Real Life Cinderella

You could spot her in millions. Purple gown lifted till knees (not to mention the sport shoes), hair messed up, bag on her back and running like mad.

“Am I late?” She was out of breath

“No” that was all I could say.

 “Gimme a minute and I will change” She rushed to the ladies room.

Now I was the center of attraction of everyone at Rajeev chowk metro station. To avoid it, I followed her. She came out, in her rugged jeans round neck t-shirt (wrinkled) and hurry.

“See, I told you, I will make it on time.” She said, while washing her face to remove makeup.

“Do you realize, how many heads you made turn today” I joked

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Cinderella transformation from princess to rags, not a very common scene at a Metro station.”

“Come on, t-shirt got wrinkled due to this tiny bag and jeans is not that bad”

“What about these shoes? Were you wearing them all evening?”

“No. Heels didn’t allow me to run. So I changed while waiting for ola outside the hotel .” She chuckled, as we moved out.

“Cinderella leaves her sandals behind, so that Prince charming comes looking for her.” I teased

“I don’t believe this. You are teasing me for that dumb firang” She looked at the display, “Two minutes for our train”

“You mean NRI”

“So you go marry him.” She was pissed

“Ok, don’t get angry. Give me details. What happened?”

“What do you expect? Long story about how he is short of time and we need to get married in a month. Then, I faked going to washroom and ran. Also, I texted my Mom on the way”

“Wow! I could have never done that” We boarded the metro.

“That’s because you were never engaged to someone in first meeting and probably married in second. I had no option left.” She was still stressed out.

“Are your parents mad at you?”

“But, I will make up with them some way or the other....” She sounded sad.

I tapped her shoulder to console.

“After all the hard work, I couldn’t just let go my job and marry some random guy” I am not sure, she was telling this to me or herself.

I looked at her. She was a journalist and maybe today’s Cinderella, with a mind of her own. She doesn’t wait for her fairy Godmother, she waves her magic wand herself.