visibility front…. if felt a little spooky but I guess fear at that point was superseded with curiosity. The leather seats in black with black interiors clearly indicated the customized taste of the owner…. the car had a smell of fresh upholstery and quite frankly when the door was closed on me it felt intimidating. As the car started my curiosity though at a peak now was accompanied by equal amount of fear…..

As the car took the turns on the curvy… by lanes of the town, I was sought of an amazed by the architecture and the beautiful down window panels, the curtain prints and occasional flower vase visible on the windows. The car finally reached a lake….. A lake.  I was hoping for one of those houses, at the least if not the mansion…..

But who cares I was more than happy to be out of that car, who would have thought that, a person who would be happy to get rid of a Jaguar….. The place was quiet….. huge lake spread out in front and at horizon… I could see the majestic mountains covered with lush green carpets …… the ground was full of gravels, the round kinds as if the flow of water and gentle waves hitting the banks had polished them smooth …. at a distance from where I stood I saw her sitting on the bench….. The pale peach knee length dress, flowing brown hair and her angelic peach complexion was a stark contrast to the black and brown wood plank bench she sat on……

She wasn’t looking in my direction; she was facing the lake, lost in her own thoughts, the morning breeze warm sunlight, blue lake small gentle waves hitting the banks, the birds hovering on the lake still swimming on the waves…… Not a cloud in sight, clear blue sky – the view was breath taking….. And she. She looked like an angel, lost in a world of her own….. I so wanted to go and share her off that trance, I wanted her to look at me!! I wanted to smell the fresh spring…… I wanted her to talk in language I understood ….I was clutching on to the paper with the address….. Resisting my urge to tap her on her shoulder I stood there waiting for her to turn her gaze…..

Since I didn’t make a move and she didn’t turn her gaze, the gentleman in black moved food and broke her trance. She smile and nodded, looked at me and motioned me to join her on the bench. Me like a dog to bone lost in the web of trance she was weaving…. walked up to her and took the seat next to her…..